SMPlayer/MPV stopped playing Blu-rays, DVDs

[KeithAmmann]

It was quite the ordeal, but a few months ago, I finally got my Framework 16 running Fedora Linux 42 to play Blu-ray discs. I downloaded and installed the necessary libraries, found a KEYDB.cfg that worked and thought that meant everything was hunky-dory.

Then it just stopped working.

I think the problem is with MPV. VLC never played the Blu-rays no matter what I tried (it always said “Missing AACS configuration file” even though I most definitely installed an AACS configuration file), but I had a good thing going with SMPlayer and mpv. Recently, however, trying to play Blu-rays discs and even ordinary DVDs has given me “MPV has finished unexpectedly” errors (always error code 2, but with a variety of apparent causes).

For instance, here’s the latest log from SMPlayer:

/app/bin/mpv --no-quiet --terminal --no-msg-color --input-ipc-server=/tmp/smplayer-mpv-2 --msg-level=ffmpeg/demuxer=error --video-rotate=no --no-config --no-fs --hwdec=no --sub-auto=fuzzy --gpu-context=x11egl --no-stop-screensaver --no-input-default-bindings --input-vo-keyboard=no --no-input-cursor --cursor-autohide=no --no-keepaspect --wid=10485781 --monitorpixelaspect=1 --osd-level=1 --osd-scale=1 --osd-bar-align-y=0.6 --sub-ass --embeddedfonts --sub-line-spacing=0 --sub-scale=1 --sub-font=Arial --sub-color=#ffffffff --sub-shadow-color=#ff000000 --sub-border-color=#ff000000 --sub-border-size=0.75 --sub-shadow-offset=2.5 --sub-font-size=50 --sub-bold=no --sub-italic=no --sub-margin-y=8 --sub-margin-x=20 --sub-codepage=ISO-8859-1 --sid=auto --sub-pos=100 --volume=55 --cache=auto --screenshot-template=cap_%F_%p_%02n --screenshot-format=jpg --screenshot-directory=/home/keithammann/Pictures/smplayer_screenshots --audio-pitch-correction=yes --volume-max=110 --audio-client-name=SMPlayer --term-status-msg=. /run/media/keithammann/Cowboy_Bebop_D1/BDMV/index.bdmv

Failed to recognize file format.

Exiting… (Errors when loading file)

My working hypothesis is that this was caused by one of two things:

• MPV going from version 0.39.0 to version 0.40.0
  

• A recent Fedora 42 update that broke something in MPV
  

I’m open to any and all suggestions.

[kasper93]

show log, especially build configuration in mpv.

[KeithAmmann]

I … did?

/app/bin/mpv --no-quiet --terminal --no-msg-color --input-ipc-server=/tmp/smplayer-mpv-2 --msg-level=ffmpeg/demuxer=error --video-rotate=no --no-config --no-fs --hwdec=no --sub-auto=fuzzy --gpu-context=x11egl --no-stop-screensaver --no-input-default-bindings --input-vo-keyboard=no --no-input-cursor --cursor-autohide=no --no-keepaspect --wid=10485781 --monitorpixelaspect=1 --osd-level=1 --osd-scale=1 --osd-bar-align-y=0.6 --sub-ass --embeddedfonts --sub-line-spacing=0 --sub-scale=1 --sub-font=Arial --sub-color=#ffffffff --sub-shadow-color=#ff000000 --sub-border-color=#ff000000 --sub-border-size=0.75 --sub-shadow-offset=2.5 --sub-font-size=50 --sub-bold=no --sub-italic=no --sub-margin-y=8 --sub-margin-x=20 --sub-codepage=ISO-8859-1 --sid=auto --sub-pos=100 --volume=55 --cache=auto --screenshot-template=cap_%F_%p_%02n --screenshot-format=jpg --screenshot-directory=/home/keithammann/Pictures/smplayer_screenshots --audio-pitch-correction=yes --volume-max=110 --audio-client-name=SMPlayer --term-status-msg=. /run/media/keithammann/Cowboy_Bebop_D1/BDMV/index.bdmv

Failed to recognize file format.

