VLC 0.8.6 Released

h2g2bob writes "VideoLAN yesterday released a new version of VLC media player. A shout out goes to ffmpeg for many of the codec improvements." From the blurb: "Building on feedback from the 29 million downloads of VLC media player 0.8.5, we bring you version 0.8.6 with many bugfixes, as well as a couple of new features we think you will truly enjoy. Most prominent are probably Windows Media Video 9 and Flash Video. Other important changes are improved H.264 decoding, better Windows Unicode support, a Fullscreen controller, and Apple Remote support for Mac OS X."

Comments

may this be a new record?

[hjf]

Slashdotted before First Post!

Re:may this be a new record?

[Progman3K]

Maybe the editors tipped of the site maintainer(s).
Videolan is a university project and I believe they have to pay for their hosting.

Already?

[GusCrown]

Slashdotted already?

Re:Already?

[DaveM753]

They're too busy watching movies on 0.8.6 to worry about downloaders... :(

Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[xjerky]

I realize Flip4Mac exists for this, but does the new VLC implement Windows WMV9 DLLs for the Intel OS X version?

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[Wesley Felter]

FFMPEG now contains an open-source WMV9 decoder.

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[stuuf]

I think it uses the new WMV9 decoder added to ffmpeg for Summer of Code, so it doesn't need windows DLLs or any other platform-specific or legally shady methods.

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[kosmosik]

No. It would be illegal (in some countries) to use Windows files - they got its own license and it wold be sloppy. Instead VLC uses ffmpeg codecs which implement (partially) WMV9 decoding (but no DRM and no encoding *FIXME*). Ffmpeg codecs are another implementation (than Windows DLLs) achieved through reverse-engeenering (which also may be illegal to use in some countries).

As for now from ffmpeg documentation:
http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC23

WMV8 and WMV9 are "not completely working". But I think they may work well for 90% of media files out there.

So kudos for VLC team for another great release. :)

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[KonoWatakushi]

I have a PPC mac and it is great to have a native working WMV9/VC-1 codec. While I haven't tried it in VLC, I have used it in the recent MPlayer dev builds, and it is much better than flip4mac.

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[jZnat]

The only illegality in question for the WMV3 decoder is patent infringement, but it's not like Microsoft makes any effort to posting the relative patents needed to license WMV3/VC-1 like MPEG does for its standards.

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[Wesley Felter]

You don't need to know which patents you're infringing; you just need to know that they exist and if you pay MS you get a license for all of them. :-/

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why should Microsoft publish a list of patents? It's not their job.

Relevant patents are held in a patent pool with at least 15 other companies. The pool is owned by an outfit called MPEG LA, which also manages patent pools for a number of other video standards. Unfortunately, VC-1 is still in their "Programs Under Development" section, so they don't yet have a patent list as they do for other standards such as MPEG-2.

Maybe you should complain about MPEG LA not yet posting the list -- it's been a few months since they announced the license terms from the initial pool members -- but that's hardly MS's fault.

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[istewart]

Any options for a browser plugin for OS X?

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've done some experiments with a selection from diverse sources and, yeah, it works perhaps 90% of the time. I'm quite impressed.

I sometimes wish WMV would just die out, because it's not generally portable, and therefore I think its use should be discouraged, but I suppose this might change things.

On the other hand, VLC still crashes more frequently than the 0.7.x stream did (seems to occur with a long list of files in the playlist -- I'm trying to reproduce it), though the crash rate has improved substantially since 0.8.5 and earlier 0.8.x releases (I'm running the OS X PPC version -- YMMV). I don't like the way they've integrated the playlist into the control window rather than as a separate window, but that's just an interface preference.

Anyway, that all sounds ungrateful and picky. I AM impressed. It's wonderful. As others have said, many kudos, VLC and ffmpeg development teams. Thank you.

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[dr.badass]

Ffmpeg codecs are another implementation (than Windows DLLs) achieved through reverse-engeenering (which also may be illegal to use in some countries)

Um, no. There is no reverse-engineering involved. Windows Media Video 9 (fourcc: WMV3) is the same as VC-1, which is an SMTPE standard, and a reference implementation has been available for a while now. I've been using ffmpeg builds with it for months.

Of course, I can't blame anyone for being confused, given how utterly useless the ffmpeg documentation is.

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[Megane]

I have a PPC mac and it is great to have a native working WMV9/VC-1 codec.

Wow! Look at those pigs flying out of a frozen-over hell!

Now I can finally play those WMV9/AAC Japanese TV rips without playing codec-war games. If they managed to get the softsub driver to be even somewhat useful, then it will have been worth the wait. VLC was notorious for how badly it rendered softsubs.

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but are you saying that up until now Mac's lacked the capability to play wmv/aac video? I guess all the super-cool Mac people rubbing it in our face that Linux sucks because Mac has far better multimedia capability was not entirely true now then, was it? Well, I'm pretty sure I'll be the only one pointing this out as now that Mac has this capability, it always has been and always will be the only "alternative" to Microsoft, right? :)

As an aside, did you notice that the new "Mac" vs "PC" ads are basically Apple devolving to the point where they are pointing their fingers at Microsoft and accusing them of doing exactly what they themselves have been doing? I really really don't see much difference between Apple and Microsoft, other than Mac does a lot more advertising to suck in the "I have more money therefore I am better than you" crowd.

Re:Hmmm....WMV9 on OS X?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not trying to be a jerk

You seem to have a natural talent though.

slashdotted with no comments

[ukatoton]

I guess I'll have to wait a bit before I can try it.

Re:slashdotted with no comments

[_Pablo]

Mirrors:

http://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/videolan/vl c/0.8.6/
http://videolan.kn.vutbr.cz/vlc/0.8.6/

Re:slashdotted with no comments

[ukatoton]

Woohoo! Even after enabling the fullscreen controls under options, there don't actually seem to be any. Maybe it's just my computer acting up, but I can't see any. Looks like I'll have to stick with the keyboard to control playback.

Re:slashdotted with no comments

[chrispl]

I have not tried the new version yet but in the old version moving the mouse to the top right corner of the screen would pop up the controls.
Took me a while to figure that one out...

Re:slashdotted with no comments

[multimediavt]

VersionTracker.com also has it for download on their mirrors.

Re:slashdotted with no comments

[Phisbut]

I guess I'll have to wait a bit before I can try it.

I haven't tried previous versions, so I can't judge the overall quality of the thing, but why are we all happy about the release of a third-level-version-number (0.8.5 to 0.8.6) of a software that's barely in beta? I mean come on, it's version zero point eight.

If it's really that good, why don't they make a 1.0 version anytime soon? If it's not, why is this even news? What is it with all those free software project that must always be version zero point something?

Re:slashdotted with no comments

[n00kie]

You should really try it before asking all those questions. VLC is one of the few players that can handle most types of media out of the box. In addition, it's open source and cross platform. You may well see the occasional bug, but it's a small price to pay for such a great piece of software.

Re:slashdotted with no comments

[Phisbut]

You should really try it before asking all those questions. VLC is one of the few players that can handle most types of media out of the box.

I was not commenting on the quality of the software, I even said I never used it and therefore can't judge the quality of the thing. What I was wondering about is why all the fuss about the update from 0.8.5 to 0.8.6 for a pre-1.0 software. Version numbering for FOSS seems pretty much random. What does it need to get to 0.9, and when will it be "good enough" for 1.0?

Re:slashdotted with no comments

[HTH NE1]

Keep in mind that version 0.9.x could be followed not by 1.0 but 0.10.0.

Re:slashdotted with no comments

[HobophobE]

Woohoo! You don't mention your OS at all so it's rather hard to diagnose the behavior you've mentioned.

That said I personally have encountered the bug under linux in VLC/fullscreen. In my case there's a kind of annoying work around: I right click in fullscreen (bringing up a context menu which I dismiss) and then the existing methods to reveal the player controls will work (pressing i (for interface), middle-click, and moving the mouse to the edge (top in my case) of the screen). Not sure if you are on linux.

It's annoying bug where the player seems to forget the order of the fullscreen layer compared to the player and actually moves itself 'on top' but still below the fullscreen as far as I can tell. The right-click work around seems to remind it where the top really is.

Why is this under Linux?

[drcagn]

This program is cross-platform and this build has Windows- and OSX-specific features. Why is this under Linux? Just because it's open source?

