VLC 3.0 Adds Chromecast Support and More as the Best Free Media Player Gets Even Better (pcworld.com)

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VLC 3.0 Adds Chromecast Support and More as the Best Free Media Player Gets Even Better (pcworld.com)

Posted by msmash on Friday February 9, 2018 @03:20AM from the major-updates dept.

Ian Paul, writing for PCWorld: The best free media player is getting even better. After three years of development, VLC 3.0 'Ventari' is rolling out to all platforms, and it's packed full of goodies such as Chromecast support. The latest version of VLC contains a lot of great additions, as well as a tweaked UI. Chromecast discovery tops the list. It's only available on Windows desktop and Android right now, but Videolan says the feature's coming to VLC's iOS and the Windows Store apps in the future. [...] VLC 3.0's refreshed UI isn't a fresh, new look from previous versions, but it is noticeably different. The icons at the bottom of the window are cleaner, and the small icons used within menu items are also new. Version 3.0 also adds support for 360-degree video and 3D audio, readying features for a VR version of VLC slated to roll out in mid-April. The new VLC also adds hardware decoding across all platforms for better performance and less CPU consumption, especially when dealing with more resource-intense video.

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It's not out yet by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 03:27 · Score: 0

And it's been years since the last version of VLC was released. We've been waiting for WebM WebVTT subtitle support for that entire time.
1. Re: It's not out yet by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 03:42 · Score: 1
  
  Free as in freedom, not free as in beer.
  Either way, MPV is superior and available on Linux.
2. Re:It's not out yet by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:14 · Score: 0
  
  Even VLC 4 is right there on VLCs f-ing nightly download page.
3. Re:It's not out yet by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 05:01 · Score: 0
  
  The in-program update does not seem to be getting it. Still saying "You have the latest version" for 2.2.6. (Maybe the in program one is only for minor version releases?)
  The web site has a download though, link in summary.
4. Re:It's not out yet by DERoss · 2018-02-09 05:45 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  And it's been years since the last version of VLC was released. We've been waiting for WebM WebVTT subtitle support for that entire time.
  It has NOT been years since the last version of VLC. Version 2.2.8 was released for OS X and Windows (both x32 and x64) less than three months ago.
5. Re:It's not out yet by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:03 · Score: 0
  
  ORLY?
  https://www.videolan.org/vlc/releases/3.0.0.html
6. Re: It's not out yet by kurkosdr · 2018-02-09 07:31 · Score: 1
  
  Windows has the clearly superior MPC-HC which is free as in freedom and free as in beer, but not free as in beard (neckbeard), because it relies on the excellent DirectShow APIs which are available only to people who run Windows.
7. Re: It's not out yet by dcsmith · 2018-02-09 08:37 · Score: 2
  
  Windows has the clearly superior MPC-HC which is free as in freedom and free as in beer...
  As long as you don't think you'll ever need support of any kind, perhaps.
  
  --
  This has been a test. If this had been an actual Sig, you would have been amused.
8. Re: It's not out yet by thomst · 2018-02-09 09:31 · Score: 1
  
  p>kurkosdr opined:
  
  Windows has the clearly superior MPC-HC which is free as in freedom and free as in beer...
  prompting dcsmith to respond:
  
  As long as you don't think you'll ever need support of any kind, perhaps.
  The fact is that, as of today, MPC-HC is as stable as any application I've ever used on the Windows platform. Also, because the player employs whichever codecs the user has installed, it should be fully compatible with forthcoming video codecs for some time to come, as long as new ones are installed by the OS as they come into use - and on Windows, that's pretty much been the case.
  Having said that, because development of MPC-HC has come to an end, it won't be capable of displaying VR content, once that becomes a thing - which, IMsnHO, won't be for a while, since nothing even approaching an industry standard has yet emerged (with the kind of de-facto "standard" of Google Cardboard excepted - and Cardboard is, at best, a tentative, preliminary step towards VR that nobody with any scrap of sense would contend is worth further development). So, sometime in the future, MPC-HD will become obsolete for al but by-then-legacy content.
  Which will limit its users to watching, what, a century or more of movies and TV ... ?
  
  --
  Check out my novel.
9. Re: It's not out yet by Rakarra · 2018-02-09 09:40 · Score: 2
  
  VLC has been far from the best media player on Linux. I went back to mplayer because its speed is unparalleled, seeking in a stream is fast and doesn't break the playback completely, and it doesn't flail around and spaz out if it doesn't understand how to play something.
10. Re: It's not out yet by raynet · 2018-02-09 09:41 · Score: 1
  
  I just wonder what these superior media players do that VLC doesn't? What I need is to be able to click on a video file and then watch it on the screen with minimal UI crud.
  
