Someone reviewed v on Mar 19, 2023

Pros:

Cons:

Bottom Line:

Someone reviewed v on Jul 5, 2022

Pros: 555

Cons: 555

Bottom Line: 555

whirly reviewed v3.0.6 on Jan 12, 2019

Pros: You can downgrade to 3.0.5 easily

Cons: It chokes at startup ... not useful Period.

Bottom Line: This was not an upgrade. VLC is a dynamite program but this upgrade doesn't pass muster.

Aegis69 reviewed v3.0.2 on Apr 25, 2018

Pros: slow

Cons: slow

Bottom Line: Still very, VERY slow to start. I even have it installed to an SSD, still takes 5 to 8 seconds to load. Insane

VictorAnderson reviewed v3.0.0 on Feb 12, 2018

Pros: One of the best video players out there for sure. It now supports google chromecast - which for me is a big deal. Overall the thing is excellent - plays pretty much any video you toss at it.

Cons: Take a bit to load - a small price to pay though for a killer piece of freeware.

Bottom Line: I gotta give it 5 stars - and it's hard to get 5 stars from me :)

some guy reviewed v3.0.0 on Feb 12, 2018

Pros: does what many others cant

Cons: non

Bottom Line: fantastic plays what others can't great for playing media through your local network, google play-store has a remote for it as well

inkowyouknow reviewed v2.2.4 on Jun 12, 2016

The only player I use, flawless playback works like a charm

ikzelf reviewed v2.2.4 on Jun 10, 2016

First of all : I lake it
But .....
When I start a video, the interface is partly off screen all the time.
VLC positions its window in the lower right corner of my monitor - very annoying - I can't use it this way.

Aegis69 reviewed v2.2.4 on Jun 9, 2016

My only complaint is that is is very very slow to start. Even if I just ran it, it still starts slow. Shouldnt it still be in memory?

Picasso reviewed v2.2.4 on Jun 8, 2016

One of the most useful pieces of software ever written!

some guy reviewed v2.2.4 on Jun 8, 2016

best player hands down ! great multi cross platform Windows /Linux/Android

Zootopia3001 reviewed v2.2.3 on May 3, 2016

Good media player, with internal codecs. It should work for most.
For those saying it has trouble with some video formats, you might try disabling 'Accelerated video output (Overlay)' in video preferences.

Personally I prefer Media Player Classic - Home Cinema(along with standalone filters offered at Sourceforge) as default for most video formats, a few kept with Windows Media Player and what's left going to VLC.

Aegis69 reviewed v2.2.1 Beta on Apr 13, 2015

Takes forever to load on Windows now, doesn't play H265 worth a crap, the android version does not allow seek at all. Strange that everyone loves this player so much.

FatBastard reviewed v2.2.1 Beta on Apr 13, 2015

VLC is an amazing media player but it does NOT work with DXVA and therefore the cpu usage can be quite high sometimes.

A working DXVA implementation is much needed!

Yakumo reviewed v2.2.0 RC2 on Nov 24, 2014

VLC is fantastic, and really worth using since they updated the UI.
I do prefer MPC-HC's UI and that it's not using Qt5, but VLC's format support is fantastic as is its streaming support.

It looks to me from the options menu pictured in reviews that potplayer mentioned in a review below must be an unacknowledged fork of Media Player Classic / MPC-HC. I'd rather use the originals or the MPC-BE fork.

Not acknowledging their routes or giving source access would be breaking MPC's license (GPL v3) , and I'm surprised more people haven't been talking about this.

Blaxima reviewed v2.2.0 RC2 on Nov 24, 2014

This player has it's fan base that swear by it but in truth, it is moderately average at everything it does. There are better such as PotPlayer.

@Yakumo,
It's actually a continuation of the once excellent KMPlayer as it is created by the same guy.

Interestingly enough, VLC fanboys whined about that exact same argument years ago.

Anyways, here's the facts
http://forums.kmplayer.c...ms/showthread.php?t=141

bopb99 reviewed v2.2.0 RC1 on Nov 7, 2014

Very awesome program.
Unlike other video players doesn't screws up system codecs already present.

(P.S.: the bugfix releases increase the third number.)
(If you look for a video player with little mistakes, take the version that has a large third number. If 2.1.0 is the current version, go for 2.0.8 or something.)

FrostyZ reviewed v2.1.5 on Aug 8, 2014

Top notch program, period. Plays everything, even files you don't expect any media player to read.

FatBastard reviewed v2.1.5 on Jul 31, 2014

Very good but this version (2.1.5) has a bug when streaming youtubevideos...

FatBastard reviewed v2.1.0 on Sep 28, 2013

I love VLC but this version is buggy :(
I'm sticking with version 2.0.8

seelengarten reviewed v2.1.0 on Sep 26, 2013

Great! But I badly miss midi fluitsynth plug. And no comments about....
Christian

FatBastard reviewed v2.1.0 on Sep 26, 2013

I love VLC but this version is buggy :(
I'm sticking with version 2.0.8

FatBastard reviewed v2.0.7 on Jun 11, 2013

the mother of all mediaplayers

UPieper reviewed v2.0.6 on May 4, 2013

Grrreeeeeaaaaaaaatttttttttt :-)

ZeRO9999 reviewed v2.0.6 on Apr 27, 2013

it's 2013 now and VLC still is a broken piece of junk. In addition to reminding everyone of the bugs that still haven't been fixed in years (see older reviews), let's have a look at video quality:

madVr: https://i.minus.com/iFjudfUH5Ra8v.png
VLC: https://i.minus.com/iiBnQlaEiUawz.png

If you wonder about the difference in color/brightness, yes, that's VLC using the wrong matrix for RGB conversion.

FatBastard reviewed v2.0.6 on Apr 9, 2013

Probably the world's greatest mediaplayer...

uvzmoean reviewed v2.0.5 on Feb 26, 2013

there is 64-bit
Index of /pub/videolan/vlc/last/win64/ - http://download.videolan...videolan/vlc/last/win64/

Music4Ever reviewed v2.0.5 on Dec 17, 2012

Great player without ad's or spyware - Thanks for the 64 Bit links! - No problems with the 64 version.

reddy.shyam reviewed v2.0.5 on Dec 16, 2012

Hi been,

Please use the latest link given below.

been reviewed v2.0.5 on Dec 16, 2012

Could anyone tell me if there's a 64 bit version available?

FatBastard reviewed v2.0.5 on Dec 16, 2012

Here is the 64-bit version: http://download.videolan...videolan/vlc/last/win64/

FatBastard reviewed v2.0.4 on Oct 19, 2012

This wonderful program is also available in a 64-bit version:

http://download.videolan...ideolan/vlc/2.0.4/win64/

beatmakershq reviewed v2.0.3 on Sep 12, 2012

this is hands down one of the most reliable media players available. GET IT.

Music4Ever reviewed v2.0.2 on Jul 1, 2012

My default video player, no problems & no spyware, great application.

Good free software.

@DudeBoyz - No problems with other file associations, although this was installed over 2.01.

FatBastard reviewed v2.0.2 on Jun 30, 2012

I love that VLC is now available in a 64-bit version for windows.

http://download.videolan...ideolan/vlc/2.0.2/win64/

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.0.1 on May 5, 2012

Installed this over top of an earlier 1.x version and am a little uptight because 1, my old skin doesn't work (no biggie) but 2, because it took every file association related to media from every other app on my system.

I need to look into what happened, but if I can't find a way to prevent that, I will not be able to give it more than 2 stars.

If it works properly and installs properly, then it is probably a 4 star app. But if in their arrogance they decided that during install the want to take over everything in the hopes you won't mind, that's not good.

Maybe someone will have an answer. If I find one, I'll update the review.

Landsnes reviewed v2.0.1 on Apr 27, 2012

(Reviewing on Win7 64bit)

Brilliant media player!

This version fixed all issues I experienced with v.2.0.0. Significant improvements in image, sound and subtitle quality. Many useful features and playback customisation options (e.g. GPU acceleration & advanced rendering). Excellent work!

SteveJohnSteele reviewed v2.0.1 on Mar 19, 2012

I use VLC player because I can tweak the playback speed (I watch everything at 110%) previously this worked without any problems, however today 2.0.1 was messing up (not correctly updating areas of the screen). I hope this is just a gremlin and will vanish (perhaps after a restart). Playback at normal speed is fine.

Hilbert reviewed v2.0.0 on Mar 2, 2012

This is a review of Win VLC/VideoLAN 2.0.0 but essentially it's just an addition to my earlier reviews, the last one being for ver 1.2.0 Pre 3 (Jan 5, 2012).

I've only done a brief check of VLC version 2.0.0 as it completely killed the streaming audio from my radio station feeds thus was completely uninstalled after a few tests. In the immediate short term WMP was then reassigned the common formats/extensions and all was well again. (Incidentally, VLC 1.2.0 Pre 3 was on the machine prior to the installation of v2 and had been assigned streaming (and it worked), v2 broke that function.)

During the brief review time I did ascertain essentially that VLC 2.0.0 still retains all the same problematic issues I encountered and outlined in the earlier 1.2.0 Pre 3 review but now with the addition of the streaming fault. (As my review of 1.2.0 Pre 3 wasn't extensive, the caveat is that I've likely missed much.)

The more I see of VLC the more I reckon it's like the kernel of a student project (or is managed as such). Each semester a new batch of students comes along and each student is assigned a part of the project to work on. Some issues are improved, some fixed whilst still others are broken. With the next semester, development starts all over again with a new group, thus we've reasons why there's an overall lack of focus in VLC's development.

Pity really, for with reasonable management and clear objectives, VLC has the potential to be a good player; however, as it stands now with version 2.0.0, it's still very rough and ready. By my standards it's not yet prime-time material.

@carlvui
------------

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated. Glad you liked the SciAm article. The facts are that thoroughly evaluating software is difficult, time-consuming and demanding. Yet even after rigorous testing major show-stopping faults are still often found. I know from experience having done the job for years (often with mission-critical software too). Many reviewers, including numbers of those who write for IT magazines, only do superficial software reviews. Usually they stick to the main features or bits the reviewer specifically uses--and if they work OK then the review is a glowing one. Usually, ordinary users are more easily satisfied when they find their small sub-set of features works OK for them. It's the boring, tedious bits--compatibility, long-term driver stability, inappropriate interaction with the O/S and other software, and the testing of the lesser features etc. which require all the rigor.

VelvetElvis reviewed v2.0.0 on Feb 26, 2012

Finally fixed the pixellation problem when manually advancing, that's plagued it for eons.

carlvui reviewed v2.0.0 on Feb 24, 2012

Final release. On my platform I had some difficulties with the installation, it couldn't be installed for the first trial, I succeeded with the third.

Another platform, my friend said it K.O.d the sound on his PC an he needed to perform a complete system restore.

Little improvement, it seems to perform the decoding a bit faster and smoother, while sound and video quality is still not very good.

After uninstall I needed to manually remove the program files, VLC doesn't do it, and some leftover registry keys.

I think that was my last attempt with VLC. I appreciate the hard work of the volunteers making this program, but after so many flaws in all version and still poor video and audio quality, I think I give it up.

Sammo reviewed v2.0.0 on Feb 20, 2012

While this is not a bad media player, it is much more cumbersome to use than some other players. The video and sound are also not as good as other players. The best player I have and the easiest to use is The KMPlayer. It beats VLC in every category of use.

carlvui reviewed v2.0.0 RC1 on Feb 20, 2012

@Hilbert

Thanks, and special thanks for the links on "soft-crisis" very interesting, saved.

Of course it is easier for people to call others an idiot or lunatic, I meet these words too often here on this board too, than taking their time and the trouble to run their own analysis and give us a trustworthy evaluation.

Stay here with us on fileforum. Thanks again.

BethTastic reviewed v2.0.0 RC1 on Feb 19, 2012

Simply fantastic, this should come with every computer. It puts Windows Media Player to shame. The only thing I would like to see is an easier way to record, like pulling in my YouTube videos that I can't find the original files to anymore. Aside from that, 5 stars all the way!

The Seeker 11 reviewed v2.0.0 RC1 on Jan 27, 2012

@bruno70

I seriously hope your comment was tounge-in-cheek.

Anyway, a great player for those wanting something that "just works".

zibeltbg reviewed v1.2.0 Pre 3 on Jan 23, 2012

Solved!!! The same problem in Kubuntu-10.10-need to compile Luggage 1.1.5 -http://mafayyaz.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/hello-world/ and the sound is betther, and no crash

Hilbert reviewed v1.2.0 Pre 3 on Jan 5, 2012

@ carlvui

I've looked at VLC 1.2.0 Pre 3 and there's little new for the user except the mp4 CODEC 'bug' to which I referred in my v1.1.10 review (Jun 6, 2011) has been fixed/resolved. Resolution of this longstanding issue means the old doco from Internet Archive (previously mentioned) now plays the AAC audio stream ok (all previous versions of VLC would not whereas most other players would, MPC-HC for instance). BTW, it's not a unique video, previous VLC releases wouldn't play the audio of many similar files.

For that 'fix' I'll be magnanimous and give v1.2.x two stars.

I've not had the inclination to fully investigate this issue as here we normally use other players; nevertheless it was a strange problem unique to VLC which persisted over many releases. The Internet Archive has five identical versions of the doco, each with a different encoding. Of the two mp4 encodings, VLC would play the smaller 512kb file but not the hires one even though it's supposed to use the same CODEC. Perhaps our complaints were eventually heard although there's now a curious comment on the VLC (news) site that's come at the same time as v1.2, it's about 'VLC engine relicensed to LGPL' [licensing issues were thought a cause some problems], also there's another interesting one on the VLC forum about the broken Hi10p format working when v1.2 is released:

http://forum.videolan.or...ic.php?f=12&t=93704

Although not exactly the same issue, it does imply there are substantial backend changes being made to v1.2. As always, there's damn-all info that comes out of VideoLan Corp which actually makes much sense. If VLC is a free and open source cross-platform program as it says it is then why is everything so apparently secret? Perhaps--like the program--the VLC organization is also totally disorganized. ;-)

Re VLC 1.2:

- The UI is still hopelessly out of date, all sorts of issues, especially the bright, chunky and large interface that's distracting and uses far too much screen real estate, (no--skins aren’t the answer to bad design).

- Video CODECs and their settings are still diabolically bad. Video playback quality on much (but not all) video material) on v1.2 and earlier, is terrible when compared with other players. For instance, on the mentioned I.A. doco the default interlace settings show pronounced and very annoying interlacing artefacts. Whilst this can be ameliorated to an extent in the extensive but hard-to-find interlace settings, it shouldn't be necessary to touch them in most instances. Many players today either don't have interlace tweaks or they're hardly necessary (interlace errors are a snack to detect and fix). VLC is the only player where I consider interlacing artefacts an annoying issue. Either the CODECs are just fundamentally bad or they've been poorly configured or both. Do the developers really think we users don't notice such sloppiness?

[It would be helpful if anyone knows of any properly engineered I/O-throughput tests of VLC's configuration/CODECs: distortion, noise, artefacts, phase delay, transient response etc. and any comparison with the CODECs of other player's.]

- There's no point repeating everything in ZeRO9999's comments, consider these comments of mine more as an addendum to his very precise summary which is correct in every detail. Furthermore, his DirectX comment, IMO, points to a serious bug in VLC; moreover there's also a similar problem on the video output too, especially in slo-mo playback.

Re your comments:

'Exactly, as you wrote:' -- yeah, a la Enlightenment's comments, methinks. >-)

'Sadly, it is a widespread problem on review boards, …etc. etc.'.

Correct, but there's also a bigger problem with programming per se, and it's a major contributor to our woes here. As well as IT I'm also in elec. eng, there I'd never get away with the sloppiness and lack of discipline that's routine in much programming. The laws of physics ensure that I don't. Whether it's thermal noise or good ol' Ohm's Law there's not much room to move outside given parameters. Even at the fuzzy quantum world where electrons can't make up their minds which way they're spinning and where cats are both simultaneously dead and alive, one has to go by the book--or within the limits quantum statistics allow--for things to work!

