the world best media player for free

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Jay Smith
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John Jay Smith

http://www.gomplayer.com/main.html

We are offering you the world best media player for free!
With GOM, you'll experience something you've never seen in the past with
other media players.
GOM supports all kinds of features for highly advanced users who desire to
watch video clips at the best quality.
Try one of your broken AVI files with GOM that other media players couldn't
play.
You will discover.. the Magic..
 
GOM supports all kinds of features for highly advanced users who desire to
watch video clips at the best quality.
Click to expand...

I am highly advanced user. Can it be controlled with only my thoughts?

Ivan.
 
The site refers to "free download" -- usually that's a euphamism for
"download for free, pay to use" shareware. Is this really freeware that you
know of?
Click to expand...

From the EULA on install :

"1. GRANT OF LICENSE.

a) This program is freeware. Anyone may freely use and distribute this
software, whether in a private, public or corporate capacity."

Can't find anything iffy in the sandbox after the initial install...
Includes a copy of the LGPL, but I'm not sure what component it's for.

Player looks nice and clean, haven't any media with me to test it with
at the moment though.

Ben
 
You can control anything by your thoughts if your mind is powerful enough.
If you have tried and not been able to, you need more practice..
keep trying :-)
 
We are offering you the world best media player for free!
Click to expand...

I've got the day off so I tested Gom.
http://www.gomplayer.com/main.html

I installed Gom and set it to load all of its basic codecs at startup
and associate all media files with it. The EULA says "freeware." This
appears to be a full version with no spyware. Gom didn't have any
problems with the rules imposed on it by AVG antivirus or by my
firewall.

Here is what I found:

*The default interface is simple, sharp and clean. Very easy for all
users to see and navigate.
*I REALLY LIKED Gom's Control Panel on the default interface. I like
having those brightness/contrast/saturation/hue controls right in front
of me---other media players should take a lesson from this
interface-layout. Very well done, standing ovation.
*It plays movies files only. It is not an audio player like some others
I have seen (and one that I regularly use).
*It does not play Quicktime files. That's a problem for a commercial
product now that QuickTime Alternative exists in freeware.
*It did not play video from any of the wmv files on my hard drive, only
the audio. Gom said that it would play the files and it had all of the
proper codecs loaded at startup, but it didn't play them.
*It started playing immediately upon opening the file, with no
buffering whatsoever. This may not be a problem on a super-fast machine
in the workplace or a demo model in a retail store---But on common home
computers, this results in the video being choppy or nonexistent while
the audio continues as normal. Suddenly, the video jumps ahead to catch
up, resulting in missed action. In my opinion, it's better to buffer
for a few seconds before starting the video and be done with it. There
is an option in the Preferences panel to tell Gom that you have an old
and slow computer---but I chose not to do that because I have a common
and normal computer and freeware media players will play all of my
media files just fine without any "old and slow" option.
*By default, GOM is set to go online and check for updates each time
the program starts, and then notify you if it finds any. Some people
have a problem with that. (This option can be quickly turned off in the
Preferences > General panel > Update tab.)
*It has a screen capture feature which could be useful to some people.
It allows you to capture a jpg "still" of whatever is playing when you
press the Capture button. That's kinda cool.
*Gom played streaming video (even wmv's!!!) just fine, but I never
found a way to record what I was watching. Sometimes I like to record
it.
Try one of your broken AVI files with GOM that other media players couldn't
play. You will discover.. the Magic..
Click to expand...

I don't have any "broken" avi's so I never got to see the "Magic..."

Verdict: Gom is a commercial product, and we already have freeware that
does it just as well, does it better, does even more---and does all of
it for free.

Stay with K-Lite's Mega Codec Pack and/or VideoLan. (Although I wish
that both of these other products would incorporate Gom's "Control
Panel"...THAT Control Panel was truly useful!)
 
Hello... great review...

I haven't have the time to test it myself.. I just gave the news...

may I ask what you do for a profession, and what is your hobby?

Thanks
 
On 27 Jun 2006, Anonymous wrote
I've got the day off so I tested Gom.
http://www.gomplayer.com/main.html

I installed Gom and set it to load all of its basic codecs at
startup and associate all media files with it. The EULA says
"freeware." This appears to be a full version with no spyware.
Gom didn't have any problems with the rules imposed on it by
AVG antivirus or by my firewall.

Here is what I found:

*The default interface is simple, sharp and clean. Very easy
for all users to see and navigate.
*I REALLY LIKED Gom's Control Panel on the default interface.
I like having those brightness/contrast/saturation/hue
controls right in front of me---other media players should
take a lesson from this interface-layout. Very well done,
standing ovation.
Click to expand...
*It plays movies files only. It is not an audio player like
some others I have seen (and one that I regularly use).
Click to expand...