  --
  - Raynet --> .
11. Re:It's not out yet by johanw · 2018-02-09 11:02 · Score: 0
  
  But that was a security update, not a feature update.
12. Re: It's not out yet by Guspaz · 2018-02-09 11:42 · Score: 1
  
  MPC-HC was not the only active fork of MPC, which let's not forget was abandoned by the author in 2006. That said, I'm not a huge fan of the interface of the only other active port, MPC-BE, which does not follow the original goal of keeping the simple and clean look of Windows Media Player 6.4.
13. Re: It's not out yet by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 13:30 · Score: 0
  
  Free as in beer is fine by me and PotPlayer puts VLC to utter shame.
14. Re: It's not out yet by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 14:40 · Score: 0
  
  They have better handling of multiple streams, subtitles, built-in codecs + the ability to use external codecs, better UIs, better/faster seeking/previewing, more video options, more sound options, more playback options.
  You are a noob, so your needs are basic. Those of us who enjoy video and know, or at least want to learn, need something that we can configure and use to our liking. That's certainly not VLC.
15. Re: It's not out yet by KozmoStevnNaut · 2018-02-09 23:05 · Score: 1
  
  Nonsense, SMplayer is vastly superior to MPC.
  
  --
  Eat the rich.
16. Re: It's not out yet by KozmoStevnNaut · 2018-02-09 23:05 · Score: 1
  
  SMPlayer with MPV as the backend is probably the best media player on any platform right now.
  
  --
  Eat the rich.
17. Re: It's not out yet by Shirley+Marquez · 2018-02-10 05:19 · Score: 1, Informative
  
  Different players have different strengths. One of the nice things about VLC is that it will play just about everything, even ancient weird formats that nobody has used for years. That's something that the alternatives can't do.
18. Re: It's not out yet by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-10 15:04 · Score: 0
  
  One of the nice things about VLC is that it will play just about everything, even ancient weird formats that nobody has used for years.
  I hate to break it to you, but VLC isn't the only player that does. Plus with VLC you have to put up with all of the half-assed crap, lack of extensibility and lack of configurability.
  VLC is a joke compared to the likes of SPlayer, MPC, KMPlayer and PotPlayer.
Wow by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 03:28 · Score: 0

Wow! I just wish it ran on my OS.
1. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 03:57 · Score: 0
  
  Which is .... ?
2. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:15 · Score: 1
  
  Plan 9.
3. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:52 · Score: 0
  
  Temple OS
4. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 09:20 · Score: 0
  
  Atari DOS 2.0S.
VR support! Great! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 03:29 · Score: 0

It's been more than a year since I sold my HTC Vive and I haven't missed that piece of junk one second since.
Six months of feature work... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 03:30 · Score: 1

...and two and a half years trying to dumb it down to qualify to be hosted on the "Universal" Windows App Store. The final "App" version only has a Play button and is about as useful as the media player in Windows RG.
1. Re:Six months of feature work... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:35 · Score: 0
  
  Doesnt matter, nobody is going to use it anyways.
2. Re: Six months of feature work... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 05:37 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Eventually a version crippled enough to be approved to run on iOS will come out.
3. Re: Six months of feature work... by kurkosdr · 2018-02-09 07:33 · Score: 1
  
  LMAO that made my day. Indeed any developer who is trying to dumb down software to make it a "Universal" app is wasting time that could be spent on features.
4. Re: Six months of feature work... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 10:12 · Score: 1
  
  Achievement already unlocked.
  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vlc-for-mobile/id650377962
It's about time! by DaMattster · 2018-02-09 03:33 · Score: 1

There are so many times that I have wanted to cast some things from my Android phone but couldn't easily do it. This should be a very welcome addition to the VLC android app.
1. Re:It's about time! by Anderson+Council · 2018-02-09 03:42 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Couldn't agree more.
  VLC has been my go-to solution for anything that wasn't trivially supported by other apps, and the absence of Chromecast support meant I didn't have easy access to my media server which I have set up to just share the content. Was toying with the idea of grabbing the code and trying to add it myself but they beat me to it (and I couldn't be more thrilled about it).
  Only issue will be that the Chromecast will only play what it understands how to play, which likely means no sound from anything in a MKV container if my experience trying to cast the screen to get around this previously is any indication, but that's not VLC's fault. Will be happy to be able to cast from it regardless.
  Kudos.
  ~AC
2. Re:It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 03:42 · Score: 0
  
  Now you'll stream your porn to your TV easier than ever! (Oh wait, is VLC used for more than that? Pirated movies? Vacation movies?)
3. Re:It's about time! by cayenne8 · 2018-02-09 03:59 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  There are so many times that I have wanted to cast some things from my Android phone but couldn't easily do it.
  
  What exactly is this "cast" thing you and the article mention?
  It take it, it has something to do with the chrome browser, but I've not really used chrome except for one try many years ago for a day or so....but what does it do and will other browsers work with it too besides chrome?
  