By now programmers will have dismissed me as cretin or loony but others also think it's time to put a stop to bad code especially given that the majority of programming problems can be avoided easily. Suggest you read 'Software's Chronic Crisis', SciAm, Sept 1994, W. Wayt Gibbs, pp 86-95; it's still the definitive summary on the matter:

http://media.wiley.com/p...08186760/0818676094.pdf [1]

The fact is VideoLAN / VLC has been and still is one of the quintessential examples of what the article teaches us not to do in design and implementation of software.

------

[1] Try this Wiley link first (the original one I used to www.cs.unc.edu/ is now broken)--this is a combined paper containing the article. If it doesn't work then Google it, there are a number of instances of it which Google finds easily. Alternatively, I suggest you try and find a paper copy or pdf of the mag issue, it has a much clearer color reproduction of the important diagram 'Progress towards Professionalism'.

Enlightenment reviewed v1.2.0 Pre 3 on Jan 4, 2012

VLC Media Player 1.2.0 is great. It's obvious the negative reviewers haven't used 1.2.0, because they are mindlessly yammering about non-existant problems, just like crazy people do at mental hospitals.

http://www.ghacks.net/20...or-vlc-media-player-2-0/

ZeRO9999 reviewed v1.1.11 on Nov 9, 2011

What a horrible piece of junk. The video rendering quality makes me want to tear my eyes out. H264 and mkv playback is seriously broken, there is no hi10p support, seeking causes very annoying video glitches and let's not talk about ordered chapters and segment linking. Also, why does VLC need to build a font cache over hours before being able to play something?

And seriously, what is up with that interface? When you open the settings, the window actually requires a vertical AND a horizontal scrollbar (depending on interface language it seems). Also, video decoder and encoder options seem to be thrown wildly together.

DirectX Audio Output is also somewhat broken as theres an annoying stutter everytime you seek or pause a video.

1* is way to generous for this pile of garbage.

carlvui reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 22, 2011

@Hilbert

Exactly, as you wrote:
“…. those who rate VLC with 5 stars must have very simple requirements (or they're on the dev team).”

Sadly, it is a widespread problem on review boards, especially developers are penchant for posting their own high rating reviews, we can call them stealth advertisements.

Therefore, your, as well as other posters' detailed reviews (not just for VLC) are highly appreciated. Facts against influential, baseless promotions.

Thanks for your time and help.
-------
As for the present v1.1.11 many of the same old bugs are yet, still there. For me the most annoying is the incorrect icon display after changing set up association. Default set up association still only can safely be changed during installation and does not work after installation from the "tools-preferences" window. And so many other bugs; XP Home SP3

Ramp4me reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 18, 2011

you can get istfor Linux & Mac, but that are the only euhm "positives" about this poor player.

Hilbert reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 16, 2011

I agree with carlvui and Blaxima. v1.1.11 is insignificantly different to the previous release, many non-trivial bugs remain.

I've already commented previously, more would be superfluous except to add that those who rate VLC with 5 stars must have very simple requirements (or they're on the dev team).

Blaxima reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 16, 2011

This is easily one of the more over hyped pieces of rubbish.

Yes it can play many things BUT it does them quite poorly. I did a side by side comparison to BSplayer, MPC HC and KMplayer and this had by far the worst image rendering. (BSplayer was the best but I use the second best MPC HC with ffdshow because it has the best subtitle rendering).

Audio is a nightmare with this thing. I load a lossless file with this and then open foobar, VLC does not load the flac file until foobar is almost a minute into the song!! And again, poor quality sound reproduction.

I could go in to the many issues with audio syncing and the config page but if you still think VLC is better in spite of it's bottom of the barrel performance then nothing is going to change your mind.

JCookes reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 16, 2011

MPC-HC (Media Player Classic Home Cinema) is indeed a lot smaller and an overall better player than VLC.

eviljolly reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 16, 2011

**VLC PLAYER IS NOT A VIRUS**

Man, Betanews needs some better moderation. I realize his name is "troll", but some people don't know what that means, or simply overlook the username.

VLC is the best all-inclusive player out there. You won't find something that plays as many formats, with built-in codecs. There are lots of other great players out there, but none are as close to an all-in-one package.

TROLL reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 16, 2011

V I R U S !!
84K exe freeze into process dont killeable

DONT DOWNLOAD ! ! !

metin67 reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 16, 2011

20MB ? I'm using a player of 1 MB which plays anything, and does it much better than this overhyped crap.
********************************************************

so..tell us your player of 1 MB..we want to learn your player you use.

gcaleval reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 15, 2011

Hilbert: I love checking out new things so I spent some time on the foobar site to see how your comparison review fits.

It appears that foobar is heavily oriented to audio for which I use dedicated audio programs.

Regarding the size of the install, it also looks like a lot of functionality that is ready-to-go in VLC has to be added through plugin installations to foobar?

As a consumer end-user, I find all the plugins befuddling. VLC just runs with features that make my experience more enjoyable, like single-frame advance, very-short hops to very-long hops and so on that are not part of MPL or foobar from what I can see. VLC allows me to take repeated single-frame snapshots or export and entire time sequence to stills. I really enjoy these features.

I have no idea what an MP4v file is but so far I have had no need to find out as all my video runs with audio working fine. One of the things I like about VLC on the audio side is that it allows the user to boost loudness beyond the windows volume control. I see in the foobar forums that users are advised that needing to raise volume in this way is an application fault with their source so foobar shouldn't be expected to address it. Or install another addon.

I will install foobar and use it for a while, but if the forums are an indication, I doubt I'll be retiring VLC in the foreseeable future.

ChipChop reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 15, 2011

20MB ? I'm using a player of 1 MB which plays anything, and does it much better than this overhyped crap.

xsnred reviewed v1.1.11 on Jul 15, 2011

Has always done what I needed it to do. Never had a problem and there are no hundred megs of files on my C drive, You 1 star whiners ought to get together and develop your own program and put it up for review here. 5 stars for VLC, 0 stars for the whiners.

carlvui reviewed v1.1.10 on Jun 10, 2011

Sorry, I don't have the time for long details but VLC doesn't play all formats. Moreover, playing from external drive you might run into many unplesant problems, such as VLC tends to cache the whole video on C drive in huge MB files, thus consuming tremendous free space.

For more detailed information, please visit many of the VLC forums.

All in all, VLC is in deep beta phase and Videolan is unscrupulously using and fooling their clients by delivering newer and newer version releases with the same bugs and other problems left unfixed.

Quality might deserve two stars, yet I gave one star rating for their notorious cheating on users.

uberfly reviewed v1.1.10 on Jun 7, 2011

Feel better Hilbert? VLC plays everything when the others fail. It has mature abilities that go WAY beyond not being able to play a single codec with a patent issue.

Hilbert reviewed v1.1.10 on Jun 6, 2011

VLC (VideoLAN) has long suffered a major 'defect' in that the .MP4/v CODEC DOES NOT WORK and it's STILL not fixed in this version!

The problem is that VLC plays the video content of MP4v videos OK but DOESN'T play sound (seems the audio part of the CODEC is not implemented).

As .MP4v files are as common as the proverbial B.S., VLC is nigh on damn useless as an all-round media player.

Here's a dead-simple way to test how useless and brain-dead VLC really is. Download two different encodings of the SAME short public-domain doco, 'Why Study Science', from the Internet Archive:

1. VLC plays this encoding AOK:

http://ia600508.us.archi...hyStudy1955_2_512kb.mp4

2. However, VLC WILL NOT PLAY AUDIO on this version:

http://ia600508.us.archi...WhyStudy1955_2_edit.mp4

Remember, these are the same video but encoded two separate ways [different CODECS] and both videos are AOK (test the supposedly 'dud' one with another player).

FYI: Here's the title page for the doco (along also with various other encodings):

http://www.archive.org/details/WhyStudy1955_2

To make matters worse, VLC people simply and repeatedly say--version after version--that the problem 'cannot be fixed' and offer no further explanation (and the 'bug' continues to cause ongoing complaints from frustrated users who're in search of a solution). Apparently, it's to do with a patent issue that VLC doesn't want to pursue--nor apparently does VLC want to bother writing its own new CODEC from scratch either).

Along with its incessant updates that seemingly have little or nothing to do with its useability, together with its ugly, over-sized and chunky default UI, VLC has very little to recommend it.

With VLC being a dead duck and the long-standing bug in the other major freeware player, Media Player Classic - Home Cinema* which locks up nVidia PCs as soon as look at 'em, also not fixed, it's time for some serious searching for industrial-grade alternatives.

____

* MPC - HC, at least when it's working, plays .MP4v files ok!

------------
FOOTNOTE: In response to uberfly's comment, I'd stress that it's not some obscure format that VLC cannot play but one of the most common and significant formats, specifically the high-end MP4v format.

Where I am, MP4v coding is so common that it's the 'MP3' of the video formats and many video media players support it. Also, libraries such as the Internet Archive, which has over a half million video files, use it as one of their major formats. For us, it's essential that video media players support MP4v.

Moreover, I'm sick of wasting my help-desk's time on complaints from users who can't get VLC to work with the MP4v format--it's a significant maintenance issue (presumably uberfly doesn't have to fund help-desk calls about VLC problems).

Above, I only concentrated on one aspect of VLC's problems, there are many more. As anomoly also points out, there are other key (very popular) formats with which VLC will not work. Furthermore, VLC has many issues with internal presets that make certain parts of it almost impossible to use. Frankly, some of VLC's coding is as rough as guts but to discuss them all here would require a lengthy article.

The fact remains that no matter how may dozens obscure formats VLC plays, it remains useless to those who want to play common everyday run-of-the-mill formats. For these people, as a video media player, VLC is about as useless as a word processor that cannot open a .DOC file.

uberfly, I do feel much better now. After I reviewed VLC I had the pleasure of reviewing foobar2000. Proper, professionally engineered code by someone who actually knows what he's doing always makes me feel sweet.

Input Overload reviewed v1.1.10 on Jun 6, 2011

i use it & have few issues. Does what it says on the time. More than pleased with itt therefore a 5.

Prospero424 reviewed v1.1.9 on Apr 12, 2011

VLC does support DXVA, and has for a good while.

It's popular because it's simple, easy, cross-platform, and offers a wider array of compatibility options than anything else.

anomoly reviewed v1.1.9 on Apr 12, 2011

Can someone please explain to me if this doesn't support dxva (gpu acceleration), why it is so popular? Are we streaming with it or what?
Mpc-hc standalone and it's plugins from sf works fine without incessant updates like k-lite and it's weekly new version of bs. Plus klite went backwards with the mpc build and isn't (still) at the stable sf version. ??

For a while? It's still in experimental mode. More like far behind mpc. This player sucks. sorry. Mpc-hc uses gpu acceleration perfectly and doesn't give me crappy sound either and cpu use is minimal at best.

carlvui reviewed v1.1.9 on Apr 12, 2011

Now that's it. Another new version. Usually they come in every three weeks.
It isn't even worth bothering with removing the old and installing the new version. The next one will come soon, anyway.

I suggest to wait patiently for long time, unless you wish to participate in their problem research and analysis project VideoLan uses their customers.

carlvui reviewed v1.1.8 on Mar 29, 2011

This is the seventh release since the setup association option has been introduced and the bug that crashes VLC when changing setup association still hasn't been fixed, despite they are repeatedly asked to do it in all VLC forums and review boards.
Let alone VLC is notorious for different other crashes.

So much about their professionalism. They either don't know how to fix it or simply don't care.

BTW I am just following up VLC development on my test PC, otherwise I have abandoned it after v1.1.5.

Also would be nice to have fair do's and Videolan team would release their upgrades as Betas.
This is about ethics. Just because something is given away free (for their own business interests) doesn't mean it can can be an out of class quality, faulty or could cause annoyance or damage in any way.

VIdeolan team, please show you have the guts for calling your releases what actually they are, --- Betas

securtek reviewed v1.1.8 on Mar 26, 2011

Version 1.1.6 is the last version that works with my HDHomerun network tuner.
http://forum.videolan.org/ not accessable gives 403 forbidden thus no support provided at this time.

UPieper reviewed v1.1.7 on Feb 8, 2011

Maybe not the best in video quality BUT it plays EVERYTHING I throw at it WITHOUT installing codecs. If you look for best quality take MediaPlayer Classic and install the appropriate codecs

FatBastard reviewed v1.1.7 on Feb 3, 2011

Great.

carlvui reviewed v1.1.6 on Jan 25, 2011

Impossible to uninstall fully, leaves many files and folders, as well as around 300 registry keys behind that are interconnected with Windows media player, therefore are risky to remove.

Though some bugs, such as the previously mentioned window-resizing bug, have been fixed, there are still serious problems with the file association settings (doesn't work, crashes the program, results in incorrect display of icons etc.) and there are many other critical bugs.

I suggest to wait patiently until they complete the program. It might take a long time.

If you still wish to install it, I suggest doing it a way like that:

1./ Make a full registry backup using ERUNT from http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ , a free download, or any other trusted registry backup software of your own choice.
2./ Install VLC, restart your PC.
3./ Don’t make any AV, IS or any other kind of updates, upgrades or system setting changes during the testing, as you will lose them when restoring the registry.
4./ Test VLC thoroughly, patiently. Devote time.
5./ If you should decide to remove, uninstall VLC, manually remove leftover files and folders from C:\Program, pay special attention to files left under Documents and Settings. (VLC will leave these folders behind even if you tick the "delete all preferences" box in the uninstall window.)
6./ Search for and remove other possible leftover files.
7./ Restore your registry to the previous state before VLC install.
8./ Restart your PC

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.1.6 on Jan 24, 2011

This program still has a lot of niggling bugs, especially in regards to certain skins (some skins are even more stable than the default it seems), but at the end of the day, this is really one of the best apps at what it does. It plays tons of stuff, including DVD's, seems to have less trouble playing those formats than the competition, and it remains free and pretty configurable.

I try other apps fairly often, but I seem to always end up coming back to VLC because it just flat out gets it done better than other apps do.

So. flawed as it is, when I compare it to the entire field, I feel a rating of 4 is deserved.

carlvui reviewed v1.1.5 on Dec 10, 2010

The window resizing problem for "Tools/preferences" still hasn't been solved.

Changing settings in the "Tools/preferences/set up association" still crashes the program. A strange bug as this option already worked well in some previous releases.

I would say the set up association bug is a pretty serious one. So many updates and new releases, so many bug reports sent to VideoLan and they don't seem to care.

They must be self-confident for the great number of downloads, which certainly doesn't mean that all players remain on the PCs, like mine that is going to be uninstalled and I will find some better. It's as easy like that.

Phat Esther reviewed v1.1.5 on Dec 8, 2010

At 2010 unable change to TFF order.
Now 2010 not 1998.
incredible

Blaxima reviewed v1.1.5 on Nov 15, 2010

This has always had piss poor video image quality but I recently tried to play a flac file on my friends computer with this (being his default player). 1 minute later and vlc had yet to open. I thought it wasn't going to open so I loaded my portable foobar (like I should have in the first place), and of course foo started to play instantly. Half way through the song VLC starts to play it!!!!

So I guess I can add horrible lossless playback to the other gripes of this mediocre software. Honestly, I think the only reason people like it is because it's free, in that case it's worth every penny.

uberfly reviewed v1.1.4 on Oct 13, 2010

1.1.4 has introduced some weird bugs. Hopefully will be worked out soon. Still great media player - a must install.

mchevfvi - you must have turned on support for submitting to last.fm. Turn it off at Advanced Settings / Interface / Control Interface / Submitting of songs to Last.FM. Chill with the spyware nonsense.

mchevfvi reviewed v1.1.4 on Sep 12, 2010

Version 1.1.4 has Spyware
Every song I play the software asks to send information to
Sites with the IP 193.43.36.103
195.24.233.53
72.29.166.157 more.
I took off and went back to version 1.00

tranglos reviewed v1.1.4 on Sep 9, 2010

There's something seriously wrong with this player. Every so often it will start and display a tiny dialog box that reads "Please wait while your font cache is rebuilt" and shows a progress bar. It takes about a minute to complete. If I cancel, the player opens but won't play video and crashes soon after. Then it seems to start normally, but a few days later I run it and it wants to rebuild the font cache again.

