Play video file with VLC, then quit VLC

Question

I am working on a simple Python script that is supposed to do something, then play a video file, and then do some more stuff.

I am forced to do this on a Windows XP machine with Python 3.2.3 and VLC to play my video file.

I am currently using this code...

vlc_path = '\\path\\to\\vlc.exe'
video_path = '\\path\\to\\video\\file'
subprocess.call([vlc_path, video_path])

... to open VLC and play the video. It works nicely. However, the script waits for VLC to quit before it goes on. Which is good and I want to keep it that way.

My question is: Is there a way to quit VLC right after the video file has been played?

Thanks a lot for any help!

for additional control vlc has python bindings: http://wiki.videolan.org/Python_bindings — bmu, Apr 20 '12 at 15:53

score 44 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 20 '12 at 15:46

44

Funnily enough, vlc has a command line option for this:

  --play-and-exit, --no-play-and-exit
                             Play and exit (default disabled)

So, just pass this option to vlc.

answered Apr 20 '12 at 15:46

FatalError

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Thank you, this worked perfectly. One thing that seemed to be important is that you set `shell=True`. This worked for me: `subprocess.call([vlc_path, video_path, '--play-and-exit', '--fullscreen'], shell=True)` – Florian Apr 24 '12 at 15:51
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@Florian. Strange. For me `shell=False` worked, and `True` didn't. However, thanks for your implementation! – Mathias711 Dec 12 '14 at 13:49
This did not work for me running vlc on Windows 10. However adding the dummy item mentioned below did the trick. – Tobias Ramforth Oct 16 '15 at 13:08
remark: if loop playback is active, this won't work (makes sense though) – Alex M.M. Jun 14 '20 at 16:25

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 15 '14 at 06:36

9

Another option would be to pass the dummy item vlc://quit, e.g.:

vlc audio1.mp3 audio2.mp3 vlc://quit

Source: https://wiki.videolan.org/Transcode/#Completely_non-interactive_transcoding

answered Nov 15 '14 at 06:36

Glutanimate

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 06 '17 at 10:41

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If nothing works try using the option --ignore-config at the beginning after vlc in addition to http://quit at the end

answered Dec 06 '17 at 10:41

Amr

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 20 '12 at 15:43

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Best way I can think of is killing the process by a separate thread after video length has passed, if you know the length of the video in Python. Elsewhere, it depends on VLC-s command line options. Maybe you can tell him to close after playing the movie.

answered Apr 20 '12 at 15:43

Mihnea Simian

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It would be better to use the command line option here rather than uncleanly terminate the process. – logain Apr 14 '14 at 22:29

Play video file with VLC, then quit VLC

4 Answers4

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