  --
  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
4. Re:It's about time! by b0bby · 2018-02-09 04:08 · Score: 2
  
  If you have a chromecast device plugged into your TV, you can then display video from your phone or whatever on the bigger screen.
5. Re:It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:23 · Score: 0
  
  How is that any different from what I've been doing forever by just pointing a media player to the file over the network? I can play it on any device in my local network no matter what other device it resides upon.
6. Re:It's about time! by cayenne8 · 2018-02-09 04:38 · Score: 1
  
  If you have a chromecast device plugged into your TV, you can then display video from your phone or whatever on the bigger screen.
  Hmm...I'm trying to wonder what video from a tiny phone looks like on a nice 4K TV, or even a regular 1080p tv....?
  Interesting concept, but I'm trying to figure out why I'd want to do this..?
  I have AmazonFireTV boxes on each TV (since I cut the cord)...so, I can watch all the YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming videos I'd want in high quality....
  That and I'm not watching video on my phone when I have a nice 60" or better screen in front of me.....I just don't see the use case for this capability....?
  
  --
  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
7. Re:It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:51 · Score: 1
  
  Hmm...I'm trying to wonder what video from a tiny phone looks like on a nice 4K TV, or even a regular 1080p tv....?
  Hmm...I'm trying to wonder what video from a tiny blu-ray looks like on a nice 4K TV, or even a regular 1080p tv....?
8. Re:It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:55 · Score: 0
  
  Your phone is supposed to tell the chromecast device from where to stream content with the appropriate resolution; the phone will just act as a remote control.
9. Re:It's about time! by jddj · 2018-02-09 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  My HTC M10 has a full-HD 1080i (or maybe even p?) camera, and the videos look pretty sweet - there's optical image stabilization built in, and it looks for all the world like I'm walking around with a Steadicam. Audio could be better, but...
  Likewise, streaming Netflix, etc. looks fine, as expected - though keep in mind that the Chromecast is connecting directly to Netflix in that case - it's not getting it off the phone.
  The only reasons I don't use the Chromecast more are that 1. it's really difficult to use on the Mac - almost useless, and 2. I already have a media server for videos and an HTPC by the TV, and most other times, if I could access an office conference room TV to plug in my Chromecast, I could plug in a hardwire to my laptop as easily and have more flexibility.
  Great to have the Chromecast for watching the 24h of LeMans - can cast various Android race coverage apps to the big TV. Very nice.
10. Re: It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 05:40 · Score: 0
  
  Not everybody repurposed their old Windows 98 box to be a media player next to the tee vee set.
11. Re:It's about time! by Phusion · 2018-02-09 06:00 · Score: 1
  
  It's an amazing functionality that I use to watch pretty much everything. I have a Plex (http://www.plex.tv) server set up, with the plex iOS app and a Chromecast device (Like the FireTV stick but not shitty) plugged into my TV, I can cast from my phone as a kind of remote to the TV. I can use Netflix or any other video streaming app and cast it to my TV as well-- I'm surprised you're just now hearing about this. Now VLC supports it you should be able to throw whatever from VLC to your TV.
  
  --
  640k ought to be enough for anyone.
12. Re: It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:10 · Score: 0
  
  Because no other operating systems than Windows 98 have networking abilities?
  Anything made in the past 30 years can read files over a network.
13. Re:It's about time! by MattKeith · 2018-02-09 06:39 · Score: 2
  
  Why not use plex instead? That will transcode the audio to the chromecast.
14. Re:It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:50 · Score: 0
  
  VLC plays my MKV's just fine. Ripped using "makemkv".
15. Re:It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 07:03 · Score: 0
  
  It's more like sending sound to a bluetooth speaker, but instead it's HD video and over wifi. And there are multiple closed and open standards.
16. Re:It's about time! by jwhyche · 2018-02-09 07:06 · Score: 3
  
  Hmm...I'm trying to wonder what video from a tiny phone looks like on a nice 4K TV, or even a regular 1080p tv....?
  It looks like standard 1080p video. The screen on most smart phones has at least 1080p resolution or higher. Just because the screen is smaller doesn't change the quality of the video. 1080p video on your phone is still 1080p video on your big ass tv.
  
