"VLC Video Source" not in list to choose for source

OsakaWebbie

OsakaWebbie

New Member
My own computer is Windows, but once a week I need to use a friend's Mac to live stream a church worship service. Today I tried to use "VLC Video Source" for the first time, but on his Mac that doesn't appear in the list of choices when adding a Source. He reinstalled VLC (and he was already on the most current version of OBS), but it didn't help. Searching the web, the only discussions I found were people on Windows having a mismatch of 32-bit/64-bit and a Mac-based bug that was fixed about two years ago - nothing recent on Mac. Can someone suggest what to check/try for troubleshooting this?

[Sorry I currently don't have a log file to attach because I'm not co-located with the Mac having the problem. I've asked my friend to upload the log file and send me the URL, but he hasn't responded yet, so I decided to go ahead and post, because the log might not be relevant to this question anyway. I'll add the log file when I get it.]
 
W

Want To Learn

Member
Hi OsakaWebbi, I am running Os High Sierra for the Mac. VLC shows up in the list of video sources. Last night I watched a video on youtube by Eposvox with a link to the newest version of OBS it is 26. https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/releases/tag/26.0.0-rc1 is the link to the new version. However, I quickly tried a video I had in VLC and the color on it had to be adjusted. It might be the file? Anyway, I think your friend will like 26, because of some of the changes. The media controls are right there for playback. This is the video I watched by Eposvox. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNqsBlkx3is&t=521s&ab_channel=EposVox&loop=0 Good luck!
 
OsakaWebbie

OsakaWebbie

New Member
I watched that whole video (not just from the point you linked) and read the list of bug fixes, but I don't see anything relevant to my problem. You say that you think my friend will like the changes, but he's not using OBS right now - I am. And I'm new enough to OBS that most of v.26's improvements are related to parts of the program I haven't even used yet. You apparently have never had the problem I'm asking about, since you say, "VLC shows up in the list of video sources," even before talking about v.26. I don't have a "bleeding edge" personality - I normally only upgrade software when it's considered an official release unless a release candidate is known to solve a problem I'm having. I don't see any benefit to being an RC tester in this case.

Has anyone had (or heard of) the problem of "VLC Video Source" not being available as a source?
 
W

Want To Learn

Member
OsakaWebbie said:
I watched that whole video (not just from the point you linked) and read the list of bug fixes, but I don't see anything relevant to my problem. You say that you think my friend will like the changes, but he's not using OBS right now - I am. And I'm new enough to OBS that most of v.26's improvements are related to parts of the program I haven't even used yet. You apparently have never had the problem I'm asking about, since you say, "VLC shows up in the list of video sources," even before talking about v.26. I don't have a "bleeding edge" personality - I normally only upgrade software when it's considered an official release unless a release candidate is known to solve a problem I'm having. I don't see any benefit to being an RC tester in this case.

Has anyone had (or heard of) the problem of "VLC Video Source" not being available as a source?
Click to expand...
Gee OsakaWebbi I was only trying to help. Sometimes when you reinstall software or update to the new version (a clean copy so to speak.) everything shows up. I'm just an OBS user not a programmer or developer of the software. Their are a mix of all types of users on this board and maybe or maybe not the developer will actually read this, but it will be mostly people like you and me. I just wanted to help. Perhaps look in the forum for a VLC media download? Maybe it will help? Good luck!
 
OsakaWebbie

OsakaWebbie

New Member
Relax, I'm not upset nor intending to criticize your assistance. Sorry if I sounded that way. Tone is hard to detect in writing, especially between strangers. I was just trying to clarify my situation, because it seemed that some things might have been misunderstood.

If your thought is that reinstalling OBS might shake things loose, perhaps I could just ask my friend Joseph to export the profiles and scene collections, uninstall, and then just reinstall v.25 from a fresh download. It seems that no one else is having this problem with any version newer than v.21 when a bug was reported and fixed, so I'm still not eager to "boldly go where no simple user has gone before" with v.26 RC1 unless other attempts still fail.

Joseph did upload yesterday's log file at my request: https://obsproject.com/logs/jVA_0QDMxWEWIb3z
Looking through it, I can see when OBS looked for VLC and didn't find it, and a previous VLC-related complaint that might also matter - here is that snippet:
  • 12:58:05.162: os_dlopen(/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/lib/libvlccore.dylib->/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/lib/libvlccore.dylib): dlopen(/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/lib/libvlccore.dylib, 257): image not found
  • 12:58:05.162: Couldn't find VLC installation, VLC video source disabled
But right after that, vlc-video.so is listed as a loaded module - it's weird that it loaded such a module after failing to find the necessary program to go with it. Anyway, if someone out there can see clues in that log file, I'm all ears. Meanwhile, I'll ask Joseph to reinstall OBS when he gets a chance.
 
