[packman] upgrade from 42.1 to 42.3 broke VLC and SMplayer

[Felix Miata]

Upgrade I did only about a day before I had to prepare to be hit by Hurricane
Irma, so I don't have much recollection of details of the process. Now I'd like
to relax and watch some video, but it isn't working:

VLC: files (saved HD MPEG-4 4:2:2 DVB streams) that played normally in 42.1 now
are playing in monochrome except for random blotches of pastel overlays. Ancient
mpeg files and .isos ripped from DVDs play normally.

SMPlayer: trying to play same files that VLC formerly played OK makes SMPlayer
complains MPV failed to start. IFAIR, I didn't ask for MPV to be installed, but
my memory isn't that great. If I wanted MPV to open, that's what I would open,
but as it has no UI for a file picker[1], it seems to be worthless to me.

I haven't been able to figure out how to find logs for either app on disk.
Whether there is any log or even anything that would have been expected to be
logged I don't know. SMPlayer prints a tiny log window that cannot be resized
large enough to see all lines, or copy them for reasonable pasting:
/usr/bin/mplayer -noquiet -slave -identify -nofs -sub-fuzziness 1 -vo xv, -ao
alsa, -nodr -double -nomouseinput -input nodefault-bindings:conf=/dev/null
-nokeepaspect -wid 111149115 -monitorpixelaspect 1 -subfont-osd-scale 3 -ass
-embeddedfonts -ass-line-spacing 0 -ass-font-scale 1 -noflip-hebrew -ass-styles
/home/moz/.config/smplayer/styles.ass -subcp ISO-8859-1 -subpos 100 -volume 100
-osdlevel 0 -vf-add screenshot -noslices -channels 2 -af-add scaletempo -af-add
equalizer=0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 -softvol -softvol-max 110
/isos/AV/videos/Tmp/bbt1023CBS4100He-201709142000.ts

Is there an up-to-date doc somewhere that explains what needs to come from
Packman and what doesn't? Can SMPlayer work any more without MPV installed? Any
other suggestions to restore functionality lost to upgrading?

# zypsei vlc
i  | libvlc5            | package     | 2.2.6-4.1 | x86_64 | Packman
i  | libvlccore8        | package     | 2.2.6-4.1 | x86_64 | Packman
i  | vlc-noX            | package     | 2.2.6-4.1 | x86_64 | Packman
i  | vlc-qt             | package     | 2.2.6-4.1 | x86_64 | Packman
i+ | VLC Media player   | application |           | noarch | OSS
i+ | npapi-vlc          | package     | 2.2.0-1.4 | x86_64 | Packman
i+ | phonon-backend-vlc | package     | 0.8.2-5.2 | x86_64 | OSS
i+ | vlc                | package     | 2.2.6-4.1 | x86_64 | Packman
i+ | vlc-codecs         | package     | 2.2.6-4.1 | x86_64 | Packman
# zypsei | egrep -i 'mplay|mpv'
i  | MPlayer            | package     | 1.2.r37916-6.4	| x86_64 | Packman
i  | mpv                | package     | 0.25.0-12.17  	| x86_64 | OSS
i+ | smplayer           | package     | 17.6.0-2.1    	| x86_64 | OSS

[1] Before I upgraded, I asked about having a file picker for MPV.
http://lists.links2linux.de/pipermail/packman/2017-September/015378.html
-- 
"The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/