Bug 286932 - embedded movie in pdf plays fine but won't stop
Summary: embedded movie in pdf plays fine but won't stop
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: okular
Classification: Applications
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: 0.12
Platform: openSUSE Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Okular developers
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2011-11-18 15:48 UTC by davidblunkett
Modified: 2011-12-13 21:54 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In: 4.8.0


Attachments
pdf linking to a movie called test.avi in the same directory (28.28 KB, application/pdf)
2011-11-24 09:37 UTC, davidblunkett
Details

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Description davidblunkett 2011-11-18 15:48:29 UTC
Version:           0.12 (using KDE 4.6.0) 
OS:                Linux

I created a pdf with a movie embedded in it using beamer and the multimedia package.  This places a multimedia link to a separate file on disk. When I view the page with the movie in it I get a black rectangle, if I click the rectangle the movie plays - great.

The problem is when I move to the next page (no movie here) the movie keeps playing - it isn't visible but the sound is still there.  This applies to normal viewing mode - it behaves better in presentation mode.

If I go back to the page with the movie it is still playing.  If I have another page with a movie and click that I get both going at once and there seems to be no way to stop the movies from playing.  

In presentation mode it behaves better - moving forward or back from the page kills the movie off and when I return I can see the last frame. If I click the film rewinds and starts again.

Moving from presentation to normal mode stops any movies playing (that started in presentation mode) but doesn't stop any started playing in normal mode.



Reproducible: Didn't try

Steps to Reproduce:
as above

Actual Results:  
Movies started in normal mode won't stop

Expected Results:  
Movies started in normal mode should stop when you navigate away

Using KDE Development Platform 4.6.00 (4.6.0) "release 6" from suse 11.4

I can't workout what okular is using to play the movie.

Some control (pause, rewind, fast forward) would be very handy.
Comment 1 Albert Astals Cid 2011-11-20 21:36:53 UTC
No file to test?
Comment 2 davidblunkett 2011-11-24 09:37:33 UTC
Created attachment 66026 [details]
pdf linking to a movie called test.avi in the same directory

uploading a full file for this test is a bit OTT - copy a movie into the same dir as the pdf and name it test.avi that should do the trick.  For the full effect choose a longish movie with sound.  Very short clips and clips without sound make it difficult to diagnose (because they are silent so you can't be sure they are still running once you have changed pages and short clips can end before you have multiple instances running)
Comment 3 Albert Astals Cid 2011-12-06 13:11:47 UTC
We do show video controls if the PDF files instructs us to show them, maybe what you want is file a bug against beamer so that they enable that flag in the pdf file? (ShowControls in th movie dictonary)

I understand you filing this bug against okular but from what i can see we are doing stuff according to the books (i tried opening the file with Acroread on Linux but it totally failed to show any video)
Comment 4 Oliver Sander 2011-12-06 17:58:58 UTC
AFAIR the beamer package does allow ShowControls to be set.  No need to file a bug.
Comment 5 davidblunkett 2011-12-10 22:19:55 UTC
The fact that acroread can't play the media file may not be relevant - this is likely a problem with the borked multimedia on acroread linux (assuming you tried it under linux and not windows).

The bug here is the fact that the media file continuous running when you move away from the page it is on (unless in presentation mode).  Each time you visit a page a new mediaplayer is spawned so if the same media clip appears on several pages you end up with several media clips running simultaneously.  This is clear a bug regardless of whatever acroread does.

I'll look into the setcontrols in beamer...
Comment 6 davidblunkett 2011-12-10 22:45:29 UTC
I can confirm that I can enable controls in beamer and that they appear correctly in the pdf using okular.  

However, playing movies continue to play on pages that are not displayed - at least now it is possible to manually stop them!

In presentation mode movies on pages that are not displayed are stopped but I'm getting inconsistent results when I go back to the movie.  Sometimes the film is paused where it was, sometimes it is stopped and rewound.
Comment 7 Albert Astals Cid 2011-12-11 19:15:38 UTC
"The bug here is the fact that the media file continuous running when you move
away from the page it is on (unless in presentation mode).  Each time you visit
a page a new mediaplayer is spawned so if the same media clip appears on
several pages you end up with several media clips running simultaneously.  This
is clear a bug regardless of whatever acroread does."

This is your opinion, but the fact is that the pdf specification does not say (or at least i can not find it anywhere) that changing from page to page should stop the current video that is playing, so it is not a clear bug.
Comment 8 davidblunkett 2011-12-11 21:18:41 UTC
In presentation mode okular stops non visible movies, in normal mode it doesn't.  I would be highly surprised if that was in the specs!

A bug is unintended behaviour, just because the specs are not clear does not mean this isn't a bug.  I can see no intention that movies should continue to play when not displayed.  This simply doesn't make sense.  Furthermore in the example I posted it leads to several instance of the same movie playing at the same time despite not being visible, I would (strongly) argue that this is unintended behaviour and therefore clearly a bug.  Furthermore it is a nuisance and renders this feature unusable in most circumstances I can envisage.

So if you want to argue that it is not clear a bug I think you need to argue that this behaviour is clearly intended.
Comment 9 Albert Astals Cid 2011-12-11 22:11:37 UTC
> In presentation mode okular stops non visible movies, in normal mode it
> doesn't.  I would be highly surprised if that was in the specs!
Sure it isn't.

