VLC quitting unexpectedly, constantly

[Doug b]

This occurrence just started happening this evening. I had been downloading videos for a good part of the day, then testing them for integrity, and was using VLC for all of it. Then all of a sudden, as I'm testing the latest downloaded video, VLC just quits. I tried to relaunch the video, but all that happened was the window opened for a couple of seconds, I'd get a beach ball, and then it quit again.

Now, this is happening with each and every wmv file I have on this HD (haven't tried external). Quicktime only opens the control portion of the player, but no screen, even on those vids which are represented with a QT thumbnail of the file.

I've never experienced such behavior before on either Windows, and certainly not with Linux. What on earth could be the cause of this, and what might be a possible fix ? I've already shut down and re-boot, but it was a worthless effort. This isn't the only nit I'm having with OS X (which is GOD AWFULLY SLOW when emptying trash securely) lately, but I'm just hoping that this isn't the start of bad things to come.

Doug

Doug

 

[hughvane]

There are several things to comment on here:
1. Do you have Flip4Mac installed? That will enable Quicktime to handle a WMV file's video format.
2. Do you have Windows Media Player for OS X? If not, I'd recommend that.
3. VLC quitting. Something in that last .wmv file was probably corrupted. Others have posted somewhat similar problems with VLC, and the workaround has been to remove it altogether using a third-party application (CleanApp or AppCleaner) and then reinstall from a clean .dmg. Some people have reported success with going back to an earlier version of VLC. Check too the VideoLan website for bug reports and other support.
4. It's time too I suggest to run some serious maintenance of your MacOS, using an excellent utility like OnyX. Repair permissions, and execute maintenance scripts for starters.
5. Secure Empty Trash always takes a long time unless the files are very small. You do not need to use S-E-T unless files are very sensitive.

 

[Doug b]

Thank you for the useful and thoughtful reply. A couple of things:

There are several things to comment on here:
1. Do you have Flip4Mac installed? That will enable Quicktime to handle a WMV file's video format.

No, I don't. I recall looking for this and seem to remember not wanting to download it for some reason. Can't remember why now though. In general, I really dislike QT, but at this point, if I can get just one media player to handle every file type (even if it is QT), I'd be happy enough.

2. Do you have Windows Media Player for OS X? If not, I'd recommend that.

No, again. So what is recommended if choosing between flip4Mac and WMP ? I hated WMP on Windows, and NEVER, EVER used it past version 6.4

3. VLC quitting. Something in that last .wmv file was probably corrupted. Others have posted somewhat similar problems with VLC, and the workaround has been to remove it altogether using a third-party application (CleanApp or AppCleaner) and then reinstall from a clean .dmg. Some people have reported success with going back to an earlier version of VLC. Check too the VideoLan website for bug reports and other support.

The comment in my first post about deleting securely slowing everything up, was due to me trashing VLC, actually. So that's done. However, after getting a new version and opening it again, I was informed that the old preferences were saved somewhere, and so it prompted me to trash it, which I did. It is now working properly again. Thanks.

4. It's time too I suggest to run some serious maintenance of your MacOS, using an excellent utility like OnyX. Repair permissions, and execute maintenance scripts for starters.

I had always been a bit weary about using Onyx, but I figured what the heck. Lately my router (Airport Extreme) has been crapping out on me, even with full signal strength, (I'm actually using my neighbor's connection right now, **** of a guy) and other glitchy behavior, and noticed that things were slowing up a bit too. So I actually did this, and I'm glad I did. Things now seem to be much snappier (I've had the MBP since this past June). Fixed permissions, ran daily, weekly and monthly maintenance scripts and deleted a bunch of cache stuff too. If this is all I have to do every 7 months in order to keep the MBP in shape, I'll be very happy.

5. Secure Empty Trash always takes a long time unless the files are very small. You do not need to use S-E-T unless files are very sensitive.

I guess I'm just a bit anal retentive when it comes to this. I like having 0's and 1's run all about previously used space

Kind regards,

Doug

 

[hughvane]

Briefly ...
1. Flip4Mac is almost essential. I don't use QT a lot, but with some files it is the best player to use. QT renders .wmv files pretty well I find.
2. I find WMPlayer good actually. A friend regularly sends me .wmv files and I find they run best using the player for which they're intended. I'm using Version 9 in OS Tiger.
3. Trashing - I learned the hard way not to rely on the MacOS method of removing ALL files associated with the application being deleted. That's why I recommended a third-party removal app. I use CleanApp and it does a great job. It will send files to Trash or delete them directly - your choice.
4. Good to read the success story of OnyX. I'm very grateful to the friend who put me on to it two years ago. I use it about monthly, or when I find some odd behaviours occurring.

 

[Doug b]

You say that Flip4Mac is essential, but if I were to use WMP for Mac, would it still be ? Interestingly, I have found that QT won't always play QT related files, which really confuses me. I know that an avi file isn't a . mov file so technically it shouldn't have to play one, but why would it play one .avi and not another ? Are there discrepancies in version types ?

Doug

Edit: Ok, so looking at the MS website for WMP, they are the one's advertising Flip4Mac component files (no doubt they own them) for QTP. Is there an advantage to using one particular method over the other ?

 

[shfle]

You say that Flip4Mac is essential, but if I were to use WMP for Mac, would it still be ? Interestingly, I have found that QT won't always play QT related files, which really confuses me. I know that an avi file isn't a . mov file so technically it shouldn't have to play one, but why would it play one .avi and not another ? Are there discrepancies in version types ?

Doug

Edit: Ok, so looking at the MS website for WMP, they are the one's advertising Flip4Mac component files (no doubt they own them) for QTP. Is there an advantage to using one particular method over the other ?

Install both Flip4Mac and Perian components, Quicktime will then play most video files. I've not used MMP for Mac for years.

Windows Media® Components for QuickTime

Perian - The swiss-army knife of QuickTime® components

 

[jram]

This fixed VLC for me.
Fixing VLC player crashes on Mac OS X (by The Racing Geek)