  --
  I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
17. Re: It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 07:09 · Score: 0
  
  If you can find a 10 BaseT network card for the MCA bus, maybe.
18. Re: It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 07:36 · Score: 0
  
  I used a windows XP box, you insensitive clod!
19. Re:It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 08:09 · Score: 0
  
  I'm going to guess 1080p. I very much doubt any smartphone would do anything as pointless as interlaced video.
20. Re:It's about time! by QuantumLeaper · 2018-02-09 08:15 · Score: 1
  
  I just use my TV as my monitor, since the TV has HDMI and VGA inputs, and my video card had DVI and HDMI outputs. So all I do is use my HDMI output from the Video card to HDMI inputs on the TV. I love having a 40 inch to use my Computer with. Also, have much more inputs on the TV including another HDMI input.
21. Re:It's about time! by RhettLivingston · 2018-02-09 09:35 · Score: 2
  
  Only issue will be that the Chromecast will only play what it understands how to play, which likely means no sound from anything in a MKV container if my experience trying to cast the screen to get around this previously is any indication, but that's not VLC's fault. Will be happy to be able to cast from it regardless.
  From the article:
  
  VideoLAN designed VLC’s Chromecast support as a workaround for any media formats Chromecast can’t natively support. VLC can re-encode video on the fly to make it work with Chromecast, including casting DVDs from your Windows machine.
  I gather from the article's statement that the greatest value of the Chromecast support is precisely that any video format VLC supports can be reencoded on the fly to play on the Chromecast. So VLC is ahead of you on this score.
  I am disappointed that VLC doesn't support receiving a Chromecast. It would be very nice to be able to Chromecast from my phone and other devices to a Window on one of my PC displays. This would also enable the assistant on my Google Home to audio and video to my PC in response to voice commands. Google has a tool to receive a Chromecast, but only offers it to schools. They apparently don't want to do anything to make PCs easier to use. Otherwise, Google Assistant itself would already be a feature of Chrome on PCs.
22. Re:It's about time! by Insanity+Defense · 2018-02-09 09:59 · Score: 1
  
  Now you'll stream your porn to your TV easier than ever! (Oh wait, is VLC used for more than that? Pirated movies? Vacation movies?)
  Plays retail DVDs quite well. Even lets you bypass all the "unskippable" nonsense.
23. Re:It's about time! by cayenne8 · 2018-02-09 10:46 · Score: 1
  
  can use Netflix or any other video streaming app and cast it to my TV as well-- I'm surprised you're just now hearing about this. Now VLC supports it you should be able to throw whatever from VLC to your TV.
  Well, I've pretty much always had either a Roku or Amazon FireTV box on my televisions, and stream through those...I thought that was what most people used.
  I'd never thought of using my cellphone to play stuff on the big screen, or use it as a remote like others here have described the casting thing as....interesting, but seems easier to use a real devoted streaming box and interface to do this type thing with...
  
  --
  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
24. Re:It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 11:49 · Score: 0
  
  Because it doesn't support a lot of formats. Your choice mkv or mp4 that's it. No direct DVD ISO's or any of the other formats VLC supports. I played with plex from my Synology NAS and gvave up and went back to VLC using the casting suport back in the early V3 builds.
jaja by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 03:37 · Score: 0

Somebody needs to learn about MPV.
Bring back RealPlayer by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 03:47 · Score: 2, Funny

The pinnacle of media playback; Even installing it was a joy, All been downhill since then.
1. Re:Bring back RealPlayer by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 03:56 · Score: 0
  
  Indeed, you never installed RealPlayer, it was just there all the time.
It's "Vetinari" by Ecuador · 2018-02-09 03:57 · Score: 4, Interesting

Whoever wrote that summary is not a geek, otherwise they would know VLC versions are named after Terry Pratchet's Discworld characters. Version 3.0 is named after Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh-Morpork.

--
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Pixelization ? by dargaud · 2018-02-09 04:01 · Score: 1

Have they fixed the pixelization bug that's been present on Linux for years ? Until then, then can improve everything else they want, it'll remain mostly useless.

--
Non-Linux Penguins ?
1. Re:Pixelization ? by jwhyche · 2018-02-09 06:30 · Score: 1
  
  No, they haven't. I wouldn't call it the "best free media player" just yet. I've wasted hours trying to fix video issues by re-encoding source material trying to get out pixelization and other errors that I see in VLC. Only to find out the issue is with VLC and not my encodes.
  My encodes play just fine in MPC, on Plex, and even windows built in media player just fine. It's only in VLC that I see issues. So, instead of just adding features, it would be nice if they would fix their core features first. As in play video correctly that everyone else can.
  I dumped VLC for MPC. It doesn't have as many features but it is a better media player.
  
  --
  I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
2. Re:Pixelization ? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:43 · Score: 0
  
  No, they haven't. I wouldn't call it the "best free media player" just yet. I've wasted hours trying to fix video issues by re-encoding source material trying to get out pixelization and other errors that I see in VLC. Only to find out the issue is with VLC and not my encodes.
  My encodes play just fine in MPC, on Plex, and even windows built in media player just fine. It's only in VLC that I see issues. So, instead of just adding features, it would be nice if they would fix their core features first. As in play video correctly that everyone else can.
  I dumped VLC for MPC. It doesn't have as many features but it is a better media player.
  Do you mean MPC-HC (mpc-hc.org)?
  I found that VLC often screws up aspect ratios and DVD menus that MPC-HC can render perfectly, so I'm ditching VLC as my 'preferred' player.
3. Re:Pixelization ? by jwhyche · 2018-02-09 06:50 · Score: 2
  
  Do you mean MPC-HC (mpc-hc.org)?
  Yes, MPC-HC. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that VLC has, but it renders virtually everything I've thrown at it perfectly.
  