OsakaWebbie

OsakaWebbie

New Member
There's no such thing as a silly question - thanks for joining in and brainstorming.

I don't know what the expected response is, but it reported:
Code: 
The file /Application/VLC.app does not exist.
Does that mean it is or is not working stand-alone? I honestly don't even know which is the desired mode, but if it's not how it should be, what should he do to install it correctly?
 
ChristianS

ChristianS

Member
Well, this means it's not installed ! (at least, not in the expected place). Therefore, it does not work neither alone, neither within OBS.
Re-install VLC.app properly, and try again.

Edit : this is /Applications/VLC.app ! (sorry, there is a typo in my previous post, but that may explain the answer too)
 
W

Want To Learn

Member
OsakaWebbie said:
Relax, I'm not upset nor intending to criticize your assistance. Sorry if I sounded that way. Tone is hard to detect in writing, especially between strangers. I was just trying to clarify my situation, because it seemed that some things might have been misunderstood.

If your thought is that reinstalling OBS might shake things loose, perhaps I could just ask my friend Joseph to export the profiles and scene collections, uninstall, and then just reinstall v.25 from a fresh download. It seems that no one else is having this problem with any version newer than v.21 when a bug was reported and fixed, so I'm still not eager to "boldly go where no simple user has gone before" with v.26 RC1 unless other attempts still fail.

Joseph did upload yesterday's log file at my request: https://obsproject.com/logs/jVA_0QDMxWEWIb3z
Looking through it, I can see when OBS looked for VLC and didn't find it, and a previous VLC-related complaint that might also matter - here is that snippet:
  • 12:58:05.162: os_dlopen(/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/lib/libvlccore.dylib->/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/lib/libvlccore.dylib): dlopen(/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/lib/libvlccore.dylib, 257): image not found
  • 12:58:05.162: Couldn't find VLC installation, VLC video source disabled
But right after that, vlc-video.so is listed as a loaded module - it's weird that it loaded such a module after failing to find the necessary program to go with it. Anyway, if someone out there can see clues in that log file, I'm all ears. Meanwhile, I'll ask Joseph to reinstall OBS when he gets a chance.
Click to expand...
Yers, the written word is sometimes misunderstood. No worries. Um....I guess I was too excited about the new version of OBS so I recommended it as a fix. Reinstalling OBS would have been my last resort as I never seem to load in the old files correctly. LOL. Christian S. I believe is on the right track. If VLC isn't Installed or working properly on your friends computer then it will probably not work/show up in OBS. Best of luck to you!
 
OsakaWebbie

OsakaWebbie

New Member
The owner of the Mac is out of town (without that computer) for a couple days, but he'll try open /Applications/VLC.app (with the "s") on Friday. Meanwhile, can I ask what sort of possible responses we can expect? (Sorry I'm not a Mac person.)

VLC is definitely installed on that machine and runs - we ran it both before and after Joseph upgraded it to the current version in hopes of solving this. But I don't know what "stand-alone" means - is that a special mode of installation that would not be recognized by OBS? (I'm imagining something like PortableApps on my machine, which don't use the registry and therefore Windows doesn't know those apps exist.)
 
ChristianS

ChristianS

Member
There are two possibilities:
1- either the application will be launched, and it's main window should pop-up.
2- either you'll get what you've already seen, with the missing s:

The file /Applications/VLC.app does not exist.

I do not expect the first one, since the error log shows:
  • 12:58:05.162: Couldn't find VLC installation, VLC video source disabled
(we know your OBS is looking for OBS in /Applications/VLC.app, since the previous line shows this path)

In the case 1, it means the VLC you have is maybe broken or to old (or too new ??), with some capabilities expected by OBS not available, or not invoked properly.
In the case 2, it means that when you start and try VLC manually, you're using an app that is located "elsewhere", and not in /Applications .
Then you should move it (or re-install, but be carefull: you'll then have two versions of VLC, one in /Applications and still the other one)
 
OsakaWebbie

OsakaWebbie

New Member
Yup, it was case #2. At my instruction (from your guidance), he found the file elsewhere (he didn't tell me where), deleted it, and reinstalled in the correct location. All works now - thanks!
 
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