Exiting… (Errors when loading file)

[Raza-0007]

You need to show the full mpv log. This is not even the full smplayer log.

[KeithAmmann]

Cool, how does one do that

[Raza-0007]

In smplayer go to Preferences -> Advanced -> Logs. See screenshot for options that need to be checked. Provide a path for the log file. The Config folder is recommended as smplayer's own log is saved there. You can get the exact location of your config folder from smplayer's menu Help -> Open configuration folder

...

[KeithAmmann]

OK, here's what I got this time:

/app/bin/mpv --no-quiet --terminal --no-msg-color --input-ipc-server=/tmp/smplayer-mpv-2 --msg-level=ffmpeg/demuxer=error --video-rotate=no --no-config -v --no-fs --hwdec=no --sub-auto=fuzzy --gpu-context=x11egl --no-stop-screensaver --no-input-default-bindings --input-vo-keyboard=no --no-input-cursor --cursor-autohide=no --no-keepaspect --wid=6291896 --monitorpixelaspect=1 --osd-level=1 --osd-scale=1 --osd-bar-align-y=0.6 --sub-ass --embeddedfonts --sub-line-spacing=0 --sub-scale=1 --sub-font=Arial --sub-color=#ffffffff --sub-shadow-color=#ff000000 --sub-border-color=#ff000000 --sub-border-size=0.75 --sub-shadow-offset=2.5 --sub-font-size=50 --sub-bold=no --sub-italic=no --sub-margin-y=8 --sub-margin-x=20 --sub-codepage=ISO-8859-1 --sid=auto --sub-pos=100 --volume=55 --cache=auto --screenshot-template=cap_%F_%p_%02n --screenshot-format=jpg --screenshot-directory=/home/keithammann/Pictures/smplayer_screenshots --audio-pitch-correction=yes --volume-max=110 --audio-client-name=SMPlayer --term-status-msg=. /run/media/keithammann/Cowboy_Bebop_D1/BDMV/index.bdmv