Then there's a special feature: pausing an audio file produces a loud click in the headphones as the sound stops, every time. All in all, quite disappointing - at least the current version is, on my system.

carlvui reviewed v1.1.4 on Sep 6, 2010

Totally agree with FatBastar.d's post.
With 1.1 a Set Up Associations option was added and changes can be made after installation. Until then it only could be configured during installation. However, they managed to create many new bugs, and later versions have more and more. Too bad, for a great program. Now, changing set up associations crashes the program and changes that were made remain ineffective.

Hopefully they can make it right in the near future, but as they couldn't do it from V 1.1 to 1.4 I gave up any further attempts to upgrade, too.

ChirenAmmi reviewed v1.1.4 on Aug 30, 2010

Best multimedia software for Windows. Has everything you will ever need, plays HD flawlessly.

ilev reviewed v1.1.4 on Aug 27, 2010

The second, after uTorrent , to fix the horrible DLL HIjacking Windows bug.

jerry4dos reviewed v1.1.3 on Aug 24, 2010

I liked it. I liked that it carried all its own codecs, and seemed to be more solid than KMPlayer, although it doesn't seem to have all the features of KM, and has a bigger footprint.

Phat Esther reviewed v1.1.3 on Aug 20, 2010

CPU eating 99%
no ability for play 2 or more video only reuse same window (shame)
all other mplayer mpchc etc use 4-5% max 8-10% CPU meanwhile running 3 or 4 film at same time
not able play DVD menu
MPEG2 play strange cubic noise jump up and down the frame like an idiot monkey
for DVD mpchc for mkv smplayer and no problem no freez no crash continously no break down cable network access with strange undocumented communication to vlc homepage like spyware spftwares
simple forget it

FatBastard reviewed v1.1.3 on Aug 19, 2010

Hmm
Version 1.1.2 was really buggy so I had to go back to version 1.1.1 and I don't trust new updates of VLC anymore.
I'll probably stay with 1.1.1 for a very long time

CyberDoc999 reviewed v1.1.3 on Aug 19, 2010

great !!!!

UPieper reviewed v1.1.3 on Aug 19, 2010

Great player!

DoHickey reviewed v1.1.3 on Aug 18, 2010

One word

crap

baki_princ reviewed v1.1.3 on Aug 18, 2010

well been using it for a while but when i tried GOM player i left this one so quick

uberfly reviewed v1.1.2 on Aug 3, 2010

Well developed, plays anything you throw at it when others won't, and FAR more versatile that just a simple media player.

DoHickey reviewed v1.1.2 on Aug 1, 2010

The last time I tried this player it was the released version & not a beta.
I found that it was a piece of unusable garbage.
I told myself never to even bother with it again. I have held true to that self promise.
I also agree that the KMPlayer is far superior to this program. I always try to find reviews of software before I try it myself. Whether it be this forum or another. I would like to offer my thanks to other beta news forum users.

I give this software a 2. Simply because the one I tried needed to be trashed and start over from the beginning .

Blaxima reviewed v1.1.2 on Jul 31, 2010

I can't wait anymore for this thing to produce a watchable image, so I won't

FatBastard reviewed v1.1.1 on Jul 21, 2010

I can't wait for the 64-bit version.

Plumber reviewed v1.1.1 on Jul 21, 2010

My one-word summary for how I feel about VLC is "ambivalent". On one hand, it's my go-to player for any file that doesn't work on my more user-friendly players of choice. It hardly ever fails to play a file.

But on the other hand, I have to deal with hassles galore whenever I use VLC. For example, to hear any audio when I'm using headphones, I have to manually select Audio > Audio Device > Stereo each and every time I open a file. Since VLC doesn't remember position automatically the way KMPlayer can, I have to seek to the desired place. And for reasons unknown to me, all video in VLC is substantially darker than it is in either KMPlayer or MPC-HC, and I can't find a way to fix it.

Oh, and the A-B repeat feature still sucks.

Meeky reviewed v1.1.0 on Jun 24, 2010

If you have 1.0.5, DO NOT UPGRADE. The compatibility with Winamp file and formats was seriously hampered in this release. Streaming x264 with nsv won't work and neither will Shoutcast. Although, according to reports, it may not be the developers' fault, this upgrade feels like a downgrade.

dotnetnightmare reviewed v1.1.0 on Jun 23, 2010

Stick to linux!! This crapware is the equivalent of Safari for windows. The year 2010 and they just now have "Experimental" support for GPU acceleration and only on a handful of Nvidia only cards! This in side by side playback against Splayer build 1372 has horrible color and lack of depth. The difference between HD and HD in a thick fog! Very few software developers build truly innovative cross platform applications. This is not one of them. They can't even claim to have done what all others have already! Kmplayer, Bsplayer, Splayer, MPC, WMP, and even Winamp all have successfully implemented H264 acceleration. How many years has VLC been in development? Give it up! The chinese (splayer) & the koreans (kmplayer) are a decade ahead of these linux only developers. I wish this were not true as I love VLC's skins and interface.

borisf98 reviewed v1.1.0 on Jun 22, 2010

Really fast. It used to take 5-10 seconds for large avi or mkv file to open. Now it is instant. Most of codex are included. I just install latest Divx, AC3 and Quicktime codex and I can play every file I want.

I only wish they would implement more esthetically pleasing interface.

methuselah reviewed v1.1.0 on Jun 22, 2010

Good multi-OS player.

FatBastard reviewed v1.1.0 on Jun 22, 2010

Finally!!

dannyboy832 reviewed v1.1.0 RC3 on Jun 14, 2010

Very good player, revert to it when my other players don't work.

Skinnable, can boost audio, doesn't need codecs, in fact the only better player is media player classic! And that's saying something...

UPieper reviewed v1.1.0 RC3 on Jun 14, 2010

Plays all the files you throw at it....without installing any codecs

forextraderforums reviewed v1.1.0 RC3 on Jun 13, 2010

I love VLC, this program can play all my video file.

dpcdpc11 reviewed v1.1.0 RC3 on Jun 12, 2010

VLC really needs a revamp if it wants to have a change in Windows... bring VLC to 2010 and why not beyond and people will use it.
Until then I recommend you Daum PotPlayer, the next KMplayer... seems like Korean devs really know their video players! Microsoft should learn a thing or two from them... you can release a player like Windows Media Player 12 and call it modern or professional... just take a look at those settings, which btw haven't changed since like.. forever!

cekicen reviewed v1.1.0 RC3 on Jun 11, 2010

Bad player for pc, there are many excellent players. But good player for mac :)

Blaxima reviewed v1.1.0 RC3 on Jun 11, 2010

It appears some things never change

Blaxima
Reviewing 1.0.3 RC1 (Oct 22, 2009)

Great player
esp if your blind. But in the event your not then look elsewhere.

Review after review I end up saying the exact same thing.
1)Poor image quality
2)Pausing throws audio, subs and video out of sync because of the delay in pausing the video.(this has been been fixed somewhat but the options for subtitles are non existent and it renders them quite poorly)
3)Buggy and clunky configuration

FatBastard reviewed v1.1.0 RC3 on Jun 11, 2010

It works great.

Here is the 7z version: http://downloads.videola.../vlc-1.1.0-rc3-win32.7z

Here is the zip version: http://downloads.videola...vlc-1.1.0-rc3-win32.zip

DudeBoyz reviewed v1.1.0 RC on May 29, 2010

This version still has pixelization issues playing MKV files. When you pause or move the jog control up and down the horizontal progress line, you get corruption and chunky pixel groups. And it still does not feel like a rock-solid application. I think it needs to be refined and tightened up.

FatBastard reviewed v1.1.0 RC on May 26, 2010

Version 1.05 was buggy so I've been using 1.03 lately.
In the future I hope they will release a 64-bit version.

Here are the zip and 7z versions of vlc-1.1.0-rc:

http://downloads.videola.../vlc-1.1.0-rc-win32.zip

http://downloads.videola...2/vlc-1.1.0-rc-win32.7z

FatBastard reviewed v1.1.0 pre3 on May 3, 2010

I would really like a 64-bit version of VLC.

gcaleval reviewed v1.1.0 pre3 on May 3, 2010

Release notes from the Project site:

by Jean-Baptiste Kempf
Sat, 1 May 2010 10:32:19 +0000 (12:32 +0200)

VLC 1.1.0-pre3 - The Luggage

Third test release of VLC 1.1.x branch, with minor fixes over VLC 1.1.0-pre2, but notably:

- Translation updates for most languages
- Multiple fixes in the Qt UI
- Fixes for MS-RTSP support
- Fontconfig on Win32 simplifications and fixes
- Mozilla plugin updated for Mac64 and xulrunner 1.9.2 compatibility
- Fixes for Alsa audio output

SteveJohnSteele reviewed v1.1.0 pre1 on Apr 19, 2010

All the bugs I previously mentioned seem to be fixed.

Drag and drop now works, the order is correct and the 'del' key also works

I like the UI improvements to
:-)

elitegangsta reviewed v1.1.0 pre1 on Apr 14, 2010

Love it's flexibility and insane codec recognition out of the box!

borisf98 reviewed v1.1.0 pre1 on Apr 13, 2010

excellent player, but I wish it had better GUI controls like WMP.

This is not review for pre1 version which does not work.

SteveJohnSteele reviewed v1.0.5 on Mar 28, 2010

I would normally have give VLC player 5 stars

But ...
1. Delete (by pressing del key) of a entry in the playlist is now broken - last worked in 1.0.4
2. Drag and drop of more than one entry in the playlist reverses the order 1234 dragging and dropping [12] at the end become 3421

It seems like there are issues in quality control

On good points ...
1. I like the ability to change the speed - I often watch tv at 1.09 of normal speed without ill effect
2. I like the ability to fix the sync audio and video
3. I like the ability to fix the sync subtitles

If I could find a player that played all the files AND had the above problems fixed, without loosing the functions I like - Id probably switch

NathanW reviewed v1.0.5 on Feb 19, 2010

Dissatisfied with Windows Media Player, this application is a far better alternative. It has more options and is easy to use. I recommend it for anyone who uses a DVD ROM or CD ROM.

VLC Media Player is a very user friendly, intuitive application that allows me to use my music libraries or 'movie of the day' without any struggle. It lets me gets started, the 'disappears' while in use. Then it comes easily to use when I am done.

Enlightenment reviewed v1.0.5 on Feb 10, 2010

If you have an older computer, try VLC Media Player, because it has a FAST start-up time and REQUIRES far less CPU-horsepower to get results.

I have VLC, MPC, K-Lite Codecs installed on all of my computers. I prefer to have multiple video players so I have the option to handle the rare problems playing some videos.

I use VLC the most because it starts up the fastest and just plain works on all of my family and friends computers that I support.

Phat Esther reviewed v1.0.3 on Jan 25, 2010

1 frame/sec
All other MPC Mplayer core working without frame dropping.
No multiproc handle.
WAKE UP its 2010 the year haha.
I think some years ago vlc the best but today the worst player.
crash crash crash continously.
1 hour test wasted time.

daver18qc reviewed v1.0.3 on Dec 3, 2009

Still the best, most effortless media player around.
Works under Win7 x64, whitout any codecs needed.

It Just Works !

nugro reviewed v1.0.3 on Nov 27, 2009

Anyone who said vlc is more customizable than mpc must have never heard of avisynth and ffdshow, and check your eyes mate, fact is this app is capable of producing the poorest image i've ever see in any video player effortlessly.

SteveJohnSteele reviewed v1.0.3 on Nov 1, 2009

Great

the drag n drop re-ordering of the playlist (which seemed to have been disabled in 1.0.2) now works - kinda

However a problem still remains
select several files (in the playlist) ...

drag n drop them (again somewhere else in the playlist)

oops !

gcaleval reviewed v1.0.3 on Nov 1, 2009

RE: Fatbas**** -- it IS called Betanews.com, not StableRelease, but Beta.

Anyone who wants to can actually download nightly builds from the project home.

I do wish that BetaNews actually included some "news" about what is new with each beta instead of merely posting the download.

VLC is the only media player anyone will ever need. Fantastic program.

FatBastard reviewed v1.0.3 on Oct 31, 2009

I think betanews should wait to publish files until the program is officially released. On their homepage VLC still offers version 1.02. Version 1.03 isn't official yet and might never be the official version.

paarkhi reviewed v1.0.3 on Oct 31, 2009

Best Video Player till now, those who say that it is the worst they should go and check their eyes, but I like the media resize feature of Media Player Classic which I lack in VLC Player or else Its the best which I could find till now, when I find that I can set the video size custom, then I'd give it a 5

xsnred reviewed v1.0.3 on Oct 31, 2009

I agree with chinch. I unloaded WMP long ago because of all the codecs needed to be installed just to play some videos and then some videos wouldn't play anyway. Where I think you are wrong chinch is saying ppl have crappy PCs. That may be true in some cases but I would bet that most ppl aren't playing the types of files you and I are. True, VLC has advanced options which make my head spin also, so I just set it to default. Anyone who says VLC player has terrible video quality might want to check their monitor instead. How much clearer can a video player get than VLC? I presume there might be a better player out there, but VLC is the only player anyone should ever need to play video on the fly, period.

chinch reviewed v1.0.3 on Oct 30, 2009

is it possible those of you complain just have crappy computers? with new codecs like h.264 comes higher demand on the processor/bus/video card.

for years i resisted both VLC and foobar2000.... just refused to use them because they just looked 'crappy' and too simplistic like someone 12 year old had put them together... then after hearing so many people talk about them so much all the time, i said screw it... i'll give them a week.

and i'll never go back to winamp or god forbid WMP again. foobar all the way, and same with VLC.

so from an ex-hater to those being all that i need for my a/v playback needs. VLC has all of the ffdshow codecs behind it, and is lightweight.. even interface can be "semi" customizable since 1.0.

you know the only beef I have with VLC? it has so many features and options, that I have no idea how to do half of what that software is capable of. and all the codec options.. trilinear buffered pixel quantization of relative delta frames?! i think i'll just leave that at the default. (yes, i made that up with random words). point is, i'd rather use any software with 1,000 customizable options, rather than a dumbed down, simplistic and featureless media player... WMP? you know why i uninstalled WMP? i could not find a single way to stop it from resizing all of my nice album artwork to 200x200 thumbnails, then turning them into system/hidden files.. even though i had set/unset every option that said JUST DONT DO ANYTHING BUT PLAY MEDIA. don't touch my tags, don't resize and hide my artwork... at least give me the option to stop it! i start WMP up and i see that 'updating media info' as soon as it gets up... and i know it's just sitting there undoing all the hours of work i spent getting my music collection the way i wanted it toi be.

don't get me start on the piece of trash that is iTunes. Winamp is tolerable, as I used that for many years.... but VLC+foobar .... winning combo right there. it gets a 4 for making so many options so freakin mysterious and cryptic, plus it's playlist/media library is pretty crappy and simplistic... but that's why it's my video app, and foobar handles the audio.end.

i can't wait for the future... i want apps that are completely portable and lightweight. i have so many great free utilities that are 10x more effective and efficient than some of the bloated,, costly software.out there.. ... *cough*nero suite*cough*. also for those who don't know, VLC has a portable version at portableapps dot com if that would be useful for some.

poisonu reviewed v1.0.3 on Oct 30, 2009

VLC is Superb..., ..specially if u don't want to be bothered with sourcing & installing codecs.....

Sven123456789 reviewed v1.0.3 RC1 on Oct 25, 2009

Terrible. Worse video player i have tried.

Blaxima reviewed v1.0.3 RC1 on Oct 22, 2009

Great player
esp if your blind. But in the event your not then look elsewhere.

Review after reveiw I end up saying the exact same thing.
1)Poor image quality
2)Pausing throws audio, subs and video out of sync because of the delay in pausing the video.
3)Buggy and clunky configuration

I would not reccommend you use KMPlayer instead though because it has become quite buggy under the new devolopers and has poor image quality too.

MPC HC or BSPlayer offer the best quality and ease of use with the latter having more options.