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[aero2600-5]

It's under Linux because VLC runs under Linux, and is possibly the best media player for Linux. Yes, there are versions for Mac and Windows, but that's for many reasons. First off is that a tarball will do you little to no good on either of those systems. More importantly, and I'm not 100% sure because it's slashdotted, there are probably things added to the Mac and Windows versions that just won't work under Linux. Should the software runs worse than it's capable of under Windows because it's intended for Linux? No. A perfect example is that not all web-browsers support advanced CSS techniques. Should we not create better websites that only the newer browsers can handle? We develop for both, one that the older browsers can handle, and one that the new browsers can make look even better. There is nothing wrong with developing for both. If you happen to look at the mirrors, there are .bz2 and .gz files, as well as a Suse version, in addition to the Mac and Windows versions.

Aero

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

Go show your mom this comment. She will get you some help.

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[Chandon Seldon]

and is possibly the best media player for Linux.

Lots of things are possible. That's one that's possible and not true.

VLC Player is more likely to be the best media player under Windows, where stuff like MPlayer isn't native.

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[gQuigs]

If I recall correctly, it started out being only on Linux and then was ported to the other two.

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[colfer]

It looks like a win32 binary, not a tarball.

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[etrusco]

Maybe because it's much more relevant in Linux, since in Windows and Mac there are more alternatives and more polished alternatives...

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

VLC is definitely the best video player for OS X. QuickTime blows. MPlayerOS X is okay. They use the newest ffmpeg codecs, but the interface sucks. VLC tends to lag behind ffmpeg's releases.

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[Grey Ninja]

I'm a Linux user. I use VLC since it has a really nice interface, and plays just about everything. It feels like a more modern mplayer to me. Not that I have anything against mplayer though. Mplayer is one of the most rugged players I know, and it's absolutely PERFECT for use with MythTV.

So no, I would say that it's a matter of opinion whether it's the best player or not. Personally, I think it is.

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[Petrushka]

Well, to be fair, if the ggpp's sig is true, the gpp AC could well be correct about the "AIDS" part. Not so sure about the "faggot" part, though.

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[jesboat]

That's ironic; I find the mplayerosx interface much nicer (though I, as someone who prefers keyboard commands, certainly am not a typical user) and that it tends [1] to support more filetypes and codecs than VLC does.

[1] with exceptions, of course

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[Neil Hodges]

What about KMPlayer, or Kplayer, for KDE users? It supports GStreamer, MPlayer, and Xine, and gives the choice of whichever.

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think that is true. The VideoLAN project was started as a multi-platform application with VLC as its client software. Just because it's open source doesn't mean it started with Linux.

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[TheRaven64]

Because Slashdot still doesn't have an Open Source section. GNOME and KDE articles also tend to go in either the Linux or BSD sections. I still find it odd that Slashdot, supposedly one of the centres of the F/OSS community, doesn't know the difference between 'Linux' and 'Free Software.'

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[TheRaven64]

Really? It's my default media player on OS X, and something I always install on Windows boxes for other people. I also have it installed on my FreeBSD box. In fact, while I regularly use it on FreeBSD and OS X, I don't think I have ever used it on Linux...

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do you use MPlayer with MythTV? The built in player seems more suitable to me.

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

The built-in player in MythTV is MPlayer :)

VLC rocks though

Monkeyboi

Re:Why is this under Linux?

[QuesarVII]

Nope. You're wrong mythtv has it's own internal dvd and movie player that works VERY well. Full support for dvd menus (which mplayer doesn't have), and also allows you to do time streching, etc on dvd's and regular movie files.

VLC is teh woohoo!

[DaveM753]

> "a Fullscreen controller"

Woohoo! I've been a tad frustrated with the lack of control while in fullscreen. I suppose I could memorize all of the keyboard shortcuts, but I use several different viewers between the Mac, Linux and Windoze...it just gets too confusing. I can't wait to try this out!

Re:VLC is teh woohoo!

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I've been frustrated by 0.8.5's inability to remember deinterlacing settings, and also it's tendency to spew out errors. I've had it crash several times in an evening.

Re:VLC is teh woohoo!

[Jherek Carnelian]

I've been frustrated by 0.8.5's inability to remember deinterlacing settings,

You have to do more than just set the deinterlace method.
IIRC:
You have to add the deinterlace filter.
You probably also need to change the default setting for files (there are separate settings for files and for streaming).

I really like vlc a lot, but like a lot of Free software, the user-interface could really benefit from improvement.

Re:VLC is teh woohoo!

[straponego]

I really like vlc a lot, but like a lot of Free software, the user-interface could really benefit from improvement.

...as opposed to commercial software, which is harmed by improvement? :)

The main beef I had with VLC is that the default keyboard shortcuts seemed deficient, and the navigation shortcuts changed in full screen on Linux. But VLC has rapidly become the best media player out there IMO, and the fact that it's cross-platform is gravy.

Re:VLC is teh woohoo!

[Atraxen]

Ironically, my issue is lack of control due to too fine of control... Whenever VLC's the active window, my mouse speed is roughly halved. I'm looking through the prefs now, but no cause yet.

Re:VLC is teh woohoo!

[injury0314]

If only they would implement Mplayer's keyboard controls and OSD, it would be the perfect windows media player. On Linux though, that's another story.

Re:VLC is teh woohoo!

[Miseph]

I think the key phrase was user-interface. Most free software does need a lot of fixing up in the UI department, and most commercial software needs a lot of improvement in the functionality department.

Re:VLC is teh woohoo!

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't get your hopes up - the best I've seen it do, is pop up the taskbar to get the controllerwindow, which then becomes buggy for me, especially in skinned mode (i.e. opening multiple instances of the videowindow - so maybe a problem with my dualcore).

But I'll still keep VLC for those faulty files that no other player can play, and the new .flv support is great too, for watching YouTube downloads.

Re:VLC is teh woohoo!

[-noefordeg-]

Well...
You could have downloaded one of the nightlies then. Since they have had those features for a VERY long time.

Re:VLC is teh woohoo!

[Anonymous Coward]

IIRC they're working on fixing the intf. They are migrating from wxwidgets to qt4 and as such hope to improve the interface. Like a lot of [Free->Open Source->We want your help] software, help them out. The software gets better if people help. No, really.

There are many things that we would like to improve in VLC, but that we don't, because we simply don't have enough time. That's why we are currently looking for some help. We have identified several small projects that prospective developers could work on. Knowledge of C and/or C++ programming will certainly be useful, but you don't need to be an expert, nor a video expert. Existing VLC developers will be able to help you on these projects. You can find the list and some instructions on the dedicated Wiki page http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/Mini_Projects Don't hesitate to join us on IRC or on the mailing-lists. We are waiting for you!

nigthlies is up

[gerbalblaste]

http://nightlies.videolan.org/ is still online

Re:nigthlies is up

[gerbalblaste]

mirror: http://www.filehippo.com/download_vlc/

Re:nigthlies is up

[Anonymous Coward]

Another mirror:

http://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/videolan/vl c/0.8.6/

Re:nigthlies is up

[Anonymous Coward]

FTP server(s) are up and running just fine: download here-ish (choose your release within).

Posted AC because people complain about karma whoring even when plus karma doesn't affect you anymore.

/.ng

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, it is time that you all stop covering software releases. You /.'d a college; now cut it out. My porn is of a greater urgency than your reporting.

Yay!

[Kiba Ruby]

Unfortunately, I don't have much to say there.

But yay!

VLC is a great piece software that probably play more format then many other media players combined.

I applaud the VLC team for making a new release.

Too bad it seem to be slashdotted. :(

Re:Yay!

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, I don't have much to say there.

What's really unfortunate is that you decided to post anyhow.

Re:Yay!

[Anonymous Coward]

Excuse me, but really what is the big deal? The ffmpeg codec pack has been the backbone of linux players like mplayer and xine for years. Just because this is for Windows, this is big news now? The mplayer and xine folks did all the hard work. Credit where credit is due..

mirror

[Anonymous Coward]

http://mirrors.optralan.com/videolan/vlc/0.8.6/

Flash video

[Anonymous Coward]

Is flash video essentially just a container format like ogg or quicktime? Can I play videos from youTube by just copying and pasting the .swf URL into VLC?

IIRC youtube embed their player in the flash, so will VLC just ignore the bytecode and present a menu to access the embeded media?

Re:Flash video

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, more or less. You have to download the .swf file, then extract the url of the .flv file from it, then download that. There's a script to get the URL at http://www.keepvid.com/. There's also a firefox plugin that'll do it for you.

Re:How is this news?

[DaveM753]

> "How is this news?"

When Microsoft Windows Media Player, QuickTime or Real Player release a new version, it makes the front page of CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times. So, when a free, open-source player releases a new version, is it not appropriate for a promoter of open-source software to announce it?