[cplayer] Command line options: '--no-quiet' '--terminal' '--no-msg-color' '--input-ipc-server=/tmp/smplayer-mpv-2' '--msg-level=ffmpeg/demuxer=error' '--video-rotate=no' '--no-config' '-v' '--no-fs' '--hwdec=no' '--sub-auto=fuzzy' '--gpu-context=x11egl' '--no-stop-screensaver' '--no-input-default-bindings' '--input-vo-keyboard=no' '--no-input-cursor' '--cursor-autohide=no' '--no-keepaspect' '--wid=6291896' '--monitorpixelaspect=1' '--osd-level=1' '--osd-scale=1' '--osd-bar-align-y=0.6' '--sub-ass' '--embeddedfonts' '--sub-line-spacing=0' '--sub-scale=1' '--sub-font=Arial' '--sub-color=#ffffffff' '--sub-shadow-color=#ff000000' '--sub-border-color=#ff000000' '--sub-border-size=0.75' '--sub-shadow-offset=2.5' '--sub-font-size=50' '--sub-bold=no' '--sub-italic=no' '--sub-margin-y=8' '--sub-margin-x=20' '--sub-codepage=ISO-8859-1' '--sid=auto' '--sub-pos=100' '--volume=55' '--cache=auto' '--screenshot-template=cap_%F_%p_%02n' '--screenshot-format=jpg' '--screenshot-directory=/home/keithammann/Pictures/smplayer_screenshots' '--audio-pitch-correction=yes' '--volume-max=110' '--audio-client-name=SMPlayer' '--term-status-msg=.' '/run/media/keithammann/Cowboy_Bebop_D1/BDMV/index.bdmv'
[cplayer] mpv v0.40.0 Copyright © 2000-2025 mpv/MPlayer/mplayer2 projects
[cplayer] libplacebo version: v7.351.0
[cplayer] FFmpeg version: 7.1.2
[cplayer] FFmpeg library versions:
[cplayer] libavcodec 61.19.101
[cplayer] libavdevice 61.3.100
[cplayer] libavfilter 10.4.100
[cplayer] libavformat 61.7.100
[cplayer] libavutil 59.39.100
[cplayer] libswresample 5.3.100
[cplayer] libswscale 8.3.100
[cplayer] Configuration: -Dalsa=enabled -Dbuild-date=false -Dcaca=enabled -Dcdda=enabled -Dcplayer=true -Dcplugins=enabled -Dcuda-hwaccel=enabled -Dcuda-interop=enabled -Ddmabuf-wayland=enabled -Ddrm=enabled -Ddvbin=enabled -Ddvdnav=enabled -Degl-drm=enabled -Degl-wayland=enabled -Degl-x11=enabled -Dgl-x11=enabled -Dvaapi-x11=enabled -Dvdpau-gl-x11=enabled -Dvdpau=enabled -Dx11=enabled -Dxv=enabled -Degl=enabled -Dgbm=enabled -Dgl=enabled -Dhtml-build=enabled -Diconv=enabled -Djack=enabled -Djavascript=enabled -Djpeg=enabled -Dlcms2=enabled -Dlibarchive=enabled -Dlibavdevice=enabled -Dlibbluray=enabled -Dlibmpv=true -Dlua=enabled -Dmanpage-build=enabled -Dopenal=enabled -Dopensles=disabled -Doss-audio=disabled -Dpipewire=enabled -Dplain-gl=enabled -Dpulse=enabled -Drubberband=enabled -Dsdl2-audio=enabled -Dsdl2-gamepad=enabled -Dsdl2-video=enabled -Dsdl2=enabled -Dshaderc=disabled -Dsndio=disabled -Dspirv-cross=disabled -Duchardet=enabled -Dvaapi-drm=enabled -Dvaapi-wayland=enabled -Dvaapi=enabled -Dvapoursynth=enabled -Dvector=enabled -Dvulkan=enabled -Dwayland=enabled -Dwerror=false -Dzimg=enabled -Dzlib=enabled -Dprefix=/app -Dbindir=/app/bin -Ddatadir=/app/share -Dincludedir=/app/include -Dinfodir=/app/share/info -Dlibdir=/app/lib64 -Dlibexecdir=/app/libexec -Dlocaledir=/app/share/locale -Dlocalstatedir=/app/var -Dmandir=/app/share/man -Dsbindir=/app/bin -Dsharedstatedir=/var/lib -Dsysconfdir=/app/etc -Dauto_features=auto -Dbuildtype=plain -Dwrap_mode=nodownload
[cplayer] List of enabled features: alsa caca cdda cplugins cuda-hwaccel cuda-interop dmabuf-interop-gl dmabuf-wayland drm dvbin dvdnav egl egl-drm egl-wayland egl-x11 ffmpeg ffnvcodec gbm gl gl-x11 glibc-thread-name glob glob-posix gpl iconv jack javascript jpeg lcms2 libarchive libass libavdevice libbluray libdl libplacebo linux-fstatfs lua-5.1 memfd-create memrchr openal pipewire posix posix-shm ppoll pthread-condattr-setclock pulse rubberband rubberband-3 sdl2 sdl2-audio sdl2-gamepad sdl2-video uchardet vaapi vaapi-drm vaapi-wayland vaapi-x11 vapoursynth vdpau vdpau-gl-x11 vector vk-khr-display vt.h vulkan wayland wayland-protocols-1-32 wayland-protocols-1-38 wayland-protocols-1-39 wayland-protocols-1-41 x11 xv zimg zimg-st428 zlib
[cplayer] Setting option 'quiet' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'terminal' = '' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'msg-color' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'input-ipc-server' = '/tmp/smplayer-mpv-2' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'msg-level' = 'ffmpeg/demuxer=error' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'video-rotate' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'config' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'v' = '' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'fs' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'hwdec' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-auto' = 'fuzzy' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'gpu-context' = 