Slashdot Mirror
VLC Gets First Major Cross-Platform Release
An anonymous reader writes VideoLAN today launched what is arguably the biggest release of VLC to date: an update for the desktop coordinated with new versions across all major mobile platforms. The world's most-used media player just got a massive cross-platform push. The organization says the releases are the result of more than a year of volunteer work on the VLC engine and the libVLC library. As a result, VLC has gained numerous new features, has seen more than 1,000 bugs fixed, and has significantly increased its scope of supported formats.
I'm excited to try this new release. I will load some obscure videos from my collection to see how codec support is holding up. From the looks of the press release, they have a bunch of great features, some of which can take advantage of hardware acceleration. One big test of the new software is how well older platforms without the new hardware are able to keep up. Too many times I've seen codec libraries get slower and slower on old hardware as the features are 'improved' on more powerful hardware. If this newer version works as well as the old, I'll be impressed.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
I hope they improved the original purpose, to play video over a LAN. Gave up on it after a while, too many bugs to track down.
Well, VideoLAN is not a company: it's a not profit organization, driven by volonteers to work on free software.
Hopefully this link holds up:
Jean-Baptiste Kempf on VLC at FOSDEM
He's one of the developers that has been on VLC the longest, it was pretty interesting I thought.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This release also comes with massively improved support for blu ray menus! (It existed before, but didn't work very well.)
This is exciting to me because it makes full support for (unencrypted) blu ray disk playback including blu ray menus finally possible on Linux and OS X. No more transcoding required!
It will also free Windows users from having to use all those terrible proprietary blu ray players.
This is a terrific release!
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
Why does VLC use an orange traffic cone for its icon? It has always seemed misplaced to me.
On the wiki page for VLC:
The cone icon used in VLC is a reference to the traffic cones collected by École Centrale's Networking Students' Association.[12] The cone icon design was changed from a hand drawn low resolution icon[13] to a higher resolution CGI-rendered version in 2006, illustrated by Richard Øiestad.[14]
They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
FYI:
K-Lite is a codec pack for players that use "system" codecs.
System Codec packs do not upgrade/play with others well.
One version => Video A works, Video B is broken.
New Codec pack => Video A broken, Video B is works.
FSCK that!
VLC only uses its own built-in codecs and almost always works.
Chances are if VLC won't play it, the video is corrupt.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
I am always blown away by how great VLC is. Whether on a Libre or proprietary OS platform, I know VLC is always has by back for audio/video playback. I recall when I first started watching movies on a computer, VLC played the file, ANY file! Also DVD's in whatever region(!!!) played. Sure, the proprietary OS's grumble, but the Libre OS version played the DVD, region one or two just fine. Now that I am in school working with audio/video and VLC constantly reminds me of its value. Our of all the proprietary media players out there, VLC blows them out of the water. Thanks VLC!
"SO we bide our time, waiting for a purer kick to bloom and the future is still bleak, uncertain and beautiful" -GSYBE
Heck, can't VLC play damn near everything already? I half expect you could open a spreadsheet in VLC and have it carry a tune.
... unless we pretend we aren't in the U.S.
Hooray for patents!
https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/...
If you want those "features" bad enough, break out your favor editor and download the source.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
Call me old-fashioned, but I'd expect the creator of the software to be able to update their website to reflect a new version before, or at the same time as, pushing out a press-release... not after.
Oh, and the Play store says it's not even supported on my Nexus 7 running 5.02, so I've now lost any confidence I had in them.
This sig left unintentionally blank.
People watched videos on one-bit monochrome computer displays that really were black and white.