Some help with versioning?

[dave562]

VLC media player 0.8.5, we bring you version 0.8.6 with many bugfixes, as well as a couple of new features we think you will truly enjoy.

For bug fixes I could see a 0.0.1 increase but don't new additions and features generally come with a 0.1.0 increment at least? Maybe the devs are too scared of developing a true 1.0 version? =)

Re:Some help with versioning?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares what meaningless label version number is assigned to a release. Do you wank yourself stupid when you see a x+1.0 release?

Re:Some help with versioning?

[The MAZZTer]

Except that they could go to 0.10.x and 0.11.x etc until they think they're ready to call it 1.0.

Re:Some help with versioning?

[h2g2bob]

A lot of the new features come directly from the ffmpeg library, so the actual code in VLC isn't that much different. This really is just a release to add those features as 0.9 will take some time to do.

Re:Some help with versioning?

[inode_buddha]

Actually, I release myself stupid when I see a x+1.0. Enjoy the mental imagery, and have a nice day!

ffmpeg's WMV9 implementation

[wesley96]

Since it's using ffmpeg to decode WMV9 instead of using Windows DLLs, both PPC and Intel Macs enjoy native decoding of the codec in question. No wrapper, no drag.

Incidentally, it looks like the new version is finally available in Universal Binary as well as Intel- and PPC-specific builds. And it seems to load subtitle texts automatically from the get-go without mingling with the preferences settings (yes, I confirmed this by trashing the existing preferences file). I say job well done for the VLC developers.

Re:ffmpeg's WMV9 implementation

[Anonymous Coward]

This is also good news for those among us using AMD64 Linux, who have been without a competent method of playing WMV9 and flash files altogether.

How about a mirror?

[ZiZ]

Use a bloody mirror!

• VideoLAN primary mirror - France - Download (HTTP)
• VIA Centrale Reseaux, École Centrale Paris - France - Download (HTTP)
• Twente University - Netherlands - Download (HTTP)
• IRCAM - France - Download (HTTP)
• Université de Strasbourg - France - Download (FTP)
• Cr@ns, ENS Cachan - France - Download (FTP)
• Providence University - Taiwan - Download (FTP)
• Endpoint Corporation - Sweden - Download (FTP)
• Optralan - USA - Download (HTTP)
• Brno University of Technology - Czech Republic - Download (HTTP)
• Brno University of Technology - Czech Republic - Download (FTP)
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná - Brazil - Download (FTP)

(These are all Windows downloads. Remove the filename and last directory from the path to explore other download options.)

Re:How about a mirror?

[maxume]

Which one has your trojan embedded?

Re:How about a mirror?

[maxume]

Open source is great. Running the version of windows that came with my computer is simpler than running thing open source, and damn am I lazy.

Running a binary downloaded from a random link on slashdot is a really bad idea. A link to a videolan hosted mirror list is a much better idea, then you only have to trust videolan.org, not some random guy on slashdot.

Re:How about a mirror?

[ZiZ]

Since they run on Windows, they all require the trojan to be preinstalled.

This is a list of the mirrors from videolan.org, as seen on Google's cache (or go searching for "cache:http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-window s.html" - don't forget to remove the spaces inserted by slashdot - on google yourself), with the links edited to be (a) direct mirror download links rather than through videolan.org's redirector and (b) the version number changed from 0.8.5 to 0.8.6.

And yes, it is a damn shame that you can't trust anyone on the Internet. Good thing there are helpful people like you watching out for the uneducated masses, otherwise we might all be running...er...trojan-infested pirated copies of Windows, with pirated music on our iPods, with our megahurtz being stoled.

Re:How about a mirror?

[javilon]

Which one has your trojan embedded?

The one that has a different checksum

Re:How about a mirror?

[Anonymous Coward]

We all know slashdotters rarely if ever get a chance to embed a trojan...

Re:How about a mirror?

[legal_asshole]

I appologize in advance...

I'd go with the mirror from India. The trojan has probably slipped off the executable, and the executable is going to be smaller to boot!

I hate myself...

Re:How about a mirror?

[jumpfroggy]

Thanks, couldn't even get to the site for a list of mirrors.

Re:How about a mirror?

[maxume]

If you were feeling industrious, you could make your own installer package with a preinstalled trojan; the release was sometime last night, that's plenty of time. The good news is that I was going for the joke, even if not downloading links on slashdot is reasonable advice.

Also, they appear to be back on their knees at this point. I didn't realize how freaking popular it is though, they claim 29 million downloads for 0.8.5. Compare that to the 88,000 subscribers to slashdot's rss feed at bloglines.

(http://www.bloglines.com/preview?siteid=277)

Re:How about a mirror?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've never wanted to have mod status so much as when I read this comment. Well done, other AC!

torrent?

[metroplex]

Is there an official torrent of the releases hosted somewhere reachable?

Re:torrent?

[Midnight Thunder]

Is there an official torrent of the releases hosted somewhere reachable?

It would have been nice that had provided one before making this announcement. Maybe next time?

Re:torrent?

[Anonymous Coward]

A torrent for 9MB? You're seriously hardcore man...

Re:torrent?

[metroplex]

Well, my torrent client is always up and running, and using it for even smallish files doesn't bother me. I'm sure there are some more people in my situation, and if they all used bittorrent for things such as this, those who do not know how to, or do not want to use bittorrent maybe would be able to get the release via http or ftp.

h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[vivek7006]

On windows platform, when I play h264 video files the cpu usage is considerably less than other players. Especially in comparison with mplayer-classic using ffdshow. I usually encode all my home-videos using x264 and use VLC player for playback. VLC player uses minimal cpu and video quality is awesome. Thanks guys!

Re:h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally, playing h264 stuff in VLC doesn't work all that great for me... I use Media Player Classic with CoreAVC, and it uses far, far less cpu.

Re:h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[kestasjk]

You should thank the ffmpeg team for that, not the VLC guys (who certainly deserve credit for their work in other areas though)

Re:h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[vivek7006]

Personally, playing h264 stuff in VLC doesn't work all that great for me... I use Media Player Classic with CoreAVC, and it uses far, far less cpu.

I have also read good reviews about coreAVC on doom9 forums, but VLC player is free and open-source as opposed to coreAVC which is closed.

Re:h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[StikyPad]

(Most) 1088i vids play back flawlessly on my bottom-end C2D with CoreAVC, where the ffmpeg staggers and stutters through the same material. Best $15 I've spent in a while.

Re:h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[ben there...]

Really? I thought doom9.org's semi-consensus was that ffdshow was the best performing decoder for h264?

Could have changed since I last checked I suppose.

Re:h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got to concur. I've got some 720p videos encoded with x264 @ about 3.3 MBps and mplayer with ffdshow & vlc stutter on my Athlon 64 3000+ even when it's overclocked. CoreAVC is the only one I've found able to playback smoothly (even only uses 80% cpu) - however, I do prefer VLC because of the superior interface and flexibility in doing anything (i.e. audio jitter is an easy ctrl+k or ctrl+l shortcut with the resulting action displayed on the screen, audio is ctrl+up, ctrl+down, and ctrl, shift, and alt are modifiers on left & right for how much to skip the video by).

Re:h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[ben there...]

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=99402

Ahh, I guess I was wrong.

ateme: 58.78
libav-mplayer: 58.22
moonlight: 55.48
libav-ffdshow: 52.15
libav-ffdshow_old: 52.11
nero: 50.74
elecard: 44.04

ffdshow is in the middle of the pack, behind mplayer/VLC and ahead of Nero. CoreAVC, while not tested there, is considered to be faster than all of the above.

Re:h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Those numbers are from November 2005.

I am not going to go dig for more recent numbers, but I saw comments in passing on the ffdshow-tryout mailing list about being their latest checkins being comparable to coreavc. Don't remember the specifics though, it could easily have been for one of the profiles that don't matter so much.

Re:h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[evilviper]

I am not going to go dig for more recent numbers, but I saw comments in passing on the ffdshow-tryout mailing list about being their latest checkins being comparable to coreavc.

You must be thinking of something else, because that's really not the case today. Everyone's still trying to speed-up h264 (and trying to figure out how the hell CoreAVC is able to do it so much faster).

Re:h264 decoding on vlc player kicks ass!

[evilviper]

On windows platform, when I play h264 video files the cpu usage is considerably less than other players.

If you're interested, MPlayer for Windows should be faster still, and has numerous configurable options (-lavdopts) to speed-up h264 even more.

Re:How is this news?

[smurphus]

Note the "slownewsday" tag...

What fullscreen controller?