'x11egl' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'stop-screensaver' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'input-default-bindings' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'input-vo-keyboard' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'input-cursor' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'cursor-autohide' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'keepaspect' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'wid' = '6291896' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'monitorpixelaspect' = '1' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'osd-level' = '1' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'osd-scale' = '1' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'osd-bar-align-y' = '0.6' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-ass' = '' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'embeddedfonts' = '' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-line-spacing' = '0' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-scale' = '1' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-font' = 'Arial' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-color' = '#ffffffff' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-shadow-color' = '#ff000000' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-border-color' = '#ff000000' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-border-size' = '0.75' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-shadow-offset' = '2.5' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-font-size' = '50' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-bold' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-italic' = 'no' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-margin-y' = '8' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-margin-x' = '20' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-codepage' = 'ISO-8859-1' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sid' = 'auto' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'sub-pos' = '100' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'volume' = '55' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'cache' = 'auto' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'screenshot-template' = 'cap_%F_%p_%02n' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'screenshot-format' = 'jpg' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'screenshot-directory' = '/home/keithammann/Pictures/smplayer_screenshots' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'audio-pitch-correction' = 'yes' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'volume-max' = '110' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'audio-client-name' = 'SMPlayer' (flags = 8)
[cplayer] Setting option 'term-status-msg' = '.' (flags = 8)
[clipboard] Initialized vo clipboard backend.
[cplayer] Waiting for scripts...
[ipc] Starting IPC master
[ipc] Listening to IPC socket.
[ipc_0] Client connected
[cplayer] Set property: user-data/osc/visibility="auto" -> 1
[cplayer] Set property: user-data/osc/margins={"b":0,"l":0,"t":0,"r":0} -> 1
[cplayer] Done loading scripts.
[cplayer] Running hook: auto_profiles/on_before_start_file
[cplayer] Failed sending hook command auto_profiles/on_before_start_file. Removing hook.
[cplayer] Running hook: auto_profiles/on_load
[cplayer] Failed sending hook command auto_profiles/on_load. Removing hook.
[cplayer] Running hook: ytdl_hook/on_load
[cplayer] Running hook: ytdl_hook/on_load
[ytdl_hook] playlist hook
[ifo_dvdnav] Opening /run/media/keithammann/Cowboy_Bebop_D1/BDMV/index.bdmv
[bdmv/bluray] Opening /run/media/keithammann/Cowboy_Bebop_D1/BDMV/index.bdmv
[file] Opening /run/media/keithammann/Cowboy_Bebop_D1/BDMV/index.bdmv
[cplayer] Set property: user-data/osc/margins={"b":0,"l":0,"t":0,"r":0} -> 1
[demux] Trying demuxers for level=normal.
[cplayer] Set property: user-data/osc/margins={"b":0,"l":0,"t":0,"r":0} -> 1
[osd/libass] libass API version: 0x1703000
[osd/libass] libass source: tarball: 0.17.3
[osd/libass] Shaper: FriBidi 1.0.16 (SIMPLE) HarfBuzz-ng 11.5.1 (COMPLEX)
[osd/libass] Setting up fonts...
[lavf] No format found, try lowering probescore or forcing the format.
[demux] Trying demuxers for level=unsafe.
[lavf] No format found, try lowering probescore or forcing the format.
[cplayer] Opening failed or was aborted: /run/media/keithammann/Cowboy_Bebop_D1/BDMV/index.bdmv
[osd/libass] Using font provider fontconfig
[osd/libass] Done.
[cplayer] Running hook: ytdl_hook/on_load_fail
[cplayer] finished playback, unrecognized file format (reason 4)
[cplayer] Failed to recognize file format.
[cplayer] Running hook: ytdl_hook/on_after_end_file
[cplayer] Exiting... (Errors when loading file)

