I met the same problem.
system: Linux mint 18.1 "Serena"
When I did like this:
$ sudo apt-get install vlc browser-plugin-vlc
Outcomes:
sudo: unable to resolve host mint
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
vlc : Depends: vlc-nox (= 2.2.2+git20170601+r59025+56~ubuntu16.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libavcodec-ffmpeg56 (>= 7:2.4) but it is not going to be installed or
libavcodec-ffmpeg-extra56 (>= 7:2.4) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
I tried many methods that i can search on the net, such like:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
$ sudo apt-get update --fix-missing
$ sudo apt-get autoclean $$ apt-get clear cache
and so on.
But those can help me to solve the problem.
I also see Synaptic Package Manager --> Custom Filters --> Broken
, there were no broken package.
Finally, I changed the software source, then I tried
$ sudo apt-get install vlc browser-plugin-vlc
The problem was solved.
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
and try again – M. Becerra Feb 28 '17 at 09:52