Video player bug

[hrondon272]

• When I try to play a video, this one doesn't work good, at the beginning a tought that I was because of high quality videos, but the slow quality ones too.

[berry120]

This may be due to the switch we've made to GStreamer in 2024 - do older versions work ok?

[Jak0bd]

I can confirm that the older versions work fine for me but the new Gstreamer versions do not work. Had to revert back to the 2022 version.
With GSteamer, in all cases that I try to play a video - it just doesnt do anything. VLC is installed (correctly) and works fine in the 2022 version. Running Quelea on windows.

[ebbez]

I can confirm that the older versions work fine for me but the new Gstreamer versions do not work. Had to revert back to the 2022 version. With GSteamer, in all cases that I try to play a video - it just doesnt do anything. VLC is installed (correctly) and works fine in the 2022 version.

I tried to investigate the issues with GStreamer regarding the memory leak, but I have found several other bugs that cause issues with GStreamer (only confirmed on Windows):

• The latest major GStreamer version 1.26 does not work well. It caused Quelea on Windows to either: crash on launch, crash on playing video, or just played a black screen.
• For some reason, the GStreamer - I think the one that came bundled with Quelea - got installed to a non-existing drive or a removable USB drive that I have no knowledge of. When trying to install other GStreamer versions it kept throwing a "Invalid drive E:" error even though this wasn't the destination I selected for the install.

The latest working GStreamer that worked for me on Windows was 1.25.90 (this is an unstable release), but the latest stable release is 1.24.12. You can download this version on https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/data/pkg/windows/1.24.12/msvc/

The bundled 1.22.8 also worked fine, but I had to make sure to purge all the wrong installation paths with Registry Editor in order to (re)install GStreamer to the correct location. After I purged all the data and reinstalled Quelea it actually did install to the right drive this time. I don't know what caused it but it seems like it might sometimes install to the wrong drive.

[DeeTigIT]

My notes on Quelea 2024.0 and GStreamer.

Quelea 2024.0 - windows installer

• Uses JAVA version 11.0.12 (build-in JRE 11: Temurin-11.0.12+7 from Eclipse Foundation)
• Does install GStreamer 1.0 - 1.22.8 in case:
  • GS is not present yet on the system
  • A lower version of GS is present (this lower version is removed first)
• Does NOT install GStreamer 1.0 - 1.22.8 in case:
  • A higher version of GS is present.

GStreamer 1.26.7 is another bug fix release in the new stable 1.26 release series. Published: 14-10-2025
"Various bug fixes, build fixes, memory leak fixes, and other stability and reliability improvements".

But the current Quelea 2024.0 (Windows installer) can't use this improved GS 1.26.7:

• If GS 1.22.8 is manually un-installed and GS 1.26.7 is manually installed: Quelea won't start anymore.
• If GS 1.26.7 is manually installed PRIOR to the Quelea install: Quelea only starts once during install and won't start up anymore afterwards.
• There is no error in de debug log: it just ends with "INFO: Created main window." But there is no window.

Quelea 2024.0 - crossplatform installer

A working setup on my side:

• GS 1.26.7, manually downloaded and installed (Complete install)
• JRE 11: OpenJDK Runtime Environment Zulu11.82+19-CA (build 11.0.28+6-LTS), manually downloaded and installed

Alternatives

An official version Quelea 2024.1 or Quelea 2025.0, to give better support to the latest GS in the Windows installer version, is unlikely to be released. Therefor if the combi Quelea 2024.0 (windows) + GS 1.22.8 gives to much headaches consider these alternatives:

• Stick to Quelea 2022.0 (windows) with the VLC media player. (next year Quelea 2026.0 will be released)
• Switch to Quelea 2024.0 (cross-platform), see above, if you are an experienced or power user.
• Try/use Quelea CI (the coming 2026.0 release under developement). Note: CI uses JRE 25.
  But be carefull as the website says: "It's not an official release and we don't recommend using this in production."

[DeeTigIT]

@berry120 : Could you review my notes above? Perhaps additional release notes are appropriate for this?

[berry120]

Thanks everyone for the above. This is all rather odd (and complicated by the "it works for me" factor too as I can't recreate it on my side!)

I'm wondering whether the switch with GStreamer 1.26 installing in the program files folder by default is to blame here, it seems the most likely. We do try to use environment variables to work out where it's installed, but fall back to the default C:\gstreamer path that it used to use if that fails.

@DeeTigIT one other possible test that might confirm this - if you try installing 1.26 of GStreamer but set C:\gstreamer\ rather than C:\Program Files\gstreamer\ to be the install path, does it work ok? If so we've narrowed down the cause!

[berry120]

I have pushed a more complete set of default paths to check in the CI version now regardless, so if that is the issue it should hopefully be solved.

[DeeTigIT]

Additional test findings:

• Quelea 2024.0 (Windows installer) can use GS 1.26.7 as long as the video tab is disabled. (property: video.tab=false).
  This applies to both default installation folder C:\Program Files\gstreamer\ and a manual specified C:\gstreamer\ installation folder.
• But as soon as I change video.tab=true Quelea won't start anymore.
  I see the OpenJDK Platform binary process, but it just disappears and no Quelea window pops up.
• Reverting back to video.tab=false and Quelea starts again.

But in my working setup above Quelea starts no matter this value for video.tab. How is this possible? Assuming the Quelea code for Windows and crossplatform is functional equal the issue could be in the different JRE's: JRE 11 Zulu (in my setup) and JRE 11 Temurin (Quelea uses, build-in). I therefore performed a new test with:

• Quelea 2024.0 (crossplatform installer)
• GS 1.26.7
• OpenJDK11U-jre_x64_windows_hotspot_11.0.12_7 from Adoptium EclipseTemurin: this is the one in the Windows installer I think.

