Gadgetguy said:
" I just locked (via synaptic packager manager) vlc as well as its' associated packages to the the 3.03 version. Then when I "reloaded" synaptic to get updates to my distro I did not get any updates to vlc."
But After seeing in this thread that vlc version 3.06 had now been patched for hardware acceleration I decided to unlock version 3.03 and upgrade to version 3.06. I now wish I could go back to version 3.03 for reasons I will describe below.
I had been very happy with vlc 3.03. I had not only used it to play local video files but also to play web videos especially youtube. . You could drag the web video into vlc''s interface or designate vlc as a media player in smtube. ( I should point out however that dragging a you tube video from the browser into vlc didn't always work because it didn't play the vp8 and vp9 codecs. )I find vlc 3.06 still performs these functions as well as before.
However where I have been experiencing problems with 3.06 is with using it as an iptv player. By opening an iptv .m3u playlist with 3.03 i was able to switch back and forth between several live tv channels and watch/monitor them either in a small window ( or full screen) while i surfed the internet. eg :
https://livecbcdai-i.akamaihd.net/hls/l ... ster6.m3u8
or
https://glblvhalifax-lh.akamaihd.net/i/ ... aster.m3u8
or
http://bcoveliveios-i.akamaihd.net/hls/ ... aster.m3u8
I could switch back and forth between live feeds without closing vlc. With vlc 3.06 I cannot load another channel without closing vlc first or it will crash.. More impessively still with 3.03 I could load an .m3u playlist containing approx. 2000 channels an search through the list and load the channel I wanted. With version 3.06 I have to close vlc before I can view a second channel.
eg see the playlist at :
https://fluxustv.blogspot.com/p/iptv.html
which can be downloaded as a file at
https://pastebin.com/raw/AspPx4sE
Perhaps( although I don't think so) other errors have crept into my system causing this malfunction of vlc. I imagine any problems with vlc will eventually be corrected but in the meantime I would like to go back to version 3.03 but it now seems to have disappeared from the repository. I believe a fair number of people use vlc as an iptv player. I haven't checked to see how it performs with youtube playlists. By the way for those interested smplayer with mmal accelerated mpv as its engine also works well as an iptv player and also with you tube playlists. Using smplayer in this fashion with mmal mpv you have to toggle back and forth between a fixed size and position overlay window and full screen. But to use the english expression" it works a treat".