I don't think this is true -- it certainly played .wav and .mp3
files just fine for me.
*It does not play Quicktime files. That's a problem for a
commercial product now that QuickTime Alternative exists in
freeware.
Click to expand...

It plays .mov video files (which on my machine, at least, were
being played by QuickTime). Dunno about other QT formats.
*It did not play video from
any of the wmv files on my hard drive, only the audio. Gom
said that it would play the files and it had all of the proper
codecs loaded at startup, but it didn't play them.
Click to expand...

That's weird; wmv files played both video and audio for me. I
had to change the default for .wmv files to GOM through Folder
Options>File Types, though.

-snip-
*Gom played streaming video (even
wmv's!!!) just fine, but I never found a way to record what I
was watching. Sometimes I like to record it.
Click to expand...

Do many DRM-enabled players do this, though? (I noticed a fair
amount on DRM in the EULA.)
 
Hey! How are you doing?!

*It plays movies files only. It is not an audio player like
some others I have seen (and one that I regularly use).
Click to expand...

I don't think this is true -- it certainly played .wav and .mp3
files just fine for me.]
Click to expand...

It did? COOL! It didn't play them on my machine, so I didn't get a
chance to review that feature.
What did you think of the sound quality? Is it worth switching to Gom?


It plays .mov video files (which on my machine, at least, were
being played by QuickTime). Dunno about other QT formats.
Click to expand...

On my computer, Gom wouldn't give me video or audio from Quicktime
files. It just sat there.


That's weird; wmv files played both video and audio for me. I
had to change the default for .wmv files to GOM through Folder
Options>File Types, though.
Click to expand...

The default file associations changed on my computer when I loaded Gom.
Even then, it didn't play the video of wmv's, only the audio and at
such a low volume that I had to turn my speakers up to MAX to hear it.

The strange thing is that Gom played a video stream from a wmv off the
Net perfectly!


Do many DRM-enabled players do this, though? (I noticed a fair
amount on DRM in the EULA.)
Click to expand...

Sometimes I like to record what I find on the Net and I have freeware
that will do it. Gom does not appear to have the ability to record
anything, whether it's legal or not. Just like a cassette player or a
CD writer, I like the abilty for my player to record too. You're right
about DRM and perhaps I was too quick to point it out in Gom as a flaw.
My bad.
 
On 27 Jun 2006, Anonymous wrote
Hey! How are you doing?!

*It plays movies files only. It is not an audio player like
some others I have seen (and one that I regularly use).
Click to expand...

I don't think this is true -- it certainly played .wav and
.mp3 files just fine for me.]
Click to expand...

It did? COOL! It didn't play them on my machine, so I didn't
get a chance to review that feature.
What did you think of the sound quality? Is it worth switching
to Gom?
Click to expand...

I haven't fiddled with it too much, but my reaction was that
whilst the sound was "clean", there wasn't a lot of body/depth to
it, and I couldn't hear much difference when switching between
the presets, either.

I might try fiddling with it again, but it's almost as if the
audio side of it is expected primarily to play the audio tracks
of videos.

I use the "1by1" directory player for playing local music files,
and find that to have a much wider tonal/volume range.

-snip-
Sometimes I like to record what I find on the Net and I have
freeware that will do it.
Click to expand...

So do I, but although I have a good (paid-for) audio stream
recorder, I've not explored programs which capture video streams.

What do you recommend for that?
 
Hello... great review...

Well, it may not be such a great review because another participant on
this newsgroup got Gom to do the things that it wouldn't do for me (see
message thread)---so maybe the fault is with my computer somehow and
not Gom. (Although Media Player Classic and VideoLan play all of those
files just fine on my computer and Gom won't...)

may I ask what you do for a profession, and what is your hobby?
Click to expand...

If you're asking how I can test software and write reviews: I am a
writer...of sorts...and I got ShadowSurfer from www.storagecraft.com
when they were giving the product away from free. I can load software,
test it, play with it, and it's gone when I reboot. That makes it very
easy to voluntarily review software.
 
Sometimes I like to record what I find on the Net and I have
So do I, but although I have a good (paid-for) audio stream
recorder, I've not explored programs which capture video streams.

What do you recommend for that?
Click to expand...



Record Streaming Videos:

SDPRecorder http://sdp.ppona.com/
VideoLAN http://www.videolan.org/
ASF Recorder http://sourceforge.net/projects/asfrecorder/

Recording Audio:

XMPlay http://www.un4seen.com/
Zinf http://www.zinf.org


My personal favorites are SDPRecorder & XMPlay.
 
