installed version 20.04 and then installed VLC which shows it loaded but nothing plays

What happens when you try?
What "media" are you trying to play?

Ever since installing Focal I've noticed VLC acting strangely. Sometimes when I shut it down after watching a DVD, there is a zombie process that just sits out there doing nothing. Any attempt to play any other media results with VLC doing nothing. Once I kill the zombie process, things go back to normal. I never saw this behavior in bionic.

What is the output of:

apt-cache policy vlc

Thanks

If you make a fresh Ubuntu user then log in as that is it the same?

Actionparsnip

When I get an email that has a video attached it will not play.The video
is usually an MP4 and when I select I get the message "what should
Thunderbird do with this file" which is "open with env".Nothing
happens.So I switch to VLC and again nothing happens.I get Youtube
videos and Internet instructional videos OK.

John

On 2021-02-21 6:45 a.m., actionparsnip wrote:
> Your question #695670 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/695670
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> actionparsnip requested more information:
> What happens when you try?
> What "media" are you trying to play?
>

Actionparsnip,

Not very proficient yet so not sure where to go to find apt-cache policy
vlc.

John

On 2021-02-21 9:30 a.m., actionparsnip wrote:
> Your question #695670 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/695670
>
> actionparsnip requested more information:
> What is the output of:
>
> apt-cache policy vlc
>
> Thanks
>
> If you make a fresh Ubuntu user then log in as that is it the same?
>

Replying to the automated email and attaching a file doesn't work. You need to host it online somewhere and make a URL for the file

If you open a terminal (Press CTRL + ALT + T is a shortcut) then run the command and copy/paste the output of the command on your question then we can see the output

Here is the copy/paste from the terminal

   Installed: (none)
   Candidate: 3.0.9.2-1
   Version table:
      3.0.9.2-1 500
         500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd 64
Package

It is flagged as installed on my software but terminal says (none).

John

On 2021-02-21 7:55 p.m., actionparsnip wrote:
> Your question #695670 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/695670
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> actionparsnip requested more information:
> Replying to the automated email and attaching a file doesn't work. You
> need to host it online somewhere and make a URL for the file
>
> If you open a terminal (Press CTRL + ALT + T is a shortcut) then run the
> command and copy/paste the output of the command on your question then
> we can see the output
>

You probably have the snap version installed, what is the output of

snap info vlc

license:   unset
description: |
   VLC is the VideoLAN project's media player.

   Completely open source and privacy-friendly, it plays every
multimedia file
   and streams.

   It notably plays MKV, MP4, MPEG, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, MOV, WMV,
QuickTime,
   WebM, FLAC, MP3, Ogg/Vorbis files, BluRays, DVDs, VCDs, podcasts, and
   multimedia streams from various network sources. It supports subtitles,
   closed captions and is translated in numerous languages.
commands:
   - vlc
snap-id:      RT9mcUhVsRYrDLG8qnvGiy26NKvv6Qkd
tracking:     latest/stable
refresh-date: 2 days ago, at 16:25 EST
channels:
   latest/stable:    3.0.12.1                    2021-01-23 (2103) 309MB -
   latest/candidate: 3.0.12.1                    2021-01-05 (2103) 309MB -
   latest/beta:      3.0.12.1-44-gf548dea948     2021-02-22 (2205) 309MB -
   latest/edge:      4.0.0-dev-14887-gfac2d91c88 2021-02-22 (2204) 359MB -
installed:          3.0.12.1                               (2103) 309MB -
john@john-MS-7996:~$

On 2021-02-22 2:05 p.m., Manfred Hampl wrote:
> Your question #695670 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/695670
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Manfred Hampl requested more information:
> You probably have the snap version installed, what is the output of
>
> snap info vlc
>

You could experiment with the latest/beta or latest/edge versions form the snap store.

In an case, if a program from the snap store is not working correctly, then you should ask on https://snapcraft.io or https://forum.snapcraft.io/

Manfred

I installed 20.04 because it was highly recommended and is to be
supported until 2025.Should I try to download it again so it overwrites
and hopefully corrects this deficiency or is there a better version that
will overwrite 20.04.Since the terminal says the VLC download isn't in
the cache even though the app store indicates it is installed I'm
wondering if it's worth the effort when it might be more sophisticated
than I need.I can remove it if there's something simpler.All previous
versions never required this much tinkering for such a basic
function.Any suggestions?

John

On 2021-02-23 2:11 a.m., Manfred Hampl wrote:
> Your question #695670 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/695670
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Manfred Hampl proposed the following answer:
> You could experiment with the latest/beta or latest/edge versions form
> the snap store.
>
> In an case, if a program from the snap store is not working correctly,
> then you should ask onhttps://snapcraft.io or
> https://forum.snapcraft.io/
>

Manfred,
That worked great.Thanks for the help and tip on deb version.
John