VLC Media Player 0.8.4 is out

mctk writes "This new release features many improvements including a new VLC cone, new Mac OS X wizard and extend controls dialogs, tree playlist skins2 support, HTTP interface CGI handling, linux binary codecs loader, UPnP and Bonjour service discovery, shoutcast stream forwarding, new languages... Have a look here for the full list of changes. Binary packages and the source code are available on the VLC download page." Always been one of my favorites on any platform.

Comments

vlc - I like

[xiong.chiamiov]

I really like VLC. For the longest time, I used Winamp to play all my media files, but it is painfully slow. iTunes is okay, but still lacking. And WMP is out of the question (I try to run Windows as non-Microsoft as possible). Then, when trying to find something to run .ogm (Ogg Vorbis video files), I came across VLC, and haven't used anything since. And the fact that it's released under GNU doesn't hurt at all.

Re:vlc - I like

[alphakappa]

One of the greatest features of VLC is that it will let you save any media that it can read. So whether it is a movie file or a streaming movie, it will let you save it to a file (or broadcast it). That is pretty much how *most* applications in other areas work - if you can read a file, you can save it too, but no other mainstream media player will let you do this for media files.

Re:vlc - I like

[Bonker]

I like VLC and use it on my mac... but not as much as I like Media Player Classic, which I use on my PC.

MPC is smaller, more versatile, and less tempremental.

Re:vlc - I like

[chris_eineke]

mplayer does that just fine, thank you.

Re:vlc - I like

[tloh]

VLC is my favorite player as well. I use it almost exclusively - with one exception: subtitles. Many of the media I've gradually aquired come with *.srt subtitle files. So far, the only tool I've found that will process these is the DirectVobSub plugin. Unfortunately VLC can't use these (last I checked) as it requires directshow (?directx? my sources are a bit confusing). I wonder if some more resourceful souls out there can show me how to use *.srt subtitles with VLC (if at all).

Re:vlc - I like

[magefile]

I use VLC with srt files. Granted, I'm using a Mac, but I bet it works on Windows, too. Your video/audio file must have the same name as the srt file (except the extension, obviously), then while the video is playing, select the Video menu. The bottom option should be the "Subtitles Track" option - just pick the one you want.

Re:vlc - I like

[Anonymous Coward]

When opening the media you can tick the box Subtitles, browse for the .srt file and voila..

I am using this for a long time now..

IMHO the subtitling needs some tweaking. PowerDVD has got great subtitling-function but the one in VLC is kinda crappy (sorry)

Re:vlc - I like

[tloh]

got it working! thanks a lot!

Re:vlc - I like

[Anonymous Coward]

mplayer does

mplayer -streamdump

for a LONG tine

Re:vlc - I like

[WWWWolf]

The subtitle file doesn't need to be renamed or be even in the same folder.

Hit play, choose File, select the movie file, check Subtitle options and hit that little button next to it, and pick subtitle file.

Re:vlc - I like

[Nosferax]

MPlayer is a nice program but it cover less OS than VLC. I would like a windows version of it. I like is playlist feature.

Re:vlc - I like

[Sketch]

> mplayer does that just fine, thank you.

And even better, mencoder supports encoding directly from such streams. So you can do something like:

mencoder -ovc lavc -oac lavc -lavcopts mpeg4 -o standardformat.avi rtsp://path/to/proprietary/codec/stream

(lavc = libavcodec, part of ffmpeg, supports encoding in standard formats like mpeg and mpeg4/divx)

Re:vlc - I like

[6*7]

But this results in a 1 pass encoding, anyone that likes some quality would prefer to just dump the stream to disc and spend the extra time for a multipass encode.

Re:vlc - I like

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you're wrong. MPlayer has broader OS support than VLC but nothing stops you from using both. Personally I use MPlayer for everything but DVD's.

Here's a Windows version: http://mplayer.sunset-utopia.homeip.net/

I doubt that VLC can be run on all of these:

Amiga
BeOS
BSD
Linux
Mac OS X
MorphOS
QNX
Windows
Zaurus

Re:vlc - I like

[Sketch]

True, but how often is your average real/wmv stream high quality anyway? Not very, in my experience. Of course, there are always exceptions.

Re:vlc - I like

[Tab is on Slashdot]

no other mainstream media player will let you do this for media files.

Strange that you say this, as even WMP10 -- the lowest common denominator of contemporary media players -- has a "save as" option.

Re:vlc - I like

[6*7]

True, though I was suprised by some Real video from the local public access TV. At 64kbyte/s it looks very good, only the sound sucks.

But especialy if the origin it's quality isn't that good, one wants to spend the time to do a decent encode since quality only decreases with each re-encode (you might try to hide it with some of the many filters mencoder has).

Re:vlc - I like

[Nosferax]

Windows --- check Linux --- check BeOs --- check *BSD --- check Solaris --- check Qnx --- check Amiga --- Dead for a while Zaurus --- Check WinCE --- Check Mac OS X --- Check That is 10 vs 9 that you list... Also can you point me to the Windows version of MPlayer I've been looking for it for a while. Thank you

Re:vlc - I like

[Nosferax]

Scratch the Amiga... my bad... So they are even at 9 each... The Amiga part was a comment about the fact that the plateform is dead.

Mac OS X wizard?

[pomo monster]

I'll reserve judgment 'til I've used it a bit more, but nine times out of ten, wizards are a usability disaster that are only marginally better than the abomination of an interface that necessitated them to begin with. (Those nine times are usually in Microsoft products.) You shouldn't need a wizard to set things up, or to create things--the options should be right there in front of you, and not require elaborate explanation. Wizards are kind of alien to the whole OS X experience, even though there are a few examples of decent, helpful wizards in the OS.

Also, I notice the new VLC still doesn't have a nice way to compensate for audio desynchronization. There should be a slider or something on the controller to scrub the audio sync back and forth in realtime. Add to that the totally awkward menu to select where to play fullscreen--why not just play it on whatever display the window's in right now?--and overall I'm disappointed in this update.

That said, it's still the best "free" player out there for OS X I've seen yet. Congratulations to the developers. It could be a great product, if only they'd pay a little more attention to usability and elegance.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[John Nowak]

Try MPlayer instead. It has a problem where the menu bar changes (heaven forbid) depending on if you have the playing window selected or the controller window selected (the former menubar is mostly just blank I think), but overall it is less painful. I use it over VLC on OS X.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[uiucmatse]

Yeah, I agree wizards are usually awful. However, in VLC on OS X, it operates more like a "Save As..." command. There's no egregious handholding, it's just a far more Mac-like way to transcode video than digging through the standard method. Oh, and I don't like the new icon.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[pomo monster]

Yeah, is there any reason they changed the icon? The old one was a lot better, or at least it gave you an idea what the program does. So what the hell is a construction cone titled "VLC.app" supposed to do?

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[pomo monster]

It's a personal preference, I'm sure, but MPlayer makes VLC look like the fucking Chrysler building in terms of design. All things considered, VLC's not too bad--it's just that it could be much better, without (seemingly) much effort.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[John Nowak]

It is true that MPlayer lacks "design", but I'd take no design to poor design any day of the week.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[jZnat]

VLC's logo has been that orange cone for a while, dude.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Blakey Rat]

Are you joking?

The GUI to mplayer on OS X is SO BAD it took me over a half hour to figure out how to quit the program. You click the movie window to bring it to the front, hit Command-Q, nothing happens. That's weird. You scrub the menus. No Quit option. Hmm. Let's try making the window bigger... Command-0, nothing. Command-1, nothing. (In pretty much every media player, Command-1 is half-size, Command-2 is normal-size, Command-3 is double-size, and Command-0 is full-screen. VLC is a bit different, but not so much that it's too confusing.)

Of course since I don't keep my Dock open all the time, little did I know that mplayer isn't ONE program, it's TWO programs... and the program that actually plays the movie doesn't quit. At all. It can't quit. But if you quit the *other* program, then it automatically goes away. I guess the "designer" of the GUI didn't know you could hide the Dock. Of course, even if he didn't, there's no excuse for putting two icons on it, one of which doesn't (for all practical purposes) work when you could use one in the first place.

