Playing videos on SMB with VLC player

[evodoc]

I've set up a PC with Kubuntu to watch videos on my TV with VLC player. The videos are in a Windows 10 shared folder. In order for that to work I also had to enter the WIN10 login credentials in VLC's SMB access module otherwise VLC would just give an error msg. And also, I have to add the subtitles to the movies manually.
Today I've just tried out Peppermint OS on a different PC and other than giving the login/pass in Nemo I didn't have to do any VLC SMB module configuration, the video just played, with the subtitle loading automatically. Why this difference between the two distros? The most obvious I see is KDE vs XFCE (Dolphin vs Nemo?) but I have no idea how that might matter, and I'm not an experienced Linux user either.

[Snowhog]

Ref: https://peppermintos.com/about/

In this release there have been some major changes with us migrating from Ubuntu to Debian, the Xfce desktop as the LXDE desktop had fallen into disuse and became dormant, and the Calamares installer.

That; migrating from Ubuntu too Debian; is likely to be the biggest difference between Peppermint and Kubuntu. Their (Peppermint OS) move to Debian means they aren't constrained by the Ubuntu/Canonical philosophy of not including proprietary software in the distributions they control/release. So Peppermint OS's multi-media offerings are likely 'ready out of the box' without a user having to jump through hoops to 'make it work'. That's my guess anyway.

[claydoh]

I am, going to guess Ubuntu's VLC is using whatever VLC's stock configuration is, and Peppermint may use something different? Or there are changes in how smb works between Debian stable and modern times , similar to when Samba deprecated connecting to SMB v1 ?

For what it is worth, I just have to log in to my SMB share (on my router) in Dolphin, and click a file to play a video with VLC, using whatever version comes in 20.04. No configuration done in VLC at all.

[evodoc]

So I've just went and installed XFCE on kubuntu, and it behaves just like Peppermint OS.
Also tried Linux Mint (Cinnamon & XFCE) with the same results.
So it might be KDE related?

EDIT: I've just tried Manjaro KDE edition and that works too.

[evodoc]

I've just tried using PCManFM-Qt instead of Dolphin, and that also works fine. If I launch VLC player through that, everything's fine (no SMB module setup needed, subtitles loading automatically). So what might be the issue with Dolphin on kubuntu?

[claydoh]

Can't say. I cannot reproduce it myself, on two different systems, so far.

(no SMB module setup needed

So, is this *after* you set up smb in VLC? Or on a completely different OS/user account/wiped VLC configurations?

[evodoc]

Can't say. I cannot reproduce it myself, on two different systems, so far.


So, is this *after* you set up smb in VLC? Or on a completely different OS/user account/wiped VLC configurations?

I removed VLC's SMB settings. Same OS, same user account:
launching VLC from Dolphin -> "unable to open" error message
launching VLC from PCManFM -> opens video fine, with subtitle(s) loading automatically

I can reproduce this on two different PCs, even with live USB.

[claydoh]

I wonder if it is the VLC version? I have 3.0.9, from official Ubuntu packaging
No issues on systems with Kubuntu 20.04 (plasma 5.18), and Neon ( 2 systems, plasma 5.24), all using VLC 3.0.9
I have not tried my Kubuntu 21.10 box yet (I need to move it, or move a working monitor to it, atm). -- I wonder if it may be a combo of things, including the VLC version?
it is odd, for sure.

I normally use MPV myself, just for its simpler UI

[evodoc]

I wonder if it is the VLC version? I have 3.0.9, from official Ubuntu packaging
No issues on systems with Kubuntu 20.04 (plasma 5.18), and Neon ( 2 systems, plasma 5.24), all using VLC 3.0.9
I have not tried my Kubuntu 21.10 box yet (I need to move it, or move a working monitor to it, atm). -- I wonder if it may be a combo of things, including the VLC version?
it is odd, for sure.

I normally use MPV myself, just for its simpler UI

VLC version is 3.0.16, it comes with Kubuntu 21.10.
Out of curiosity I gave it a try with Celluloid too.
The results are the same: launching from PCManFM is fine, launching from Dolphin: error message.

EDIT: I don't know if it's related to the issue but the popup window is different for both file managers when they ask for my login/pass for the shared folder.

[evodoc]

I've just tried 22.04 beta, and Dolpin seems to work fine there.