Vlc plugin in google-chrome and mono output

[olstyle]

I'm using the google-chrome-stable and vlc from the normal repos on Kubuntu 12.10. My problem is that the audio output is mono which means it outputs the audio through only one speaker and that driving me nuts.
With the mplayer chrome plugin the audio comes out through both speaker but it is less stable and has some very annoying bugs.
My question is how if possible can I force the audio in the vlc plugin output through both speakers.

I would have gave a link to the stream but the forum limits the option of publishing a link to users with more than 5 messages.

[olstyle]

I forgot to mention that I'm talking about a wmv mms video stream.

[Snowhog]

Welcome to KFN.

Using VLC, does an audio CD play correctly, with stereo output?

[olstyle]

Thanks, and I don't have audio cds, but mp3, avi... work just fine with vlc.

[Snowhog]

Then it is most likely something with(in) the stream itself that is creating the problem.

What multimedia backend are you using?

[olstyle]

You are probably right but what upsets me is that it does work fine with mplayers plugin.
My multimedia backend is phonon GStreamer

[Snowhog]

Same backend here. You can post the URL to the stream in question now.

[olstyle]

Any video from the following lectures should manifest the problem. The page is in German but any button with Zeigen on it should link you to a video.

[Snowhog]

Do you have VLC itself installed - not just the plugin? If you do, how does VLC handle the video from the URL?

[olstyle]

Yes, and the result is the same.

[SteveRiley]

Welcome to the goofy world of Windows Media.

On that page of links, if you click "Standalone" for one of the items, then click what I presume is the "Download" button, the result will be an .aspx file. This small file contains another link, which points to a streaming media file (.wmv) on a Windows Media server, delivered by the mms: protocol.

Here's the first one:

steve@t520:~/downloads$ [B]cat AccessASF.aspx[/B] 
<ASX version="3.0">
   <ENTRY>
      <TITLE>Vorlesung Analysis I, 1. Stunde</TITLE>
      <COPYRIGHT>2011 Universitt Tbingen, duplication and capturing prohibited</COPYRIGHT>
      <REF HREF="mms://u-003-stimms03.uni-tuebingen.de/UT_2011/10/11/UT_20111011_001_ana1_0001.512x288_cb480.wmv">
         <STARTTIME VALUE="0.0"/>
      </REF>
   </ENTRY>
</ASX>

Using both the command line player mplayer (from the package mplayer2) and the Qt front-end smplayer, I can directly play the mms: stream:

steve@t520:~/downloads$ [B]mplayer mms://u-003-stimms03.uni-tuebingen.de/UT_2011/10/11/UT_20111011_001_ana1_0001.512x288_cb480.wmv[/B]
MPlayer2 UNKNOWN (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team

Playing mms://u-003-stimms03.uni-tuebingen.de/UT_2011/10/11/UT_20111011_001_ana1_0001.512x288_cb480.wmv.
STREAM_ASF, URL: mms://u-003-stimms03.uni-tuebingen.de/UT_2011/10/11/UT_20111011_001_ana1_0001.512x288_cb480.wmv
Resolving u-003-stimms03.uni-tuebingen.de for AF_INET...
Connecting to server u-003-stimms03.uni-tuebingen.de[134.2.3.145]: 1755...

Connected
unknown object
file object, packet length = 6600 (6600)
unknown object
unknown object
stream object, stream ID: 1
stream object, stream ID: 2
unknown object
data object
mmst packet_length = 6600
Cache size set to 64 KBytes
Cache fill: 18.20% (11930 bytes)   

Detected file format: ASF
[asfheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
[asfheader] Video stream found, -vid 2
VIDEO:  [WMV3]  512x288  24bpp  1000.000 fps  480.0 kbps (58.6 kbyte/s)
==========================================================================
Requested video codec family [wmv9dmo] (vfm=dmo) not available.
Enable it at compilation.
Requested video codec family [wmvdmo] (vfm=dmo) not available.
Enable it at compilation.
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Asking decoder to use 4 threads if supported.
[wmv3 @ 0x7f4904446320]Extra data: 8 bits left, value: 0
Selected video codec: [ffwmv3] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg WMV3/WMV9)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 1 ch, s16le, 48.0 kbit/6.81% (ratio: 6003->88200)
Selected audio codec: [ffwmav2] afm: ffmpeg (DivX audio v2 (FFmpeg))
==========================================================================
AO: [pulse] 44100Hz 1ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
Movie-Aspect is undefined - no prescaling applied.
VO: [vdpau] 512x288 => 512x288 Planar YV12 
[vdpau] Got display refresh rate 60.004 Hz.
[vdpau] If that value looks wrong give the -vo vdpau:fps=X suboption manually.
Cache not filling, consider increasing -cache and/or -cache-min!
Cache not filling, consider increasing -cache and/or -cache-min!
A:   1.7 V:   1.7 A-V:  0.031 ct:  0.003   4/  4 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0 27% 
Cache not filling, consider increasing -cache and/or -cache-min!
A:   2.2 V:   1.7 A-V:  0.496 ct:  0.007   5/  5 ??% ??% ??,?% 1 0 18% 
Cache not filling, consider increasing -cache and/or -cache-min!
Cache not filling, consider increasing -cache and/or -cache-min!
A:   2.9 V:   1.8 A-V:  1.154 ct:  0.010   6/  6 ??% ??% ??,?% 2 0 28% 
Cache not filling, consider increasing -cache and/or -cache-min!
Received command to move to another file. Aborting current processing.
A:   3.0 V:   1.8 A-V:  1.135 ct:  0.014   7/  7 ??% ??% ??,?% 2 0 0% 

Exiting... (Quit)

It played fine, audio came from both speakers. I closed the player after just a few seconds.

If you try doing this -- playing the mms: URL inside the downloaded .aspx file -- with VLC, does it work?

[olstyle]

Thank you both very much.
Anyhow, yeah I did stream the link from cli earlier, it works fine with mplayer and from only one speaker with vlc. Now I'm sure there is a way to handle this through phonon and or vlc itself, but for now I'll just stream the mms directly through the cli with mplayer, a few ctrl c and ctrl v won't kill me I guess. =P
From what I understand the problem isn't in vlc, the wmv opens only one channel, for some odd reason which might be connected to how phonon handles it, but it is probably just bad code (not compatible with anything which was not made by Microsoft). Mplayer, like mplayer usualy does, just make its magic and decides the wmv file is stupid and fixes it automatically which vlc unfortunately fails to do.

By the way just saw that the mplayer plugin is much more responsive on Firefox compared to Chrome.

If I'll have the time and will find a way to handle this fine though vlc as well I will post it here.

[Snowhog]

Kaffeine plays the mms: protocol URL as well. Just tried it with the URL:
mms://u-003-stimms03.uni-tuebingen.de/UT_2011/10/11/UT_20111011_001_ana1_0001.512x288_cb480.wmv

[olstyle]

Thanks again, sadly only vlc can seek properly inside the video.

[olstyle]

So getting vlc to output the sound through both speakers can be done using this option in the command line: vlc --sout '#transcode{acodec=mp3,channels=2}:display' andtheurlofyourchoosing
Though for me vlc crashes for no apparent reason after a few second in every other video.