SUMMARY Media playback through the VLC media player used to be controllable using the tray widget or global keyboard shortcuts. Since some recent Plasma version (likely 6.1 or after), playback can no longer be paused using the widget button (keyboard shortcut still works) or resumed once paused (using either the tray widget or keyboard shortcut). The other controls work fine, and this does not occur with other media players. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. Install and open VLC media player (3.0.21) 2. Play an audio or video file 3. Attempt to pause playback using the tray widget, fails 4. Pause playback by other means 5. Attempt to resume it using anything except VLC itself, fails OBSERVED RESULT Clicking the tray widget's pause button does nothing. When trying to resume, neither the tray widget nor the keyboard shortcut function. The "play" button in the tray widget is greyed out while playback is paused. No further indication of the problem. EXPECTED RESULT Playback should be controlled as normal. SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS Linux: Kernel 6.9.10-arch1 KDE Plasma Version: 6.1.3 KDE Frameworks Version: 6.4.0 Qt Version: 6.7.2 VLC media player: 3.0.21 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION This is not a duplicate of #382412, since the keyboard shortcut still worked in that case. This is also not a regression in VLC (tested back to 3.0.18).
Created attachment 171832 [details] greyed out play button
Created attachment 171833 [details] another example of greyed out play button taken by this user on KDE Discuss: https://discuss.kde.org/u/jonzn4SUSE/
IIRC this is a recent bug in VLC's MPRIS implementation. Do you recall what I might be thinking about, Ivan or Fushan?
I just encountered the same bug. Should be a bug in VLC which is ancient enough.
A possibly relevant merge request was started @ https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/merge_requests/4592
Git commit c5edc144665a0d814a908ae6a120a288f7965d7d by Fushan Wen. Committed on 08/08/2024 at 16:53. Pushed by fusionfuture into branch 'master'. applets/mediacontroller: use Play/Pause to control players Some players don't report updated CanPlay or CanPause properties to MPRIS, which is a problem for PlayPause() as it requires the player can play and pause at the same time. Use Play/Pause to work around it. M +5 -1 applets/mediacontroller/package/contents/ui/main.qml https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/commit/c5edc144665a0d814a908ae6a120a288f7965d7d
Git commit 627f5418409f2e362fb83f6fdb6f427221460a0c by Fushan Wen. Committed on 08/08/2024 at 16:56. Pushed by fusionfuture into branch 'master'. libkmpris: refresh player when track list changes For some players when the current track list changes, it doesn't emit all changed properties for org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player. This adds a check for the track list so when the track list changes, the player information is refreshed. FIXED-IN: 6.1.5 M +2 -6 libkmpris/playercontainer.cpp https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/commit/627f5418409f2e362fb83f6fdb6f427221460a0c
Git commit 9a294b8a91170ed2bd5c75a65c81fee7c58839d2 by Fushan Wen. Committed on 09/08/2024 at 00:57. Pushed by fusionfuture into branch 'Plasma/6.1'. applets/mediacontroller: use Play/Pause to control players Some players don't report updated CanPlay or CanPause properties to MPRIS, which is a problem for PlayPause() as it requires the player can play and pause at the same time. Use Play/Pause to work around it. (cherry picked from commit c5edc144665a0d814a908ae6a120a288f7965d7d) Co-authored-by: Fushan Wen <qydwhotmail@gmail.com> M +5 -1 applets/mediacontroller/package/contents/ui/main.qml https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/commit/9a294b8a91170ed2bd5c75a65c81fee7c58839d2
Git commit 1ff8f37f6a8fb47697364d56460989abbd764bbf by Fushan Wen. Committed on 09/08/2024 at 00:57. Pushed by fusionfuture into branch 'Plasma/6.1'. libkmpris: refresh player when track list changes For some players when the current track list changes, it doesn't emit all changed properties for org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player. This adds a check for the track list so when the track list changes, the player information is refreshed. FIXED-IN: 6.1.5 (cherry picked from commit 627f5418409f2e362fb83f6fdb6f427221460a0c) Co-authored-by: Fushan Wen <qydwhotmail@gmail.com> M +2 -6 libkmpris/playercontainer.cpp https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/commit/1ff8f37f6a8fb47697364d56460989abbd764bbf
The playback control via Media Player applet is still buggy on Plasma 6.1.5. Now it can be paused, but cannot be resumed. Operating System: Arch Linux KDE Plasma Version: 6.1.5 KDE Frameworks Version: 6.5.0 Qt Version: 6.8.0 Graphics Platform: Wayland
Can you please open a new bug report for it, and put this one (490569) in the "See Also" field? Thank you!
Report the bug to VLC please
The same issue is happened to me with the Strawberry media player (and also VLC). Glad to hear I'm not alone with this. I've reported the issue on the Strawberry repository: https://github.com/strawberrymusicplayer/strawberry/issues/1546 My understanding is that the KDE media widget signaling has been reworked, and media players now need to consider that change on their end. Is that correct?
What version of Plasma are you using, Cre8or?
I'm currently on KDE Plasma 6.1.5.
Thanks.