Anyone use (VLC) and what are your observations?
Hello Gordon,
VideoLAN is a favorite among the good folks in this NG. I like it, but
I don't use it as my primary media player.
The honest truth is that VLC is the superior player (from a technical
perspective) and it has lots of wonderful extras, and I recommend it
along with most of the other participants in this NG.
....However...
There is a small issue with VLC's recording capability that you should
know before you click into Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs and
start uninstalling all of your other media players: VLC can record what
it plays, but the recorder-activation controls are not easily
accessible. In other words, if you start playing a stream and you
suddenly decide to record it, VLC doesn't provide a quick and simple
"Click Command" to start recording. You could miss a lot of the stream
that you wish to record before you can get to VLC's record command and
activate it. (For example: XMPlay from
http://www.un4seen.com/ allows
you to rightclick anywhere on the open application, select "Write to
Disk" and you're recording.) This recording issue in VLC is absolutley
insignificant if you don't record a lot of streaming content, and so my
recommendation of VLC still stands.
Media Player Classic with K-Lite Mega Codec Pack from
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack.htm
actually plays a few MORE filetypes than VLC does, which is why I use
MPC as my primary player. (My computer has to play eveything for my
line of work...) The issue here is size: Mega Pack is nearly 35 MB and
plays ONLY a few more filetypes. VLC is only 9.5 MB long and plays
almost as many filetypes. The size difference is astounding and puts
VLC way out ahead of MPC. Visit
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html and see if you can live
without the filetypes that VLC will not play. Notice that the VLC
webpage tells you that VLC will not play RealPlayer files...which
MPC+Mega Pack (which contains Real Alternative) WILL play for you.
(This may not be an issue for you since RealPlayer has had trouble with
cost, spyware, and its public image, and RealPlayer is actually being
phased out of many websites because of this.)
There is one other reason why you should get and use VideoLAN (and this
one is my favorite): ---VLC has brightness and gamma controls, and
makes dark or nearly black media as bright as daylight if you wish.
(Media Player Classic does NOT have this "lighten-it-up" feature.) This
make the movie-experience FAR more enjoyable because you can FINALLY
see the details that were hidden in the darkness and shadows of the
video. This feature ALONE is enough for me to get and keep VLC.
(Personally, I don't give a damn about the dramatic-value or
artistic-value of darkness, I want to see those details!)
There are pros and cons to VLC, MPC+Mega Pack, and XMPlay (and a host
of other players that could be included here too). You have to decide
what you can live without, what you cannot live without, and then go
get the player(s) that will serve your needs. For me, I use VLC,
MPC+Mega Pack, and XMPlay (all three of them) each day. I haven't found
a file that I cannot play with that combination, even though there is a
lot of redundant overlap with the filetypes and capabilities of the
players---and it is GREAT to be able to use VLC's gamma feature to see
those details that were once hidden in the darkness!
Final answer: Definitely GET and use VLC for sure. Seriously consider
other players (MPC & XMPlay) that could serve your needs or fill in
services that VLC does not provide---and keep your eyes on VLC's
website because the author and contributing programmers could add code
that creates those services in future versions of VLC.
And that is my lecture for today...class dismissed...