[guidryp]

Installed 0.8.6 and when I go to fullscreen, I can't find any new full screen control. A big part of the reason I use MPC first and use VLC as a backup, is the much more usable interface on MPC in full screen mode. VLC still has none AFAICT.

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[node 3]

Move your mouse.

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[flimnap]

Installed 0.8.6 and when I go to fullscreen, I can't find any new full screen control.

Gack, good! One of the best things about VLC is that there is no annoying "control" eating screen space when you go fullscreen. The keyboard shortcuts remain fully functional, so use those.

I've seen way too many public presentations that begin with the Windows Media Player controls present, then sliding away, not to appreciate the value of VLC.

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've seen way too many public presentations that begin with the Windows Media Player controls present, then sliding away, not to appreciate the value of VLC.

Thats the point - they slide away. If you don't want to see the controls, don't play with your mouse while watching something fullscreen.

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[Anonymous Coward]

pressing f on the keyboard also helps

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[guidryp]

I am not looking for the button to go fullscreen. I assumed there now controls when you are in "fullscreen" Mode.

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sometimes it's hard to masturbate frantically and not move the mouse around. When you really get into it, and you start thrusting, you'll make your whole bed shake. If the mouse isn't on the floor or upside down, it'll move and bring up the on-screen controller, which is very distracting. Putting the mouse on the floor is suboptimal as well. One video isn't enough for me to get off anymore. I speak from experience.

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your kidding right?? Hint... Move your mouse and the fulllscreen controller pops up for a few seconds.

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[Anonymous Coward]

Track Ball?

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[Mountaineer1024]

No he's not kidding, under windows I can't see it either and I was busy clicking through dozens of 'advanced' (badly labelled) options in the preferences dialog trying to find it too. I love VLC and it's my primary video player, but the preferences interface is seriously only for the bold.

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[loraksus]

Ditto here, nary a fucking glimpse of this "controller"

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[hbpencil]

http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=29514&si d=8f1a64f43417c48f7a604af78287b378 Full screen controls are only on OSX for now.

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[milimetric]

Yeah, I don't see them (I didn't look too hard)
Trust me on this, I know you may be opposed to it at first but this is the reason I love VLC:

f - toggle full screen
s - stop
[spacebar] - play/pause
[alt]+[left arrow] - go back 10 seconds
[alt]+[right arrow] - go forward 10 seconds
[ctrl]+[left arrow] - go back 1 minute
[ctrl]+[right arrow] - go forward 1 minute
[ctrl]+[up arrow] - volume up
[ctrl]+[down arrow] - volume down

there's more and you can customize everything from the preferences. Though, as someone else said, the preferences menu is a little unintuitive. If I worked on it, I wouldn't change the organization I would add documentation built into the app itself.

Hats off to you Parisians, VLC rules :)
a fellow Cornelian

Re:What fullscreen controller?

[discord5]

Track Ball?

I think he's got enough on his hands as it is :)

cloth

[ElephanTS]

"Building on feedback from the 29 million downloads of VLC media player 0.8.5, we bring you version 0.8.6 with many bugfixes, as well as a couple of new features we think you will truly enjoy. Most prominent are probably Windows Media Video 9 and Flash Video. Other important changes are improved H.264 decoding, better Windows Unicode support, a Fullscreen controller, and Apple Remote support for Mac OS X."

And most importantly it will play all your pr0n torrents if you are running OSX. (Comes with free cloth).

Re:cloth

[Anonymous Coward]

"Building on feedback from the 29 million downloads of VLC media player 0.8.5, we bring you version 0.8.6 with many bugfixes, as well as a couple of new features we think you will truly enjoy. Most prominent are probably Windows Media Video 9 and Flash Video. Other important changes are improved H.264 decoding, better Windows Unicode support, a Fullscreen controller, and Apple Remote support for Mac OS X."

 
And most importantly it will play all your pr0n torrents if you are running OSX. (Comes with free cloth).
 
  Great! Where is it? Where is it!

...too late :(

VLC is a packet-based player

[aok]

I use VLC player for playing all my videos under Linux, both standalone and as a firefox plugin (in conjunction with the MediaPlayerConnectivity Firefox addon extension).

The only downside I find is that actions are a bit laggy compared to frame-based players. For example, if I hit pause, it doesn't pause instantaneously.

Also, and I'm not sure if it's a limitation of being a packet-based player, but I wish it wouldn't close the video right after it's done playing. I prefer the last frame to stay on the screen.

P.S. For those using VLC under XGL and get a weird green-tinted bar at the top of your videos, change the Video output module to "X11 video output". You'll need to toggle the Advanced Settings checkbox.

Re:VLC is a packet-based player

[Anonymous Coward]

> For example, if I hit pause, it doesn't pause instantaneously.

At least under windows, it actually pauses when I *release* the click on the pause button. I'm not sure why, but when I've wanted to pause an anime to read all the weird text that flashes by on some screen (it usually contains engrish or random, strange jokes :-) I'll scroll back to a few seconds before the scene, then hold down the pause button and wait to release it at just the right moment.

Which, I grant, is quite hard...

Re:VLC is a packet-based player

[kisielk]

Same with any other button, the action is not executed until you release the mouse from the button. This is presumably so that you can cancel your action if you catch yourself in mid-click clicking on something you don't want.

Re:VLC is a packet-based player

[LiquidCoooled]

Doesn't sound like the expected behaviour.
Have the breaks on your car wait until you release the pedal for a graphic example.

Re:VLC is a packet-based player

[HeroreV]

Is that why seeking sucks so much? MPlayer is great at seeking, but it uses FFmpeg too, so I don't know why it's so different.

Re:VLC is a packet-based player

[kisielk]

Well it's been the behavior on any widget set I've tried recently. The car brakes analogy doesn't really work for many reasons. First off you can have different strengths of braking depending on how hard you push the pedal down, and also you're not likely to get hurt or killed if your media player GUI doesn't respond instantly.

Re:VLC is a packet-based player

[Anonymous Coward]

The two are not analogous. You hold down the breaks to stop your car. You press stop or pause only once to perform those actions in a GUI.

Do people ever think before they post?

Mirrors

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.filemirrors.com/search.src?type=begins& file=vlc-0.8.6-win32.exe&action=Find

I used the .fr one. worked fine.

It's news.

[Kadin2048]

VLC is a very significant piece of software, not just for Linux users (for whom its especially significant) but for anyone who watches a lot of movies or other media files.

This version introduces a number of new and long-requested features, beyond what the point-release number upgrade would lead you to believe.

In many ways, I'd say that a new release of VLC is probably more significant than the latest "marketing department" release of Quicktime Player or Windows Media Player.

Re:It's news.

[Mishtara2001]

I agree, and the most popular type of media-movie files I watch with VLC is...

Re:It's news.

[gordgekko]

If it's that significant then Slashdot should have covered the release when it actually happened...yesterday.

Re:It's news.

[dr.badass]

VLC is a very significant piece of software, not just for Linux users (for whom its especially significant) but for anyone who watches a lot of movies or other media files.

This version introduces a number of new and long-requested features, beyond what the point-release number upgrade would lead you to believe.

Would you care to back up these statements? I personally find VLC to be more or less a big turd, and have never really understood the excitement about it. I'm interested to know what I'm missing.

Re:It's news.

[Anonymous Coward]

Gay porn?

Re:It's news.

[fireboy1919]

VLC is a very significant piece of software, not just for Linux users (for whom its especially significant)

Actually, I'd say that it isn't particularly significant for Linux users. In terms of featues and maturity, VLC is a step backwards compared to mplayer. However, mplayer has a lot of posix/linux kernel/gcc optimization tricks. It is designed and tested on Linux.

VLC, on the other hand, works fine with pretty much all of its features even on Windows and Mac, and it's portable - i.e. you can put it on a CD-Rom drive and use it to show whatever videos you've got there.

Ultimately, I think that the important issue is that it brings to all non-Linux users the codec support that mplayer has enjoyed for several years, and spurs further codec development, and starts people thinking abuot the important fact that a modern media player should be able to handle all possible media.

Re:It's news.

[gedeco]

For instance,

I'm capable of streaming live tv shows from a linux server to a wireless XP laptop, both running vlc

Re:It's news.

[slack_prad]

Well, this is Slashdot.
Be prepared to see the same news a few weeks from now.

Re:It's news.

[Jzor]

VLC beats the pants off of trying to help my girlfriend find a codec for a video file that she's torrented. Or trying to jump through hoops to get other players to work with whatever other program you need to display subtities that come with some anime episodes. VLC is also an excellent portable player. It is lightweight and small. I keep it on my flash drive and use it to listen to streaming music while working in the lab as opposed to being limited to WMP.