Whoever "designed" this interface obviously had never used a Mac before or, possibly, even a GUI before. It's terrible. It's horrible. It violates almost every rule of good GUI design, and, as a result, it's a pain in the ass to use. I'm sorry. It's an F in my book.

VLC might not have all the codecs or whatever, that mplayer has, but you know what? It has a GUI that wasn't designed by an alien from the planet Weebo who's never seen a computer before, so it gets my download every time.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[pomo monster]

Nah, there's no such thing as "no design," only thoughtless design.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Blakey Rat]

My main gripe with VLC right now is that if you set the DVD Autorun to start VLC instead of DVD Player, VLC starts but it won't automatically start playing the DVD. Apple's DVD Player steals focus about 5 times during the process of inserting a DVD, and it's a real pain in the ass... I'd prefer to avoid it entirely if at all possible, but starting up the DVD in VLC every time is a pain in the ass too. Right now, going with the 'stealing focus' pain in the ass beats out the 'choosing File-Open Disk, Ok' pain in the ass.

Of course, if Apple would fix their goddamned software, none of this would be an issue. A software program that steals focus and hasn't been fixed during the ENTIRE HISTORY OF OS X? What happened to your QA department, Apple? They all on sabbatical or something?

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[pomo monster]

Or, to reply to myself, "unintelligent design" if you prefer.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Anonymous Coward]

Try hitting g and f for audio de-synchronization, it is not a new feature.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Zhe Mappel]

Fair points. UI criticism aside, we need VLC on OS X because Quicktime won't play everything.

As long as Apple won't combine elegance with usability, I'm grateful to those offering us usability without the elegance.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[SleepyHappyDoc]

it's just that it could be much better, without (seemingly) much effort

Can't wait to see your patch. When will you be done writing it?

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[pomo monster]

I'm contributing by making suggestions, right here, right now. Not everybody can (or even wants to) learn to program. So don't be a jackass--it just makes the open source community look bad.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[pomo monster]

So complaints and suggestions for improvement are unwelcome in the open source community, because everybody should either (a) just learn to program computers or (b) shut the fuck up, because that's the "point of OSS"? Sorry, I don't buy it.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[pomo monster]

Cool, thanks for the tip, I'll try it next time. This functionality definitely needs to be exposed better in the UI.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's my comment on it, and I don't usually comment here or /., so that's why it's anon. I use Mplayer every day to load .mpg, .avi, etc. files. It sucks. I mean, when it works, it works great. But it's simply not reliable. And here's where people ridicule me because it's the file formats fault. Well, I know that. My mind does not change.
The files that I can't get to play in Mplayer I throw into VLC.
Amazing.
It will play most everything I can't get to work on any other program. But that's not it. There's another thing.
I often drop frames.
But it tells me I just dropped a more than 5 secs of frames. It doesn't just keep playing and displace the audio, like other programs do. (I've fallen asleep during this, and ended with the audio for a movie ending half an hour before the movie).
Also, when it comes to using files on a mac where subtitle files are needed, you just can't do that properly in Mplayer. VLC does it just the f*** right. It's actually the only program I've been able to use (successfully) with subtitle files.

I also have sexual dreams about VLC late at night, but don't tell! That's our personal secret.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[l3v1]

complaints and suggestions for improvement are unwelcome

No, I think the point was that in FOSS land you don't bash an app if it has different key bindings than some of your usual native os apps. As it is, mplayer's key bindings are fairly easy to figure out if you spent some time with more than one app. Anyway, both vlc and mplayer rock big time, and I personally don't really care what movie players people like as long as I can have them both close.
 

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[1110110001]

If you the option key while right-clicking on the icon in the dock (or clicking with option and ctrl key) you can kill the programm instead of just quiting it. If they don't want to work with you shoot them ;)

b4n

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[TheRaven64]

Right now, going with the 'stealing focus' pain in the ass beats out the 'choosing File-Open Disk, Ok' pain in the ass.

Somewhere near your mouse, you will find a device that looks a bit like it, but hat around 100 buttons and isn't designed to be moved. Familiarise yourself with this device - you will find it useful. To play a DVD with VLC, hit command-d, then hit enter.

You will, however, still find that VLC plays the audio track with the number of the last one played, not the one with the same name. This can be irritating, since some DVDs of TV shows put the audio tracks in a random order and you need to manually select English every time.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[zootm]

The OS X gui just happens to make it easier for people who are too dumb to type "mplayer Movie.file".

Preach on, brother. I'm also upset with these "manufacturers" who create crappy cars for people too dumb and lazy to make their own cars.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[MagerValp]

I like VLC better, but on my Mac Mini I have to use MPlayer when playing movies over the wireless network. VLC handles the buffering better, but the controls are unresponsive. If you have a few megs of cache (to compensate for wireless wonkyness), it takes several seconds between pressing pause and the movie actually pausing. Seeking with the ffwd and rewind buttons is even more painful.

I'd really like to switch to VLC though, as MPlayer stutters in high bitrate scenes, no matter how big I make the cache.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[zootm]

No, I think the point was that in FOSS land you don't bash an app if it has different key bindings than some of your usual native os apps.

Why not? It's a valid criticism. Consistency is a large part of usability, and usability is what GUIs are there for.

It's fair enough if it's ported from another platform and has taken the keybindings with it, that does not change the fact that its interface is crappy on the new one. The fact that a system is OSS does not remove one's right to talk about its flaws.

Not everyone is capable of coding, but most people can tell when something doesn't work they way they want it to. The problem is that those who are capable of coding are often a lot more tolerant of weirdness and having to learn new interfaces, even when it's completely unnecessary, so the feedback of those who can't code is often invaluable.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[karstux]

I don't know which version of mplayer you tried, but maybe you should give it another chance. Apparently there's a new version for download at mplayerhq.hu, and it conforms better to OS X standards: Command-Q quits the player window, Command-0 to Command-2 switches play window sizes from half to double size, Command-F toggles fullscreen. You can quit the player window by clicking on the standard "x" window button, and through the menu bar. Like most OS X apps it stays in memory even after you quit the last app window.

But you know, the good thing about mplayer is that it's available for so many platforms. I have a Mac, a Windows PC and a Linux box. I can (and do) use mplayer on all these machines, and the keyboard interface is consistent, although it doesn't conform to the respective OS's gui guidelines. That's a design choice, and in my book a good one. You may disagree (probably because you're not used to it, took me a while to get to like it too), but that doesn't make it a "horrible" interface.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Hatta]

Of course the GUI sucks. The regular non gui OSD/keyboard interface is so beautiful that anything else is crap next to it. Why should they bother designing a good GUI (how oxymoronic) when they have the perfect user interface already?

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your comparison is wrong, since noone told you to write your media player.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[stevey]

Sure not everybody can code and suggestions / requests for enhancements are a good thing.

But posting them here on an devoted to a different project will have no effect, your comments are unlikely to be seen by people working on the project and that means they will most likely be ignored.

Mail the fine MPlayer people and submit your request directly; that would be a good way to support the open source community - and not look like a jackass ...

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[zootm]

Your comparison is wrong, since noone told you to write your media player.

My comparison was that to build one's own car, one would have to learn something that they don't really need to learn to achieve their goal — in that case, how to build a car, for the goal of owning a car, in the original case how to use a command line in order to wathc a video.

People are not "stupid" because they can't/won't learn how to use a command line.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Blakey Rat]

Does it still use 2 Dock icons instead of one? That right there is enough for me to not use it.

Like most OS X apps it stays in memory even after you quit the last app window.

I don't think you understand how OS X works. You don't "quit" windows, you quit applications. That is, if you select Quit, *all* the windows close because the application unloads itself from memory and goes away. If you close the window, all you've done is close the window. (Most) OS X applications don't automatically quit when you close the last window because 1) historically, they've never done it that way since 1984 2) that's goofy as hell. Have you ever finished working on one project in Word, then wanted another one? So you hit close on the open document you no longer need, and hit the Word icon to create a new one. But Word unloaded itself from memory, so you have to wait for the whole beast to boot up again... what a pain! (Of course, you quickly learn to create the new document before closing the old, but why should you have to?)