HVS, Hi,

if you dont use an equalizer or DSP there should not be much difference in
what program you do use to play an audio file...

I would be suprised if someone could hear the difference between decoders
used...
(if you are comparing the same file of course)

For example people here say that XMplay has nice sound.. but that is because
it uses
a winamp dsp....


HVS said:
On 27 Jun 2006, Anonymous wrote
Hey! How are you doing?!

*It plays movies files only. It is not an audio player like
some others I have seen (and one that I regularly use).

I don't think this is true -- it certainly played .wav and
.mp3 files just fine for me.]
Click to expand...

It did? COOL! It didn't play them on my machine, so I didn't
get a chance to review that feature.
What did you think of the sound quality? Is it worth switching
to Gom?
Click to expand...

I haven't fiddled with it too much, but my reaction was that
whilst the sound was "clean", there wasn't a lot of body/depth to
it, and I couldn't hear much difference when switching between
the presets, either.

I might try fiddling with it again, but it's almost as if the
audio side of it is expected primarily to play the audio tracks
of videos.

I use the "1by1" directory player for playing local music files,
and find that to have a much wider tonal/volume range.

-snip-
Sometimes I like to record what I find on the Net and I have
freeware that will do it.
Click to expand...

So do I, but although I have a good (paid-for) audio stream
recorder, I've not explored programs which capture video streams.

What do you recommend for that?
Click to expand...
 
On 27 Jun 2006, John Jay Smith wrote
HVS, Hi,

if you dont use an equalizer or DSP there should not be much
difference in what program you do use to play an audio file...

I would be suprised if someone could hear the difference
between decoders used...
(if you are comparing the same file of course)
Click to expand...

I'm poor at understanding the technology on this, but I've made a
test file which has two playings of a 10-sec .wav clip; it's
thus a 20-second .wav file -- big -- but if you're interested
I've stuck it at http://www.whhvs.webhop.net/temp/gom-1by1.wav.

The first half was played through GOM, the second through 1by1;
each was captured/re-recorded through Total Recorder.

I know I adjusted the equaliser on 1by1, but I also tried
adjusting the equaliser on GOM, and it frankly made diddly-squat
difference that I could hear.

Whatever; all I know is that there's no comparison between the
quality of the two playbacks.
 
GOM was definitely a freeware.. and i haven't found any virus nor
spyware..
and for me, it played both WMV and WMA just fine.. it seems like GOM
only supports legal codecs..(it didn't play any of my mpeg-2-encoded
videos)
i haven't discovered any magic because i didn't have any broken AVI
files..

but as someone mentioned above, i also really liked the design and its
user interface.
and the thing i liked the most was its file-loading speed.. it just
felt much faster..

well.. overall..i really liked it and i'm probably going to switch my
media player to GOM..
 
On 27 Jun 2006, John Jay Smith wrote


I'm poor at understanding the technology on this, but I've made a
test file which has two playings of a 10-sec .wav clip; it's
thus a 20-second .wav file -- big -- but if you're interested
I've stuck it at http://www.whhvs.webhop.net/temp/gom-1by1.wav.

The first half was played through GOM, the second through 1by1;
each was captured/re-recorded through Total Recorder.

I know I adjusted the equaliser on 1by1, but I also tried
adjusting the equaliser on GOM, and it frankly made diddly-squat
difference that I could hear.

Whatever; all I know is that there's no comparison between the
quality of the two playbacks.
Click to expand...

It seems to me that the biggest difference between the two samples is
that the 1by1 sample is at much louder volume. You can't compare
samples at different volumes, the louder one will always sound
"better" (until you get to *really* loud volumes. :)

I'm no audiophile, but when I attempt to adjust the volume to be the
same in the two clips, they don't sound that different to me...

Terry
 
On 28 Jun 2006, Terry wrote
It seems to me that the biggest difference between the two
samples is that the 1by1 sample is at much louder volume. You
can't compare samples at different volumes, the louder one
will always sound "better" (until you get to *really* loud
volumes. :)
Click to expand...
I'm no audiophile, but when I attempt to adjust the volume to
be the same in the two clips, they don't sound that different
to me...
Click to expand...

But that was part of the problem. I didn't change the settings
between the two recordings -- both players had their volume
controls set to about 50%, and my PC system sound was unchanged.
The only way I found I could get that sort of volume out of GOM
was to turn PC's volume so high that system-event sounds made me
jump out of my skin. (And when I did, it didn't sound as rich to
my ear.)

I might try fiddling a bit more with the settings, but as the
low-volume problem hasn't happened with other audio players, it
looks like something about the GOM player doesn't like my audio
support.
 
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