VLC freezes Ubuntu 26.04 LTS OS daily while playing large playlist set to random
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1568499/vlc-freezes-ubuntu-26-04-lts-os-daily-while-playing-large-playlist-set-to-random
Issue: VLC freezes Ubuntu 26.04 LTS OS while playing large playlist set to random daily. Mouse is unresponsive and have to press CTRL+ALT+DEL, sign out, sign in, and relaunch playlist to correct.
This is a PC being used in a video art installation in a gallery. It's a bit of a drive and I have to pay for parking each time I work on the PC as it is live in the gallery exhibition presently when we discovered the issue. The staff are kindly signing out and back in and relaunching it each time it freezes but they need me to fix it ASAP.
System Specs:
- i7-4770
- 8GB RAM
- Older 4TB hard drive I've formatted and added the media to
- Hardware tests passed.
- Disabled Power Saver mode for the exhibition so it wouldn't go to sleep during gallery hours.
- DisplayPort to HDMI cable connected to HDMI to RCA Converter plugged into a 1990s Samsung television set as part of the art installation.
The video content comprises old 80s cartoons and Saturday morning commercials which display on the CRT. The files are modest in size and low to medium resolution but it is a very large playlist, (about 60 days of continuous content). No HD content. VLC is set to play the playlist with random mode enabled. I also set it to expand all subfolders by default for the playlist.
The PC was freshly formatted with a bootable Ubuntu flash drive and the latest stable OS version installed.
All of the media content was transferred using FreeFileSync to verify data integrity to a folder on the PCs desktop. A playlist was generated of the folder's content which is what we launch in VLC each exhibition day.
The playlist runs day and night and we power off the CRT after hours to preserve its life. There is a small standard monitor connected which is set to mirror to the CRT.
I configured VLC to ignore all non-video file formats so that miscellaneous content from the folder wouldn't present an issue when I generated the playlist.
No other applications were installed and no other changes were made to the freshly-formatted PC other than the aforementioned media folder.
I read that VLC doesn't generate a log file by default. I've tried to provide all available information to expedite a resolution.
DisplayPort to HDMI cable:
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-Uni-Directional-DisplayPort-Display/dp/B015OW3GJK?th=1
HDMI to RCA Converter:
https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Adapter-Composite-Supports-Android/dp/B0D3F2ZNMD/
I searched the Ubuntu section of the VLC support forum for "freeze" and couldn't find a solution.
I posted the above to the VLC forum and the reply I received stated: "VLC can't freeze the whole OS, only itself. Looks like your display server is what is crashing. Update it or use another one."
I believe I'm running Wayland (the default), and I stated that I performed a fresh install of the latest stable version of Ubuntu so I would be inclined to think that I'm already using the latest version of the best display server.
I hope to not have to migrate the playlist to another video application as I mentioned I already configured VLC to ignore a whole list of non-video file types which occupy the collection folder/subfolders. And I am fairly competent with VLC vs learning an entire new application for the art exhibit which may introduce new issues. Staying with VLC is ideal.
I'm posting to the Ubuntu support forum as the VLC community said VLC can't freeze the OS so it's likely a video server issue. Can someone provide specific steps for me to resolve the freezing issue?
Thanks for any help you can provide!