Anyway, OS X's memory management is designed to basically assume you keep all your applications running all the time. In fact, just to make things quicker, I usually start up most of my apps after rebooting the computer, just so they're available.

But you know, the good thing about mplayer is that it's available for so many platforms. I have a Mac, a Windows PC and a Linux box

And VLC isn't?

You may disagree (probably because you're not used to it, took me a while to get to like it too), but that doesn't make it a "horrible" interface.

Any interface in which Command-Q doesn't quit the application is a horrible interface. You're not going to talk me out of that one, regardless of how similar the keyboard shortcuts are between platforms. Command-Q quits every other application ported from Windows or Linux.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Blakey Rat]

The OS X gui just happens to make it easier for people who are too dumb to type "mplayer Movie.file".

Because I don't automatically think of using a *text based* interface to play *multimedia* (you know, that thing where there's lots of pictures and sounds but no text), that makes me dumb?

That point aside, the OS X GUI doesn't make it easier whatsoever, which is basically my point. The most basic task a program can perform is quitting itself, and mplayer doesn't even make that easy. (Well, didn't, to be fair, some posters are telling me the new version is better.)

VLC has a bloated GUI that makes easy tasks hard and hard tasks impossible.

I'm calling you out on this one. What "easy task" does VLC make hard?

If there's something more that you want, then code it yourself. That's the point of OSS... you can code the features you want. Bitching and whining like a fucking crybaby is not part of the deal.

I expect the original coders to take enough pride in their work to make sure it fits the OS X guidelines. If they don't care, why should I? (I've worked for people who don't care before, believe me, it's a losing proposition. I'm sure it's even worse when the work is volunteer, like in open source.)

Plus, and this may surprise you, but I'm not very likely to spend months learning the mplayer code just so I can add a few enhancements when VLC already does what I want. And that's if I could understand the code at all which, likely as not, I wouldn't be able to. (But, of course, if I can't work on a huge project, I must be dumb to you, right?)

BTW, you could have saved yourself hours of randomly hitting keys (like a monkey trying to reproduce Shakespeare) if you had read the fucking manual.

So now I have to read the manual to quit a program? Uh... no. How about I just use the competition which does not suck?

I think what we've learned from this post is that you are a complete idiot. Please turn in your computer at the nearest police station... or something.

You're the one poring over a complex manual to quit a program instead of just downloading VLC, and I'm the complete idiot? Might want to re-examine that.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Blakey Rat]

Thanks, zootm, exactly what I was thinking but phrased probably more polite than I would have. :)

There are two factors to the "why don't I fix it" puzzle:

1) I haven't programmed anything since college. It would take me probably a year to learn enough about mplayer, and enough of the OS X API, to be able to make the changes that need to be made.

2) VLC already exists, and it already works just perfect. So I just use it. If these were commercial programs, sold to OS X users, the business that put out mplayer would long since be bankrupt because, for the average user, VLC is better in every way.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Blakey Rat]

Yeah, but that's not what I'm looking for. I want to slide my DVD in the drive while typing in Pages or doing some task in Excel and have the DVD start playing, automatically, in a window at the corner of my screen.

Apple's DVD Player can't do this because it steals focus and interrupts my typing. VLC can't do this because I have to switch to it and select a menu option (whether I use the keyboard or not), and it interrupts my typing.

I don't think it's an unreasonable request to have a computer that can just play a DVD automatically without getting in my way.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[TheRaven64]

Have you tried using AppleScript? You can, I believe, instruct VLC to play a DVD from the command line. You can run a shell script from an AppleScript. You can have OS X run an AppleScript when a DVD is inserted. So, you write an AppleScript that calls a shell script that instructs VLC to play the DVD. I don't know if this would steal focus or not, but it might be worth trying. I would try it, but I'm still (after a month) waiting for Apple to fix my PowerBook.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[soellman]

This is exactly why Mac users should use VLC. We already have enough righteousness without getting hooked on a "better" interface :)

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[Anonymous Coward]

Multimedia includes text.

I'm the complete idiot?

Yes you are.

Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[Nova Express]

That, to my mind, is the huge, gaping hole in VLC. And the latest version doesn't solve the problem, as WMV3 isn't supported on any now-Windows platform. I would think that somebody would have reversed engineered the codec by now. It's hard to be the Swiss Army CanOpener of video formats when it doesn't open half of all the cans coming off the line...

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[Teilo]

Try WMV Player if you want an alternative to WMP on OS X. It lets Quicktime Player play any WMV file. It's not Open Source. It's not free. But it actually works better than WMP on a Mac.

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[eyeball]

That, to my mind, is the huge, gaping hole in VLC. And the latest version doesn't solve the problem, as WMV3 isn't supported on any now-Windows platform. I would think that somebody would have reversed engineered the codec by now. It's hard to be the Swiss Army CanOpener of video formats when it doesn't open half of all the cans coming off the line...

Same with Indeo codecs under *nix. I can't believe how long they've been out but haven't been reversed engineered.

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[Washii]

I was under the impression that VLC would only use open-sourced codecs. So, even a reverse-engineered codec wouldn't necessarily make its way into VLC, right?

Afterall, the VLC people themselves aren't the ones CREATING and MODIFYING the codecs, just packing them with their player and making sure they work correctly.

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[droleary]

Try WMV Player if you want an alternative to WMP on OS X. It lets Quicktime Player play any WMV file. It's not Open Source. It's not free. But it actually works better than WMP on a Mac.

And yet it commits the same sin: requiring Administrator installation. There doesn't seem to be a single WMV option (other than the limited VLC support) that doesn't want root on my computer. When will these people learn that it's just supposed to be a bloody video codec, not a way to potentially compromise every machine it touches?

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[kubla2000]

sung to the tune of YMCA:

D. M. C. A.

sing it now! D M C A

Lay the blame at the feet of those who passed that arse wiping law. Reverse engineering is illegal.

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[mr100percent]

Maybe its a codec that wants to be availible to all users instead of just one. Or maybe it's the copy protection. Drag the codec into the ~/Library/Quicktime/ folder

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[droleary]

Maybe its a codec that wants to be availible to all users instead of just one.

Who are they to tell me what I must make available to all users? More importantly, I may not be the fucking administrator in the first place!

Or maybe it's the copy protection.

You pull that kind of shit on Windows, not on the Mac. Is there something about the W in WMV that forces gross stupidity on developers and users alike?

Drag the codec into the ~/Library/Quicktime/ folder

I can't, because they stuck it all inside a .pkg file. If they really wanted my business, they would have at least made the installation relocatable.

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[Hatta]

This is not a problem. Anyone who uses WMV is an idiot, and therefore has nothing useful to say.

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[cortana]

Right (or control)-click on the .pkg file and choose 'Show Package Contents' from the contextual menu.

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[droleary]

Right (or control)-click on the .pkg file and choose 'Show Package Contents' from the contextual menu.

And? If you wanted to offer semi-useful advice you would have at least mentioned something like Pacifist. You're welcome to instead run down all the step required to manually get around the developer's stupidity in using a .pkg, but that doesn't fix the problem. Why should I have to jump through these hoops when I simply want to play a bloody video? Does the developer further expect me to pay for these hassles when it's much easier to drag the offending .wmv file to the trash? As with .swf, I find I can live nicely without file formats that like to jerk me around. As I said, there must be something about involving Windows that just makes everything so mind-numbingly senseless.

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[cortana]

Jesus Christ, I don't even have a Mac, and I have never heard of this 'pacifist' program. I just thought you might find that snippet of information useful, since you said that you couldn't drag the codec to your Library manually since it was a .pkg file. Next time I won't bother.

Re:Wake me when it plays WMV3 on the Mac

[MoonBuggy]

As others have said, only open source codecs are used, so it won't be supported until the ffmpeg guys are done. It can, however, be built in using the VC1 reference decoder as described by Jon Johansen. Personally, though, I just use Flip4Mac; it works well, but I have a fairly high spec machine and it does slightly stress the processors, so I don't know how it would fare on something like a Mac Mini or iBook.

Very Buggy for Me

[Dalroth]

Am I doing something wrong? The last version of VLC was completely unusable on OS X. The new version doesn't seem much better. It's already hung hard once, and crashed two times on me.

Actually, looks like it's crashing every time I open it now. Nice.

