[Solved?] VLC won't play audio -- cannot set buffer duration

Question

I can't play sound in VLC. I have tried the default and the ALSA outputs. I know ALSA works, because mpg123, speaker-test, and rdesktop's sound all work. (Saying that, I can't tell if mpg123 uses alsa or not - rdesktop does though)
Attempting to play something in VLC gives me some rather cryptic errors. What follows is the output of "vlc -v" and an attempt to play a video with sound. I have split the "code"-tag just before the actual error output for clarity and ease of scanning.
VLC media player 2.0.7 Twoflower (revision 2.0.6-54-g7dd7e4d)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/audio_output/libportaudio_plugin.so' (libportaudio.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/audio_output/libjack_plugin.so' (libjack.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/services_discovery/libmtp_plugin.so' (libmtp.so.9: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/notify/libxosd_plugin.so' (libxosd.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/visualization/libgoom_plugin.so' (libgoom2.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/visualization/libprojectm_plugin.so' (libprojectM.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/codec/libtwolame_plugin.so' (libtwolame.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/access/libvcdx_plugin.so' (libvcdinfo.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/access/libaccess_jack_plugin.so' (libjack.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/access/libaccess_dv_plugin.so' (libavc1394.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/access/libaccess_mtp_plugin.so' (libmtp.so.9: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/video_output/libaa_plugin.so' (libaa.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/video_output/libcaca_plugin.so' (libcaca.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/vlc/plugins/control/liblirc_plugin.so' (liblirc_client.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
[0x8eb108] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
[0x7f1e6cc01bf8] mkv demux warning: MKV/Ebml Parser: m_el[mi_level] == NULL
[0x7f1e6cc01bf8] mkv demux warning: MKV/Ebml Parser: Up cannot escape itself
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
[0x7f1e68c068a8] alsa audio output error: cannot set buffer duration: Invalid argument
[0x7f1e68c068a8] pulse audio output error: PulseAudio server connection failure: Connection refused
[0x7f1e68c068a8] oss audio output error: cannot open audio device (/dev/dsp)
[0x7f1e68c068a8] main audio output error: no suitable audio output module
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
[0x7f1e6cc02b68] main decoder error: failed to create audio output
I have reproduced this with the same result using 'sudo vlc-wrapper' and I am added to the 'audio' group.
I have no idea where to start with this issue, I've tried googling but it seems that only one person has ever had this issue before (if Google is to be considered a reputable source), and he was running his own VLC build. I am running the build "pacman -S vlc" gave me. If anyone could point me in the right direction on this issue I'd be grateful.
Edit: This is my /etc/asound.conf. I have no idea what any of this means, at this point it's fill-in-the-blanks wiki copypasta (Edit2: The purpose of this file is to try to stop alsa from sending all my sound through a disconnected HDMI instead of the speakers)
# Use PulseAudio by default
#pcm.!default {
# type pulse
# fallback "sysdefault"
# hint {
# show on
# description "Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)"
#ctl.!default {
# type pulse
# fallback "sysdefault"
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm {
@func getenv
vars [ ALSAPCM ]
default "hw:Generic_1"
# vim:set ft=alsaconf:
Last edited by Score_Under (2013-08-02 23:23:27)

Answer 1

Situation update:
1. I didn't need my asound.conf like that -- I should have used pulseaudio in the first place, I was unaware that ALSA does not allow more than one program to use the sound device at the same time, whereas pulseaudio is used to mix sounds.
2. VLC works fine on PulseAudio. No idea why it failed on ALSA!
Last edited by Score_Under (2013-08-02 23:22:45)