VLC h264 error

rng · 05-31-2013, 08:33 PM

I am getting following error while trying to open a flv file:

Code:

No suitable decoder module:
VLC does not support the audio or video format "h264". Unfortunately there is no way for you to fix this.

I have checked google and tried to update ffmpeg, x264, libav and libva packages, but still it does not work. The system is Mint-13 and fully updated. Please help.

John VV · 05-31-2013, 08:39 PM

seeing as that is a NON free codec you need to install it separately
see:
http://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html

rng · 06-01-2013, 05:36 AM

It is source only and it is not compiling. The error is:

Code:

Package contains /usr/local directory, but PRE_FIX is: /usr

John VV · 06-01-2013, 12:08 PM

is "libdvdcss" installed ?
that is used to decrypt store bought dvd's

rng · 06-01-2013, 08:26 PM

libdvdcss2 and libdvdread4 are installed. libdvdcss-dev is not installed.

libva-x11-1, libva1 are installed but libva-dev, libva-egl1, libva-glx1, libva-tpi1, libvala, libva-intel-vaapi-driver, libvahalla-bin, libva-cedarview-vaapi-driver are not installed.

libav-tools, libacv1394-0, libavcodecs53, libavdevice53, libavfilter2, libavformat53, libavutil51 are installed but libavbin0, libavl1 are not installed.

vik · 06-03-2013, 06:32 PM

If you are trying to build from source, you need the -dev packages for each of the libraries the source utilizes, so you will need libdvdcss2-dev. The source needs the includes as well as the libraries to build. When you built VLC, you probably did not include the option to build in x264 support in your ./configure command. What do your ./configure options look like? You'll need --enable-x264. This might help: http://wiki.videolan.org/UnixCompile.

rng · 06-03-2013, 07:51 PM

Is there no way I can correct this problem without rebuilding. As such x264 and libx264-120 are installed and updated through repos. How will rebuilding correct the problem?

vik · 06-04-2013, 12:59 PM

Can you install VLC from the Linux Mint repository? I would imagine it has x264 support. That would probably be the easiest route instead of manually building VLC yourself. Otherwise, what happened is when you manually built VLC you did not include the option for x264 support: so even if you install the x264 libraries later, VLC will not utilize them as it thinks you did not want h264 support when you built it (no --enable-x264 flag).

rng · 06-05-2013, 10:10 AM

The vlc package on my package was installed from Mint repository only. However, I purged it and reinstalled it from repository. The h264 error is still persisting.

vik · 06-05-2013, 10:51 AM

OK, so the version from the default repository doesn't have h264 support. You'll need to get a more full-featured VLC from a different repository. Try this: http://www.tecmint.com/install-vlc-2...-linux-mint-14

rng · 06-05-2013, 12:26 PM

I followed instructions on the page:

Code:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:videolan/stable-daily
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install vlc

But still the h264 error persists.

vik · 06-05-2013, 03:34 PM

Are you sure that the vlc package you're installing is from the new repo or is it using the default one? Both repositories have the same package name so I'm wondering which one it's using. Would this work?

Code:

apt-get --purge remove vlc
apt-cache search vlc
apt-get install vlc=version (you have to specify the correct version)

If that doesn't work:

Code:

apt-get --purge remove vlc
add-apt-repository --remove ppa:videolan/stable-daily

and you're stuck with 3 options:
1) try to find a mint or ubuntu repository with a vlc having x264 support
2) use another app like xbmc, mplayer, etc.
3) build from source

rng · 06-05-2013, 08:49 PM

Earlier on trying to upgrade vlc I used to get the message "vlc is already up to date". After adding new repository, the vlc was installed. The command "vlc --help" shows that it is "VLC media player 2.0.5 Twoflower (revision 2.0.5-0-g1661b7d)" as mentioned on the page: http://www.tecmint.com/install-vlc-2...linux-mint-14/

I installed xbmc but it does not see flv file as a video file (the file is not shown in its file chooser dialog box).

I tried to run this file with kmplayer. It does not give any error message but only audio is heard and the screen remains black (no video- as in vlc). From command line also there is no h264 related error message.

eklavya · 06-06-2013, 01:23 AM

Can the file be played in movie player?
I mean, have checked with other flv files?

rng · 06-06-2013, 06:22 AM

movie player gives the error: "Internal data stream error" and plays neither audio nor video.

Some flv files work but this one does not. The file itself is OK since it plays in windows.