[kasper93]

I don't know how to convince MPV that I've installed libaacs if it's choosing not to believe that I've installed it

You need to convince libbluray. mpv itself is not loading libaacs. Also it looks like something was updated and stopped working, you should report this to fedora. I can say that nothing changed in mpv regarding this part for a long time.

[llyyr]

Can you set export LIBAACS_PATH=/usr/lib64/libaacs.so before starting mpv?

[KeithAmmann]

Can you set export LIBAACS_PATH=/usr/lib64/libaacs.so before starting mpv?

That doesn't appear to have changed anything.

[KeithAmmann]

I don't know how to convince MPV that I've installed libaacs if it's choosing not to believe that I've installed it

You need to convince libbluray. mpv itself is not loading libaacs. Also it looks like something was updated and stopped working, you should report this to fedora. I can say that nothing changed in mpv regarding this part for a long time.

So I began wondering whether maybe libaacs was not installed on my machine, even though the dnf command said it was—maybe it got deleted somehow, yet there was still a flag somewhere indicating that I installed it that hadn't been reset. I tried issuing the command sudo dnf remove libaacs, then sudo dnf install libaacs again. Both the removal and the reinstallation seemed to work, but I still get "[bdmv/bluray] AACS encryption detected but cannot find libaacs."

Then I tried doing the same with libbluray, and that one got weird:

keithammann@fedora:~$ sudo dnf remove libbluray
Failed to resolve the transaction:
Problem: installed package gnome-online-accounts-3.56.1-1.fc43.x86_64 requires gvfs-goa, but none of the providers can be installed

• installed package gvfs-goa-1.58.0-1.fc43.x86_64 requires libgvfsdaemon.so()(64bit), but none of the providers can be installed
• installed package gvfs-goa-1.58.0-1.fc43.x86_64 requires gvfs(x86-64) = 1.58.0-1.fc43, but none of the providers can be installed
• installed package gnome-control-center-49.1-1.fc43.x86_64 requires gnome-online-accounts(x86-64) >= 3.51.0, but none of the providers can be installed
• installed package gvfs-1.58.0-1.fc43.x86_64 requires libbluray.so.2()(64bit), but none of the providers can be installed
• installed package gnome-shell-49.1-2.fc43.x86_64 requires gnome-control-center, but none of the providers can be installed
• conflicting requests
• problem with installed package

Yet sudo dnf install libbluray simply gives me "Package "libbluray-1.3.4-11.fc43.x86_64" is already installed."

Any idea what's going on here?

[llyyr]

Seems like you have a hodgepodge of packages from different/incompatible repositories in dnf. This is a Fedora troubleshooting issue and not related to mpv.

[KeithAmmann]

Whoops, that was the wrong log file—but there's no correct one. It's literally not getting as far as writing a log file. MPV is just crashing immediately.

[hooke007]

Then just try to reproduce it with mpv instead of smp. Or how to judge that it was not caused by smp.

[KeithAmmann]

Crazy things have begun happening.

I got fed up and uninstalled SMPlayer and MPV altogether, then installed SMPlayer afresh using dnf install smplayer. The following things happened:

• I couldn't run SMPlayer from my application list anymore. Nothing happens at all.
• However, I was able to run it from the command line (smplayer /dev/sr0).
• I tried using it to play a Bluey DVD (non-Bluray).
  • The first time, it gave me a new MPV error: Error 3 rather than Error 2.
  • The second time, it played perfectly!
  • The third time, however, it went haywire:

• On a whim, I tried using SMPlayer to play a Bluray disc one more time. IT WORKED.

I wish I knew what on earth was happening here.

[KeithAmmann]

After a couple of reboots, everything seems to have leveled out. I still get the occasional unexplained Error 2, but I can run it from the application list now, and it seems to play both DVDs and Blu-rays without issue.

I would love to know what exactly I did to make it work, other than go out of my way to choose an SMPlayer build specifically for Fedora 43 (which has the same version/build number as the one I was using before under Fedora 42) and install it manually rather than from Software.

[kasper93]

You should really report this to package maintainer for mpv / libdvdread / libbluray. The libraries responsible for dvd and bluray playback had new releases recently. Maybe some dependencies needs to be rebuild to match ABI changes, maybe there are bugs in new releases. Because it sounds like they are not stable.

On mpv side, not much changed in this area.