vlc-plugin-dvb: document and warn at launch

VLC's MPEG-TS demuxer (libts_plugin.so) ships in a separate package on
Arch / CachyOS (vlc-plugin-dvb). Without it, VLC silently falls back
to the PS demuxer and misidentifies our H.264 stream — the symptom is
a green screen. mpv doesn't share this dependency.

- README: list vlc-plugin-dvb under requirements, replace the
  "green screen, not yet diagnosed" gotcha with the diagnosis.
- interactive.rs: when the user picks VLC, check for
  /usr/lib/vlc/plugins/demux/libts_plugin.so and print a warning to
  stderr if it's missing. Soft warning, not a hard error — VLC still
  spawns so the user can confirm the symptom for themselves.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-05-21 05:28:19 -04:00
parent 15766834f1
commit 6e4d30bfa9
2 changed files with 35 additions and 8 deletions
+10 -4
View File
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ Not yet working:
- X11 capture (stubbed, returns an error)
- Per-app audio routing (`--app <name>` is a flag stub)
- Multi-viewer (single viewer per host by design right now)
- VLC client renders the H.264 stream as a green screen — mpv works
- `--repair` (PipeWire orphan cleanup) is a stub
## Quick start
@@ -68,6 +67,10 @@ pixelpass <ticket>
- `gstreamer`, `gst-plugins-base`, `gst-plugins-good`, `gst-plugins-bad`,
`gst-plugins-ugly`, `gst-libav`, `gst-plugin-va`, `gst-plugin-pipewire`
- A player: `mpv` (recommended) or `vlc`
- If you use VLC: `vlc-plugin-dvb` must also be installed. Arch / CachyOS
ship VLC's MPEG-TS demuxer (`libts_plugin.so`) in that separate
package, and without it VLC misidentifies the H.264 stream and shows
a green screen. mpv is unaffected.
- PipeWire (for screencast portal + audio capture)
On Arch / CachyOS:
@@ -77,6 +80,8 @@ sudo pacman -S gstreamer gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-plugins-bad \
gst-plugins-ugly gst-libav gst-plugin-va gst-plugin-pipewire \
libva-utils mpv
# plus your GPU's VAAPI driver
# plus, if you want to use VLC instead of mpv:
sudo pacman -S vlc vlc-plugin-dvb
```
If the viewer is running on battery, set the CPU governor to performance
@@ -146,9 +151,10 @@ relay path otherwise. Both have been verified end-to-end.
## Known limitations and gotchas
- **VLC shows a green screen** against a stream mpv handles correctly.
Likely a VLC-specific PCR / PMT / alignment expectation; not yet
diagnosed. Use mpv until this is fixed.
- **VLC needs `vlc-plugin-dvb`** to demux MPEG-TS on Arch / CachyOS. The
symptom of missing it is a green screen — VLC falls back to the PS
demuxer and misidentifies the H.264 stream. pixelpass warns at
player-launch time if the plugin isn't on disk. mpv doesn't need it.
- **Audio echo** if the host plays the stream through speakers and
captures system audio — expected, the mic / monitor picks up the
playback. Headphones bypass it.
+25 -4
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@@ -68,14 +68,35 @@ impl Player {
url,
],
),
Player::Vlc => crate::common::process::spawn_detached(
"vlc",
&["--network-caching=200", "--live-caching=200", url],
),
Player::Vlc => {
warn_if_vlc_ts_demuxer_missing();
crate::common::process::spawn_detached(
"vlc",
&["--network-caching=200", "--live-caching=200", url],
)
}
}
}
}
// VLC's MPEG-TS demuxer ships in a separate package on Arch / CachyOS
// (`vlc-plugin-dvb`). Without it VLC falls through to the PS demuxer
// and shows a green screen.
fn warn_if_vlc_ts_demuxer_missing() {
const TS_DEMUX_PLUGIN: &str = "/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/demux/libts_plugin.so";
if !std::path::Path::new(TS_DEMUX_PLUGIN).exists() {
eprintln!();
eprintln!(
"Warning: VLC's MPEG-TS demuxer plugin ({TS_DEMUX_PLUGIN}) is missing."
);
eprintln!(
" On Arch / CachyOS, install `vlc-plugin-dvb`. Without it,"
);
eprintln!(" VLC will show a green screen. mpv is unaffected.");
eprintln!();
}
}
pub fn prompt_player() -> Result<Player> {
let theme = ColorfulTheme::default();
let choice = Select::with_theme(&theme)