Re:How is this news?

[Anonymous Coward]

A version increment measures the technical difference, not the slashdotworthiness of a release. For that you have to look at the features. For example if between Vista build 2837 and 2838 Microsoft had implemented ext2/3 support, it would be slashdotworthy.

Issues with Vista?

[dubstar]

There doesn't seem to be any video out (other than a sometimes flashing screen) on Vista. 0.8.5 works fine when I uninstall/reinstall though. Anyone else have this issue? I'd check their forums, but... /.'d

Re:Issues with Vista?

[Anonymous Coward]

Same for me here with the default output :(

Re:Issues with Vista?

[jelloshotgun]

I had that problem too, but if you go to Settings -> Preferences -> Video -> Output Modules and then check the Advanced Options box, select "Windows GDI video output" from the drop-down list, and it should work.

Re:How is this news?

[TheFlyingGoat]

When WMP gets a hotfix or iTunes releases a minor version, they definitely do not make the news anywhere. That's the equivalent. I like VLC as much as the next guy, but I also like iTunes, and neither deserves a frontpage article for minor updates.

Re:How is this news?

[Jugalator]

How is a bit of numerology really relevant to this?

I'm grateful for the news myself as some of these features were pretty substantial.

Don't stare yourself blind at the version number.

Building FC6 RPMS's...

[mwilliamson]

I just started a RPM build based on the livna 0.8.5 spec file and dependencies...heading back to work for a few hours. If this works, I'll post the resultant SRPM and FC6 RPMs. The spec file that comes with 0.8.6 is marked version 0.8.0, so I didn't even bother with it.

-Michael

Re:How is this news?

[Jugalator]

Which last hotfix to a media player added new features comparable to support for a major video format, full screen controls, and more?
Don't tell me you also just looked at the version number increase.

Re:How is this news?

[shaitand]

When WMP gets a hotfix or iTunes releases a minor version, they definitely do not make the news anywhere. That's the equivalent. I like VLC as much as the next guy, but I also like iTunes, and neither deserves a frontpage article for minor updates. You assume that because they don't artificially inflate the version number that this is a minor update?

Re:How is this news?

[TheFlyingGoat]

I've seen iTunes change some major stuff in minor updates (ipod interface, for example). Microsoft may exaggerate their versioning, but Apple doesn't. I've also seen Zoom Player, Meedio, Xbox Media Center, and more add support for major video formats, interface changes, and a lot more, and they don't get a front page article. Obviously the editors can do whatever they want, but this is "slownewsday" news, plain and simple.

Re:How is this news?

[Anonymous Coward]

It wouldn't be artificially inflating the number. If there are new features, it shouldn't be a minor version number increase. This is sloppy release engineering, plain and simple.

fullscreen controller sure looks familiar...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's nearly indistinguishable from the fullscreen controller in QuickTime Pro. Its corners are slightly less rounded, that's about the only difference.

Re:How is this news?

[Goaway]

They are artificially deflating the version number, if anything. Why do so many people think you have to be thirfty with version numbers?

way to be late

[xxdesmus]

a full day late on this one ...way to go guys. nothing like bleeding edge news a day late...

Re:How is this news?

[EvanED]

Because like oil, the whales, and oxygen, version numbers are a non-renewable resource!

you suck

[Anonymous Coward]

go away

Install??

[Anonymous Coward]

How am I supposed to install this?
First, no zip. Second, (after using winrar) the install instructions are several pages talking about DOS command line. WTF timewarp 1995? just gimmie the install double click OK, accept, next, next, OK ... done! install procedure. If I wanted hassle/compiling I'd run linux

Re:Install??

[nurb432]

Point and Drooler i see. Sad.

Re:Install??

[Anonymous Coward]

I can spend the next 2 hours studying for my Tax Law exam or play around with files. Some people consider computers a tool and not a hobby. (ps - I've installed and configured Mandrake, redhat, and ubuntu - Windows XP FTW)

FWIW, I just don't have the inclination to tinker with computers when all I want it to do is just "work."
click, drool, and get on with my life *away* from the computer.

Re:Install??

[Anonymous Coward]

The installer I just downloaded uninstalled 0.8.5 for me, then installed 0.8.6 with no hassle. WTF are you doing?

Re:Install??

[cecil_turtle]

FWIW, I just don't have the inclination to tinker with computers when all I want it to do is just "work."
click, drool, and get on with my life *away* from the computer. Then what are you doing on Slashdot?

Re:Install??

[Anonymous Cowled]

Hmmm... Let me guess - the "dos" commands say something like

# ./configure
# make
# make install

?

It sounds like you might have downloaded source code (no zip; had to open it in rar...)

The source has the extension ".tar.gz" or ".tar.bz2" and will be fairly useless to you, whilst running Windows.

It might be a good idea to download the Windows executable installer if you're running Windows...

Re:Install??

[nurb432]

"I want it to do is just "work."

Then you shouldnt have one, and instead be paying a monthly fee for your 'data terminal'.

MKV Support

[Bob54321]

Does anyone know if the support for Matroska files improved? I had to resort to using the Matroska plugin for Windows Media Player to play some file I was given. The video kept skipping in the action parts and randomly stopping in other places (on only certain files).

Re:MKV Support

[Anonymous Cowled]

What's the specs of your machine? I've never had a problem with Matroska files, with the exception of on my laptop. The mkv package format is more complex than (for example) avi and takes more procesing power/ram - which might be why you find it skips at action scenes (there is more data being processed at these times).

For reference, btw - my desktop is an Athlon XP 2500+ Mobile (clocked @ 233*12) with 1GB RAM, my laptop is a p3 650 with 128 MB RAM, running W2k.

On the laptop I tried various players/codec packs and found that MPlayer, running the command line version (not the gui version) works a treat with mkv's. Simply add

"%wherever_you_installed_mplayer%\mplayer -slang eng" "%t"

to the file handler command and you'll have "point and click" opening of mkv files. I did this via the registry, but it can be done from Folder Options --> File Types.

Version Number Deflation...

[7Prime]

Is it just me, or does it make NO SENSE that this is a point.point upgrade? I don't care who you are, 0.0.1 upgrades are for things like bug fixes, small new implimentations, slight library recompiles... fuck: a new ICON. NOT major format additions, a UI overhaul, and a boatload of additional features!

I can understand the concern for version number inflation (Netscape 4 -> Netscape 6 was idiotic, same with Winamp 3 -> Winamp 5), but let's not be overly humble to the point of confusing users. Version Number Deflation looks just as silly.

I remember a time in which anything under 1.0 meant that a program was practically unusable and ONLY for elite users. But I've started to see a trend in the OSS community towards NEVER releasing a 1.0, as if 1.0 means that you're now an evil commercial entity that must be punished. No, 1.0 means "finished to the point of usability and beta tested to a certain level of solidity". Obviously, the finer points of this can be debated and are up to the descresion of the developer, but at a certain point, COME ON! When you've been working on a reasonably small audio player for over 4 years, and haven't even reached your 1.0, this tells me one of two things 1) You don't know how to code, and probably should find a new line of work, or 2) you're using numbers under 1.0 as a symbol of you're elitist OSS community status.

Seriously, I've tried VLC... it crashes sometimes... not as often as Windows... not as often as MPlayer... it's been above a 1.0 for YEARS now, just fucking call it what it is, and cut with the ritualistic, elitist, OSS symbolism bullshit.

Re:Version Number Deflation...

[MMC Monster]

I think that a lot of open source projects avoid going to 1.0 because they lose the whole "it's a beta, it's supposed to have problems" crutch. The fact of the matter is, people in general understand that all applications, regardless of version number, have flaws.

When you call it 1.0, there is no going back. It's kind of scary for some projects. Look at the difference in press in a project like firefox. When it hit 1.0 it started getting flack for a poor upgrade mechanism and such, while before that no one cared much if it only came in .zip files.

Re:Version Number Deflation...

[4D6963]

I think the difficulty of going from 0.x.x to 1.0 is that it may turn out that, after slowly adding feature after feature and fixing bug after bug to the point it'd deserve to be called 1.0, you're at something like 0.4.6 and as much as you'd like to call it 1.0 there's no way your program would deserve this huge incrementation over nothing. Just look at VLC or eMule, when should they have moved to 1.0? After 0.7.2 for VLC and 0.42e for eMule maybe?

You see, I just think that when your program evolves in a continuous manner and that no revolution is planned, it's hard to increment the first number of your version, and it has nothing to do with snobbism or incompetence.