CyberDoc999 reviewed v1.0.3 RC1 on Oct 22, 2009

Great player
esp for slower computers

Phat Esther reviewed v1.0.2 on Sep 25, 2009

No more paralell running at same time previous versions enable 2-3-4 or X vlc runnung but this release not switch on or switch off enable pipe vlc running only 1 session, all other players working fine multiple session vlc follow flutecamp for unrepaired bugs, not problem i use mplayer perfect

nugro reviewed v1.0.2 on Sep 24, 2009

Ugly image quality and subtitle render.
Do more with less, use MPC-HC, superior in every way.

dhry reviewed v1.0.2 on Sep 23, 2009

Avoid this and either get Media Player Classic HC + fffdshow, or KMPlayer.

uberfly reviewed v1.0.2 on Sep 23, 2009

There are better dedicated players out there now, but the versatility of this is great. It is more than just a simple player. I use KM Player now, but will always keep this installed for when KM chokes (which it often does). Also, I use its streaming ability to transfer stuff off my comcast box at home. It's a solid app.

Epsi reviewed v1.0.2 on Sep 23, 2009

Totally agree. VLC was good back in the day when they could still hide behind the "beta" status. And yea. KM Player has no rival when it comes to high end features

vandr3ad reviewed v1.0.2 on Sep 22, 2009

for a veteran video player, VLC just doesn't cut it for media playback superiority. has anyone here tried The KMPlayer. It's feature-rich and gives you a lot of options on how you play your media. it can play virtually any media file available. for those non-technical users, setup is very easy.

i used VLC before and playback is jerky. this is using a freshly installed VLC, no customizations. playing the same video on The KMPlayer, i got a better experience. playback was smooth.

i can't seem to understand how VLC can be "the best" player around when there are way better players out there.

Phat Esther reviewed v1.0.1 on Sep 15, 2009

no multiprocessor support
not use only one brain of cpu but 2 or 4 have
2009 autumn ???
wake up programmers
its your time
write working program not only crash - send feedback ?
crash crash crash crash send send send send
vlc has good start after heavylie fall down
must trying give negativ rating
-1 or -2 star

malirene reviewed v1.0.1 on Jul 28, 2009

All in all the best player around. Some little thing are missing but nothing I can't live without. mkv container playback is kind a cheese, please fix that.
6/5 from me :o)

darkpepe reviewed v1.0.1 on Jul 28, 2009

I love being able to give the volume a boost to 200%. The build in speakers of my laptops sometimes are not enough.

cekicen reviewed v1.0.0 on Jul 7, 2009

Finally! Version 1.0

nugro reviewed v1.0.0 on Jul 7, 2009

ugly ugly image quality....
some stars for the effort though...

danho001 reviewed v1.0.0 RC4 on Jun 25, 2009

Bug reporting system is HORRIBLY BROKEN.

I've been using VLC for over a year now. It's fantastic. I use it mainly to play ripped DVDs off of the hard drive.

However, I ran into this bug and tried to report it through VLC's proper channels -- CAN"T!!!!

Problem -- can't playback a DVD with 4 channel audio properly. Program accidentally switches rear surround channels with front mains -- and vice versa.

Test DVD: Rescuers Down Under, Robin Hood Men In Tights.
System: Vista Ultimate x64

some guy reviewed v1.0.0 RC4 on Jun 19, 2009

great for video I find playing Audio is to over exposed the standard db default is set to high

Blaxima reviewed v1.0.0 RC4 on Jun 18, 2009

Thats it, I can't take the flaws of this player anymore and it seems they don't seem to care about fixing them because they have been the same build after build. It will play just about everything which is good but the image quality is not very good when put side by side with other players. One of my biggest gripes is that when you pause playback it doesn't pause the video right away but the audio pauses. This is the only player I've ever seen do this and because of it it throws audio and subtitles out of sync with the video.

commander2001 reviewed v1.0.0 RC3 on Jun 11, 2009

good no problems yet

FixXxeR reviewed v1.0.0 RC3 on Jun 8, 2009

Still does not remember the last folder used despite claims that it has been fixed on their forums. I have tried every nightly and this player still defaults the open file dialog to MY DOCUMENTS as opposed to the last folder used. 2/5 because this bug is highly annoying.

DrTeeth reviewed v1.0.0 RC2 on May 28, 2009

Never had to tweak a thing. Plays some WMV files that GomPlayer throws a hissy fit at.

anomoly reviewed v1.0.0 RC2 on May 27, 2009

Thanks. Kept thinking it was mpc. 4 for no dxva I am aware of.

Kei-chan reviewed v1.0.0 RC1 on May 24, 2009

Anomoly - sounds like you've got ffdshow installed, with the 'OSD' option enabled (that'll overlay information about the video on the display). Open the "Video decoder configuration" option in ffdshow's Start menu folder, and make sure the OSD checkbox in the left-hand pane is cleared.

VLC's an okay player, which uses its own codecs and not those of the system it's installed on, but I've had a few issues with it... and yes, it can require a bit of tweaking for it to work well enough for you.

anomoly reviewed v1.0.0 RC1 on May 15, 2009

It will not use DXVA like MPC out of the box so can't play mkv's without stuttering, and I'm not sure if it even can use dxva. But, at least it handles subs better wih avi's (which it does play correctly) AND it doesn't overlay the audio info of the avi file while playing like that dumba** mpc does. Gui actually crashes on exiting from an mkv file. MPC home cinema for mkv's (no audio info overlay nonsense tg), and the avi's I use a usb fat32 flash/hd to my dvd player to tv
amd @2.33
ati hd2400 pro -> 22" 2ms lcd
gig ram on xp sp3

roj reviewed v1.0.0 RC1 on May 12, 2009

Tried this and honestly do not know what all the fuss is about. It's a pain in the a** to configure - Media Player Classic Homecinema is load and go and get the job done with remote control capabilities. This thing needs to be tweaked and in this day and age, there's no necessity for that.

I don't use codec packs - they're garbage that clutter your system with the ridiculous scattershot approach - and use three codecs: XviD, Divx, Quicktime Alternative which is all most people really need anyway. It's even configured as my default player with the remote that comes with my Logitech Z-Cinemas.

This thing?

Meh - more trouble than it's worth.

THREE stars

elopez17 reviewed v0.9.8a on Jan 3, 2009

Thanks CowgaR

I follow your advise and now my system work perfect, thanks again

tannenwheel reviewed v0.9.8a on Dec 15, 2008

arrrrgh. at first i thought it had improved since my last try a year ago. but after 5 minutes that familiar pain was back. worst interface ever.

photonboy reviewed v0.9.8a on Dec 8, 2008

CowgaR,

Which one is better depends a lot on hardware and how you use it.

You may be very interested to know that the version of MPC you mention is now capable of using NVidia and ATI hardware decoders if you have them. For example, my "mplayerc" CPU usage went from 44% average to only 2%. Yes, only TWO PERCENT when watching a 1080p BluRay video that I of course ripped from my own BluRay disc. (my total CPU usage was 5%. Use CTRL-ALT-DEL then "processes" to see if "mplayerc.exe" has low CPU usage.)

Recommended steps:
1. Uninstall any previous codecs or codec packs
2. *Install K-Lite 4.3.4 Standard
3. Download the newest MPC HomeCinema (currently 1.2.198.0) then overwrite the one in the K-Lite folder (C:/Program Files/K-Lite... ")
4. Change at least 3 settings under "View->Options":
a) Output->"EVR" (for Vista; probably "default" or "overlay mixer" for XP)
b) Internal Filters-> check H264/AVC (DXVA)
c) Internal Filters-> check VC1 (DXVA)

5. Start a high-def video (i.e. AVC/AC3/MKV @ 1280x720) with MPC Home Classic (drag and drop or preferably it's just associated so double-click the movie)
6. Open Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL) and look under "processes" for "mplayerc.exe"; if everything works you it should be 2% or 3% for an AMD X24800+. Even an Atom CPU should handle this.

This should hopefully work fine. Over 90% of my High-Def rips worked perfectly and the ones that didn't just used the CPU and still played perfectly (just slightly more fan noise).

*regarding K-Lite. Other packs may work fine. If running 64-bit be sure to get a codec pack specifically for it.

cowgaR reviewed v0.9.8a on Dec 8, 2008

edit:
photonboy: thanks bro for the info, but you should probably watch performance tab as well because some CPU usage probably went from MPC to other processes (?decoders) so you may end up with the same total CPU usage (or slightly lower).

But why do I need a codec pack? I have NVidia video card (sadly 8x generation only) so I am using NVidia DVD decoder. And I thought mpc as well as VLC have their own set of codecs inside of them. I am not a fan of codec packs and installing them in my system when not needed.
----------------------

Hi folks,

is it better player than Media Player Classic - Home Cinema 1.2.908.0?

Does it have better codecs? In the end we all use commercial DVD decoders (or nVidia's one) but what about other video files?
Which one of those is more reliable, faster, supported?
I am using Vista Ultimate.

munga42 reviewed v0.9.8a on Dec 8, 2008

interesting preview, needs some bugs fixed though

Aegis69 reviewed v0.9.7 on Dec 1, 2008

Good video player, not so hot as an overall 'media' player especially when it comes to MP3's

The interface is clunky and feels heavy, skins do not work well or crash the program to the point where running it in safe mode is the only way to get back to default.

Its got a lot of potential to be the de-facto open source media player, but for speed and light interface Media Player Classic in k-lite is the way to go for video, and AIMP is still the best way to go for MP3's

gehtnix reviewed v0.9.7 on Dec 1, 2008

It just rules. Nothing more to say, a great player that beats most payware players.

ubermann reviewed v0.9.7 on Dec 1, 2008

Yes beware of the cops when they knock on your door and take you to the station because you played an movie with an illegal codec or whatever.
Be VERY afraid of that *shaking*

pohlman reviewed v0.9.6 on Nov 29, 2008

VLD has always been reliable for me, though plain and clunky, but this version (0.9.6) stumbles over half of what I've thrown at it. Since I only keep it around for playing things the others (primarily Zoom Player) have trouble with, this is a definite move in the wrong direction. I trust the next version will correct this, though.

shelb reviewed v0.9.6 on Nov 21, 2008

Nice program, but be aware it is illegal to use in the United States and several other countries. It is able to decode many types of encoding that are covered by patents without paying the licensing fees. If you are using XP, all free DVD playback programs are illegal in the US. Vista includes the DVD codecs, so some free DVD programs are legal on Vista (the ones that use the Vista codec and don't include their own codec.)

On XP, for MP3 playback, the fees for unlimited distribution are lower, so a few of the free programs are legal. Itunes has paid the fee and is legal to use for MP3 playback. Winamp has also paid the fee. Again, Vista includes the MP3 encoding and decoding codec, so any program on Vista that uses the Vista codec and does not include its own codec is legal.

jcollake reviewed v0.9.6 on Nov 11, 2008

Great open-source media player and more. It simply has more features than any other media player, and has convenient integrated CODECs. However, some things on the UI design side could be improved. This version moves in that direction.

lucianct reviewed v0.9.6 on Nov 10, 2008

yeah it seems that on windows v0.9.6 crashes when opening flv files... they will probably release a fix for that soon...

pihug12 reviewed v0.9.6 on Nov 10, 2008

VLC Media Player 0.9.6 crashes when opening FLV files.
VLC Media Plater 0.9.4 is fine.
Can you confirmed ?

anonymouscowturd reviewed v0.9.6 on Nov 10, 2008

Love it. It's the only player that seems to open all the DVD's that i rip. Apart from SM Player that uses the Mplayer backend i can't think of another similar program that comes even close.

Paul Skinner reviewed v0.9.6 on Nov 10, 2008

Hooray for bug-fixes!

morrigen reviewed v0.9.4 on Oct 8, 2008

So it's not just me having a problem re-skinning,asked on sight but no real joy,as following correct instructions,do not no if it's a XP3 thing?

anomoly reviewed v0.9.4 on Oct 8, 2008

K-lite's pack just crashes my pc lately so I've been running mpc hc which is portable. No matter what I did (almost 45 minutes later) I could not get mpc hc to show subs. The probs I have had before with vlc are gone and it displayed the subs perfectly. VLC is back to being #1 which is a good thing.
Trying to skin it crashes vlc however.
If you switch to a skin which does not work, vlc crashes irretrievably & must be reinstalled. Switching to one that does work & then to one that doesn't will not crash it.
List of ones that do not display on my pc:

ASkin
Colibri_1.0
Dark
default_ebony
DefaultRemix
D-GFX_Dark_Skin
iPod
MySimpleSkin
Presume
psvlc
shiftieVLC
SimplyWhite
solar
truc-2
vlctch
vplayer
WB
WMP11

XPSP3 with SharpeE shell.
The only skin which has controls in FS is the default so I will use none. Some of the skins use other languages which seems to be another reason not to skin it.

improvelence reviewed v0.9.4 on Oct 8, 2008

Simply the best.

vithos reviewed v0.9.4 on Oct 7, 2008

Changes between 0.9.3 and 0.9.4:
------------------------------------
Various bugfixes:
* Crashes fixed in ogg, vobsub, dvdread
* Fixes several memory leaks.

Mac OS X port:
* Apple machines without Quartz Extreme are no longer supported (use 0.9.2 or earlier )
* Fixed a crash with deletion of old preferences.
* Fixed targetname for downloaded updates

Windows port:
* Stability fix for the video output.

Changes between 0.9.2 and 0.9.3:
--------------------------------

Various bugfixes:
* Fixed DTS channel order on 5.1 systems
* Fixed pausing behavior for subtitles and for Audio-CD
* Multiple subtitles and podcast fixes
* Various crashes fixed in PS, SSA, mkv, xspf, freetype
* Fixed update system bugs
* Other bug fixes (dvd language selection, subtitle colours, HTTP keep-alive...+)

Mac OS X port:
* Fixed ffmpeg slowness on PowerPC-based Macs
* Fixed crash on startup when installed on old preferences
* Fixed bug in directory opening on Mac OS X
* Fixed font selection in the Simple Preferences
* Thicker border to the subtitle renderer
* Fixed the appearance of playlist items in the Streaming/Transcoding Wizard
* Fixed AC3 passthrough on Mac OS X
* Fixed behavior of the Volume Normalizer settings on Mac OS X
* Removed the deprecated QuickDraw video output module to avoid crashes on
modern Mac OS X versions

Windows port:
* Fixed sensitivity of Fullscreen Controller
* Fixed error messages on startup when VLC wasn't correctly uninstalled
before installation
* Fix showing of controller when returning from fullscreen playback
* Multiple directory and path location fixes.

Qt4 interface:
* Added Faster/Slower icons to the controller panel
* Fixed lost playlist columns when switching the playlist view
* Added needed options to Simple preferences (to avoid NVIDIA drivers issues)
* Fullscreen controller: added time label, remembering of last position
* Fixed drag'n drop behaviour on the playlist
* Multiple other fixes (Enter hotkey in preferences, Skins selection...)

Blaxima reviewed v0.9.4 on Oct 7, 2008

I think the new interface is kind of tacky. I much prefered the old one which matched the visual style I was using besides the skins do not work properly at all. The minimal mode is nice looking though

The preferences are cleaned up a bit but switching to advanced mode is still a nightmare to go through.

Plays most files well but the picture quality is not as good as others, it's not as sharp or virbrant. A small gripe that has been there since the begining and still has not been fixed is the fact that when you hit pause, unlike every other player on the market, this one takes a second to acutally pause (wtf is that about?)

I use to use this for all my video but now its only good for watching sopcast streams

and contrary to what most just regurgatate here, I will not say use MPC home cinema because its picture quality does not compare to BS Player

Zee333 reviewed v0.9.4 on Oct 7, 2008

VLC Homepage is still advertising v0.9.2 as the latest version yet this is v0.9.4, are you sure v0.9.3 and v0.9.4 are not BETA releases, or are they actually final builds because im really confused now.

ark2000 reviewed v0.9.3 on Oct 2, 2008

Finally, works great now, I tried using some skins, ran into some problems there... but still good progress and new default interface works great!

scious reviewed v0.9.3 on Oct 1, 2008

just dl new version. I have been using this for years.
The new interface is fantastic - great prog just got better.

Qlib reviewed v0.9.3 on Sep 30, 2008

ugh.. wanted to test if they had fixed an issue with the fullscreen in this one.. but.. now it wont even start.. even when i installed it on my laptop that was completely clean and fresh..

no start.. nothing.. just.. bleh..

kmplayer.com ftw! or mpchc if your desperate.. avoid this old and outdated wannabeplayer..

User61 reviewed v0.9.3 on Sep 30, 2008

0.9.x seems to be buggier than 0.8.x. Behaviour on dual monitor systems has gone worse. 0.9.x seems to have gone a step back.