> A bug is unintended behaviour, just because the specs are not clear does not
> mean this isn't a bug.
You are right. The problem is who decides what is unintended behaviour

> I can see no intention that movies should continue to
> play when not displayed.  This simply doesn't make sense.  
I actually can, movies do not need to have images (as specified on the spec they can be only sound) so it could be just a music i want to play during the whole of my presentation. Of course that would mean the bug is in the presentation mode, but you wanted an example of why the current implementation in the regular mode would be useful and you got it

> Furthermore in the example I posted it leads to several instance of the same
> movie playing at the same time despite not being visible, I would (strongly)
> argue that this is unintended behaviour and therefore clearly a bug.  
> Furthermore it is a nuisance and renders this feature unusable in most
> circumstances I can envisage.
Let's be honest here, you could just add close buttons and properly stop each video when you don't want it. And moreover the "regular view" is not intended for presentations, since for that we have the presentation mode

> So if you want to argue that it is not clear a bug I think you need to argue
> that this behaviour is clearly intended.
That's like saying i have to prove i am innocent, sorry but it does not work this way, it is you that have to prove i am guilty, this is the same, if you think something i a bug, it is you that have to prove it is a bug.
Comment 10 Oliver Sander 2011-12-12 11:24:00 UTC
Concerning your experience with Acroread: The Linux version of Acroread does not play any videos in pdfs at all.  That is why okular video support is so important to some people.
Comment 11 davidblunkett 2011-12-12 20:21:41 UTC
I forget that reporting a bug about okular is always prone to open up trolls. 

The bug, as reported, is clearly unindented behaviour, the example given of why it might be wanted is not sound. The example I posted clear shows the limitation of this argument - who would want several copies of the same audio track running at the same time with random time delays between them?

From previous experience here I can see this discussion spiralling down to a fix/wontfix rant so I'm bailing out with a final comment that the specs are clearly ill defined here.  If the result of this bug report is to just decide that this ridiculous behaviour is "intended" then at least provide an default controls or an option to configure this behaviour and turn it off.

The okular bug forum reminds me of the bad old days of mplayer bug reporting.
Comment 12 Albert Astals Cid 2011-12-12 22:11:52 UTC
> I forget that reporting a bug about okular is always prone to open up trolls. 
You really think calling a troll the only person left that is working on okular (because all the others left due to user abuse) is a smart move?

> The bug, as reported, is clearly unindented behaviour, the example given of
> why it might be wanted is not sound. The example I posted clear shows the
> limitation of this argument - who would want several copies of the same audio
> track running at the same time with random time delays between them?
No. Maybe you did not understand me, what i think it makes sense to me is having exactly one PDF Movie Object (that is not actually a movie but a sound), and then click on play on it in the first page and want it to keep playing for the whole presentation, do you really think that doesn't make any sense?

> From previous experience here I can see this discussion spiralling down to a
> fix/wontfix rant so I'm bailing out with a final comment that the specs are
> clearly ill defined here.  If the result of this bug report is to just decide
> that this ridiculous behaviour is "intended" then at least provide an default
> controls or an option to configure this behaviour and turn it off.
Adding an option just because a consensus can not be agreed is a bare bones solution, the smart thing to do is agree on a solution that makes everyone happy. Also calling other people's opinion ridiculous is bad, you need to learn respect here, because as far as i can see, i was respectuous with you, and if the only way you have to show disagreement is rudeness and being non respectful, that is bad.

> The okular bug forum reminds me of the bad old days of mplayer bug reporting.
This is not a forum.

On a side note i did the extra work of finding a computer with Windows intalled and tried Adobe Reader there and i had to battle Adobe Reader multimedia support until i found a video it could play (work you could have done when i asked what Adobe Reader did, but you prefered to get aggresive) and Adobe Reader stops the current movie being played when changing to a different page, so i consider this a valid bug.

I was really decided to work on a bugfix, sadly the possibilities have decreased after reading your answer, don't feel motivated anymore.
Comment 13 davidblunkett 2011-12-13 00:24:53 UTC
From the start: I do not think that having undisplayed, unstoppable, multiple movies playing at the same time in a pdf document is a bug.

I called this behaviour (multiple movies all playing together) ridiculous not you, not your comments.

btw respect is usually earnt (by the recipient) rather than learnt.
Comment 14 Albert Astals Cid 2011-12-13 08:17:39 UTC
(In reply to comment #13)
> btw respect is usually earnt (by the recipient) rather than learnt.
Are you saying you are unrespectful to everybody you meet for the first time?
Comment 15 Albert Astals Cid 2011-12-13 18:52:54 UTC
Git commit 89e2611f322ddec3cd0a3e58684d49024b77fc18 by Albert Astals Cid.
Committed on 13/12/2011 at 19:50.
Pushed by aacid into branch 'master'.

Stop playing videos when they are no longer visible

This mimics Adobe Reader behaviour
BUGS: 286932
FIXED-IN: 4.8.0

M  +5    -0    ui/pageview.cpp
M  +5    -0    ui/videowidget.cpp
M  +2    -0    ui/videowidget.h

http://commits.kde.org/okular/89e2611f322ddec3cd0a3e58684d49024b77fc18
Comment 16 davidblunkett 2011-12-13 21:54:35 UTC
Thanks!

Just FYI: observations by a colleague who has noticed the following behaviour:

In presentation mode only the first movie plays if there are controls, the controls are greyed out on subsequent movies unless he switches back to normal mode and then back to presentation mode.  This is on a different version of okular I think. For me the controls work on all the pages in presentation mode.

Another observation is that if I include a button to launch an external movie player then this works fine with the exception that in fullscreen mode the external player launches underneath the pdf.  This is probably unintended behaviour but is difficult to arbitrate between which application "owns" the screen.