  --
  I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
4. Re:Pixelization ? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 07:22 · Score: 0
  
  VLC might not be 100% flexible with aspects ratios but it served me well. It's always the videos themselves that were wrong. Black bars stored in the videos? Easy cropping, no problem, etc.
Availability by Translation+Error · 2018-02-09 04:02 · Score: 4, Informative

It seems to be available for MacOS too.

--
When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.
Has the UI gotten any better? by swb · 2018-02-09 04:03 · Score: 2

As far as I can tell, the playback UI is missing obvious features like X second skip forward/back, slow motion, etc, and isn't at all touch screen friendly. I don't need much that is touch screen friendly, but a video player would be one place where it'd be nice.
1. Re:Has the UI gotten any better? by xxxLCxxx · 2018-02-09 04:12 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  As far as I can tell, the playback UI is missing obvious features like X second skip forward/back, slow motion, etc, ...
  As far as I remember, it's customizable: Tools => Customize Interface
  
  ... and isn't at all touch screen friendly.
  You just won't believe this, but it has support for different skins too! Just use a search engine and look for something like: vlc touchscreen skin. ;-)
2. Re:Has the UI gotten any better? by mike449 · 2018-02-09 07:55 · Score: 1
  
  I used a search engine, and couldn't find how to enable "left click to pause" UI feature.
  All the touchscreen skin does is make UI buttons bigger, reducing the video area. You can not even pause with a touch!
  No "click to pause" is the only reason I stopped using this otherwise great media program.
3. Re:Has the UI gotten any better? by Insanity+Defense · 2018-02-09 10:04 · Score: 1
  
  and isn't at all touch screen friendly.
  I use it on my tablet without issues so for my use it is touch screen friendly.
4. Re:Has the UI gotten any better? by Insanity+Defense · 2018-02-09 10:06 · Score: 1
  
  You can not even pause with a touch!
  No "click to pause" is the only reason I stopped using this otherwise great media program.
  Works on my tablet. Pause whenever I feel like.
5. Re:Has the UI gotten any better? by Magnus+Pym · 2018-02-09 11:49 · Score: 1
  
  That is not the half of it; VLC is a fantastic thing in terms of playing anything you throw at it, but its user interface is still from the 90s and is abysmal. No support for doing anything but basic playback. Accessing even simple functions like zooming, brightening, rotating etc makes ctrl-alt-delete seem user-friendly. No support for obvious things like visual seek.
  And of course no support for tagging, searching or even basic media management features.
  I find myself using smplayer more and more these days.
MKV by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:08 · Score: 0

Does this mean my saved Blu-ray discs (MKV files) can now be played via VLC -> Chromecast -> TV?
And I can use my phone to pause/play?
1. Re:MKV by Anubis+IV · 2018-02-09 04:31 · Score: 1
  
  It sounds like the mobile apps are more intended towards playback and I don't see any mention of remote control functionality, so I suspect the answer to the second question is "no". Though the first part sounds like it should work fine.
  For remote control functionality, you're probably better off using Plex or something like it. Without needing to buy anything or sign up for a paid Plex Pass subscription, you should be able to use it to playback MKVs and cast them to a Chromecast (which they've supported since 2013). The mobile apps can also be used as remotes for playback, though I seem to recall that there may be a one-time fee around $5 to use some features in the mobile apps if you're not a Plex Pass subscriber.
"OpenGL as Linux/BSD default video output" by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:08 · Score: 0

Another thing to configure/disable I guess.
Have they cracked the Chromecast protocol? by GameboyRMH · 2018-02-09 04:15 · Score: 1

The Chromecast protocol is heavily obfuscated and has secret encryption keys. Have they cracked it, meaning I can look into VLC's source code to see how it works and port it to other things, or are they tacking on a closed-source blob to enable this?
I actually lost interest in the things when I learned how they work. Chromecast isn't really a media streaming system, it's more of a URL sharing system.