Bryan

Re:Very Buggy for Me

[saihung]

If you're doing something wrong then so am I - I had to downgrade to vlc 0.7.something to get OS X stability back. I don't see anything in the changelog about stability fixes.

Re:Very Buggy for Me

[olscratch69]

I have had the same problem with xmms. It locks up everytime I try to play and vid or mp3. I have been using VLC without any problems. Using 0.8.1 right now.

Re:Very Buggy for Me

[taylorc209]

i had the same problem, google it!! on vlc's website there is a solution, its a bug and invovles deleting a few preference files in /Users//library/preferences/ im recalling this from memory from a few months ago as i am too lazy to give exact instructions but once the right file and folder are deleted problem solved, for me at least. now when you go into preferences only change one item at a time until you figure out which one is causing the bug :)

Re:Very Buggy for Me

[otomo_1001]

I have no issue. osx 10.4.3, installed into my home directory under ~/Applications however. (I only install programs into my home directory, if they demand /Applications I politely refuse to use the app.

Grab the crash report from ~/Library/Logs/${app_name}.log and either fix what might be the cause or send in a bug report to get it fixed in vlc.

Cheers!

Re:Very Buggy for Me

[tholomyes]

From the README.MacOSX.rtf:

14. VLC does not start anymore or does strange things
Delete your preferences and try again. You can use the script "Delete Preferences.app" on the disk-image to do that. If you want to do it by hand, delete "org.videolan.vlc.plist" and a folder called "VLC" in ~/Library/Preferences (your personal preferences-folder inside the library of your HOME). If this does not help, see 13.

Re:Very Buggy for Me

[J. Random Luser]

Sorry, must be you. Follow the suggestions for deleting Prefs, and at last resort, Delete Prefs, do a search for any lingering caches, Delete the app and reinstall.
I had already sneaked a couple of the developer releases of 0.8.4 and found them rock steady and pulling a few extra tricks over 0.8.1, and with OS 10.4.3 on my unsupported hardware.

Re:Once again, beaten by DIGG!

[Anonymous Coward]

The world cares, deeply.

As in who gives a shit? Digg sucks ass.

Re:Have you contributed?

[UCFFool]

Just like any project, they have to prioritize. Besides the massive amount of codecs it already does, it has h.264 running very well, which I have seen a lot more than WMV, and I use it on windows... I suppose I just avoid Windows Media in general. THe simple point is, if you want this codec so badly, make a monetary donation and add a Note: please put this towards the WMV3 codec! Ask and ye shall receive, but a little motivation couldn't hurt.

Simply one of the best

[quadra23]

Always been one of my favorites on any platform.

I agree from my own experience. In fact, I find files (or discs) that either work strange or not at all on other media players (such as Windows Media Player or WinAMP) run just (or very close to) perfect on VLC. The capability to play VCD, SVCD, DVD, DVD (with menues) was a feature that I also found make the player even more flexible.

Does anyone here have experience with VLC for running your own streaming server? Also, anyone know if they are going to add capability to play RealPlayer files? I find RealPlayer as a major bloatware and RealAlternative (no offense, just from my experience) looks too much like (and as featured limited as) the original media player in Windows 95/98. For a good reference here's a full table of all features available on all the various Operating Systems that VLC works with. Very good product and highly recommended!

Re:Simply one of the best

[Anonymous Coward]

Real Alternative is a codec, not a video player. Are you sure you're not talking about Media Player Classic? That's one of the best (if not the best) media players out there. And it's definitely not lacking in options.

Anime

[Parham]

A lot of people recommend this very player for anime playback. Anime tends to come in a lot of formats (avi, mpeg, mkv, ogm) with a lot of codec requirements, and this player seems to have become a favorite in the anime circles. This is one of my favorite players and it's completely replaced most of the other media players I used to use.

Re:Anime

[Anonymous Coward]

What a load of BS. VLC is recommended as a last resort to amoeba-level leechers who, despite attempts at educating, haven't managed to grasp how install the few odd filters you need to play files using directshow and a decent player.

I notice VLC's internal subtitle filter is still broken. Try seeing how sweet those .ssa/.ass scripts look when a player ignores their stylings; hell, even things tagged as comments show onscreen. Don't even ask about karaoke effects...

Re:Anime

[Anonymous Coward]

They only recommend it for anime playback if they know nothing about the fansubbing community.

For ALL your anime playback needs (and just about any other video playback) use the CCCP:
http://cccp-project.net/

Re:Anime

[Microlith]

I use Media Player Classic.

Of course my need for OGM/MKV is super-limited, as anything that might have multiple audio tracks I generally have the DVD for (which MPC handles marvelously.)

One of the bigger perks...

[(H)elix1]

One of the biggest perks for using VLC is it does *not* honor the 'thou shall not fast forward through the FBI warning and any damn previews/ads we applied the same flag to' setting. Skips right on by.

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[J. Random Luser]

is that it is Region 0 out of the box. Apple's DVD player allows you to set(change) a fixed region 4 times before resorting to some hack to start again. I assume if MS abides by the MPAA rule then WMP behaves similarly. Meanwhile VLC just plays any DVD I chuck at it, never asks what Region.

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[EiZei]

.. THIEF!

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[X0563511]

Hehe, I would buy a dvd player just for the fact that it had a "No UPOs!" sticker on the box...

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[niha]

No, he is just a pragmatic...

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[payndz]

Another perk is that it completely bypasses the region coding on my Mac's DVD drive. Use Apple DVD Player? Limited number of region changes before it locks permanently. Use VLC? Plays whatever DVD I want from any part of the world. And I can get screencaps from it with the usual Apple-3/4 key combo, as opposed to having to use SnapzPro or whatever as with Apple's player.

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[remmelt]

I think you meant to say the word "COMMUNIST!" instead.

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[VJ42]

I thought "TERRORIST!" was the in word now.

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[ajs318]

Kindly explain what is being from stolen, and from whom, by the use of a bought-and-paid-for {but out-of-region} DVD in bought-and-paid-for equipment.

We are awaiting with bated breath. If no response {or an unsatisfactory response} is forthcoming, then we may simply have to continue with our assumption that you have an arse where your brain should be.

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[karstux]

Seriously? I have a Mac mini, and couldn't find any region-free firmware for the DVD drive yet. If this works, it would be a boon. But won't inserting a DVD of a different region still change the region coding of the drive, locking it up after 4 changes or so?

At least that's my experience on the PC: region protection is two-fold, in software and hardware. Once the drive's 4 allowed changes are used up, the player won't play anymore, regardless of its own region-setting.

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, it works perfectly on my Mac Mini. The trick is to read the encrypted data as data and decrypt it inside VLC (or rather, libdvdcss), thus completely bypassing the official control mechanisms. But even if you have legally bought the DVD and the DVD drive, this may be illegal if you live in the US (due to DMCA) or the EU (due to EUCD).

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[Woy]

One of the biggest perks of freedom is it does *not* honor the 'thou shall not fast forward through the FBI warning and any damn previews/ads we applied the same flag to' setting. Skips right on by.

Fixed that for you. Being forced to watch anything is beneath human.

Re:One of the bigger perks...

[EiZei]

Is it really that hard to be sarcastic here without including smileys everywhere?

Re:Have you contributed?

[jx100]

I believe the people working on WMV3 are either ffmpeg and/or DVD-jon. If you really want it to be supported, you might want to bug them instead. I know DVD-jon has figured out how to use the VC-1 codec (same as WMV3) in conjunction with VLC, but the VC-1 codec is not under an open-source license.

I believe it's not the matter of 'doable'

[wesley96]

There are at least two solutions to decoding WMV3 video stream in OS X. But you know the first one is a horrible Microsoft implementation and the other one is a licensed codec package from Flip4Mac that you have to pay. Currently, neither can't do what everyone wants... WMV3 video + MP3 audio in AVI container, which is the biting deficiency, and compounded by the fact that some anime file releases use exactly THAT format thanks to the existence of WMV9 VCM in Windows. Ugh.

