Skipping forward/backward in videos hangs whatever app is playing them

[rockdawg]

I am having a big problem as I use my system to playback and edit video files. The problem is that I can play a video file fine, but if I try to skip forward or backward, the video just freezes and I have to force quit the app that is playing the video. I have experienced this with VLC, 5K PLayer and Leawo Blu-Ray Player and it happens every time. It doesn't matter if I use the app's skip forward/backward buttons or if I drag the time line. Either way the video freezes and I can't get anything to play or even stop.

The video files are mostly DVD/Blu-Ray in mkv files but I also experience the same with trailers which range from mp4, mov, flv and mkv. This will be a total deal breaker for me if I can't resolve it as I do this at least weekly. If I try the same files in Windows and VLC, it works just fine every time. I am really loving the Mac OS so far so I am hopeful this can be fixed.

Any help would be appreciated.

EDIT: I should note that all these video files are on a network share and this is on High Sierra 10.13.6.

 

[rockdawg]

I tracked this down to an audio issue. It turns out that those video apps (in Mac at least) need access to audio playback (may seem obvious but I've never had this issue in Win).

The issue is that I use an audiophile music software called Roon and for best audio quality the audio settings in it were set to Exclusive Mode which means that while Roon is playing audio no other program, including the OS, can access the audio output. I am usually listening to audio while on the computer so tit was denying the video apps access to the system's audio output. I'm not sure why it only seemed to affect them once I tried to skip forward or backwards in the video, but once I disables Exclusive Mode in Roon the issue went away.

 

[unsleepable]

Thanks for this! I was having the same issue and didn't realize it was related to the sound device. It might be a more or less recent change, as I often have my bluetooth speakers off and don't remember having had this issue with videos before.

 

[rockdawg]

I'm just glad my experience may help someone else. Good luck!