Much as I suspected, xev does not receive the key press events. In other words, the X server is not sending them to applications. So it's not a VLC bug.
I suppose another application has grabbed the keys, so no other can receive them. ** Changed in: vlc (Ubuntu) Status: Incomplete => Invalid -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/690866 Title: Can't set multimedia keys as hotkeys -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs