Video freezes in fullscreen mode on VLC - UMate 16.04 RPi 3

[KL1]

Got my Raspberry Pi 3 only a couple of days ago and have it connected to a TV via HDMI.
Display was flawless on setup of Ubuntu Mate 16.04 but there was no audio at all.
After some internet searching, change setting to “hdmi_drive=2” in /boot/config.txt solved the audio problem but ruined the display to 640x480 (even in the boot phase before UMate is loaded).
Search some more, change setting “hdmi_group=1” and “hdmi_mode=4” in /boot/config.txt solved the display problem.
Now playing any mp4 x264 video from NAS or SDCard on VLC in fullscreen mode freezes the video display but the audio keeps playing just fine. Also 1080p videos don’t display video at all but play audio ok.

Desperate for some help.
Thank you in advance.

[wolfman]

Hi @KL1,

have you checked the settings in VLC?.

VLC > Tools > Preferences > Show Settings > All!:

[KL1]

Thank you @wolfman for replying.

My VLC settings are the default settings. I haven’t changed anything. I’m not sure exactly what to change either. I have the same setting as displayed in you screenshot, if that what you were referring to. If not, there are more than 30 different settings in the “video” section and about the same in the “video codec->x264” section. Do you know which setting should be changed?

[wolfman]

Sorry I don’t, try playing around with some of them?.

Does this help?:

https://www.oblivion-software.de/index.php?id=56&type=98

[KL1]

Not really.
Actually it states that in full screen VLC doesn’t have any controls! Which is something I can’t live with. It seems to be because VLC does not support hardware acceleration in the RPi3.

It mentions another player called omx, but after searching online it seems to not have controls either. It only uses code!

I will try to look for other players. If not maybe other OS.

Thank you for your help.

[wolfman]

Might I suggest the following?:

sudo apt-get install smplayer

SMPlayer - Free media player for your PC

[KL1]

Thank you @wolfman for your suggestion.

I actually went in a different direction and installed LibreELEC instead. My main goal with the RPi3 was to connect it to my TV to play media from my NAS and to browse the internet. It seems Ubuntu Mate lacks in the first choice.

I will keep an eye on the project, may be some time in the future they can fix it.

[dshimer]

I tried smplayer but have no keyboard controls. I just goes to full screen and I have no chance for input until the video finishes. Any ideas?

[wolfman]

HI @dshimer,

give me some time and I will install it and have a look for you!.