[vlc] Re: remote controle interface: menu command does not work ?

[Jean-Paul Saman]

Guillaume x wrote:
> I am having trouble using the menu command of the remote interface when 
> reading a DVD.
> I start vlc on myhost (linux debian) with vlc -I rc --rc-host localhost
> 
>> From a remote host, I telnet myhost
> 
> 
> All the rc command work well. I can start reading the dvd on myhost, 
> change chapters, controle volume, etc.
> 
> But the menu command does not seem to work.

The menu command on the rc interface is a generic mechanism to browse "a 
menu". It isn't specifically written for DVD navigational menu as you 
seem to expect. The support for this is currently far from finished 
several key features are missing. One of them by "no higlights" of 
selected buttons.

The navigation through the DVD menu is something that is working if you 
write your own configuration file for it (including the PNG images needed).

> I issue in telnet the commands "menu select/up/down/on/off/left/right" 
> when myhost displays some menu of the dvd and nothing happens (the menu 
> selection does not change). I get the following errors in the vlc 
> terminal on myhost :
> 
> [00000275] main interface error: osd_MenuNext failed
> [00000275] main interface error: osd_MenuDown failed
> [00000275] main interface error: osd_MenuPrev failed

The correct commandline is:

vlc -I rc --rc-host localhost:1234 --sout 
'#transcode{osd}:std{mux=ts,access=udp,url=127.0.0.1}'

On the client you need to select the subtitle stream named "On Screen 
Display".

If you want to have the OSD directly in the video output while you are 
not streaming to another host then use --sub-filter=osdmenu iso --sout 
'#transcode{osd}:std{mux=ts,access=udp,url=127.0.0.1}'

Only now the "menu on|off|left|right|up|down" commands work. Also the 
volup and voldown generate feedback to the remote host.

> On the remote host, I don't get any error. Each menu command outputs
> menu: returned 0 (no error)
> 
> This is a shame because the rc interface does not control languages and 
> subtitles, so the menu command is necessary to achieve this.

The functionality of the default osdmenu subfilter doesn't include 
information to control languages. It only does:

- play/pause
- stop
- chapter previous
- skip 3sec backwards
- skip 3sec forward
- chapter next
- quit vlc
- mute / volume

The osdmenu in the dvd.cfg file has the following functionality:

- play
- slower (only when not streaming)
- pause
- stop
- chapter previous
- skip 3sec backwards
- skip 3sec forward
- chapter next
- quit vlc
- mute / volume

Of course you can make your own osdmenu configuration file that includes 
some support for real DVD navigation. There is one ommission right now 
for this and that is the DVD navigation highlight is not sent to the 
remote host.

An example for DVD navigation menu support in osdmenu:

dir share/osdmenu/dvdnav
action  key-nav-activate (0,0)
         unselect unselected.png
         select   selection/key_activate.png
         pressed  selected/key_activate.png
end
action  key-nav-left (0,0)
         unselect unselected.png
         select   selection/key_left.png
         pressed  selected/key_left.png
end
action  key-nav-up (0,0)
         unselect unselected.png
         select   selection/key_up.png
         pressed  selected/key_up.png
end
action  key-nav-down (0,0)
         unselect unselected.png
         select   selection/key_down.png
         pressed  selected/key_down.png
end
action  key-nav-right (0,0)
         unselect unselected.png
         select   selection/key_right.png
         pressed  selected/key_right.png
end
action  key-quit (0,0)
         unselect unselected.png
         select   selection/key_quit.png
         pressed  selected/key_quit.png
end
action key-vol-up (0,0)
     unselect unselected.png
     select   selection/volume.png
     pressed  selected/volume.png
     action key-vol-up (480,0)
         type volume
         range key-vol-down 3
             volume/volume_00.png
             volume/volume_01.png
             volume/volume_02.png
             volume/volume_03.png
             volume/volume_04.png
             volume/volume_05.png
             volume/volume_06.png
             volume/volume_07.png
             volume/volume_08.png
             volume/volume_09.png
             volume/volume_10.png
         end
     end
end

Of course this also means that you must _create_ _your_ _own_ _images_ 
for this. The restriction is here that each image *must* include *all* 
buttons, because the OSD only displays one PNG at a time (currently).

I do have plans to lift these restrictions and add support for:
- OSD menu bar made up of several PNG's
- make DVD navigation menu work nice (apply the highlight to the correct 
subpicture and support for still DVD navigational menus)
- XML based config file and loader
- and many more usefull things to do remotely ;-)

Any help with this is appreciated.

Kind greetings,
Jean-Paul Saman.

-- 
This is the vlc mailing-list, see http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
To unsubscribe, please read http://www.videolan.org/support/lists.html