Update: Please be advised that the current 0.9.3 'release' here on Betanews is not an official stable build. There is currently no 0.9.3 version on videolan's website.

Lands reviewed v0.9.3 on Sep 30, 2008

It is just not what it used to be. Buggy, slow development. Just use mpc-hc.

myboy reviewed v0.9.3 on Sep 29, 2008

People should probably be cautious about this package since there is no official version 0.9.3 release for Windows anywhere - including the VideoLAN distribution FTP site(s).

The latest official version for Windows is still 0.9.2 - and will be so until the VideoLAN web site says otherwise.

My guess is that someone independently built this package manually from the source code or they grabbed some 0.9.3 build off the nightlies here:

http://nightlies.videolan.org/

But there is a difference between something being posted there versus something being posted for general distribution.

If you really want to use a nightly, just get the final 0.9.3 nightly build for Windows from here:

http://nightlies.videola...32/branch-20080926-0207/

But if you really want a nightly, you could just as well use the latest from here:

http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win32/latest/

At the moment, it's 0.9.4 - even newer than what is posted here in FF.

Of course, if you're really adventurous, you can even get a version 1.0 release at the nightly site (look in the latest "trunk-" folder)...

Zee333 reviewed v0.9.3 on Sep 29, 2008

Im so confused, this is from the front official page for VideoLAN, it says

"the VideoLAN team presents version 0.9.3, the first bugfix release of the 0.9 series. We are also putting a call out for new Windows developers for our team."

but then it goes on to say "This is version 0.9.2, we do not have a 0.9.3 windows release." also on the home page, so what the heck is going on, is it v0.9.2 or v0.9.3?

This is a good program, curryently using v0.8.6i, 0.9.2 had an annoying volume bug that really made it annoying to watch movies in full screen.

Paul Skinner reviewed v0.9.3 on Sep 29, 2008

Good to see they've either got a Windows developer again, or had help from the community.

0.9.2 was horribly buggy and the 0.9.3 release was desperately needed.

*Edit* At poster above, I believe it has just been released on their FTP site, and will be updated on the main site by tomorrow.

Undesired Username reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 19, 2008

Seems OK, video seeking seems much improved in particular, but it drives me nuts how there seems to be no way to make the controls auto-hide in full screen. You can either set it up so the controls are always shown in full screen, or never shown. I like the way MPC does it much better.

Edit: I installed VLC on a second PC and found that there is a sort of auto-hide, but it becomes disabled if the "Native" radio button is selected under Interface settings.

butthead reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 19, 2008

Qlib, could you tell me about some of the features missing (should be easy since you say it misses TONS of features ;)). Overall good program, though i prefer mpc for daily use.

anomoly reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

I was gonna try it but read posts. It always crashes with my pc. Even Klite's mpc crashes lately. I have been using mpc home cinema with nary a problem.

poisonu reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

Best multi platform media player....
Great for TV from the web....
And it comes with all the video & sound codecs built in, so u don't have to worry about downloading any codecs.....

---------------------- start quote ------------------------
About VLC media player

VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.
It doesn't need any external codec or program to work.

------------------------------
VLC media player 0.9.2
* It is a free cross-platform media player
* It supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs
* It can also be used as a streaming server, with extended features (video on demand, on the fly transcoding, ...)
---------------------- end quote -------------------------

Qlib reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

well bleh.. 3-4 years ago there wasnt really much competition to VLC (exept the already then FAR superior Media Player Classic) but these days theres LOADS of other players out there that have superceeded VLC by lightyears and the VLC developers doesnt seem interested in trying to catch up.. its still missing TONS of features other players have.. its still ugly as fu*k and horrible to use and setup as well as a having a nasty habit of just locking up randomly and crashing..

severely dissapointed.. move on to something better like KMPlayer.com .. those koreeans knows what they are doing.. at least if you use windows..

Blaxima reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

Still buggy and lacks alot of basic funcionality that I like in other players. Plays most formats but not all. The picture quality is also sub-par when compared to other players.

Great for streaming video but thats about all I use it for now

terve reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

I just noticed that this new version doesn't show Matroska subtitles. The old one 0.8.6 did that ok.

oomingmak reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

After using VLC for a long time I'm really starting to go off it. It seems as if more and more formats either won't play, or play with bad on-screen artefacts, or play ok but can't be seeked.

Media Player Classic on the exact same system exhibits none of these problems. So I use that most of the time instead of VLC.

rseiler reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

Among many other improvements, it finally has video controls when playing full screen. Only problem is that these video controls keep popping up every three seconds for no apparent reason, and it's incredibly annoying.

elitegangsta reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

Love it, plays any media file I throw at it, even Blu-Ray RAW .mkv and .ts files. Has a very small digital footprint, runs fast and very stable. Love it's cross platform nature. I like being able to use the same app on Window, OS X, and Linux interchangeably depending on which PC I am using. Haven't had a file this wouldn't play by default, great source of codecs recognized (best I've seen to date). Some ppl claim problems with .mk files... I haven't had a single issue, possibly not a standard packaged codec? Maybe those pppl should try installing the CommunityCombinedCodec pack (CCC) which seems to have the problem solved on my end, at least on the Windows side. Great work dev. team, keep up the great effort.

echohead reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

please fix libmkv - this is the only media player i encounter regularly that doesnt seem to handle matroska content properly.

Lands reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

I appreciate the effort, but it is a rushed release. Lots of bugs, some of them very annoying:

- for mkv files, it doesn't play dts audio (5.1 option, only the stereo/2front,2 rear option)

- it was imposssible for me to save the settings (audio/video equalizer etc.)

3/5 for now

Marucins reviewed v0.9.2 on Sep 15, 2008

Nice

Many new future and fix bug.

xpplus reviewed v0.9.0 Test 2 on Sep 12, 2008

VideoLAN vlc 0.9.2 ( is not a beta )
http://download.videolan...n32/vlc-0.9.2-win32.exe

jbird37 reviewed v0.9.0 Test 2 on Aug 25, 2008

I have used the Media Player Classic that is included with the K Lite Codec Pack installation for a long time. Having recently installed Vista 64-bit, I noticed that I could no longer hear the musical score during movie playback, as well as some of the dialogue being missing. Thought it was a driver issue until I switched to VLC.....Problem Solved!!!!!

anomoly reviewed v0.9.0 Test 2 on Jul 20, 2008

Errors at start but then still runs. Immediately wants to 'update' to v8.6e when actual is 8.6i.
Also, leaves tons of entries in reg after uninstall. Using 8.6i atm & mpc hc

turistas reviewed v0.9.0 Test 2 on Jul 16, 2008

who is stil using win 95 or 98 in 2008:D

analphatester reviewed v0.9.0 Test 2 on Jul 16, 2008

not OS SUPPORT Windows ALL
not running on WIN9x at all
totally wasted time

^M^ reviewed v0.9.0 Test 2 on Jul 16, 2008

Very nice interface and skin improvement.

improvelence reviewed v0.8.6i on Jul 15, 2008

The greatest video player of all time.

And it's multiplatform.

kirilenko reviewed v0.8.6i on Jul 15, 2008

The crappiest player by far.

ailef reviewed v0.8.6i on Jul 15, 2008

i don't like VLC.
KMplayer is really good and is the best player for me.
there is a huge list of options, some are very usefull like audio resampling, u can change output 5.1 to stereo 2.0, what is nice cause i really hate format sound when u hear nothing when people are talking then when there's a big action scene the sound is so loud, it's really irritating so resampling to stereo output stops this prob, if i don't change to 2.0, i need to turn the sound level high when people talk then slow down when there's action.
i didnt look at all the options cause the list is very big but i bet u'll find all u need in it.
when u read some HD file there's no prob to go anywhere very fast, with VLC it takes lot of time to go where u want, sometimes it's like the prog freezes, takes ages to go to any time of the file,especially with mkv files in 720p or 1080p.
there's no prob with KMplayer, u can go to any part of the file while reading without waiting for the prog to find where it is, there's not just a little lag, the prog reads immediatly anywhere u tell it to.
don't know if VLC corrects that cause now that i use KMplayer, i never used another video reader.
there's GOMplayer but i had bugs with it.
so KMplayer is actually the best solution far, it reads anything fast with no lag when u forward or reverse big video file.
left and right arrow to surf the file while reading with not even a small lag and up and down arrown to control sound level.
people should give a try to this great piece of software and forget VLC or other video readers.
reading 1080p H264 with a core2duo E6600 needs 30% usage with KMplayer.
my gpu is crap, some nvidia 7300GT so it's useless to decode this kind of video file.
the intel cpu is good enough to do the job.
the KMplayer is what u need :-)

dpcdpc11 reviewed v0.8.6i on Jul 14, 2008

when are u gonna make a OSD for the windows version??? and also make the options dialog window more friendly to the everyday Windows user?? would prefer kmp or mpc or even Mplayer over this one anyday!!

seier reviewed v0.8.6i on Jul 14, 2008

ChangeLog:
http://wiki.videolan.org/Changelog/0.8.6i

I'll keep giving this a 4 until they start mimicking the awesome behavior of Media Player Classic.

Metshrine reviewed v0.8.6h on Jun 30, 2008

I have been praying for the day that this program receives global hotkey support. Without it, I really cannot utilize this program as having to manually switch to this window to perform certain things is just too tedious and requires far too much interaction. GHK support would make this the perfect media player.

latire reviewed v0.8.6h on Jun 1, 2008

I had to switch back to 0.8.6f because 0.8.6h freezes after 20s when playing adsl tv

Paul Skinner reviewed v0.8.6h on May 31, 2008

@mackley:

I presume it's the usual: upload on Friday for hardcore people, officially release it Monday.

mackley reviewed v0.8.6h on May 30, 2008

Why in the official web site is still stated versione "f" ?

poisonu reviewed v0.8.6h Beta on May 30, 2008

It plays everything I throw at it without need for any additional codecs.....
I Love it.....

echohead reviewed v0.8.6h Beta on May 29, 2008

decent player for novice users who wouldnt understand many of the advanced features its missing. no fullscreen controls, matroska support that can only be described as "lazy", and a unhealthy obsession with pushing mp4 as a universal format. problems with subtitles first popped up years ago and have yet to be fixed. the interface, while not essential to the proper function of a media player, looks worse than foobar2000, and this is made worse by a lack of decent skins (god forbid the devs spend a few hours in photoshop to throw something together). preferences/settings are easier to navigate than earlier revisions, but could easily be improved.

the two points i gave to vlc are for the fact that mac users have use this (unless they prefer perian), and that it did technically play most of the files i threw at it.

philosopher_dog reviewed v0.8.6h Beta on May 29, 2008

Very good player. But I'm becoming very attached to GOM player. It's smarter out of the box among other things.

XICO2KX reviewed v0.8.6h Beta on May 29, 2008

Great media player!
Changelog can be found here:
> http://www.videolan.org/developers/vlc/NEWS

guti reviewed v0.8.6h Beta on May 29, 2008

Quite good, but probably MPlayer, being also open source, supports more formats, and is for sure more efficient.
You can read a comparison between MPlayer, KMPlayer and VideoLAN at http://guti.bitacoras.co...ntry=entry070910-235034

rhensley reviewed v0.8.6f on May 15, 2008

I use videolan daily, but the project appears to have hit a snag. Maybe the fame caused management issues, I don't know. The newer beta versions have a lot of cool interface enhancements, but I am not sure when they will ever get out of beta. The project probably needs some refreshed focus and clarity. Overall, great media player and streamer though.

dpcdpc11 reviewed v0.8.6f on May 14, 2008

sucks ass... can't even be compared with kmp or with gom... the interface is crap even if you enable the skins.. not to be able to see your controls in full screen it's like a player form the 80's or something... i'd ather use mplayer the original player on which this crap was built on.
not to even mention the preferences that are a total mess!

kal4 reviewed v0.8.6f on Apr 14, 2008

It Good...and..faster

osric reviewed v0.8.6f on Apr 9, 2008

From the VLC website:
"We are pleased to announce the release of VLC media player 0.8.6f.
This is a bugfix release. VLC media player 0.8.6e and earlier versions suffer from security vulnerabilities in the Subtitle demuxer, Real RTSP demuxer, MP4 demuxer and Cinepak codec.
This release also includes improved video output on multi-screen setups running Mac OS X and compatibility with Windows 9x/ME has been restored.
We strongly recommend all users to update to this new version."

wognum reviewed v0.8.6f on Apr 6, 2008

Still an awful background

;-)

joeshmoe7 reviewed v0.8.6f on Apr 3, 2008

Still rocks. My personal favorite for watching a DVD.

internetworld7 reviewed v0.8.6f on Apr 2, 2008

This version of VLC is great on a Mac and corrected a bug that kept crashing on my Mac. Noting is better, not GOM Player or that other Korean media player. ?

-Lord- reviewed v0.8.6f on Apr 2, 2008

I would give it a 5, but the authors should not give it a 5 in order to post the version changes. That should be posted with the description as to not artificially inflate the ratings.

I use this almost exclusively, except for mkv files which appear choppy. smplayer is was better for those, and is fast gaining ground as player of choice.

eviljolly reviewed v0.8.6f on Apr 2, 2008

VLC is awesome. Definitely worth a 5/5.

DudeBoyz reviewed v0.8.6f on Apr 2, 2008

Good Stuff! Keep up the good work. :)

MickyFoley reviewed v0.8.6f on Apr 2, 2008

Changes between 0.8.6e and 0.8.6f:
----------------------------------

Security updates:
* Really fixed subtitle buffer overflow (CVE-2007-6681)
* Fixed Real RTSP code execution problem (CVE-2008-0073)
* Fixed MP4 integer overflows (CVE-2008-1489)
* Fixed cinepak integer overflow

Various bugfixes:
* The Mozilla plugin registers a usable range of MIME-types on Mac OS X
* Improved VLC's video output behavior on multi-screen setups running Mac OS X
* Fixed crashes in H264 packetizer
* Close MMS access on network timeout
* Fix some problems with AAC decoder & packetizer

Metshrine reviewed v0.8.6e on Mar 18, 2008

This would be a perfect player if it had global hotkey support. The author has said that this will come, but not until after the next release which is 4-5 months away (his own words). 4/5 for now

Banshie reviewed v0.8.6e on Feb 28, 2008

A brilliant program, Not my main, but always there :)

comeoffit reviewed v0.8.6e on Feb 28, 2008

When will VLC improve its subtitles support?

Project51 reviewed v0.8.6e on Feb 28, 2008

I used this to view incomplete videos before fully downloading them.

echohead reviewed v0.8.6e Test on Feb 27, 2008

one of the few programs out there that are equally bad AND overrated on both windows and mac.

schmen reviewed v0.8.6e Test on Feb 22, 2008

this was my favorite player after i discovered the kmplayer. it has more preferences then vlc and plays also everything without need to install.
another major difference are the onscreen controls.
after now almost a year without major update, now they are coming out with only some little bug fixes??
man work on the fullscreen controls. it cant be this hard. everybody in forums are asking for years now!
because of the ignorance only 3 stars..

osric reviewed v0.8.6d on Nov 30, 2007

I find the seek bar a bit difficult to use and find the controls missing on full screen mode. But whatever VLC lacks in looks, it more than makes up in quality. It even works as a great audio and video transcoder.

thebig429 reviewed v0.8.6d on Nov 29, 2007

The best sound quality, at least on my PC.
For those of you new to it
for better sound go to Settings then extended GUI enable equalizer. To save equalizer settings go to settings then prefs.
audio then filters then check off 10 band equalizer . And darn i think it sounds better than winamp Shocked at least on my pc.

Ian C. reviewed v0.8.6d on Nov 29, 2007

I love how it plays just about everything, but yeah, the GUI is terrible.

BTW, I found 0.8.6d on one of the mirrors.
http://mirror.services.w...deolan/vlc/0.8.6d/win32/

M^3 reviewed v0.8.6d on Nov 29, 2007

http://download.videolan...0.8.6d/announcement.txt
No, the Win32 download wasn't there yet, but I found the announcement -
"VLC media player 0.8.6d, VideoLAN Security Advisory 0703

The VideoLAN Team would like to announce the release of
VLC media player 0.8.6d.

