VLC doesn't disable gnome screensaver

[errorxp]

I had this problem also in F12, now in F13. Is there a fix for this? It's kind of annoying.

[pkands]

https://launchpad.net/caffeine

I use caffeine to inhibit the screensaver for vlc or anything else.

[bonedome]

Hi
alternatively use mplayer, it's had a disable gnome screensaver fix for a while

[BugRocks1]

gnome-screensaver-command -r "playing video" -i -n vlc

That probably works at least it says it is working when querying with dbus-send.

dbus-send --print-reply --session --dest=org.gnome.ScreenSaver /org/gnome/ScreenSaver org.gnome.ScreenSaver.GetInhibitors

To see all methods for org.gnome.ScreenSaver

dbus-send --print-reply --session --dest=org.gnome.ScreenSaver /org/gnome/ScreenSaver org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable.Introspect string:"org.gnome.ScreenSaver"

---------- Post added at 04:54 AM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 04:51 AM CDT ----------

There are some more ways that I didn't try here.

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=42814

Another suggestion is to end the screensaver process while running vlc and call it back after

---------- Post added at 04:59 AM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 04:54 AM CDT ----------

Scripting using dbus(old but gives a good idea of what one can do).

http://blog.fpmurphy.com/2009/02/dbus-scripting.html

[sonoran]

In VLC Tools menu, under Preferences, select Show All Settings, under Video there is a checkbox for Disable Screensaver.

[errorxp]

the option is checked but it doesn't have any effect for some reason.

[sonoran]

It was checked by default here, too, and it does stop my gnome screensaver. I would look elsewhere, possibly a BIOS setting or power management "feature".

[profalbert]

I'm using this as a workaround:

#!/bin/sh
gnome-screensaver-command -i -n vlc -r "playing video" &
pid=$!

stop_inhibitor(){
	kill $pid
}

trap stop_inhibitor SIGINT SIGTERM
/usr/bin/vlc "$@"
stop_inhibitor

I saved this to /usr/local/bin/vlc and it worked perfectly.

There is one downside: The screensaver is inhibited while vlc is running not only while playing

[errorxp]

thanks i may try that

[tantons]

Hello,

Not sure if anyone is still looking for this but I have a script I am using to disable the screen saver anytime vlc, hulu, myth or anything else you might want to add should work.

It is very basic. all it does is monitor to see if any of these programs are running and if they are it stops the screen saver and screen blanking. I have tested to fedora 14 with gnome.

I named it media-screen and placed it in /usr/local/bin then as root run chmod +x /usr/local/bin/media-screen

You can put the script anywhere and call it from your startup applications in Gnome in the command you need to run with nohup /usr/local/bin/media-screen & this will start it in the background and run all the time. anytime you start one of the programs it will disable the screen saver with no intervention.

Place the following in the script....

#!/bin/bash

while true; do
sleep 60

vlc_val=`pgrep vlc`
hulu_val=`pgrep hulu`
myth_val=`pgrep myth`
mplay_val=`pgrep mplayer`


if [[ $vlc_val -lt 4 && $hulu_val -lt 4 && $myth_val -lt 4 && $mplay_val -lt 4]]; then
gconftool-2 -s /apps/gnome-screensaver/idle_activation_enabled --type bool true
xset -dpms s blank

else
gconftool-2 -s /apps/gnome-screensaver/idle_activation_enabled --type bool false
xset -dpms s noblank

fi
done