Now I get the same behaviour: setting video.tab=true and Quelea won't start anymore.
My suspicion therefore lies with: JRE 11 Temurin

[berry120]

Hmm it's still rather odd - I can't reproduce it even with or without the video tab visible, and this is using Temurin (as this is what's bundled with the windows installer.)

Do you get the same issues with the CI release, or is it solved there?

[DeeTigIT]

The CI release has not this issue of not starting Quelea.
And both (default) C:\Program Files\gstreamer\ and (manual override) C:\gstreamer\ can be used as installation folder.

[berry120]

If the CI release is fixed then I'm relatively happy as it means the next version should be ok. More emphasis on getting that one out sooner rather than later I suppose!

[DeeTigIT]

One addition to my crossplatform test. If I use the latest JRE 11 Temurin version (OpenJDK11U-jre_x64_windows_hotspot_11.0.28_6.msi) in my setup, so:

• Quelea 2024.0 (crossplatform installer)
• GS 1.26.7
• OpenJDK11U-jre_x64_windows_hotspot_11.0.28_6

Then the strange behaviour of aborting Quelea upon startup (when video.tab=true) is gone.

To summarize all this:

The combination Quelea 2024.0 (both Windows and cross-paltform) + GS 1.26.7 (regardless of the installation folder) + Adoptium EclipseTemurin JRE 11.0.12_7 is a problematic one. The Quelea start-up is aborted when the video tab is enabled. This JRE 11.0.12_7 is contained in the Windows version and can't be changed. Choosing the 2024.0 Windows version thus means one is stuck to the build-in GS 1.22.8 version for the video tab. Using the crossplatform version with a higher/different JRE is an alternative, but for experienced/power users only. Users who don't want to use the CI release in their production can still use Quelea 2022.0 (windows) with the VLC media player. Next year Quelea 2026.0 will be released.

@berry120 : If you'd like, I can share a recording of Quelea aborting during startup.

[berry120]

Ah I see, so it's literally just the version embedded in 2024.0 that seems to be the problem. That's a pain. Maybe it's worth repackaging the 2024.0 installer with the updated Temurin JRE just to avoid this issue for now...

…

On Sat, 25 Oct 2025 at 06:01, DeeTigIT ***@***.***> wrote: *DeeTigIT* left a comment (quelea-projection/Quelea#669) <#669 (comment)> One addition to my crossplatform test. If I use the latest JRE 11 Temurin version (OpenJDK11U-jre_x64_windows_hotspot_11.0.28_6.msi) in my setup, so: - Quelea 2024.0 (crossplatform installer) - GS 1.26.7 - OpenJDK11U-jre_x64_windows_hotspot_11.0.28_6 Then the strange behaviour of aborting Quelea upon startup (when video.tab=true) is gone. To summarize all this: *The combination Quelea 2024.0 (both Windows and cross-paltform) + GS 1.26.7 (regardless of the installation folder) + Adoptium EclipseTemurin JRE 11.0.12_7 is a problematic one*. The Quelea start-up is aborted when the video tab is enabled. This JRE 11.0.12_7 is contained in the Windows version and can't be changed. Choosing the 2024.0 Windows version thus means one is stuck to the build-in GS 1.22.8 version for the video tab. Using the crossplatform version with a higher/different JRE is an alternative, but for experienced/power users only. Users who don't want to use the CI release in their production can still use Quelea 2022.0 (windows) with the VLC media player. Next year Quelea 2026.0 will be released. @berry120 <https://github.com/berry120> : If you'd like, I can share a recording of Quelea aborting during startup. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#669 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABZ6JDNRDFKFWJYTISF4U5T3ZL7ZXAVCNFSM6AAAAABZ3XSU3OVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTINBVHA2DSNRSGY> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

-- Thanks, Michael

[DeeTigIT]

Bump Temurin JRE to 11.0.28_6 and, optional, GS to 1.26.7 (the Q Windows installer should then remove any lower version).

Could be released as Quelea 2024.1 or even Quelea 2025.0

Before throwing it on the Q release page: I volunteer to do some testing, both crossplatform and Windows (the latter I can't test now).

[berry120]

Thanks as always - I've bumped the included JDK in this release, so hoping it solves the problem: https://github.com/quelea-projection/Quelea/releases/download/CI-RELEASE/quelea-2024.0.1-x64-windows-install.exe Nothing else has changed, I don't really want to give the impression it's anything different to 2024.0 apart from with an updated JRE (which means the CI release won't change either since it doesn't have a JRE included.) If someone can confirm that solves the problem with 2024.0, then I'll edit the 2024.0 release page to contain that file instead :-)

…

On Sat, 25 Oct 2025 at 18:14, DeeTigIT ***@***.***> wrote: *DeeTigIT* left a comment (quelea-projection/Quelea#669) <#669 (comment)> Bump Temurin JRE to 11.0.28_6 and, optional, GS to 1.26.7 (the Q Windows installer should then remove any lower version). Could be released as Quelea 2024.1 or even Quelea 2025.0 Before throwing it on the Q release page: I volunteer to do some testing, both crossplatform and Windows (the latter I can't test now). — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#669 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABZ6JDO3ZZ3FFOQYHWMTGNL3ZOVWHAVCNFSM6AAAAABZ3XSU3OVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTINBWHEYTANBXHE> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

-- Thanks, Michael