This version is aimed at fixing security vulnerabilities in the
Active X plugin and the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) library
which affect VLC media player 0.8.6c and lower. For more technical
details see our ADVISORY (http://www.videolan.org/sa0703.html).

Improvements in this release include better Video Output compatibility
on Mac OS X and Apple Remote support on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
Please note that Mac OS X 10.3.9 is no longer supported."

amroliwala reviewed v0.8.6d on Nov 29, 2007

Gives me a "403 - Forbidden" error when I click to download. I checked on VLC's site, and they don't even have 0.8.6d up.

Golden Falcon reviewed v0.8.6d on Nov 29, 2007

Plays Absolutely Anything (if not get Windows Player Classic)

with those two combined, THEN you can play absolutely anything :D

munga42 reviewed v0.8.6d on Nov 29, 2007

Decoder is good, interface is not..

philosopher_dog reviewed v0.8.6d on Nov 29, 2007

Love this player. I'm mostly using it for video. I've consider using it as my audio player, but I haven't yet gotten used to it's rather blah interface. I mean the name speaks to the lack of packaging in this player: "vlc"! Certainly not a captivating name, and the interface and look of the thing matches this lack of eye toward candy, as it were, which the people like. BTW, the download link is broken. I'm getting a 403 forbidden message. Now I really want it even more! And the homepage is only showing the previous version. :(

Qlib reviewed v0.8.6d on Nov 29, 2007

I used to find VLC to be a somewhat decent player cos despite it being incredibly unstable and totally un-userfriendly it would at least play a lot of formats that would otherwize be a pain.. its ages since the .c version came out and it was buggy as hell.. I installed the new .d on a clean install and its still s***..

VLC might have been great back in the day when it was actively developed but a microupdate every 6 months that doesnt really fix anything and an outdated program thats been far surpassed by other players like KMPlayer(.com) VLC is not really worth s*** anymore.. either get with the program and evolve or go die....

Haaglander reviewed v0.8.6c on Oct 1, 2007

Great app.

PaulieFresh reviewed v0.8.6c on Sep 19, 2007

I've been using this for a while. It does what it's suppose to do. I don't have this so called "icon" problem either. I'm still copying my entire DVD collection in full 100% quality so it's like I have the DVD right there. I'm only limited right now by my storage capacity as it's still steadily growing, which is over 2 Terabytes right now. I had to upgrade my home network though due to the strain it put on everything when there's 3 different clients trying to access a movies over 100 Mbps LAN, so I made the switch to gigabit. Now only if I could get my Xbox 360 to accept .iso streams, I'd be set, along with my PS3 (the Game OS not linux because I know that works). I'm still trying to get a Blu-Ray dump to work to see how well it performs with that large of a file and in High-Def.

I give this program a 5 because it does everything it says it's suppose to, and it works great for me. Anybody can learn how to use it, as long as you know how to read (duh).

RADicalSatDude reviewed v0.8.6c on Aug 1, 2007

Pros:
Awesome player, very stable plays any and all formats without additional codec packs.

Cons:
1. FLV seeking has been broken for a long time.
2. Seek bar jumps oddly to somwhere else on the timeline when clicked upon.

anomoly reviewed v0.8.6c on Jun 23, 2007

Plays files ok, but when I go to shut it down it locks my entire pc up. Portable version included. I switched to gom. It works perfect and has a much better interface all around and has better skin support. vlc's skin support is lame

kbsoftware reviewed v0.8.6c on Jun 19, 2007

After installing VideoLAN the icons in explorer for my video files (.mpg etc) have all changed to VideoLAN with the type changed to VLC Media File despite the fact that the files open with Media Player. I doubled checked to make sure that it's still Media Player and not VLC that starts when I double click an .mpg etc.
Even stranger is that my .wmv files now say WinAmp but when I double click it's still Media Player that runs. Weird :)

h377r1d3r reviewed v0.8.6b on Jun 4, 2007

U don't need 3 players, u need 2 players

VLC - because it is simply the best, but lacks in video playback, if u look close it is not fluent, and before u post and deny, check vlc forums.

MPC - because combined with codecs it has the most fluent playback :)

and mPlayer is the best... on linux platform not on windows, on win32 it is a more of drag than fun

OAKsider reviewed v0.8.6b on Apr 19, 2007

That screenshot is killing me.

LRN reviewed v0.8.6b on Apr 18, 2007

You need only three players:
mplayer (better with MPUI frontend) - hardcore player, handles many exceptional cases and bad files, good for debugging. Self-sufficient.
VLC - same as mplayer, but less hardcore and more frequently updated, more suitable for fine-tuned playback than for debug. Self-sufficient. Has some neat networking features (it IS Video LAN after all).
MPC - native Windows player, i.e. relies on DirectShow and other things, likes to crash on bad files, but generally offers enough power and control (though not always within the player itself); best for common user. Requires codec packs to play most of the media.

In Windoes you don't need anything else. Everything else is heresy.

Diam0nd reviewed v0.8.6b on Apr 18, 2007

Good lord, people, you suck... I especially love the ones who say "I used VLC until I found KMPlayer". Does the fact that KM is better than VLC makes VLC s*** now? Cmon guys. I too prefer KM to VLC now, but man, VLC is a GREAT effort. Always has been and still is.

allthebestnamesgone reviewed v0.8.6b on Apr 18, 2007

i find myself using GOMplayer for everything these days and i never did like the GUI of VLC, however i still find this to be the only program i trust to play DVDs and DVD image files correctly - which for some reason GOM and KMP never do properly for me.

Blaxima reviewed v0.8.6b on Apr 18, 2007

VLC, what happened??
The options are layed out poorly still and why oh why would they drop nsv support. Vlc had it back in 8.2.

Kmplayer and Gom have left this in the dust.

therube reviewed v0.8.6b on Apr 18, 2007

Changes between 0.8.6a and 0.8.6b:
--------------------------------------------------
Various bugfixes, notably:
* Out-of-bound read in demuxers
* Demuxers crashes (incl. CVE-2007-0256)
* Mac OS X Interface crashes
* VP31 decoding on Windows platforms
* Direct3D Video Output modifications for Vista compatibility
* Correct behaviour for feeding streams to Icecast or Shoutcast servers

Decoders:
* Enhanced Flash Video support incl. VP61 and VP60
* Teletext subtitles (telx) support

Webbrowser plugins:
* Rectified behaviour and improved usability

Mac OS X Interface & Port:
* Diverse usability improvements
* New wizard option to embed subtitles
* Screensaver/automatic sleep mode is enabled when a video is paused
* Improved Delete-Preferences-Script

kbsoftware reviewed v0.8.6b Test 1 on Apr 14, 2007

I use this program when I find video files that programs like KMPlayer can't play.
Great program.

ModderXManiac reviewed v0.8.6b Test 1 on Apr 14, 2007

KMPlayer is not only being developed faster, it's further into development and is a far more matured application. It's better in almost every respect than Videolan with it's file database, full Winamp support, better playlists,better skinning, and more codecs.

Videolan just seems really cheap compared to KMPlayer now.

Kriff reviewed v0.8.6b Test 1 on Apr 13, 2007

It's a good app and does what it's supposed to, but I'm not a fan of the interface. I kind of wish its icons told you what type of file the video is. I think KMPlayer is just a bit better.

Canuckistani reviewed v0.8.6b Test 1 on Apr 13, 2007

Going to try out the test for sure. I'm hoping the .ts and .ps are better handled. Nevertheless, when I ever run acoss a video file that just won't play at all I will VideoLAN it with confidence. I'd kiss that crew at first sight if they wouldn't go "Eeww, who is that crazy old man?." :-)

stisev reviewed v0.8.6a on Mar 16, 2007

This isn't my choice of video players (I use Zoomplayer & Media Player CLassic), but when all else fails, VLC works nearly 99% of the time.

Nice app!

cip2kro reviewed v0.8.6a on Feb 7, 2007

Very slow interface, useless options.. hard to find things.. not intuitive at all. Couldn't find half of the things i wanted in a normal player.

Try the GOM Player. I tried it recently and i simply love it. Its similar to this by not using codecs. But the interface and everything else.. its wonderful!

polysius reviewed v0.8.6a on Jan 8, 2007

Rock solid, extremely easy to use, very reliable and consistent, great features, constant development.

What more can you ask for?

This is a 10/10 app that everyone should have installed/tried at least once before. Unlike other players in the 10/10 league, such as Media Player Classic or mplayer, VLC can be installed and used by total novices without any problems. There aren't codec issues to worry about, instability problems, etc.

Qlib reviewed v0.8.6a on Jan 7, 2007

this program does everything I want, exept NOT CRASH.. .. pile of manure.. last time I tried it was like 2 years ago.. it blew then.. and it .. STILL DOES.. get with the program people and MEDIA PLAYER CLASSIC..!

benyahuda reviewed v0.8.6a on Jan 4, 2007

VLC is my default player for a number of reasons. Small, reliable, frequently updated, and not a codec wh***.

But mainly because it has a visibly better video than such "professional" apps like Windows Media Player (including 11) and Quicktime.

If you have not tried it yet fire up a video in WMP and VLC at the same time for an eye opener.

Diam0nd reviewed v0.8.6a on Jan 4, 2007

Great player, especially at work > one doesnt have to install no codecs.

stevetures reviewed v0.8.6a on Jan 3, 2007

Though I can't find any documentation or confirmation, this release is probably a security release relating to the recent security advisory:
http://www.videolan.org/sa0701.html

The 0.8.6a release at the bottom of the page is a called a 'bugfix release'.

seier reviewed v0.8.6a on Jan 3, 2007

This player does everything I want it to except persistent bookmarking. Get with the program guys! In the mean time Media Player Classic will remain my default player even though it's less stable.
MPC can be downloaded at:
http://sourceforge.net/p...03&package_id=84358

thebig429 reviewed v0.8.6 on Dec 11, 2006

One of the best! The best soun quality of all the players i tried.

benZin reviewed v0.8.6 on Dec 11, 2006

Thanks for update! VLC is still a masterpiece.

fredlkrue reviewed v0.8.6 on Dec 11, 2006

Great player, this is the only player i use on my computer to watch videos... no need to install codecs at all, the reason i give a 4 rating is because i am using version 0.8.5, i install the new version (0.8.6) and it has a bug which it doesn't disable the windows screen saver. For this reason i will be stuck using version 0.8.5, until this issue gets solved.

KAK reviewed v0.8.6 on Dec 11, 2006

Great Work this application is one
of the Best OPEN-SOURCE Multimedia player
i have ever used!
THANX FOR VLC FOR FREE!

gollum70 reviewed v0.8.6 RC1 on Dec 4, 2006

Very good multimedia player.
If you're interesting in finding the last nightly build of this player, go on http://nightlies.videolan.org/
You must download the branch version.

Thermoptic reviewed v0.8.6 RC1 on Dec 1, 2006

Man thats one ugly screenshot they have posted above, the guy is using windows ugly default theme, and the skin for VLC is horrible. I think its great that VLC have support to NOT use skins, much cleaner design. Anyways this is one of the best players out there!

constust reviewed v0.8.6 RC1 on Dec 1, 2006

All one needs to play videos. Codecs suck if you are only viewing and not encoding.

shdwstar reviewed v0.8.6 Test 2a on Nov 21, 2006

this program is great for stream rippng online.
windows media player classic still is my top voted movie player though, simply because it supports on the fly video resizing, pixel shader 2 features, and a variety of formats.

godofthunder reviewed v0.8.6 Test 2a on Nov 21, 2006

I use it extensively for mobile situations where i know i can whack it in on a mates laptop or a work computer and be sure it can play most formats. But, if you truly want a wider format compatability range, the best alternative would be MPC + ffdshow.

Perth, Australia reviewed v0.8.6 Test 2 on Nov 18, 2006

Whilst I agree with Coolticker's review re:Gomplayer - top program for what it can do. VLC still plays with no probs on Vista.

GOMP has some minor "compatibility" issues, picked up by Vista. GOMP still works, after bypassing the "compatibility" dialog prompts, as shown; http://img467.imageshack...7/5278/gomplayereo9.jpg.

coolticker reviewed v0.8.6 Test 2 on Nov 17, 2006

I used VLC since long time but I discovered Gomplayer that is also an "internal codecs" player tool but with a much more modern interface, a more efficient playlist (that scan also sub-folders when you drop a main folder over it). It also can play more formats than VLC and is better trying to play broken files.

But Gomplayer can not be used as stream server.

benyahuda reviewed v0.8.6 Test 2 on Nov 16, 2006

What I like most about VLC isn't just its ability to playback so many formats. It is that "out of the box" VLC has better video quality than even Windows Media Player.

thebigwee reviewed v0.8.6 Test 2 on Nov 16, 2006

Excellent player, with alot of features in a fairly small package. I would pay for this just for the screen capture feature! Nice work.

Blaxima reviewed v0.8.6 Test 2 on Nov 16, 2006

Plays ALL MOST everything. nsv support after being in it up to version .8.2 is still not available now.

There are skins if you dont like the basic interface so that shouldn't be a problem. What is for me is again somethig that has been an issue for a while, the pause does not respond in the way it does with other players. There is a slight delay which seems odd seeing as other players don't have this problem, but it's not a big deal, lack of nsv support is.

Using this and Media Player Classic I've also noticed that on default settings MPC offers a better picture.

DudeBoyz reviewed v0.8.6 Test 2 on Nov 16, 2006

This is a fantastic effort and it is good to see it continually updated. Well done.

This and AVS Media's player:

http://www.avsmedia.com/DVDPlayer/index.aspx

Are the only two FREE DVD Player apps that I'm aware of that is available for download. VLC is so much more than just a DVD Player, but that functionality is what many new uers hear about first, it seems.

Kudos to the dev folks for keeping it fresh.

OAKsider reviewed v0.8.6 Test 1 on Nov 8, 2006

Great standalone media player. I too depend heavily on Zoom Player (and WMP11) and codecs for a majority of my playback, but VLC is always there for me when they fail. Or if I need some simple, quick screencaps. Tons of options, a few slick skins, overall great media player. Version 0.8.5 is the last -stable- version to work with my Skin2's.

And "WOW" that screenshot is ugly. Might want to change it, unless it's some kind of inside joke.

Yannis123 reviewed v0.8.6 Test 1 on Oct 26, 2006

If not any program works, there is always VLC to help you showing the video's yoy want to see.

My Enlish is bad, I hope you will understand what I would like to express.

VLC is top (very good)!!

Aires reviewed v0.8.6 Test 1 on Oct 26, 2006

What GUI? lol

Good.

^M^ reviewed v0.8.6 Test 1 on Oct 26, 2006

Best engine, but I don't like the UI.

Prospero424 reviewed v0.8.6 Test 1 on Oct 25, 2006

I just wish the VLC team would take at least a fraction of the time they took to design the OSX interface to polish up that of the Windows and Linux versions: if I could only drag and drop the playback order in the playlist, that would be a positive step.

Even with this reservation, I still don't hesitate to give it a 5. It's a fantastic piece of software, with a playback engine second to none.

I just find myself using Zoom Player in conjunction with ffdshow more often than VLC, although the newer versions of ffdshow have seemed quite buggy. But I always fall back on VLC when NOTHING else seems to be able to play a media file.

hondaman reviewed v0.8.6 Test 1 on Oct 25, 2006

The only install you'll ever need to play EVERYTHING.

Well, maybe not .rm, but does anyone still use that anyway?

Forget your stupid codec packs and install VLC. You will be glad you did and never look back. If you dont like the interface, use a skin. There are tons of them available.

DudeBoyz reviewed v0.8.6 Test 1 on Oct 25, 2006

Powerful, functional and ever improving. Well done indeed.

For those looking for a simpler software DVD Playback program, there appears to be another free one out there called AVS DVD Player from AVS Media.

http://www.avsmedia.com/DVDPlayer/index.aspx

But for those wanting free DVD playback and more, VLC is where it's at. Please keep up the good work, and thanks for keeping it free.

Todd 13 reviewed v0.8.6 Test 1 on Oct 25, 2006

I agree. Player rocks, interface SUCKS.

