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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."
http://nightlies.videolan.org/ is still online
FFMPEG now contains an open-source WMV9 decoder.
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.
- 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.)This flies in the face of science.
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!
Mirrors:
l c/0.8.6/
http://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/videolan/v
http://videolan.kn.vutbr.cz/vlc/0.8.6/
$2B OR NOT $2B = $FF
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.
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.
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.
Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
Wish I knew how to make shuffle default to off