As for VLC, it needs an OPEN-SOURCE decoder. Specifically, it'll be adapting something that ffmpeg guys are doing. That team has been tackling WMV3, a.k.a. VC-1 / VC-3 / WMV9 stuff for about a year now. They put preliminary support in, what, February? Apparently, peeps have so far gotten the key frame to decode, but it freezes there.

So what I'm saying is, it's nice to donate to VLC guys, but help ffmpeg guys first.

Re:I believe it's not the matter of 'doable'

[Anonymous Coward]

Currently, neither can't do what everyone wants... WMV3 video + MP3 audio in AVI container

You can at least play back using WMV3Server and WiMP for Mac. Combined with Flip4Mac you can also take the temp.asf file and convert to something easier to handle.

Re:I believe it's not the matter of 'doable'

[Caithness]

Holy cow! I've been looking forever for any method, no matter how complicated, to play WMV3 in an AVI container on a Mac, and this is the first one I've ever found. Thank you so much!

Shout output module to forward streams to icecast

[Air-conditioned cowh]

Yup, this is the big I'm interested in! I wonder if it will also work with OGG/Theora that way.

Unfortunately I will have to compile this from source for Linux because the rpm and deb packages are so hopelessly lame. They only enable half the codecs (like Theora) or functions (like PVR support) for no good reason I know about. However, whoever looks after the Windows installer pays a lot more care and attention and the Windows version is more representative of what VLC can do. I even resort to running it under Wine sometimes.

Yes, I did re-complile the RPMs myself for my particular distro of choice and one day I might even get them accepted!

I think about 60% of my Slashdot posts over the last few months have been about how peeved I am with half-assed-compiled VLC Linux packages.

Volume Control

[oksteev]

Worst volume control of all time...

Re:Volume Control

[hacksaw56]

Try configuring the controls. Once I found out that I can change nearly every control to the key combination of my choice, I was delighted. Besides, why use the mouse when you can do the same thing much quicker from the keyboard?

Re:Volume Control

[Chemical]

Or, my personal favorite, assign it to the mouse wheel

Re:Volume Control

[Anonymous Coward]

So i didnt RTFM, how do you do that?

Re:Volume Control

[Anonymous Coward]

From the Settings menu, select Prefrences. Under Interface, select Hotkeys settings. In there, change Volume Up and Volume Down to Mouse Wheel Up and Mouse Wheel Down, respectivly. Uncheck Ctrl unless you want to have to hold Ctrl. Please note this only seems to work in fullscreen mode. Also it doesn't seem to work in Linux, only in Windows (on my system anyway). VLC is great and all but it still has some kinks to be worked out.

Re:Volume Control

[demondawn]

Obviously you never used Quicktime 4. *shudder* Anyone else remember that stupid knob?

Site slashdotted, mirror

[EspoManiac]

Download from mirror at this location:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=115 8&s=171

Re:Site slashdotted, mirror

[hacksaw56]

Ahem. Can it really be respectfully called a "mirror" when only the win32 version is available? Sigh... - Patiently Waiting Linux User

Slashdotted by Digg earlier

[saskboy]

The VLC site was down earlier today when I tried downloading it. Has anyone made a torrent of this release? Mirrors?

I figured out how to take a screen capture the other day in .82, you have to specificly set a directory to save the capture to, otherwise the option on the menu would say it was capturing but never gave an error to say it had no place to save it to.

The volume control is also less accurate than other programs' I've used. But I've had better luck playing more files with VLC than Media Player Classic.

What's the fuss?

[ajdlinux]

A mac os X wizard only works for people with macs. A new cone? That's a huge improvement. A new codec loader: the only *useful* improvement that's listed in the article. This is only a *minor* release.

I know I'm spoiled

[winmine]

I still use WinAmp for audio files. I can play an entire folder of music with one right-click on the folder itself, as opposed to taking all that effort into opening the player beforehand. If VLC had this function, there'd be no contest. But then again, maybe I'm just spoiled.

Re:I know I'm spoiled

[hfarberg]

This has been possible with VLC for a while. You just have to enable the option called "Context Menus" when you install. You will be given an option saying Add to VLC media player's Playlist when you right click the folder.

Re:I know I'm spoiled

[ichigo 2.0]

VLC (VideoLan Client) is a video player. Using it to play music would be silly. That said, let Winamp die already, and join the rest of us here in the 21st century. And yes, one can play an entire folder of music with one right-click on the folder itself.

Re:Just stop using WMV3

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate that codec. It's not like MPEG4 derivatives are multi-platform, why do people still insist on using WMV?

Xine Vs. VLC

[Anonymous Coward]

From what I see on the website, VLC looks a lot like Xine. I know that Xine handles all the codecs I'm concened about just fine (wmv, mpeg, mov), so why is VLC so much better?

its my tv!

[nihaopaul]

well vlc for me works 90% of the time, i use it as my personal tv player since tv in china sucks (output to svideo, love nvidia), so now i have VOD with pause :D all via the httpd interface, it only crashes after a week or so of deleting and adding items to the play list, so now i'm going to go over and compile this sucka for freebsd, well done guys

Instead of using a client like VLC

[simdan]

for a streaming server, you may want to consider a streaming server like VideoLAN's VLS. :-)

Re:Instead of using a client like VLC

[illtud]

for a streaming server, you may want to consider a streaming server like VideoLAN's VLS. :-)

You'd think so, wouldn't you, but not for a while now! Videolan themselves recommend VLC for streaming, rather than VLS, which hasn't been much developed recently. The streaming stuff has been folded into VLC (plus lots more!).

Forget the OS X version....

[mblase]

...I just tried playing a standard AVI file I got from my digital camera using the latest version of VLC. It promptly opened an oversized window that filled the screen, showed no video, and maxed out my processor until I was able to quit the thing.

Back to 0.8.3 for me, I guess....

Plugin

[GFunk83]

I like VLC quite a bit as my main media (read: video) player on Fedora Core, but there's one thing missing:

I understand there is a plugin for Mozilla but where is the one for Firefox?!

Re:Plugin

[jZnat]

Same plugin architecture (the Netscape plugin architecture that is), so it'll work in Mozilla, Netscape, Firefox, etc. Just copy it to your ~/.mozilla/plugins/ directory (%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Plugins\ in windows IIRC).

Re:Plugin

[ajs318]

I understand there is a plugin for Mozilla but where is the one for Firefox?!

It's in the same place.

Re:Plugin

[yuna49]

'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'

I've known some women who could block your popup with just one withering glance!

OSX coming leaps and bounds

[McCarrum]

In the changelog ..

Mac OS X port:
* New script to delete the preferences automatically

I see OSX is now getting standard Windows functionality ..

Re:OSX coming leaps and bounds

[Anonymous Coward]

Shouldn't you be looking for removal guides to help you remove spyware from your registry or something?

size differens

[Anonymous Coward]

why is the Windows version without the installer 6mb larger than the one with the installer?

Re:size differens

[WindBourne]

Sony is funding the project? :)

Ignores DVD Region Code

[Nice2Cats]

For those of us whose lives are lived between two or more of the infamous DVD regions (in my case, Europe and the U.S.), VLC is an absolute godsend. Every Mac user should get it: Apple's DVD Player wants me do pick one or the other RC, while VLC just plays the damn thing. Quicktime gives me nag entries in the menus -- like, I pay a four-digit sum for a computer and they won't throw in the $40 fee for the full fuctionality? Really clever, Jobs -- and so if I want to play around with the size and other stuff, I just use VLC for QT instead. VLC is one of the coolest pieces of software out there, free or corporate, and anybody who is not using it on whatever platform should be treated with suspicion -- they probably work for the RIAA or eat babies. Or both.

Thanks, guys, for all the great work. This and Firefox are some of the ones that make all the difference.

Re:Ignores DVD Region Code

[Anonymous Coward]

I pay a four-digit sum for a computer and they won't throw in the $40 fee for the full fuctionality? Really clever, Jobs

The extra charge for QuickTime Pro predates The Return of The Steve.

Among other things, the amount of money Apple has to pay organizations like the MPEG-LA for patent licence fees varies with whether Apple's customer is "Pro" or not. Moreover, for some formats Apple must pay the patent holders or their agents varying fees for reading and creating (or exporting) video and audio.