Blaxima reviewed v0.8.6 Test 1 on Oct 25, 2006

This use to be THE player but it seems to be dropping off. It still plays almost all formats without the need of installing codecs. Its still very lightweight. However they have dropped (since 8.2 i think) nsv support. It's always bugged me how the pause is delayed. I've made the move to Media Player Classic and like the look and feel of it better but VLC is more feature rich and if they fix the few problems I have with it I will be using it again.

Edit: @hondaman-It doesnt play nsv files either

Letterman reviewed v0.8.5 on Oct 24, 2006

Awesome player with a awful interface.

Perezoso reviewed v0.8.5 on Oct 11, 2006

This is a great program and I love it, but this release is unstable. Version 0.8.4a works much better on my systems.

first_post reviewed v0.8.5 on Oct 5, 2006

I've been using VLC since version 0.7.1. Unfortunately, I've not been able to get passed that on my laptop. When I upgraded to 0.8.0 it would not play any DVDs smoothly; both the audio & video jumps & missed. Any suggestions?

The laptop is a P4 and has windows XP.

I've been using 0.8.5 successfully on my PC and am really happy with it.

9i08 reviewed v0.8.5 on Jun 8, 2006

Plays just about every format I can throw at it, .mov, .avi, .wmv, etc and has many options. Video looping can be a bit tedious to setup correctly at first if you're not familiar, and the only format I couldn't play was the Divx? I think but anyway it is the best for me personally, with a good skinbase and good support. Light on resources and the interfaces are really easy to use. Either a bog standard, xp stlye or the moden glass icons like the majority of other players out there, albeit with broader format support

-Wanted- reviewed v0.8.5 on May 23, 2006

The best video player in the market keep getting better. Most of all, its "free"!

Canuckistani reviewed v0.8.5 Test 4 on May 2, 2006

Video Lan Client does what it does very, very well but it's browser plugin is really intended for streaming video from VLC itself and is best used in a multimedia Intranet rather than as a general Internet multimedia client. I hope that makes sense to you Tenoq. The best alternate general browser multimedia client is Media Player Classic which is part of the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.53 and it's plugins which you can find right here at FileForum:
http://fileforum.betanew...Codec_Pack/1080441198/1

Tenoq reviewed v0.8.5 Test 3 on Apr 27, 2006

Is there anyway to get this program to integrate with Firefox? For example, I tried it on a laptop recently, and it was great for playing movie files saved locally... but wouldn't help with embedded Quicktime movie trailers on Apple.com.

nRadeo reviewed v0.8.5 Test 3 on Apr 26, 2006

One of the best, no question. But not even free of bugs. But, not soo bad ;)

For watching Videos definitly one of the best, its great to apply filters and equalizers.

brp1 reviewed v0.8.5 Test 3 on Apr 21, 2006

best media viewer around if it was able to handle real media files it would be perfect

osric reviewed v0.8.5 Test 3 on Apr 21, 2006

- the slider control is not smooth

Blaxima reviewed v0.8.5 Test 3 on Apr 21, 2006

Great player, I converted from Bs player a little while ago and I've never looked back. I only hope they don't start bloating it up because I only need it to be a video player. Plays almost everything such as bin and cue files. Found out recently however that for some strange reason it no longer supports nsv files. I asked about this on the forum and the developers said they dont see a fix in the near future. Strage considering it did in ver 8.2. I also wished the pause was more accurate. But all in all its lightweight makes it an easy choice for videos.

benZin reviewed v0.8.5 Test 2 on Apr 4, 2006

I love, I love, I love, gniii !!

DJHasis reviewed v0.8.5 Test 2 on Apr 3, 2006

One of the best video player and keeps on getting better!
Thanks for the changelog Perth from Australia!!!

Perth, Australia reviewed v0.8.5 Test 2 on Apr 3, 2006

What's New;

Highlights of the new features and improvements:
* Statistic system
* Linux DV input
* Audio CD improvements (CDDB)
* MacIntel support
* Many new and improved video filters
* New AJAX HTTP interface
* wxWidgets improvements (Drag'n Drop, VLM)
* Winamp 2 skin support
* Cook real audio codec
* MSN and Growl "Now playing" plugins
* Loads of bugfixes.

benZin reviewed v0.8.5 Test 1 on Mar 14, 2006

Yeah, thanks :)

lookwhatifound reviewed v0.8.5 Test 1 on Mar 14, 2006

VLC media player. Yes the name is weird, the interface seems weird and bare. but then you want to see your video, not your program itself. and it plays almost everything without needing to download another player or codec.

i just hope it gets real media support too. coz that's the only major media it can't play right now.

kazoom reviewed v0.8.5 Test 1 on Mar 13, 2006

Plays everything with little bloat

Canuckistani reviewed v0.8.5 Test 1 on Mar 13, 2006

Here you go.

Changes in VLC (VideoLAN Client) 0.8.5 test1 :

• Core support:
* Statistics collection (bitrates, packets, connections, ...)
* Support for downloading updates
• Input:
* Initial support for RTSP-over-HTTP (to allow NAT traversal)
* Linux DV (Digital Video - Firewire) input
* Improvements to the Audio CD input
- Separate playlist entries for the tracks
- Support for CDDB
* Support for more DVB (satellite) encryption modules
* Improved subtitles encoding support
* Improved support for playing MP4 files from the Web
• Decoders:
* Cook (Real audio) support
• Playlist / Services discovery:
* Podcast support
• Audio output:
* New JACK audio output
• Video output:
* New video filters:
- magnify: allows you to zoom on part of the image
- gradient and edge detection: "cartoon-like" effect
- bluescreen: overlay a video transparently on another one
* Logo video filter: can now loop through multiple images
* RSS video filter: display feed images. Support for Atom feeds.
* Improvements to the subtitles rendering
• Stream output:
* Initial support for throttling users on VOD streams
• Interfaces:
* System to inform the user and request information
- HTTP authentication
- Fatal errors
- ...
* wxWidgets
- VLM (VideoLAN Media Manager) control panel
- Improved media information panel (shows statistics, metadata, ...)
- Drag & Drop support in the playlist
* Skins2
- Support for Winamp 2 skins
- Improved playlist handling
- Support for popup menus, animated bitmaps, equalizer...
* HTTP
- New default interface pages for VLC and VLM
- A bunch of new RPN functions
• Windows Port:
* MSN messenger "Now playing" support

xrayspex reviewed v0.8.5 Test 1 on Mar 13, 2006

What changes are in this?

DJHasis reviewed v0.8.5 Test 1 on Mar 13, 2006

Definetly one of the best video players that can play almost anykind of video, encode lots of types of video and also it can record diffrent kinds of video streams.

Perth, Australia reviewed v0.8.5 Test 1 on Mar 13, 2006

it really is the better player to accept most formats... no crashes, very very reliable

nksmeena reviewed v0.8.4b on Feb 23, 2006

Just what I wanted. Thank you.

Adrian79 reviewed v0.8.4b on Jan 9, 2006

yay!!

Arutha reviewed v0.8.4b on Jan 6, 2006

Extremely powerful media player that will play anything you throw at it. Unlike most of the competition, VLC can handle HD content very well.

photonboy reviewed v0.8.4b on Dec 28, 2005

Simply amazing. For people who can't play High-Definition because their computers are slightly too slow give this a shot.

I'm having problems with Quicktime playing some trailers with color problems (blue skin etc) but VLC plays it perfectly at a fraction of the processing power.
I rarely see a free product that deserves such praise. I would like to be able to have a control bar appear in Fullscreen mode but that's really my only complaint and not much of one.

balewolf reviewed v0.8.4b on Dec 21, 2005

great app i use it for my tv out dual view full screen with it on tv while using my pc monitor to surf net and stuff runs great low cpu usage also compared to others.

Canuckistani reviewed v0.8.4b on Dec 21, 2005

This is a binary update for a couple of bugs. Just unzip and copy the contents to your already existing VLC 0.8.4a install directory. Link to 0.8.4a installer if you don't already have it:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

sn0wflake reviewed v0.8.4b on Dec 20, 2005

Great app but where's the installer in this edition?

benZin reviewed v0.8.4a on Dec 18, 2005

Excellent prog' !! Mkv supported recently. mpc in refort if need be.

sn0wflake reviewed v0.8.4a on Dec 14, 2005

Nice app.

QQ reviewed v0.8.4a on Dec 14, 2005

Great feature pack with a great deal of usability problems (keyboard control, option layout, SEEKBAR [pardon me - JUMPBAR] anyone?)

mo_mo reviewed v0.8.4a on Dec 14, 2005

love it
one awesome program :)

darkpepe reviewed v0.8.4 on Nov 28, 2005

Still doesn't play the .srt subtitiles, and postprocessing is deactivated by default. Nevertheless I'm rating it 6 out of 5 stars for kicking so much ass. I love the simple GUI, the way it opens lightning fast, and needless to say, I can stay away from those evil and buggy codec-packs!
Did I mention it's free?

bananix reviewed v0.8.4 on Nov 28, 2005

The first thing that attracted me in VLC was it's ability to play avi files even if some app was still downloading them. MPC is my main player but i use VLC if it has problems.

Prospero424 reviewed v0.8.4 on Nov 28, 2005

It's a great player in that it will play pretty much anything you can throw at it.

However, like others have said, the main negatives against it these days all relate to the interface.

As for myself: the only reason I could not use this as my main playback app is because the playlist is just awful. You can't even drag items in the list up or down in order to change the order in which they are played. In fact, I can't find ANY way to sort the playlist except by an alphabetical sort. Ouch.

But with the incredible streaming capabilities, ability to play back almost any format without having to install any third-party codecs, and peerless stability, it will doubtless remain on my PC for the forseeable future. Crappy playlist or not.

tbaster reviewed v0.8.4 on Nov 28, 2005

The interface *is* a problem, it always has been.

I use VLC, I like it, but I still don't use it all the time because of the interface and the configuration menus. At least it's getting a few necessities now like Aspect Ratio on the screen context menu.

da3x reviewed v0.8.4 on Nov 28, 2005

The best video player I know of! And for the GUI... is a great pleasure to find software like VLC which relies on the things that need to be instead of bloating the GUI with so called features. The keyboard support is also excellent and quite configurable for your needs. Please keep it as it is!

lzvk25 reviewed v0.8.4 on Nov 28, 2005

Excellent Player, it can handle everything, even strange formats like mp4, mkv, ogm and even the new h264 which is becoming more popular now a days, without problems and without installing codecs. :)

PS : If you don't like the interface, skin it with one of the skins offered in the VLC site or use WindowBlinds. ;)

httpd.confused reviewed v0.8.4 on Nov 28, 2005

I say I dislike the interface, I also explain why I dislike the interface, and someone actually says "I can't understand why do some people say it has a poor GUI. We don't *watch* the GUI or do we? We watch the videos, alright?"

Yes, we watch videos. A very keen observation, that. But videos don't just play themselves. There are file associations to contend with. And--GOSH!--you may actually want to do something wild and daring like seek during the video, and have it go where you want to. Or, maybe, you don't want to encounter cardiac arrest, and prefer for the damned thing to remember the last-used volume level--but instead, it decides to blast your ears.

Do I need to make a video of myself speaking my review, and upload that video, in order for it to be clear?

benZin reviewed v0.8.4 Test 2a on Nov 22, 2005

Interface is not a problem hehe! Excellent video player, and Foobar2000 for audio. Do the preview for eMule...

munga42 reviewed v0.8.4 Test 2a on Nov 22, 2005

Very good player
Horrible interface

ArKay74 reviewed v0.8.4 Test 2a on Nov 22, 2005

Needs a lot less processing power than any codec solution (~3% versus ~16% zplayer with ffdshow for a 590xclip that is).

improvelence reviewed v0.8.4 Test 2a on Nov 21, 2005

VideoLAN has been by my side for a long time. The seekbar still sucks a** though. Nonetheless, I would totally back up VLC in a fight.

Kramy reviewed v0.8.4 Test 2a on Nov 21, 2005

I don't like it, but I can't deny quality. Playing onto other computers is very useful, but I'd rather just set my computer up relatively close to my TV, and then have a second "monitor" connected.

Very cool that it doesn't need codecs.

I've tested ffdshow(Sourceforge Alphas) with MPC and I've gotten 560x320 XVid's to play on a 400mhz, fullscreen at 1024x768, with some postprocessing. I didn't get to test VLC on the 400mhz PC, but somehow I doubt many players could come close to that.

matt2971 reviewed v0.8.4 Test 2a on Nov 21, 2005

Great video player, one of the only two I ever use and ever need. The other is Media Player Classic of course, and you can't beat that for simple functionality, and it's ability to play Real and QT files with the plugins...

...but VLC has the advantage of it's own rendering capabilities meaning that you don't need +any+ codecs installed to use it. Additionally, on slower systems or systems under heavy usage, VLC seems to play large xvid or divx files with no stuttering where you often find some using MPC (even using MPC with ffdshow)...

Five Stars... rain or shine.

terracesider reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Nov 5, 2005

They still don't appear to have sorted the audio problems (no soundtrack)with mpeg4 files so it's back to VLC 8.1.

stisev reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Oct 12, 2005

I have to give VLC props.
It opens stuff that Zoomplayer and MPC can't handle.

Nice!

photonboy reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Oct 1, 2005

I think this is a great player and I'd love to give it a 5-rating but I just can't. Here's the problems I have:
1)Some audio won't play properly in VLC but will play in WMP and other players. This file was a .wmv (720p) but I'm not certain as to the actual audio codec.
2)opening the Extended GUI with a video loaded causes problems.
3)I tried to play the best quality "Brother's Grimm" trailer and it was too much for my computer but I could play it at about 92% average with the Quicktime Alternative (using WMPC6.4.8.4) It played pretty well, but peaked a few times at 100% but didn't freeze.
However, when it worked it seemed to play video at 10 to 20% lower than most other video players. One mystery is that on my AMD 3000+ (Cool 'n Quiet at only 1000MHz to save power) most of my divx/xvid files were playing at only 3%. Windows Media Player was 35%. That's amazing if it's true, but surely my CPU speed is not being reported correctly?
I like the ability to play partially completed files that I'm downloading. With a few more fixes it could easily be my 2nd or 1st choice, however it still currently has a place on my computer.

balewolf reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Sep 28, 2005

great app using it to play dvds from my main pc to my other pcs plays them flawless with no jumps thru the lan.

tre2004 reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Sep 28, 2005

The best player PERIOUD! I am YET to find a format that it won't play. I see people ask ALL THE TIME, how do I watch .bin movies, and they are told that they have to burn it with Nero or something, YEA if you wanna watch it on your tv, but allot of people think they have to go through that whole process just to watch it on the PC. This player plays EVERYTHING. I guess I have been using it for about a year and 1/2 now, ever since I found out about it, and I am yet to have a problem with it. It's not flashy, and doesn't have allot of eye candy, but honestly, Why would it need it? If you are watching movies, FULL SCREEN then what would be the point of having all the flashy stuff? Only to slow it down, and use more resources?
If you havn't got this player yet, GET IT. It is the ONLY player you will ever NEED.
I hope it sticks around for a long time. I'm always glad to see new updates to it.

rav0 reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Sep 28, 2005

The added benefit that it's free, without ads, enhances this amazing media player. Also very persistent at opening files and disks that other software concluded is corrupt, VLC usually manages to play it.

sn0wflake reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Sep 27, 2005

Just here to give it a 5 point rating :)

ServerMechanic reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Sep 27, 2005

Best free player ever.

Can't say much more.

ModderXManiac reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Sep 27, 2005

awesome, multi-platform support, freakin awesome.