Re:Version Number Deflation...

[Anonymous Coward]

If this is a troll, why is the original post informative?

Lunatic moderators.

Re:Version Number Deflation...

[WheresMyDingo]

in related news.. as part of their Truth in Point Releases Initiative, Microsoft has renamed Windows Vista as "Windows 0.6.1"

Re:Version Number Deflation...

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I've tried VLC. It crashes a lot more often than Windows. I've seen VLC 0.8.5 crash twice in an evening, I see Windows crash once every other year, and often it's a hardware problem when it does.

Re:Version Number Deflation...

[jZnat]

MPlayer hasn't released 1.0 yet. In fact, their latest release snapshot was 1.0rc1 (the 'pre' in 1.0pre8 for example means "pre-release" or "preview").

Re:Version Number Deflation...

[Kjella]

No, 1.0 means "finished to the point of usability and beta tested to a certain level of solidity".

Version numbers mean whatever you want it to mean. Ubuntu using year.month, many closed source applications just forget the whole bother and call it $foo 2006. That doesn't telling you any-fucking-thing about how big an upgrade is or how stable it is. It's neat if it makes some sort of sense that a +1.0.0 contains this, +0.1.0 this and +0.0.1 this, but it's entirely optional if you ask me. Want 1.0 to be "perfection" go ahead. Just use build numbers, and point users to one "stable" link and one "beta" link? Go ahead. Man, sometimes people get their panties in a bunch of the tiniest of details. It's like the grammar nazi of software.

Re:Version Number Deflation...

[Scarblac]

The first "0." is simply superfluous, projects like this should drop it.

A normal release means you increase your release number. 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0. Even if that happens every few weeks. You use the second number for quick fix releases that you need to rush out when something critical is found in a release, or if the main trunk is now at 10.0 but you still want to fix a security issue in old versions too, without the new functionality since then.

It's a version number. It should be used to number versions. I don't know when the custom started to use 3 numbers instead of 2, but it was a mistake and every new OSS project has been mindlessly copying it since then.

Re:Version Number Deflation...

[Anonymous Cowled]

> ...was idiotic, same with Winamp 3 -> Winamp 5.

There was a Winamp 4, but it was so shit, they released winamp 5 shortly after and glossed over the fact.

It's not "elitist... bullshit" - the devs obviously don't have it to a level that they are happy releasing it at as a fully completed package - you've said yourself that it crashes from time to time. The 0.0.1 upgrade is just giving them plenty of room for improvement before they release it as 1.0. OK - so they're perfectionists - is that really a problem? Is it not better that they want to release fully tested programs? The fact that it's being released as a 0.x version at all is because the devs thought the OSS community could do with the functionality (albeit buggy functionality) of this program and I would agree - because it is this popular and it's still only at 0.8.6 just goes to show that the community agree.

Re:Version Number Deflation...

[4D6963]

I don't agree, you don't want to see for example a project like PearPC with a 1.0 when it barely works and a 3.x when it works just OK. The 0 means something, it's not superfluous

Anyone know the changelog?

[Anonymous Coward]

Does anyone have a full changelog for the new version? I can't get to the site at all.

Hopefully, this version fixes the occasional crashes I see. And maybe, just maybe, they won't shuffle the playlist by default (or will make an option to turn that off). I hate when I queue up a bunch of episodes of something, only to have them shuffled out of order because I forgot to disable shuffle :(

Or else, does anyone know how to make it default to off? I couldn't find any option to get rid of that behavior in the documentation or configuration files...

Re:Anyone know the changelog?

[Xenographic]

Their poor site is half dead but here's the changelog they put up:

Building on feedback from the 29 million downloads of VLC media player 0.8.5, we bring you version 0.8.6 with many bugfixes, as well as a couple of new features we think you will truly enjoy. Highlights of the new features and improvements:

        * Support for Windows Media Video 9 and VC-1
        * Support for VP5/VP6 and Flash video
        * Support for TTA and WavPack Lossless audio
        * Much improved H.264 support
        * Preliminary DVR-ms, MXF support
        * Shoutcast TV support
        * Windows unicode fixes
        * Apple Remote support
        * Apple Fullscreen controller
        * Universal Binary

Wish I knew how to make shuffle default to off :/

Re:How is this news?

[jasmak]

You may find it surprising, but when I saw the title of the article I literally almost fell out of my chair I was so excited. It could have been because I was sitting all the way back in my 135 degree angle but out of the 10ish media players I use, VLC is by far the simplest of most comprehensive one I have ever used and because of how long it has been since it was last updated and because of how many new features makes this big news. Also, consider the fact that I, along with many others who use it a lot, probably would not have realized that it was updated because the regular news outlets don't cover geek news... that is what /. is here for. Also, unlike these other services you are mentioning, VLC chooses not to spam you every time you open it with the option to upgrade which I think also deserves recognition.

Re:How is this news?

[shaitand]

Last I checked every project defines its own numbering scheme. The VLC project defines its numbering scheme and determines what the valid criteria are for incrementing it. The ranted criteria defined by ACs on Slashdot are by definition incorrect if they dont match that of the project.

The kernel uses a major and minor revision scheme, some projects only increment the version numbers for major releases. Neither is incorrect.

Never used Media Player Classic?

[guidryp]

> Gack, good! One of the best things about VLC is that there is no annoying "control" eating
> screen space when you go fullscreen. The keyboard shortcuts remain fully functional, so use those.

MPC interface is vastly superior, there is nothing on the screen until you move your mouse, then a nice control bar slides up, that works miles better than the lame one separate one in VLC. Especially since it works really well in MPC when you just click the positin bar anywhere.

Anyway still nothing in VLC, moving mouse does nothing. Pushing F does nothing.

Re:Never used Media Player Classic?

[Kjella]

MPC interface is vastly superior, there is nothing on the screen until you move your mouse, then a nice control bar slides up, that works miles better than the lame one separate one in VLC. Especially since it works really well in MPC when you just click the positin bar anywhere.

Agreed, I've found MPC to be better for that in particular and scroll wheel should be for sound, not jumping around in the vid where it's not accurate enough to be useful anyway. Unfortunately VLC seems to have MPC beat when it comes to playing .ts files over a network, MPC stutters where VLC does not. So my current setup is VLC for that, MPC for everything else.

Re:Never used Media Player Classic?

[jbridges]

The fullscreen controls added VLC are OSX only (read the update log).

Re:Never used Media Player Classic?

[musicphreke]

i agree also. i think MPC is leaps and bounds over VLC. i never liked VLC and MPC plays just about anything, too, especially if you get Real Time Alternative and Quicktime Alternative so you don't have to get the actual HUGE Quicktime and/or Real Player software. MPC is faster as far as scanning through video without stuttering at al, plus the controls in fullscreen are perfect. I also love how you can zoom however you want/need to in MPC w/ the numpad. That's a beautiful thing as well.

Re:Never used Media Player Classic?

[Qzukk]

just click the positin bar anywhere.

What's really needed is the addition of a jog-wheel type interface to deal with the fact that some people might need to locate a particular frame, or perhaps a slider bar that can "zoom in" on the chunk of the slider bar representing +/- 1 minute from it's current position to allow better precision. Otherwise, if you're going to give me a slider bar, it better have an obvious tooltip or something to tell me what time I'm pointing at, with some way of skipping forward or backwards to times that are between pixels on the slider. Xine is a good example of how "just clicking the position bar anywhere" can go horribly wrong, with some of my longer dvds having a precision of about a minute or two to a pixel.

Re:How is this news?

[Anonymous Coward]

Last I checked every project defines its own numbering scheme.

Yes, and I feel quite happy in labelling this particular numbering scheme as fucking idiotic. As you say, it's well within their rights to be fucking idiotic when versioning their own software, but it's fucking idiotic nonetheless.

Note: Fullscreen controller only in OSX.

[guidryp]

To answer my own question. Change history details show that the interface I was looking for is only in OSX. That is why I couldn't see it. The story blurb led me to believe this was a multi-platform feature.

Re:Note: Fullscreen controller only in OSX.

[HeroreV]

Thanks, that was frustrating me. It's strange that they only put it in for the Mac version though.

Re:Note: Fullscreen controller only in OSX.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not really. The controller routine clearly uses Quartz Extreme. And anyway, from what I gather, most of the active developers use Macs at home.

Thank you VideoLAN for VLC from a Mac user

[theurge14]

I use VLC here at home to play the videos Quicktime won't, and I have a copy on my USB drive so I can also play videos and listen to AAC files on the Windows 2000 machines at work that I don't have admin permissions to install anything else on. Thanks for making a great player, a cross platform player, and a portable player. Software the way it ought to be.