For "Pro" users who use QuickTime as part of their day jobs, $40 is pretty small. Adding $40 to the bills of the hundreds of thousands of other Mac users whenever they buy a new machine or upgrade to QuickTime generally wouldn't make them happier. It'd delight the various patent holders other than Apple, though!

Yes, it's annoying, but that's the patent system for you...

On the other hand, QuickTime Player's "reminder" panes and other enticements can be distracting, but it's not as if there aren't various possibly legal workarounds.

Re:Ignores DVD Region Code

[myspys]

It should be noted that the newer Powerbooks will ask you for a new region code and if you select Cancel it will automatically eject the DVD, thus rendering it impossible to even try with VLC :-/

Re:Ignores DVD Region Code

[Zhe Mappel]

Quicktime gives me nag entries in the menus -- like, I pay a four-digit sum for a computer and they won't throw in the $40 fee for the full fuctionality? Really clever, Jobs Agreed. Apple's cheapness on this issue is sad; nickle and diming your customers is especially silly when the system ships with extraneous iApps. Look, Apple, I'll trade you my useless iMovie just so Quicktime can do what *free* players everywhere do.

Re:Ignores DVD Region Code

[Anonymous Coward]

That isn't really true - you can still play all region dvds fine by turning off autoplay then using vlc.

Re:Ignores DVD Region Code

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is no doubt illegal under the DMCA... at the very least, you will receive a stern lecture on the ethics of not obeying region codes from Lord Jobs himself -- and knowing you Mac fags, you'll all wet yourselves and promise to never *ever* do it again, your majesty.

Re:Ignores DVD Region Code

[ajs318]

What about in countries where there are no such things as software patents? Then there is no need to pay anything at all to the "MPEG licensing authority". Indeed, by asking for money in a country without software patents but with strong fraud laws, the MPEG-LA might well be subject to the same kinds of penalties that get handed down to the scammers who send out warnings, imitating local NICs, about domain names about to expire and demanding money; generally the same as the penalties formerly handed out to scammers who demanded money for listings in bogus business directories.

Is there a "Pet names registry" in the USA, to whom you have to pay money if you want to call your pet a certain name? And if not, can I start one?

Re:Ignores DVD Region Code

[Anonymous Coward]

What about in countries where there are no such things as software patents? Then there is no need to pay anything at all to the "MPEG licensing authority".

Apple is headquartered and largely based inside a country with such things. It is Apple that is paying the patent holders, not the end user. It is Apple that would be infringing the patents in question, not the end user. They have a deal to pay smaller royalties for non-professional end users. However, they are on the hook, no matter where the ultimate customer is.

Re:Once again, beaten by DIGG!

[strider44]

uhuh, and I was downloading it from my debian repository before Digg had it. It's ten hours on a release notice. Who cares?

Use MPlayer for windows

[coder111]

I'm using mplayer windows binaries with all the non-free DLL codecs, it plays everything I throw at it. It's fast, stable, and I can use same thing under windows I do use under linux.

You should try it too. http://www.mplayerhq.hu/

--Coder

Not exactly

[Anonymous Coward]

It used to be in a monitor. http://images.google.com/images?q=vlc+mac+icon

JUST HIT Q

[Anonymous Coward]

"At all. It can't quit."

yes i can, in exactly the same one as it does on every other platform that mplayer runs on: HIT Q.

or alternatively, use the mainline build instead of the old unmaintained os x fork: i think they have created a single integrated application now, which seems to be what you desire.

Re:JUST HIT Q

[Blakey Rat]

The shortcut for Quit on OS X is *command*-Q.

As for trying the new version... maybe. What the open source community needs to learn is that once people are burned by crappy software, they'll usually avoid that software in the future. Maybe a few years from now *if* I need something that VLC doesn't already do and *if* I can't find any other program to do it, I *might* try mplayer again. Maybe. But after struggling with that horrible crap, sorry, no thanks.

(How many people here avoid RealPlayer because of their really crappy earlier versions even though the new version actually behaves nicely and works well? Same thing applies to open source software.)

hiccups, no variable speed or frame by frame

[SuperBanana]

Am I doing something wrong? The last version of VLC was completely unusable on OS X.

I've had virtually the same experience; it loves to start skipping frames heavily and then grind to a complete stop- despite using only about 1/3rd of the available CPU power according to top. The only solution is to pause and wait a good 10-15 seconds. Also, doing things in other programs now seems to heavily influence VLC; I can load up a rather simple webpage in Firefox and VLC will drop video+audio frames all over the place.

It also stutters when playing back over anything slower than local disk; 100BaseT isn't fast enough for a 256kB/sec file to play properly, and over 802.11g (full signal yadda yadda) it's even worse. Nobody on the VLC IRC channel has been able to explain why, but it seems that the buffer is completely exhausted, then a read is performed to fill the buffer, and playback continues. Why the buffer isn't "floating" or doesn't at LEAST intelligently adjust how soon it refills the buffer is beyond me- but not being able to play a 256KB stream over 802.11G is absolutely inexcuseable.

Lengthening the buffer sort of helps- but VLC takes at least the buffer length to respond to rew/fw/pause, so a 1 second buffer means you hit pause, and one second later it actually pauses.

A more general beef I have is that unlike Xine on Linux, you can't do variable speed playback or frame-by-frame advance/rewind. I've often had times I wished I could take a screengrab of something, but after a half dozen tries I still wasn't able to pause exactly where I wanted. Mplayer has this sort of functionality (I THINK), but I haven't been able to find ANY documentation as to what the default keyboard shortcuts are for Mplayer on ANY platform.

Re:hiccups, no variable speed or frame by frame

[jrockway]

> I haven't been able to find ANY documentation as to what the default keyboard shortcuts are for Mplayer on ANY platform.

Use the source, Luke. That's the point of OSS... you can open up the code in emacs and see what it's doing. If that's too hard, then maybe you shouldn't be using a computer.

Re:hiccups, no variable speed or frame by frame

[pomo monster]

Seriously, dude. You want your brain surgeon to spend time learning C++, or practicing procedure? Or do brain surgeons have nothing useful to say about computing, no valid suggestions for improvement? I don't get this attitude--or maybe I understand it, but it just seems so fucking patronizing and full of contempt for the world at large that I don't like to assume anyone actually thinks that way.

The problem with "RTFM" is that manuals are mostly for linear thinkers. Who the hell reads them? Some people just learn better through exploration, and some applications (like MPlayer) don't reward that. The best UIs, like the best women, are those that reveal themselves to all comers.

Re:hiccups, no variable speed or frame by frame

[Anonymous Coward]

Concerning keyboard shortcuts and MPlayer:
man mplayer and it's right near the top.
Or look at http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1.html
Might be that some things in this one aren't correct for your version though.
Anyway why is hitting the keyboard wildly to find out what the keys do more difficult than hangling through hundreds of menus and submenus? Guess it's a question of personal preference, and with OpenSource projects you often have to live with the preferences of the developers.

I see the Windows and Mac users are out in mass..

[msimm]

I'd never even bothered with VLC, never understood all the hubris. Totem, Xine, Mplayer, Linux is absolutely brimming with media players that avoid the apparent pangs of the proprietary world.

That said I'll have to check it out. :)

Size Difference

[zbuffered]

The installer compresses files.

Re:Size Difference

[Anonymous Coward]

After years of using microsoft media player, quicktime, winamp to play videos I came across VLC after somebody mentioned it . This program is a must and should come as standard on windows infact Bill gates should buy them .

Doesn't ignore DVD Region Code

[funtime]

Apparently, the drive on the new powerbooks doesn't let VLC get by without asking for regions.

Most polished

[linforcer]

I Think it's one of the most polished player on the Linux desktop. I really don't like the way xine and MPlayer have their controls, and Totem is lacking in other departments. The only other player on Linux that has this polished look is realplayer but well... it's realplayer.

Nice, but i like Media Player Classic a lot more

[Jackie_Chan_Fan]

Media Player Classic is still my player of choice on windows. It has a nice interface, can step through videos, play fan subs, bookmark etc.

VLC is nice but the ui isnt so hot and it seems to do odd things sometimes.

VLC and others...

