Can't play DVDs on VLC with newer Kernel

Support Software & Applications
1

Hello
I tried to play my DVDs with VLC and it used to work out fine, but since new Kernels came in, it does not work anymore. It seems it is a kernel related problem. I tried downgrading from Linux 6.18.31 to 6.1.177-3. I tried all the LTS ones in between. And Only 6.1.177-3 plays DVDs. What is wrong with the new Kernels? Does anyone know a fix to this problem?

Thank You

2

What does it mean “does not work”? Does nothing? The DVD appears in VLC? Any error message? Have you tried with another video player?

3

It does not play any DVD at all but it does with the older Kernel. The Dvd does not appear in the newer kernel. It says DVD not found and it misses an lib- related file. That doesn’t happen with the older Kernel at all. It just plays it. Other players do not play DVDs at all.

4

I do not normally play DVD on my computer.

Just for the sake of verification.

I am running a Linux 7.2rc6.

I synced the vlc and the vlc-plugins-all packages.

Plugged an old portable DVD drive.

Loaded an a DVD and play it without any issues.

Exerpt from kinfo

Operating System: Manjaro Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.7.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.28.0
Qt Version: 6.11.1
Kernel Version: 7.2.0-rc6-1-fcs (64-bit)
5

I synched vlc and vlc-plugins-all as well. but it does not work with the new kernels.
it does indeed work with the old one 6.1.177- That 's my question. Why does it happen even synching to the packages given? It it a Kernel or a vlc problem?

6

Neither - I cannot reproduce it on a system that has never played DVDs before - so I reckon it is local to your system.

But what? :person_shrugging: I do not know.

7

Which one? my :crystal_ball: at the moment doesn’t work…

8

My system used to play DVDs before. It has just started to happen with the newer Kernels

9

So if you load an older kernel, test that, then report back… but you’ll need to come up with some detailed system information or other clues if you want this to go anywhere.

I don’t have one to test, I haven’t plugged in my DVD drive for some time… and that requires me to shut down and physically remove my casing to get to the wiring, so I can’t say much more.

10

Well I play DVDs with an older LTS kernel which is: Linux 6.1.177-3. The old LTS Kernels do not play them. That’s why I am asking the question

an error given by vlc is:

libaacs0 is missing

even thogh I have it installed.

11

I have never, ever, ever played a DVD on this machine. In fact, it doesn’t even have an optical drive.

But, I searched for the file

╭─mirdarthos@Mirdarthos-PC ~
╰─➤  pamac search -f libaacs.0
No package owns libaacs.0

…and it doesn’t seem to exist. But I perservered and searched for it without the .0 extension:

╭─mirdarthos@Mirdarthos-PC ~
╰─➤  pamac search -f libaacs                                                                                                                                                                                                1 ↵
/usr/include/libaacs/aacs-version.h is owned by libaacs
/usr/include/libaacs/aacs.h is owned by libaacs
/usr/include/libaacs/filesystem.h is owned by libaacs
/usr/lib/libaacs.so is owned by libaacs
/usr/lib/libaacs.so.0 is owned by libaacs
/usr/lib/libaacs.so.0.7.2 is owned by libaacs
/usr/lib/pkgconfig/libaacs.pc is owned by libaacs
/usr/share/doc/libaacs/KEYDB.cfg is owned by libaacs
/usr/share/doc/libaacs/README.md is owned by libaacs

…which gave me almost too much info, so I added a .:

╭─mirdarthos@Mirdarthos-PC ~
╰─➤  pamac search -f libaacs.
/usr/lib/libaacs.so is owned by libaacs
/usr/lib/libaacs.so.0 is owned by libaacs
/usr/lib/libaacs.so.0.7.2 is owned by libaacs
/usr/lib/pkgconfig/libaacs.pc is owned by libaacs

This seems like the way to go. So ensure libaacs is installed:

sudo pamac -S libaacs --overwrite="/usr/*"

Hope this helps!

12

And ensure your mirrors are synced and you are up to date. Such renaming usually suggests version mismatch. Partial update, bad mirror, such things.
This doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the kernel, seems like a coincidence to me.

13

I’m running kernel 6.18.42-1 which is the newest LTS on a just updated PC. I do not have libaacs installed. I put in a DVD and I chose the option to play with VLC and it did so. So I’m not sure if libaacs is a problem or not. ps I still play DVDs when the power goes out, which unfortunately is often here.

14

It depends on what disks you play. This is not a general decoder, for that purpose there is a vlc component. It is to decode a certain type of copyright protection, so not every dvd will need it.

15

libaacs is related to bluray

For protected dvd is used libdvdcss, can you copy to your storage a a dvd with brasero or dvdbackup? Does it work?

16

k3b is the main one I’ve used recently; this is also worth a go. No issues playing the .ISOs I’ve made with that.

17

That is the usual argument.

That is a coincidence - the kernel has nothing to do with VLC’s ability to play DVD.

When you update your system - following the stable snaps - a lot of other packages are updated as well.

Please tidy up your system - consolidate your kernels by keeping only the newest LTS

[INFO] Stable branch - BIG update BEST practice

Then update your mirror list to use CDN

sudo pacman-mirrors -c Global

And run a full system update - include the latest LTS if your system does not have this

sudo pacman -Syyu

Reboot your system using Linux 6.18 and remove the older kernel - if applicable.