Unable to open a .mkv when its metadata title has more than 32 characters

[autiwa@…]

The exact version is : MPlayer svn r34540 (Ubuntu), built with gcc-4.6 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team

I tried with SMPlayer and mplayer directly into the shell. Here is the problem :
When a file metadata (title at least) has exactly 33 characters in its name, mplayer can't open the file. So far, it only crashes for .mkv files

HOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
1) Take a .mkv file, and use the command :
mkvpropedit test.mkv --edit info --set "title=aaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbccccccccccddd"
2) Try to launch it with MPlayer

HOW TO OVERCOME THE PROBLEM :
1) Take the exact same .mkv file and use the command :
mkvpropedit test.mkv --edit info --set "title=aaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbccccccccccdd"

2) MPlayer can read it without problems.

The problem seem to occur with MPlayer when reading the metadata, which VLC does without problems.

I any information misses, request them, I'll try to add them as quickly as possible.

[autiwa@…]

In fact, I just tested with more example and I have the following results. The first column is the number of characters, the second the title, and the last show if MPlayer can read it or not :

33 ; 0x05 - Les Funérailles d’Ulfin ; NO
33 ; 1x029 - L’Assassin de Kaamelott ; NO
33 ; 1x055 - Guenièvre et les Oiseaux ; NO
34 ; 1x057 - Perceval relance de quinze ; NO
33 ; 1x062 - Feu l’âne de Guethenoc ; NO
33 ; 1x075 - Eunuques et Chauds Lapins ; NO
33 ; 1x079 - L’Expurgation de Merlin ; NO
35 ; 2x072 - Perceval Et Le Contre-Sirop ; NO
36 ; 2x078 - L'Anniversaire De Guenièvre ; YES
36 ; 3x039 - Les Clous De La Sainte Croix ; YES

[reimar]

Your MPlayer version is soon 2 years old.
There seems to be no such issue with a recent version (r36450), see log below.
The full MPlayer output would have been useful, but you can try with -demuxer mkv and -demuxer lavf. If it only happens with -demuxer lavf that would mean it is a bug in the FFmpeg libraries the Ubuntu MPlayer is linked against.
MPlayer UNKNOWN-4.8 (C) 2000-2013 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing test.mkv.
Cache fill: 0.00% (0 bytes)

libavformat version 55.17.100 (internal)
libavformat file format detected.
[lavf] stream 0: video (mpeg4), -vid 0
[lavf] stream 1: audio (vorbis), -aid 0
VIDEO: [MP4V] 1024x576 0bpp 25.000 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
Clip info:

title: aaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbccccccccccdddszdusniohvnsuhfeiuhsziyhvuyisuybvyusbuvbsyubfvuiszbgviubsoznboiniesb
AUTHOR: Avidemux
ENCODER: Lavf53.24.0

Load subtitles in ./
[gl] using extended formats. Use -vo gl:nomanyfmts if playback fails.
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
libavcodec version 55.31.101 (internal)
[VD_FFMPEG] Trying pixfmt=0.
[VD_FFMPEG] XVMC-accelerated MPEG-2.
The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
Try appending the scale filter to your filter list,
e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, floatle, 0.0 kbit/0.00% (ratio: 0->384000)
Selected audio codec: [ffvorbis] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg Vorbis)
==========================================================================

[autiwa@…]

I tried the two options, but none of them works :
$ mplayer test.mkv -demuxer mkv
MPlayer svn r34540 (Ubuntu), built with gcc-4.6 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing test.mkv.
[mkv] No video track found/wanted.
[mkv] No audio track found/wanted.
Matroska file format detected.
No stream found.

Exiting... (End of file)

and
$ mplayer test.mkv -demuxer lavf
MPlayer svn r34540 (Ubuntu), built with gcc-4.6 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing test.mkv.
libavformat version 53.21.1 (external)
Mismatching header version 53.19.0
libavformat file format detected.
[matroska,webm @ 0x7f4c23daa940]Read error at pos. 370 (0x172)
LAVF_header: av_open_input_stream() failed

Exiting... (End of file)

I have the version with the current LTS of Ubuntu. Soon I'll upgrade the system. As you said, it seems that the bug is resolved in the most recent version. But as you ask, here are the logs.

[reimar]

Strange, the -demuxer mkv implementation hasn't changed since ages, and it worked with my sample file.
I suspect that your file might just not work with it in general, and not because of the long title.
Not that that helps you in any way. So I guess getting a newer version one way or another is probably the best option.

[autiwa@…]

I just tested mplayer with the title you choose and it worked. the crashes are definitely weird.

Here are the logs :
$ mplayer test.mkv
MPlayer svn r34540 (Ubuntu), built with gcc-4.6 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing test.mkv.
libavformat version 53.21.1 (external)
Mismatching header version 53.19.0
libavformat file format detected.
[matroska,webm @ 0x7f2efdcb1940]Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
[lavf] stream 0: video (h264), -vid 0
[lavf] stream 1: audio (aac), -aid 0
VIDEO: [H264] 720x400 0bpp 25.000 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
Clip info:

title: aaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbccccccccccdddszdusniohvnsuhfeiuhsziyhvuyisuybvyusbuvbsyubfvuiszbgviubsoznboiniesb

Load subtitles in ./
[vdpau] Error when calling vdp_device_create_x11: 1
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
libavcodec version 53.35.0 (external)
Mismatching header version 53.32.2
Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 0.0 kbit/0.00% (ratio: 0->192000)
Selected audio codec: [ffaac] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg AAC (MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Audio))
==========================================================================
AO: [pulse] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
Unsupported PixelFormat 61
Unsupported PixelFormat 53
Unsupported PixelFormat 81
Movie-Aspect is 1.80:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [xv] 720x400 => 720x400 Planar YV12
A: 6.3 V: 6.3 A-V: -0.001 ct: -0.001 0/ 0 20% 1% 0.8% 2 0

Exiting... (Quit)