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When I start a VLC instance, I can control it with media keys (Fn, BT headphones, etc.). But if I then start a second VLC instance simultaneously, I cannot control that one with media keys. That's probably intended, it would usually be pretty annoying if both reacted. But if I then close the first VLC instance, nothing reacts to media keys. And sometimes I simply want to decide that from now on, media keys should control a different program.

PulseAudio has so crazy many features, surely I can somehow switch my media keys over to another program or instance, right? How do I do this? (Having a command line method for scripting would be nice as well.)

Setup info, in case it's relevant:
Manjaro 21.1.2
KDE 5.22.5
PulseAudio 15.0
VLC has some buttons bound, but most are set via KDE's system settings or just left default. Both have the exact same issue.

Fabian Röling
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  • AFAIK this has nothing to do with pulseaudio. Some permanently-running program (part of your desktop environment) listens to those keys and routes them to a dbus event. What desktop environment are you using? – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Sep 06 '21 at 15:39
  • I'm using KDE. I guess I'll add general setup information to the question. – Fabian Röling Sep 07 '21 at 19:52
  • It's actually even more confusing: I usually use keyboard shortcuts that are set in VLC, not in the system. But they behave exactly the same way, the same VLC instance reacts to those as to the regular, unmodified (by me) media keys, like for example the "next" button on my Bluetooth headphones. – Fabian Röling Sep 10 '21 at 20:12
  • Maybe VLC grabs the keys when it starts unless another application has already grabbed them? In which case it might not be possible to convince an already running instance to listen. Do other media players behave in the same way? – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Sep 10 '21 at 21:12
  • Hard to say. I don't usually use other media players and when I just tried "JuK", "Amarok", "Cantata" and "Elisa", which I happened to have installed already, none of them responded to media keys at all, even with no other instances of anything running. – Fabian Röling Sep 11 '21 at 13:00

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