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
1. Re:Have they cracked the Chromecast protocol? by ledow · 2018-02-09 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  For most online content, yes, it just tells the Chromecast what to play the the Chromecast pulls the stream on its own, independent (so you aren't killing your smartphone battery / data / whatever or tied to it being on to see your movie).
  But desktop / tab / screen sharing, no, that's a media-transmission method of its own.
  Sure, I imagine the protocol isn't as open as I'd like, but then same for all its rivals (AirServer / Amazon Fire / etc.).
2. Re:Have they cracked the Chromecast protocol? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 05:53 · Score: 0
  
  The Chromecast protocol, which the Google Home also uses, is CastV2. And, yes, it's stupid because they used Google Protocol Buffers (protobuf) for the communication layer when both devices do almost squat. A RESTful API on a mini web server would have been far, far superior and opened the device up for general usage. Also, device discovery requires implementing mDNS, which is also a lame protocol.
  To implement playback of local audio and video on a Chromecast, you have to have a web server. VLC likely already has a web server crammed into it, so that likely wasn't the cause of the delay. The most likely reason for the hold up/delay was building just enough mDNS and CastV2 support into VLC to send the device a single URL to trigger playback to happen. Using protobuf is super lame for the most common use-case: Play this piece of media. Basically, the hardware devices are a #googlefail.
  The most open-source-ish implementation of CastV2 and mDNS in a single package that works with all Google devices that I'm aware of is the NodeJS implementation of the protocols. It works, but you have to drag down and compile a ton of stuff just to get it to work. You also can't build anything redistributable from that hot mess (i.e. NodeJS was NOT the correct choice of language here).
3. Re:Have they cracked the Chromecast protocol? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:00 · Score: 0
  
  You don't need a custom protocol to play media from network devices. Any file sharing protocol like SMB or NFS works fine. Just access the file remotely on the device you want to play it on, from the device the file resides on, and hit "play". No "chromecast' or obfuscated protocols needed.
4. Re:Have they cracked the Chromecast protocol? by GameboyRMH · 2018-02-09 06:07 · Score: 1
  
  I use SMB on my home network. I thought a software-based Chromecast implementation could be handy basically as an alternative to wiring the phone to the TV (since my phone runs LineageOS and doesn't have the binary blob drivers for HDMI output).
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
5. Re:Have they cracked the Chromecast protocol? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:21 · Score: 0
  
  If your phone speaks 802.11, there should be plenty of bandwidth to do it wireless, even. I admit I've never tried it with 4K streams, but at least up to 1080, wireless is fine. The key is to do the decoding on the playback device, rather than trying to send an uncompressed video stream over the wireless connection. That'll happen naturally if you just point the media player at the video file across SMB.
6. Re:Have they cracked the Chromecast protocol? by GameboyRMH · 2018-02-09 06:46 · Score: 1
  
  It's not files I have a problem with though, it's trying to stream arbitrary video and audio from my phone to another device, as if they were connected with an HDMI cable. Could be for viewing pictures, a video chat stream, or a web browsing session...anything, really.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
7. Re:Have they cracked the Chromecast protocol? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 08:59 · Score: 0
  
  Point the media player at the file across the network. It will stream the file across the network and play it locally.
  E.g:
  Device_A: Holds MyVideo.mp4
  Device_B: plays DeviceA:MyVideo.mp4 (across network)
  That'll naturally stream the file. It doesn't need any special protocols, beyond a network filesystem like SMB or NFS.
8. Re:Have they cracked the Chromecast protocol? by GameboyRMH · 2018-02-10 02:16 · Score: 1
  
  Awesome, now how do I turn a live feed of my phone's screen output into a file, for when I'm not just playing a preexisting file, which I already use SMB for? Ideally with minimal lag, for the aforementioned video chats.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
9. Re:Have they cracked the Chromecast protocol? by ledow · 2018-02-11 00:38 · Score: 1
  
  Very much depends on the purpose.
  You streaming a 4Mbps stream over a 100Mbps local connection... sure.
  You streaming a 1Mbps stream over a heavily congested 54Mbps wireless shared with a dozen people and interfered with by a dozen other networks? Er... nope. Things like RTSP etc. exist for a reason, and have done since the days of 56kbps audio/video streams.
  SMB/NFS are all-or-nothing and work for video only because your system is capable of keeping up at all times. The second it CAN'T quite keep up for a moment, you'll lose audio and video whereas a proper streaming protocol won't - at worst it'll degrade (same reason for interlaced GIFs back in their day, and JPEG and MPEG and all codecs since have something similar that lets them recover a portion of data from a interrupted stream, and still maintain synchronicity by forfeiting select parts of the data).
  If you want to stream over a local network without using a closed protocol - use VLC, which can act as both client and server and has any number of supported stream types (including RTSP) which work wonderfully. I once streamed a football match in HD to a hundred local PC's using a single central stream...
  But SMB is just as obscure in this regard (hey, sure, we have compatible implementations but they are far from complete and every new Windows version adds new stuff in). And neither are designed with the use-case in mind which means, though it might "work", it's only doing so by brute-force and luck and when it starts to struggle, it can't compensate in the same way.
  There's a reason that media boxes often support DLNA etc. as well as SMB/CIFS... because it's designed for the job.
  Question - how many mass-market, buy-in-a-supermarket, easy-to-configure, easy-to-stream HDMI wireless devices do you know that use SMB rather than their own implementation? Because Amazon Fire, Google Chromecast, even things like Miracast, own the market. And most people WON'T EVER buy a cheap linux STB thing that does the same. Hell, they won't even understand what SMB is or why they'd want it. Because it would only work if they know how to share the folder, the PC / NAS name, a username and password, and where it's located on the drive structure. Compared to "click the cast button" on any wifi-connected smartphone, Chrome browser, etc. supported by Netflix, Google Play, BBC iPlayer, etc. and it doesn't even compare.
  The enemy of open protocols is not cost, or implementation, or anything else. It's "does it just work with all the popular big-name services". Marketing. Everything from Skype, Whatsapp, Flash, Chromecast, etc. has a closed protocol but is mass-market. Nobody has ever heard of Ogg Vorbis, etc.in real-life. And people choose convenience and a brand name over hassle and a service they could have for free "if they just learned how" every time. Because learning costs more than most people are willing to pay, in time, effort and money.
Chromecast receiver? by zoid.com · 2018-02-09 04:19 · Score: 1