[Anonymous Coward]

I use many different players due to the hopeless muddle of codecs available. Basically, I can play any video file you throw at me if you give me enough time. This list shows just how bad it really is:

VLC: For use when PowerDVD gets the shakes, media player classic doesn't work, windows media player doesn't work, the Zoom player doesn't work, Quicktime doesn't work, and for streaming over a network

Media Player Classic: The awesomest player in the world due to its small size and ability to play RealMedia and Quicktime files (usually), the ability to play Windows-based codecs without dropping frames like in VLC, and for use when sites give links like in Amazon (for the audio previews, copy the location and paste it into the "Open File" dialog box).

Zoom Player: A good backup. Both this and MPClassic come with the Real Alternative pack.

Quicktime Player: Good for when all other Quicktime-playing software fails and H.264

PowerDVD: When VLC refuses to play the AVI or MPG file with issues, PowerDVD has an awesome capability - it just skips frames instead of freezing, and it ALWAYS keeps in sync.

Windows Media Player (definitely not to be confused with MPClassic): It's kind of ok, and so far has only shown its worth when playing H.264 codecs provided by the Combined Community Codecs Pack. Oh yeah, and MP3s don't sound too bad either.

DivX Player: Released by the DivX Labs, the latest version is much, much more stable and offers post-processing for ATI video cards. It can clean up your heavily compressed AVI file very nicely, but does require a noticable amount of resources to do so. PowerDVD (I'm pretty sure) can perform slightly the same job for a fraction of the processing time, though I could be wrong since I haven't tested it all that much.

Winamp: The venerable Winamp has shown itself a resource hog in its older days. When will they actually begin to optimize it instead of adding new features or security fixes that shouldn't be required in the first place? I have 2.9 for sentimental reasons, though I use version 5 for my music, coupled with HQProcsoft to milk as much from my Audigy 2 card as possible (uses software resampling - I now have audio resampled to 9600 and an output bit resolution of 32). HQProcsoft is like aural candy, and Winamp's music plugins like the Pacemaker and the visualizations are quite simply, awesome. Not for use for video files unless you want to clean the audio up. You will notice a substantial improvement using HQProcsoft in conjunction with video files though (warning: wmv is not supported by HQProcsoft)!

I use every single one of those players regularly, trying to find the one which shows the best picture and sound for any single video file I am viewing. I have actually not used Winamp all that often for video files, preferring Windows Media Player Classic for most of my needs (where else can you get such an awesome interface with instant access to subtitles, audio types,etc.?). I'm not recommending you do what I do, but hopefully what I've said above will help you choose. As a rule of thumb, you should only really need windows media player classic and VLC for most applications. Though with the rise of H.264, anything could happen.

Re:VLC and others...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you have CCCP, and haven't gone out of your way to screw up the settings it makes, you could just watch everything on MPC or Zoom Player. You know, the players it's meant to be used with? So why are you using all those other players?

Re:VLC and others...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, I haven't changed any of the default settings in CCCP because I found that if I did things just didn't work well. However, without having any codecs installed besides the proprietary DivX, WMP10, Fraps, and XP Pro default codecs for some reason I don't always have joy. Besides, videos you download off the 'net aren't always perfect. Some players play corrupted video files made with different codecs better than others.

Re:Shout output module to forward streams to iceca

[Slashcrap]

Yes, I did re-complile the RPMs myself for my particular distro of choice and one day I might even get them accepted!

No, you won't. There's a perfectly valid reason why your distro of choice doesn't compile in all of the codecs - they would like to avoid being sued out of existence.

You see, pretty much every media format except for OGG/Theora is patented up the wazoo. So anyone that distributes binaries may as well just paint "sue me suckers" on their chest.

Now the guy that has built the Windows binaries and put them up for download obviously doesn't care about the threat of legal action. You could say that he has big balls. Positively massive in fact.

So here's a solution - you can put your homemade RPM up for download. Of course you will make yourself the target for a team of highly trained attack lawyers. But since you are a) happy to suggest that others take the risk on your behalf and b) so concerned that 60% of your posts are about this very issue, I don't see why it should be a problem for you. It can be your contribution to Open Source.

No need to thank me - just send me a postcard when you get to Guantanamo.

Re:Once again, beaten by DIGG!

[Slashcrap]

Jealousy hurts, doesn't it?

Digg = 1 line stories followed by 50 x 1 line comments. A lot like yours in fact.

That's why you like Digg isn't it? You feel that you are among intellectual equals. And from what I've seen you're almost certainly correct.

One question - if Digg is so good, why are you on Slashdot?

I look forward to your reply of "you suck" or "your mom smells" with baited breath.

PS. Now that you've aroused my interest I think I'm going to go and start trolling on Digg. Does Digg have the same protections against trolls that Slashdot has? No? Oh, so sad.

Pause for thought, frame advance

[tod_miller]

- New extended controls panel

Does this mean pausing and frame controls are implemented? What am I doing here - I should be downloading this!

oh I am.

why the road cone icon- drunken vandalism

[Anonymous Coward]

VLC was originally put together by a bunch of french students. Apparently...students go out & get drunk and take odd things home with them- in this case road cones.

So there ya go...alcohol and youthful exuberance. I wonder what the British marines would have as their icon if they ever brought a multimedia player out?

Re:Once again, beaten by DIGG!

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is, the only people who ever talk about Digg are loudmouth wanker fanboys, making Digg much like Gentoo; while it may be "teh new hotness", I wouldn't fucking touch that shit with a twenty foot barge poll. I wouldn't want to associate myself with that sort of fucking idiot.

Ironically, so much better on Windows...

[cardpuncher]

VLC manages to embody the essential dichotomy of the OSS vs Proprietary Software debate.

Get an installer for Windows or the Mac and you get a useful multi-purpose tool that has more flexibility and fewer restrictions than the equivalent commercial software.

Try to install it on Linux and you realise the advantages of a commercial platform onto which you simply install binary application packages. There are *some* packages available for VLC, provided you happen to have the right version of the right Linux distribution, but most have some important features configured out. Try to compile it yourself and get ready for a nightmare of dependencies on specific (sometimes elderly) versions of obscure libraries, header files that your Linux distribution didn't think to provide and a number of other little glitches that have you tearing your hair out. Or, more likely, giving up.

Now if only there were an open platform onto which you could simply copy an open application and just have it run...

Re:Ironically, so much better on Windows...

[cortana]

"Try to install it on Linux and you realise the advantages of a commercial platform onto which you simply install binary application packages."

"Linux" is a kernel. As you can see from http://packages.debian.org/vlc, it isn't hard to apt-get install vlc. The VLC home page even has packages for many distributions, along with pretty little colourful icons.

Re:Ironically, so much better on Windows...

[cardpuncher]

If you happen to have a distribution that by default provides apt-get (I note you're a Debian user) and you happen to want the features compiled into the debian package then you might just have it easy. Not necessarily - you might have another multimedia application that has conflicting requirements on the version of ffmpeg, for example, but probably it might work.

If you look beyond the pretty coloured icons you'll find the availability of packages for many distributions is not what it appears. You'll find comments such as:

"We currently do not have an official VLC media player package for SUSE"
or
"To get the latest VLC media player version, please use one of the Unofficial Fedora Core packages"

The latter of which assumes a certain amount of expertise in configuring yum to include additional repositories, which the average user in search of a media player might not have.

And even if you do, I suspect you will find that, for example, that DVB support may not be provided. So if you want that, you might have to resort to the source, where you will find a list of dependencies marked:

"Warning, this package list is mostly outdated."

And when you start to sort that out, you might just find if (for example) you're running Fedora Core 4 that the version of gcc you have by default won't actually compile some of that stuff anyway.

All of which is fine if you have a computer because your hobby is software development and an infinite amount of spare time and patience. Most people, though, just want to install the software and have it work as described and telling them that they can't because "Linux" is a kernel is not really assisting them in that endeavour...

Re:Ironically, so much better on Windows...

[Scurrilous Knave]

... it isn't hard to apt-get install vlc.

It isn't hard ... if you're running Debian "sid" (unstable). The vlc package is not currently available for the testing or stable distributions, due to an issue with the FreeType library. I dunno about most Debian users, but I have stable on my servers, testing on my workstations, and unstable on a couple of experimental boxes. Not ideal for using vlc.