Softsubs fixed?

[k3vlar]

Anyone know if they've fixed softsubs in this version? I try to like VLC, I really do, but when I can't read half of what the characters are saying, and poor unicode support (finally fixed!) makes any unusual character unreadable anyways well... DirectVOBSub under windows is just so nice. So, have they fixed 'em?

Re:Softsubs fixed?

[aok]

I think it's fixed. When I was still using VLC under Windows, the subtitles looked pretty nasty. But it's been a while and I've been using Ubuntu Edgy now and recently watched some stuff with softsubs and they were very nice and not all chopped up.

The version I'm using is 0.8.6-svn20061012.debian-1ubuntu1 from Ubuntu Edgy.

Heck yeah!

[scott_karana]

I use VLC on every computer I've got, these days: Seeing as win32codecs don't work on PPC, SPARC, and MIPS, I'd have an awful sore lack of video and audio support without ffmpeg and VLC. I used to use codec packs on Windows, but ffmpeg is capable enough to do without them, now.

FLV?

[antdude]

Does FLV play completely? In v0.8.5, it didn't and I had to go back to v0.8.4. :(

Re:FLV?

[Gary van der Merwe]

Seems to be fixed.

Re:FLV?

[antdude]

Cool and thanks. :)

Re:FLV?

[antdude]

Confirmed to be fixed. I deleted my v0.8.4 installation. :)

Re:How is this news?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but for WMP it's only from 9 to 10 to 11. I imagine the same is true for QuickTime and RealPlayer, though I'm not even sure I've ever seen a RealPlayer release on the front page of anything. I think WMP 9 to 10 or QuickTime 6 to 7 is MUCH more significant than VLC 0.8.5 to 0.8.6. I love VLC, and it's definately newsworthy, but in my opinion it's not front page newsworthy. Then again Slashdot caters to a much different audience, so perhaps it is appropriate. Slashdot should have a section dedicated to software releases. Then people who don't care about relatively minor point-releases can block them, and people who do care can see them.

Re:How about a mirror? CNET

[Anonymous Coward]

How about trying CNET for VLC, it's there with reviews and all and it downloads in just a few seconds. The Devs put it there when the VideoLAN website became overloaded this morning.

Sooooo pretty.

[supabeast!]

I'm just stopping by to point out that the new FFMPEG codecs included with VLC are dreamy. Fullscreen video looks twice as good as it used to. And having Apple remote support in fullscreen mode is fab. Truly an excellent release.

Re:Sooooo pretty.

[evilviper]

Fullscreen video looks twice as good as it used to.

I have no idea how the (ffmpeg/libav) codecs could accomplish that, unless there was some serious bug in the past.

Sounds more likely due to VLC changing something like the video output method, or enabling postprocessing.

Re:Sooooo pretty.

[supabeast!]

I have no idea how the (ffmpeg/libav) codecs could accomplish that, unless there was some serious bug in the past.

Sounds more likely due to VLC changing something like the video output method, or enabling postprocessing.

Perhaps. I'll probably spend some more time comparing with old versions and windows stuff and see what I get.

Re:How is this news?

[inode_buddha]

because staying under 1.0 release is kinda "hip" in the FOSS community... at least in my experience (since 1997). I think its supposed to sort of prove how "thorough" your project is.

Rebellion against dots

[Anonymous Coward]

I've rebelled against the dot-notation for version numbers. The first version of one of my Open Source Software projects that compiled, ran, and did something useful got version 1. The next release got version 2. And so on. A tweak to a Makefile moved it from 5 to 6. My users should expect every version to be reasonably stable and tested on my end. If you want bleading edge, grab it from CVS. As a rule, major new features have minimal effect on the existing code paths, so bugs only have a chance of showing up when you use a major new feature. I keep a regression test suite that runs via ``make test''. My users understand taht nobody needs to fret over whether to use version 0.9923-rc3 or version 2.1-beta9; the highest (dotless) number is always a sure bet.

Re:fullscreen controller sure... seen one seen all

[Anonymous Coward]

reel interesting, thx for posting moron

how many fucking variations can you make of such an universal theme??

VLC isn't legal.

[Anonymous Coward]

VLC is a nice player. It's also stuffed to breaking point of unlicensed technologies.

Re:VLC isn't legal.

[Anonymous Coward]

Right... so reverse engineering breaks software patents? Don't talk arse.

confirm it for yourself

[Anonymous Coward]

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:xNqwBL1srrQJ:w ww.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html+vlc+mirr ors

Re:VLC isn't legal - in the US maybe...

[Anonymous Coward]

Good thing European courts invalidate software patents by the dozen when they are brought before them (which is the reason they aren't).

Rrr

[Cyno01]

My only issue with VLC is still there, why cant the slider go where you click it, instead of randomly skipping in the direction you click. Why cant you click ahead to whatever part like every other media player ever?!? And why cant i get keyboard media key support. Those are my only 2 complaints though, and i use VLC as my primary player, so thats pretty good.

Re:Rrr

[b00stA]

I used to have the same problem but I noticed that the skins2 interface uses a different kind of slider control.
Just change the default interface to skins2 and pick a nice skin. That way you can click anywhere on the slider.

Still wish you could do that with the current default interface though.

Re:Rrr

[Mark_in_Brazil]

My only issue with VLC is still there, why cant the slider go where you click it, instead of randomly skipping in the direction you click. Why cant you click ahead to whatever part like every other media player ever?!

Clicking on the slider bar bumps the slider in the direction toward the mouse pointer. But if you want to move to a specific spot, click on the slider, hold the button, and drag the slider to wherever you want it.

Oops... gotta go. The VLC 0.8.6 download just finished.

Re:Rrr

[Cyno01]

I know that, i find it annoying and imprecise and it runs counter to every other media player. Instead of click and drag, i want to be able to just click and the slider goes there.

intel-2 ?

[milovoo]

Does anyone know the difference between these osx versions?

  vlc-0.8.6-intel-2.dmg
  vlc-0.8.6-intel.dmg

Re:intel-2 ?

[Cyno01]

Just a guess, but single and dual core versions?

Re:intel-2 ?

[Anubis350]

64bit build on the "2" one maybe? Doesnt really make sense though since tiger isnt 64bit on intel, it'd have to be a build for leopard...

Re:intel-2 ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it's for Core 2 Duo machines?

How about pausing with the spacebar?

[aok]

Reading subtitles is usually why I need to pause, but I hit the spacebar...the OSD pause icon immediately displays in the top-right corner, but the video continues a bit longer no matter how fast I release the spacebar. I think VLC is playing whatever is left in its buffer before it pauses.

Plays DVDs & CDs from ISO images

[dickeya]

That feature alone makes it my default media player. VLC rules.

Re:How is this news?

[evilviper]

Why do so many people think you have to be thirfty with version numbers?

To delay hitting the V.2K bug, of course...

MPlayer _versus_ VLC

[Terminus32]

I currently use MPlayer for my media (and Ogle) but haven't installed VLC yet (missing dependencies), is it worth installing?

Videolan is buggy on Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried to use Videolan on Ubuntu, and I must admit it is VERY clunky ...

Offtopic Rant

[k33l0r]

This might be offtopic but could we get a separate Open Source section on /.?

It seems that everything related to OSS is filed under Linux these days...

Re:And it still doesn't support multipart rar's...

[Spad]

Christ man, how lazy do you have to be that after downloading your movies for free you can't be bothered to un-rar them? Perhaps you'd like VLC to support torrents and write up a summary of each video for you - cut out the human interaction all together.

seen one, seen all its copies...

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, somebody must have had a case of the Mondays...

But yeah, since you said so with swear words, I guess every full-screen controller is dark translucent gray with white/very light gray text and controls, fades quickly into view when the pointer is moved, uses the same visual symbols in the same places in the same rounded-corner rectangular layout, has a white-outlined rectangle with a little white circle in it to drag your current place in the video. Yep. Coincidence.

Re:And it still doesn't support multipart rar's...

[b00stA]

I was disappointed when I couldn't use VLC to write my english essay and now for some reason I keep getting errors with the IRC client.

They need to get their damn priorities straight.

Question:

[crhylove]

Can someone point me to a way to view what other people are watching in VLC? It's my job.

Dwight Shrute.

Re:Question:

[GauteL]

First, do you work for the FBI, the NSA, the KGB, the MI5, the MI6 or the Chinese secret service?

Or, are you just a professional voyeur?

What I watch using Videolan is my own business.

Re:Question:

[crhylove]

I am a volunteer Deputy for the the Scranton Sheriff's Department. But I am also trained in Karate.