Is it a chromecast receiver or can it only cast to a chromecast device? A receiver would be more interesting.

--
Zoid.com
1. Re:Chromecast receiver? by ledow · 2018-02-09 05:04 · Score: 1
  
  Caster.
It's "Pratchett” by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:27 · Score: 2, Insightful

Some geeks just aren’t into Terry Pratchett.
Great writer... just not into it.
Accelerated x.265? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:35 · Score: 0

VLC 2.0 plays x265 but doesn't use the GPU decoder to speed it up.
1. Re:Accelerated x.265? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 04:45 · Score: 1
  
  I have an old Xeon X5650 CPU which is 8 years old at this point. It barely breaks 7% usage when playing x265 files. I toyed around with some of the players that make use of hardware but found little difference. They claim the quality is better but only when zoomed at 4x can you see it.
2. Re:Accelerated x.265? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 05:03 · Score: 0
  
  I have a Xeon 2665 with a radeon RX480. It's pegged on 4K 10bit content. Other players have no problem.
3. Re: Accelerated x.265? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 17:06 · Score: 0
  
  VLC can't play 4K content. Use MPC and you'll find it works flawlessly. I have been following this limitation in VLC for over three years now, but maybe they have fixed it in the very latest version?
best "free" by originalGMC · 2018-02-09 04:41 · Score: 3, Insightful

Can anyone name a better paid media player? I certainly cannot.
1. Re:best "free" by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:03 · Score: 0
  
  I dunno about paid players, but on the free side I prefer mplayer to vlc.
2. Re: best "free" by Ken_g6 · 2018-02-09 09:26 · Score: 1
  
  On Android, MX Player used to be great, until they dropped support for MPEG2.
  
  --
  (T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
Seems to be an ad by Geoffrey.landis · 2018-02-09 04:52 · Score: 0

This /. post seems to mostly be an advertisement.
Is it really true that this is "the best" and "about to get even better" and has no downside whatsoever?

--
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
1. Re: Seems to be an ad by c6gunner · 2018-02-09 09:01 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Yes, it is.
DVD Patent expiration by GreyWanderingRogue · 2018-02-09 05:00 · Score: 1

Doesn't the last DVD patent expire in less than a week (Feb 14, I think)? http://www.osnews.com/story/24... http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wi... Or does VLC already ignore all those because it's based in France? Maybe VLC is already set, and it's just a Handbrake update to look forward to sometime after Wednesday.
The best? That POS?!?! by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 05:00 · Score: 0

mpv FTW!
Freetards all rejoice by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 05:02 · Score: 0

yet cannot play movies from bluRaY from the past decade. welcome. welcome. dvd johns of the world. welcome.
AV1 by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 05:05 · Score: 0

Does it support that AV1 codec thing ?
Cat by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 05:09 · Score: 0

Can I take my cat to the Vetinari ?
Preview image when hovering over the time bar? by PingSpike · 2018-02-09 05:20 · Score: 1

Are they ever going to implement this feature? Showing an image of when hovering over a position in the time slider? Its one thing I really miss having when using this otherwise great media player.
not available by Espectr0 · 2018-02-09 05:38 · Score: 1

is this a beta? website says 2.2.8 is the latest

--
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
Availability Not Yet Complete by DERoss · 2018-02-09 05:41 · Score: 1, Informative

The home page for VideoLAN at https://www.videolan.org/ still indicates the current version is 2.2.8. The downloads page at http://download.videolan.org/v... does show a version 3.0.0. For Windows, however, there is no x64 version yet. Since I usually use VLC for listening to streaming broadcasts of classical music, I will wait for an x64 Windows version.
1. Re:Availability Not Yet Complete by Woldscum · 2018-02-09 06:24 · Score: 1
  
  VLC 3.0 got pushed to my android 7.1 this AM. Here is the 3.0 link from TFA https://www.videolan.org/vlc/r...
2. Re:Availability Not Yet Complete by BitterOak · 2018-02-09 09:14 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Since I usually use VLC for listening to streaming broadcasts of classical music, I will wait for an x64 Windows version.
  Does classical music sound better when played on a 64 bit application than it does on a 32 bit? Remember, these "bits" aren't bits of resolution in the digitized audio signal, but rather they're simply the architecture of code: 64 bit code can in theory do more in less time. Streaming of classical music, even at high definition rates of 96kHz sampling frequency and 24 bits per channel of audio should work just fine even in a 32 bit application on any modern CPU.
  
