OSS/VLC

Matthew45 · 2026-04-08T17:43:26+0100

I just want to point out, when in audio section in VLC player, OSS is selected, it dosent play sound in movies/recorded videos..it is commented in vlc.conf by default and in order to make it work is to uncomment OSS-sound and add /dev/dsp5 in my case..to get onboard sound working..can this be fixed somehow,without messing with the vlc.conf? So basically device isnt enabled by default in VLC

nxjoseph@ · 2026-04-08T18:08:18+0100

Matthew45 said:
it is commented in vlc.conf by default and in order to make it work is to uncomment OSS-sound and add /dev/dsp5 in my case..to get onboard sound working..can this be fixed somehow,without messing with the vlc.conf? So basically device isnt enabled by default in VLC

Where is that file? I can't find it in my system with vlc-3.0.22_2,4.

Matthew45 · 2026-04-08T18:24:03+0100

in nano ~/.config/vlc/vlcrc search for the oss-audio i got now # Audio output device (string)
oss-audio-device=/dev/dsp5 --and by default is # oss-audio-device i think..without any named device

nxjoseph@ · 2026-04-08T18:29:15+0100

Oh, vlcrc... I use OSS too, without pulseaudio/pipewire installed and VLC works out of the box. Does your sound work in other things than VLC by default?

Code:

$ cat /dev/sndstat
Installed devices:
pcm0: <ATI R6xx (HDMI)> (play)
pcm1: <Realtek ALC887 (Rear Analog)> (play/rec)
pcm2: <Realtek ALC887 (Front Analog)> (play/rec) default
pcm3: <Realtek ALC887 (Internal Digital)> (play)
No devices installed from userspace.
yusuf@freebsd:~ $ grep snd /etc/sysctl.conf
hw.snd.default_unit=2

Matthew45 · 2026-04-08T18:44:21+0100

Yes, in you tube videos i got sound, discord worked too, right after i installed this system..i only had issues with vlc.

T-Aoki · 2026-04-08T18:53:40+0100

If I recall correctly, vlc wants OSS to be exclusive (required physical channel instead of vchans), so if anything is already grabbed the interface, it wouldn't play sounds.

And doesn't menus Tools -> Configuration -> Output module (in Audio tab) allow you to choose OSS? Below is the Configuration window (Japanese translation, though).

Matthew45 · 2026-04-08T18:57:35+0100

Yes it allows, and that was first thing i did, selecting oss in audio tab..but no sound.. I think that maybe because of my wierd audio devices i got this

Matthew45 · 2026-04-08T19:21:40+0100

i also didnt notice in all audio settings that audio output device was not set up..so i guess adding /dev/dsp5 in my case manually could get me working sound..but i didnt try that out..I wonder however how it dosent work out of the box..but it is ok..