Dwight Shrute

+1 No fucking shit.

[loraksus]

Bitching about multipart rars? Grow the fuck up.

Trolling obviously

[D3m0n0fTh3Fall]

What is he doing here ? Being a moron and doing some blatantly obvious trolling. Oh poor baby downloaded the linux source and can't figure out how to "Click-> next -> next ->" on windows xp. I wonder why....

Re:And it still doesn't support multipart rar's...

[Duds]

For you there's no reason and for every reason you post it's my 3rd choice player.

But there are some files, especially broken ones, that it can handle and nothing else does.

still no playback acceleration with sound:(

[Anonymous Coward]

like with windvd for dvds, but would be nice to have 1-2x playback with pitch normalized sound for avi's:)

Impressive stats. on the downloads page

[Anonymous Coward]

1.9 Downloads a second!

But I think your post was waisted on the _only_ one user that has downloaded the source
http://www.videolan.org/stats/downloads.php

Re:Impressive stats. on the downloads page

[Anonymous Cowled]

ROFL!!!

Re:How is this news?

[nacturation]

Because like oil, the whales, and oxygen, version numbers are a non-renewable resource! I guess that explains what happened to Netscape 5.

full screen controller for windows?!? Why not?

[manutau]

Why apple got the luxe of the full screen controller and not windows? I don't know about linux...

Only 3 crashes so far :)

[5plicer]

I've been running VLC 0.8.6 (on OS X) for just under an hour, and it's only crashed 3 times so far!

Re:Only 3 crashes so far :)

[Anonymous Coward]

I had the same problems.
Remove the VLC folder from your preferences and it'll work better.

Re:How is this news?

[hotdiggitydawg]

Heh... just ask Don Knuth...

Re:How is this news?

[TheRaven64]

Please could you tell me the major difference between iTunes 5 and iTunes 6, which was released about a month later?

FOSS versioning vs. commercial versioning

[Kadin2048]

A lot of FOSS projects have v1.0 phobia, it seems. Not sure why that is, if they think that releasing a 1.0 version will cause all the developers to pack up and move on to another "new project," but I've seen it a lot.

If VLC were a commercial product, it would probably be at version 3.0 by now, at the very least.

Actually, in many cases you can convert the version numbers from "FOSS project format" to "commercial software marketing department format" by shifting all the decimal points to the right one place. So 0.8.6 would be Version 8.6, etc.

A great video player

[GauteL]

.. although I wish there was some care being taken about the interface. Most of my comments are about the Mac version, but some of them should be relevant to other versions as well.

1. The OS X version shows the video with controls in the same window as the video, but ALSO shows a separate controller window. This is redundant. All the necessary options should be able to fit into the video window.

2. There is a stop button that afaics just closes the video window. Why the need for this redundant option?

3. Skip buttons have been combined with the fast forward button in almost any interface by now. Just do that in VLC as well.

2. and 3. gets rid of three redundant buttons in the interface.

4. The equaliser is not important enough to warrant a button of it's own. The menu is fine.

5. There is an awful lot of so-called "unbreak me" options. Options to make things work if your system is somehow weird. Just check this automatically. I know this can be a lot of effort from the programmer, so I can understand a Free Software project not doing to much about it. Nevertheless, there are too many weird options that clutter up the interface.

6. The preferences window has a "Reset All", "Cancel" and "Save" button. These are completely out of place in a program in OS X. Instant apply and a reset button would be better.

Version numbers don't have any specific meaning

[swillden]

Except with libraries*, version numbers are whatever the authors of the software want them to be, and there is no widespread agreement on what they mean. The fact that OSS projects tend to increment minor and sub-minor versions a lot is a symptom of the lack of agreement, not a result of elitism. It's hard enough to get everyone on an active project to agree that it's time to cut a release, much less what number to give it. During the development process various strawman numbers will have been tossed out, mainly as placeholders, but when it comes time to actually assign it a number, calling it "1.0", or even incrementing the minor number, will bring forth a torrent of complaints from people who think that a 1.0 version must contain their pet feature or have their most hated bug fixed, and that the upcoming release therefore doesn't qualify.

Because there are no clear guidelines, there can be no winners in these debates. The best you can hope for is that somebody just gets tired of arguing. Not only that, the developers generally care much less about version numbering than the users do, so they simply don't want to waste time arguing about something that doesn't matter. It's just easier to increment the minor or sub-minor number and avoid the whole flame-filled argument.

[*] Libraries are the exception, because there is an objective, well-defined criterion for which number to increment in a library version. The major number is incremented when the new release completely breaks compatibility, meaning that apps built with the old version of the library won't link and run with the new version. The minor number is incremented when forward compatibility is broken, but backward compatibility is retained, meaning that apps built against the old version will run with the new version, but apps built with the new version won't run with the old version. The sub-minor number is incremented when the new release maintains compatibility.

Re:Version numbers don't have any specific meaning

[7Prime]

So, basically, what you're saying is that never going to 1.0 is a way of covering your ass, and keeping the press from throwing punches at you? Okay, I'm a huge perfectionist, I spend hours going over little EQ changes in music I produce, I'll sit on an orchestral score for weeks simply to change the 3rd Oboe part in a phrase to an english horn... and then back again. I know it can be tough, but at some point you gotta shit or get off the pot.

Keeping a program, indeffinitely below 1.0 has some major drawbacks. For one, it looks unprofessional. Traditionally, anything below 1.0 is a beta, which means that it's IN THE PROCESS OF BEING TESTED for becoming a full fledged version. Users would like to know that, eventually, they're going to get a program that the programmers consider "stable beyond a reasonable doubt". Many surface users and businesses are scared of betas, and won't use a program if it has an archiac, 3-point version number below 1.0, but will have no problem buying a buggy-as-all-gettup OS named after the year it was made. So you say, "but VLC isn't meant for surface users." Why not? It has the potential of being the most universally compatable media playersout there... no having to research or buy a new program when your best friend accidentally sends you her home movie in an obscure mpeg format. I'd like to see VLC on the desktop of every media fan out there, if possible. But that's NEVER going to happen the programers don't ever go 1.0.

Here's what programmers should do. At the time a program goes into public beta, they set a goal of features and stability that need to be met to call version 1.0. It's not perfection, since there is no such thing, but it's "stable beyond a reasonable doubt". And when they meet it, call it "Version 1.0" Of course there's always "ONE MORE THING!" So, who cares, add it in version 1.1.

Shit or get off the pot, man... shit or get off the pot.

Re:Version numbers don't have any specific meaning

[swillden]

So, basically, what you're saying is that never going to 1.0 is a way of covering your ass, and keeping the press from throwing punches at you?

Umm, are you responding to someone else? Because that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with what I said. It doesn't have anything to do with the press, it's about avoiding pointless arguments among the developers.

At the time a program goes into public beta, they set a goal of features and stability that need to be met to call version 1.0.

Uh, huh, which "they" are you talking about? If you have a dozen people who contribute regularly, plus a bunch more who contribute a little, but really like to argue, how do you collectively "set a goal of features and stability"? Those few dozen people are all opinionated and smart and no one is "the boss" and can say exactly what defines "good enough". That's my whole point. Any attempt to do what you suggest will just result in a big flame war that prevents the developers from making actual *progress* on improving the software. Much better to just ignore the issue and keep on coding.

As to the rest of your arguments, who gives a crap? If it's useful, and people use it, that's good enough.

Re:And it still doesn't support multipart rar's...

[BluhDeBluh]

Search for VLCRAAR. HTH.

Well...

[Anonymous Coward]

Basically, you'd need a trojan on their computer, monitoring them. Or to catch them downloading the video to begin with, although even then, they could just bring it in on a CD/DVD.

Or you could do it the time-honored way: look over their shoulder and see what they're doing.

That said, I don't see why you'd need to know, exactly. If they're a criminal suspect, you can find the video files on their hard drive or external media, same as with any other player.

Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why was this posted under Linux?

I think we need some other subcategory's for these software releases

Re:And it still doesn't support multipart rar's...

[Alsee]

VLC... cut out the human interaction all together.

That would definitely warrant bumping the version number to a full 1.0 :D

-

vlc overrated

[maulakai]

i used to love vlc... it could play anything. but then i found a few movies it couldn't play. someone reccomended media player classic. not only does it play the stuff vlc can't, but it runs faster and better, as well as giving the coveted controls at the bottom of the screen while in fullscreen mode. the new version of vlc gave me a few errors, and despite what he said, there were no fullscreen controls. so i promptly uninstalled vlc. media player classic