  --
  If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
3. Re:Availability Not Yet Complete by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 10:46 · Score: 0
  
  I just went to the page, and it shows version 3.0.0 - maybe refresh the page?
4. Re:Availability Not Yet Complete by n4wff · 2018-02-09 12:25 · Score: 1
  
  Late to the party but Win64 has arrived https://get.videolan.org/vlc/3...
5. Re:Availability Not Yet Complete by DERoss · 2018-02-09 18:07 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, the Windows x64 3.0.0 version is now at http://download.videolan.org/v.... I downloaded and installed it. It works fine for both streaming broadcasts and local .mp4 video files on my PC.
Windows DNLA by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 05:52 · Score: 0

Nice that they are adding new features. However, why has DNLA support been broken on VLC for Windows for literally *YEARS* without it being fixed?
1. Re: Windows DNLA by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 17:37 · Score: 0
  
  Because DLNA is shit.
Blu-ray disk? by Eloking · 2018-02-09 06:02 · Score: 1

I'm pretty sure there's some IP reason, but why they doesn't support Blu-ray disk yet?

--
Elok
1. Re:Blu-ray disk? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 07:02 · Score: 1
  
  VLC is open source, Blue-ray is just about as closed source as you can get (one reason why I won't touch them) due to it being chock full of DRM and encryption.
What about SMPlayer? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:13 · Score: 0

Ive always found it to be better than VLC. More features, more options, less buggy.
1. Re:What about SMPlayer? by joshuaf · 2018-02-15 09:12 · Score: 1
  
  It has been the better option for something like 10 years now. I really don't get why people like VLC.
Now if only VLC started quickly... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:16 · Score: 0

I still can't get it to start up in under one minute on Windows 10. I can start VLC, walk away, get a drink, and come back and it is still loading.
I've tried everything to correct the issue, which only happens the first time VLC starts up.
1. Re:Now if only VLC started quickly... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:58 · Score: 0
  
  Windows 10... Well there's yur problem.
In a little under 7 par-secs by link-error · 2018-02-09 06:17 · Score: 1

If you have that much time.

--
-Unresolved symbol? Byte me!
We'll see by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 06:46 · Score: 0

Hopefully it works better than the beta they released a while back, It couldn't even detect my Chromecast let alone run anything on it.
Tempo changing by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 07:36 · Score: 0

I use VLC on the desktop, it works fine there, but i had to start using another media player on my phone. The tempo changed slowly on some songs. Usually it was in the beginning of the song that i started wondering if i remembered the song wrong, just a little off note. After the road trip i just couldn't take it anymore. I did search and find the bug report back then, but now i can't find it. Maybe i'm just not using the correct words. Not that the devs seemed to have any clue what's going on.
Main thing I want to know by Presence+Eternal · 2018-02-09 09:07 · Score: 1

Are the default settings appropriate for a computer made after the year 2006?
1. Re: Main thing I want to know by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 17:43 · Score: 0
  
  I wish I could set the file read buffer. On a choppy network I get intermittent playback, even of MP3s. All I want to do is have it read ahead 50MB and keep it in buffer.
Handbrake compatible? by ossuary · 2018-02-09 11:20 · Score: 1

Hmmmmm, but is it fully Handbrake compatible?
MPC-HC doesn't get the credit it deserves by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 11:41 · Score: 0

MPC-HC delivers much, much better performance than VLC: no tears, no stutter, and much better resume. It's a shame VLC has totally eclipsed MPC-HC who couldn't attract contributors but MPC-HC is stable and won't need any updates for a long time anyway.
The best? by philmarcracken · 2018-02-09 12:10 · Score: 1

No madVR support? And its the best? I am on slashdot right..
Wish list by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 12:59 · Score: 0

I wish: 1. The player would remember and load the last playlist. It starts empty every time... 2. It had a shuffle, then play function. What it does now is shuffle after each song, leading to repeats within the list. Otherwise it is a great application!
1. Re:Wish list by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-09 21:53 · Score: 0
  
  That shuffle thing is annoying. I have songs i haven't heard in ages, and songs that play all the time.
I'll wait for 3.0.1 by Anonymous Coward · 2018-02-10 05:07 · Score: 0

As with any x.0 software release, I will wait until the "ooops" x.0.1 release that should come out within a week of any x.0 product.