To be fair, the lib issue isn't really vlc's fault, and is also a problem for some other Debian packages. They're working to get it resolved, after which it will again become possible to do an aptitude install on it. As long as there are no conflicts with anything else you may have installed.

Re:Ironically, so much better on Windows...

[bucky0]

You're running a media player on your servers? :)

Although I agree, debian has all kinds of dependancy hell, depending on the package.

Re:Ironically, so much better on Windows...

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if only there were an open platform onto which you could simply copy an open application and just have it run...

Linux people need to compile statically more often, strip the binaries, and distribute that (along with source code, of course). Disk space is so cheap i'd much rather put up with large executables without dynamic linking hanging around my computer than have to recompile every bloody tool and fight with dependencies.

VLC has nice sound

[od05]

I use VLC for viewing movies on a PowerBook. VLC has a nice equalizer that you can amp the volume up loud enough to actually hear the movies, mplayer doesn't have that.

Re:VLC has nice sound

[karstux]

Try the keys "9" and "0" to change the volume on mplayer.

Now supports iPod Vidoe .m4v files

[epeus]

Which is a handy improvement, given that these are showing up a lot now.

Winamp GUI

[Anonymous Coward]

In Winamp, use classic skin support. The "improved" GUI, while pretty and all is a major ressource hog - which is quite impressive for something that static...

The drawback with VLC

[vuzman]

Many people claim that what's so great about VLC is that it doesn't need codecs to playback video files. Yay! Well, that's just not true, in fact, that's quite impossible. All video files are encoded somehow, and in order to playback the video it must be decoded first. Hence the codec.

VLC uses the libavcodec codec to decode video. This codec handles a lot of different formats (see list) where codecs usually just handle one format. This approach has benefits and drawbacks. The obvious benefit is that the codec-hunting days of yore can be dispensed with. The less-than-obvious drawback is that a multi-purpose tool is almost never as good as a dedicated tool. The truth is that VLC very often doesn't playback video with the same quality as players using dedicated codecs.

I recommend using a player with dedicated codecs. I use BSPlayer, as it is easy on the resources, stable, with extensive, configurable features (it is ugly though, so change the skin for your own sake). Other players are probably just as good, but after having tried all the popular ones, this is my favorite. Install codecs only when necessary; use GSpot to figure out which is needed. Do not use codec packs, they are evil.

This being said, I do use VLC as a can opener for the occasional weird video file. For this use, VLC is great!

you shouldn't be using a computer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Use the source ... If that's too hard, then maybe you shouldn't be using a computer.

Excellent. You go teach all our data entry clerks C++ so that they can "use a computer". Then you can explain to the MD why this was necessary. While you're at it, better teach him C++, he even has a powerbook and wants to know how to play movies on it. Good luck on the not being fired out on your ass.

Oh, and while you're at it, change the sparkplugs and oil filters on your car. If that's too hard, you have no business driving. Leave driving to the auto mechanics, yeah!

Moron alert

[Anonymous Coward]

header files that your Linux distribution didn't think to provide

The install make target usually installs headers, your problem is using a braindead linux distro that splits them into seperate packages. You're complaining about not being able to link against libraries you don't have installed (wow) and touting the benefits of "binary application packages" when that appears to be what you're using. Are you really suggesting every linux package ship a copy of every library it links against? Use a distro with better package management.

Re:VLC and others... - HQProcsoft

[phusg]

What's this aural candy HQProcsoft? Google doesn't get me a single hit.

Re:Just stop using WMV3

[MooUK]

Most of them probably don't know of any other platform, or don't care whatsoever.

Stop/Pause still not working

[Anonymous Coward]

And the Stop/Pause are still for the buffer and not for the playback, meaning if you have 3 second playback buffer - it'll keep playing for 3 seconds after you push the 'Pause' button. Dumb... :(

Re:Shout output module to forward streams to iceca

[ajs318]

It would be entirely legal to distribute "patented" codecs from a jurisdiction where the patents on the aforementioned codecs are legally invalid.

This is why I'm surprised that Mandriva, being a joint French-Brazilian concern {i.e. both countries that don't recognise software patents}, don't include patent-encumbered source code in their distribution by default anyway.

Zoom features

[ds9]

Have they finally included some nice zoom features, like xine has?

Re:Once again, beaten by DIGG!

[Anonymous Coward]

Still pretty much equal scores. (There are some bad weeks, and some good weeks, but overall the difference is negligible.)

DVD stutter

[hey]

Too bad, this new version still stutters when playing DVDs on my Windows 2000 box.
1.7G Hz should be fast enough. Any suggestions.

Re:DVD stutter

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, my suggestion is check your box. I have an 800 MHZ G4 iBook and it plays DVDs just fine (640 MB of RAM in case you think it matters all that much).

Re:DVD stutter

[bucky0]

It's all about the video drivers. Without hardware acceleration, it's going to be dog-slow.

Re:DVD stutter

[hey]

On your sugestion I upgraded my video drivers. I worked better -thanks- but still stutters a bit. I have a Matrox G550. Now with version 5.93.9.0 drivers.

Re:DVD stutter

[bucky0]

No prob. I had the same thing happen to me the other day, and I found out that windows was running VESA drivers because the ones I had tried to install died.

Not Quite Prime Time

[Fringe]

In my efforts to avoid Windows Media Player and switch from Quinntessential (which is free but closed and I figured perhaps long-in-the-tooth), I recently tried VLC on my living room laptop. It did so poorly with media from network shares that I installed both WinAmp and Quinntessential to see if there was a networking problem I wasn't diagnosing. Nope. VLC simply couldn't play the files cleanly while the other two could.

This wasn't a problem with files from the internet, but those tend to be downloaded locally before playback.

Re:Shout output module to forward streams to iceca

[Air-conditioned cowh]

Oh my! That was one mother of a typo on the parent post.

I meant to say that the codecs like Theora were missing, not included. I'm really not interested in the proprietry codecs as I am interested in using open codecs for streaming via Icecast. Yes, some distros miss out Theora and virtually all of them miss out PVR support.

ok i know this is offtopic.. but...

[Jennasaurus]

i was wondering if anybody could help me out? My grandmothers computer keeps on messing up, and i don't know why. She has Firefox, not netscape or explorer. I took all instant messaging services off of her computer as well. Still the computer shuts down on me, or freezes up all of a sudden, im thinking maybe it is because she has a habit of downloading games off of the internet. please help me!

Re:ok i know this is offtopic.. but...

[Jennasaurus]

I cant seem to find anything to help with the problem... is there anything else i might be able to do?

DVD Chapter Hotkey

[edraven]

One thing I'm puzzled that VLC doesn't do is provide a hotkey for skipping DVD chapters forwards and backwards. I went looking and found this changeset, which if I read correctly is a patch to a branched version of the 0.8.1 version of the code. I'm afraid it doesn't help me much, though, because I don't know how to obtain the branched version to patch it. It shows, though, that someone was willing to put the time in to develop this feature. I wonder why it hasn't found its way into the official code base?

Re:DVD Chapter Hotkey

[sylvandb]

I'm puzzled that VLC doesn't do is provide a hotkey for skipping DVD chapters forwards and backwards. I went looking and found this changeset ...

Are you sure it doesn't?

I haven't checked 8.4 final, but sources as of late september had definitions for chapter-next, chapter-prev (and title, and all the others mentioned in that patch description). Try ctrl-u and ctrl-d (default in libvlc.h for Darwin and others).

sdb

Re:DVD Chapter Hotkey

[edraven]

That's a good point, I haven't downloaded the newer sources to look, just assumed something would be mentioned about it in the changelog.

Ah! There they are! They are hidden, though, you have to enable the checkbox for "Advanced options" in Hotkey settings in order to see them. Thanks!

I can't think of a worse place to ask

[LunaticTippy]

boot from cd and run ad-aware,spybot,hijack this or whatever you like. If it runs fine from cd you're probably infected/hard drive is flaky.

If you don't have a boot cd google for something, I like bart's stuff.

If the computer acts strangely from a boot cd then it has to be a mobo/memory/cpu/ps problem.

Re:VLC and others... - HQProcsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

http://hqsoftproc.go.ro/