Just wish they had it pre-compiled for Xandros, or just in a tar.gz

ixxy reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Sep 27, 2005

Agreed with 'httpd.confused', his points are very valid. Good software is not judged by just the engine. Even still, this is a remarkable piece of software, that requires a little overhauling.

grigione reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Sep 27, 2005

Changes between 0.8.2 and 0.8.4-svn (not yet released):
-----------------------------------------------------

Core support:
* Internal strings handling is now UTF-8 based
* New OSD system

Video output:
* Fixed problems with OpenGL output
* New --monitor-aspect-ratio option

Input:
* Improved DVB support for satellite bands other than Ku-band
* IPv6 and Extended passive mode support for FTP
* IPv6 Source Specific Multicast support
* GnomeVFS input module

Decoders:
* Support for libSDL_image to import different image types

Services discovery:
* UPnP service discovery
* Bonjour service discovery using avahi

Video Filters:
* RSS feed overlay

Stream output:
* New shout output module to forward streams to icecast servers
* Fixed several SAP and SDP announcement bugs

Interfaces:
* Mac OS X
- New streaming and transcoding wizard
- New extended controls panel
- New bookmarks window
- Fixed playlist sorting
- Fixed drag-and-drop inside the playlist
* wxWidgets
- Rename wxWindows interface in wxWidgets.
- All the --wxwin-* options are now --wx-*
- VLC update checker
* Skins2
- Tree playlist
* HTTP
- New RPN functions to control VLC features (see play-howto)
- Facilities to correctly handle non-ASCII characters and spaces in
the names of files
- Include macro to include other files
- CGI 1.0 support

ActiveX plugin:
* Should now work outside IE as well

Translations:
The following languages were added:
* Korean
* Romanian

SamiChang reviewed v0.8.4 Test 1 on Sep 27, 2005

One of the best media player i have ever used, I use Jetaudio too. Well the difference between these two excellent programs is that Jetaudio uses a bit more CPU but less RAM, VLC uses more RAM but less CPU. One of the most important thing is VLC has a simple and clear GUI, just like foobar2000 the excellent music player. I can't understand why do some people say it has a poor GUI. We don't *watch* the GUI or do we? We watch the videos, alright?

httpd.confused reviewed v0.8.2 on Aug 17, 2005

VLC tends to be more reliable for video playback than Media Player Classic. Generally speaking, that is--VLC can't seem to handle IFO files, and it chokes on most (but not all) of my QuickTime files.

And its interface sucks. No hotkeys to change zoom factor, to show/hide the playlist, or for a great many other things. VLC doesn't remember its volume setting between runs (yes, I know about the --volume command line parameter, but that's not quite what I had in mind, thanks). And it doesn't provide any interface at all for managing file associations, except during setup.

Also with regard to interface: In MPC, if you click on the seek bar, the video will go to the exact spot where the mouse cursor is. In VLC, it pretty much ... does whatever it wants to.

The list goes on and on and on...

Lammikko reviewed v0.8.2 on Aug 4, 2005

The ultimate media jukebox. No need for anything else.

hitman1982 reviewed v0.8.2 on Jul 6, 2005

A must have! Plays almost everything. Everytime I have a problem playing a video in Windows Media Player, it almost always plays with VLC!

benZin reviewed v0.8.2 on Jul 5, 2005

EXCELLENT! No need more codec. Ultimate player with Bsplayer.

ecjs reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 27, 2005

Nice player, but I still prefer Bsplayer.

supernick reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 27, 2005

I've been using VLC for a while and it's a great media player alright.
Recommend to anyone easily. And let's hope that it doesn't go away as the website has posted saying the project may be terminated. Still much development to do on this. Especially on the GUI.

The Seeker 11 reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 26, 2005

A truly brilliant player that allows you to view .bin files of all things (as people have pointed out).

I have to give a 4 as the Extended GUI under Settings is still a little buggy when trying to adjust brightness etc.

Apart from this minor problem I have NO other issues.

g-smooth2k reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 26, 2005

Excellent player for viewing pretty much all sorts of media like WMV, WMA, AVI, MP3, etc.
also can view .part files used by emule that are either a video or audio file.

Highly Recommended.

darkpepe reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 26, 2005

If you thougt VLC couldn't get better you were wrong... Yeeeehaw! This player is awesome!

tre2004 reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 26, 2005

Who said that you can't have media player classic and have VLC too? Why one of the other? I will tell you this.. There isn't ANY video that I havn't been able to play w/ VLC. I can't say the same for MPC. Vlc is just OVERALL better. I'm not sure if MPC can, cause I havn't tried before.. but can it play BIN files? Cause I ALWAYS read where people ask how to watch a .BIN movie file.. and they are always told to burn it, or extract a Mpeg out of it.. when all you have to do is play it with VLC. I give it 5 out of 5 cause it has played EVERYTHING I have threw at it.

seier reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 26, 2005

I had a copy of "Disney's Parent Trap" and there was no sound using "Media Player Classic". Then I played it with VideoLan and had the same problem, so went through the settings and found an option for mono audio and it played like a charm. I find it really odd that neither program autodetects that.

Jean-Luc Picard reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 26, 2005

VLC is trash! MPC is the best Player ever!

guti reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 26, 2005

Mediaplayer classic is only a player, so it requires third party codecs.

VLC is the best!

Klusternisse reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 26, 2005

use media player classic instead

complexity reviewed v0.8.2 on Jun 26, 2005

yah thats exactly what i want. Get use to this great piece of software. Then next thing I know it will never update again : D. No Thanks.

fireworksshow reviewed v0.8.3 Test 3 on Jun 25, 2005

i just aint able to make all of my 4 speaker configuration to work on 2 chanel movees. Anybody know how 2 fix this?? Great player, but lacks audio configuration.

Mystiqq reviewed v0.8.3 Test 3 on Jun 24, 2005

Get it while you still can, no thanks to upcoming EU software patent law.

guti reviewed v0.8.3 Test 3 on Jun 24, 2005

It is really 0.8.2 test 3, and not 0.8.3 test 3 as noted.

Anyway excellent tool, getting better and better, and supporting high number of codec, with excellent compatibility.

giantcandy reviewed v0.8.3 Test 3 on Jun 24, 2005

The Only Video Player out now that can play h.264 at it's best on windows. the quicktime 7 public preview has no directx or opengl optimization, w/ video lan u can choose which one you want to use. it played every file i threw at it and better than the original...well..wmvhd in 1080i 'batman begins" wouldn't play, but 720p wmvhd's would...i don't get that. but all and all, best for h.264 at the moment.

3Jeeez reviewed v0.8.3 Test 3 on Jun 23, 2005

VLC is Quality work! Command line to play & convert files between formats. Simply got the smarts. Merci VideoLan!

Kartun_355 reviewed v0.8.3 Test 3 on Jun 23, 2005

This thing is really kewl, but not for everyday use, unlike MPC, for example. Anyway this thing rocks, so 5 stars, for compability and stability.

To editors ... correct version info, this is a 0.8.2-test 3, not 0.8.3 ...

waynebike reviewed v0.8.2 Test 2 on Jun 8, 2005

Definatly has a boring GUI, but I like boring :) This program rocks, plays dam near anything.

I noticed there was no changelog on this site for this app, so heres what it says in their forums:
Changes since 0.8.2-test1 include:

* Loads of bugfixes
* Support for FTP over IPv6
* Non standard HTTP SAP announces have been removed
* New Mac OS X audio output module. SPDIF is not supported by this module. Please read the README.MacOSX.rtf file for more information.

exhibit reviewed v0.8.2 Test 2 on Jun 8, 2005

Great for viewing movies before they've finished downloading, and it's usually the first thing i load onto other people's systems when they are having trouble. Much more simple than messing round with codecs.

wingo: surely the gui isnt so bad as to rate it a 2?

Corlis reviewed v0.8.2 Test 2 on Jun 8, 2005

I use it since version 6.
Simple to use, useful, no need to codecs.
Still rare problems with some .wmv files, but the best solution on Win. I give 5!

ArabianNight reviewed v0.8.2 Test 2 on Jun 8, 2005

Simply the best media player. Plays almost any file! wingo the file u tried to make it play, it must have been a wmv or some other wierd codec. Otherwise it plays almost anything! If there was 6 out of 5 i would rate it but this is the best i can do!

tre2004 reviewed v0.8.2 Test 2 on Jun 8, 2005

This player plays dang near ANYTHING! And I like that the GUI isn't all decked out. It is light, and keeps the cpu, and memory usage down. I don't need a pretty player when I'm going to be watching movies in full screen anyway. People complain if a program looks all pretty, saying it's BLOATWARE, and then some complain that it is just simple and plain looking! I love this program, and I'm glad to see that they are keeping it up to date.

wingo reviewed v0.8.2 Test 2 on Jun 8, 2005

well the idea that it plays virtually anything is good but the gui isn't the best one around.

as for the .bin .cue issues ppl might have use Virtual Clone Drive, daemon tools or alcohol soft.

im still waiting for something that has a better gui and plays all my multimedia files.

Tene reviewed v0.8.2 Test 2 on Jun 8, 2005

Christ CPU load is down from test1!

The best just got so much better! Goodbye fan noise :)

stisev reviewed v0.8.2 Test 2 on Jun 8, 2005

You know, I'm usually very liberal when it comes to ratings on FileForum, but I just cannot give this program a 5.

It's bug-ridden, had problems with the first video I dropped it in (no sound, weird frame sizing) and support is non-existent.
It's still good to have on the system, but only as a tertiary media player.

I use:

1.) Zoomplayer (HTPC-style movies)
2.) MPC, Media Player Classic (Compatibility)
3.) VLC (If all else fails)

complexity reviewed v0.8.2 Test 1 on May 15, 2005

I been waiting for an update for it seems a decade. The number 1 player for windows it seems. But for linux I dont use it. Awesome player. Cant wait to try to the new one

mmebane reviewed v0.8.2 Test 1 on May 14, 2005

It's about time for a new release... :P I love this media player. It plays pretty much anything I throw at it, and I don't have to worry about codec packs and whatnot. My regards to the VLC team and the ffmpeg team.

tre2004 reviewed v0.8.2 Test 1 on May 14, 2005

This is one AWESOME player. It will play EVERYTHING... so far I have had allot of error w/ this version. Trying to use the Skin Feature.. right now I have it set where it will load in the skins2 format and as soon as it comes up, it closes.. I don't know what is going on. But, when it comes down to it, I like this program cause it isn't all pimped out.. I don't need skins to be able to play video..

All of you that have downloaded .bin and .cue files that you burn onto a cd... if it is a movie, THIS WILL PLAY THEM.. I'm tellin ya.. it plays damn near anything.

asellus reviewed v0.8.2 Test 1 on May 14, 2005

Yes, this new release fix the AAC audio bug (exist in 0.8.1). Now video files with AAC audio can be played in VLC.

Metsn reviewed v0.8.2 Test 1 on May 14, 2005

Finally! I was waiting for new version since v. 0.8.1337...because even though it was April Fool it contains a lot of new great features (e.g. snapshot)...why so long waiting?

Hmmm...never mind, it's the best player....

betabetabeta reviewed v0.8.1 on Feb 19, 2005

Simply amazing!!!...throw anything at it,it will play.

bleh427 reviewed v0.8.1 on Dec 20, 2004

This is quite simply the best media player available for Windows. Compatibility is the highest I have seen of any software, will play almost anything. It was designed for streaming/networking video but you soon find out it works well as a standalone player. Its a great program.

da3x reviewed v0.8.1 on Nov 16, 2004

A very quick start (since 0.8.x), nice and clean GUI, usefull features, full shortcuts for navigation, plays partly files and NO need for additional codecs! What do you want else?

NyaR reviewed v0.8.1 on Nov 15, 2004

great app, doesnt play as many files as Mplayer but has a much nicer gui.

nomaan reviewed v0.8.1 on Nov 15, 2004

its a must have.

pluto2se reviewed v0.8.0 on Nov 5, 2004

This thing is a beauty and I am not talking about the skins for it, they may not look the way you want it to. The preferences is weird but alright, so what's so great? that it PLAYS pretty much anything and everything without hassle, it doesn't rely on windows codecs but plays all those files without any bulls*** with LOW cpu use, GREAT companion ot your favorite codecs based player!

BNuser reviewed v0.8.0 on Nov 4, 2004

Is MPC any good at the main goal of VLC, the streaming capabilities? Video over LAN? I'll never understand why people vote a quite good program with one star, not even knowing exactly what it's special aim is, and comparing it to a different (also freeware) program. BTW: I use MPC, too, if BSPlayer fails me. Which seldom happens anyway. But I'll never come up with the idea of comparing VLC with BSPlayer. So at least give a neutral vote of 3 stars. Or even better, go over to MPC, give it 5 Stars and STFU in here.

Heineken reviewed v0.8.0 on Nov 4, 2004

i use MPC ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/)

and installed ac3 and FFDShow, i can play everything too,. so VLC is not needed, didn't like that player

FredBezies reviewed v0.8.0 on Nov 4, 2004

Simply love it ! A jewel :)

lgnaclo reviewed v0.8.0 on Nov 4, 2004

i've been looking for something like this, plays everything, simple and yet great.

darkpepe reviewed v0.8.0 on Nov 3, 2004

Didn't find any media that couldn't be played with this player yet. Awesome!

chowmein reviewed v0.8.0 on Nov 3, 2004

This program is awesome.

Just download it. You don't even have to install it, you can download it zipped and run it right after you extract it. It will play almost ANY file imaginable, no "codec packs" or other downloads required. Divx, Xvid, you NAME it. DVD's, media streams etc.

And its lightweight/non-bloated.
Oh. And its cross platform, for all you cross platform g33ks! :)

3 thumbs up.

Tridus reviewed v0.8.0 on Nov 3, 2004

I have to agree with everybody else here. The authors of this program clearly spend more time on making it work then on making it pretty.

Given that I just want to play my media files fullscreen and thus don't give a damn about how flashy a program somebody can make, this is the perfect media player for me.

If you want something that "just works", there is nothing better.

bleh427 reviewed v0.8.0 Test 2 on Oct 21, 2004

If you can handle a primitive interface this is the best video player out there. If you have ever had trouble trying to play different types of videos through "Windows Media Player" or some other player, this one will likely work for you. A++

ryanb0885 reviewed v0.8.0 Test 2 on Oct 9, 2004

Just several days after originally trying the stable version of this program (0.7.2) and finding some small personal issues with it, I decided to give the newest beta a spin. To my surprise, they corrected the few things that were keeping me from using the program full-time. There's really no reason to keep MPC on my system any longer. :)

bunghole reviewed v0.8.0 Test 2 on Oct 4, 2004

usually i use media player classic, but recently ive been using vlc. so far its played everything ive tried flawlessly. the inteface is kinda funky and there arent many skins; but i want something for playing files, not for staring at. if they make it able to play quicktime and realplayer files itll be perfect.

ryanb0885 reviewed v0.8.0 Test 1 on Oct 3, 2004

I downloaded this to play several video files (.ts) that crashed Media Player Classic. While it performed the task with flying colors, there are still some simple things that are keeping me from using the player full-time. When loading the file from Windows Explorer, there is no progress bar at all. I am only given one when opening a file from within the program itself. There is also now progress bar in fullscreen mode.

Bottom line - If you're looking for a media player that will play ANYTHING and the problems mentioned don't bother you, you will love this media player. However, I will wait until it's changed a bit more.

n00by reviewed v0.8.0 Test 1 on Sep 15, 2004

Don't judge this software by its looks...this is the best video player - no ads, no spyware - and plays absolutely everything.

blackcherry reviewed v0.8.0 Test 1 on Sep 9, 2004

horrible interface! avoid at all costs!

Namero reviewed v0.8.0 Test 1 on Sep 8, 2004

best player around

no comfort but plays everything :)

Mr.nobody reviewed v0.8.0 Test 1 on Sep 8, 2004

quote from ranasrule: "player good.....interface bad"

ok, download (of make your own) different interface (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/skins.html) ... ;)

my review: this program is perfect in combination with emule

darkpepe reviewed v0.8.0 Test 1 on Sep 8, 2004

Have been using this since version 6, it just plays ANYTHING you feed it with.
Any other Player failed to play Xvid files on a celeron 466 MHz, but this one does.

I just miss a progress bar on fullscreen like Media Player Classic has.

prophet05 reviewed v0.8.0 Test 1 on Sep 7, 2004

Really great video player with all the codecs needed to play common videos. The only complaint is the gui; I would like it to be...well-"Pretty."

jpmccord reviewed v0.8.0 Test 1 on Sep 7, 2004

Great player, plays anything I want it to play without problems! (I was gonna give it a 4 for an average presentation, but then I saw the screenshot from Goldeneye and gave it a bonus point.)

ranasrule reviewed v0.8.0 Test 1 on Sep 7, 2004

player good.....interface bad

guyf reviewed v0.8.0 Test 1 on Sep 7, 2004

A really good program if you are into the p2p, it reads almost all kinds of video codecs.

aeon reviewed v0.7.2 on May 22, 2004

Excellent mediaplayer, plays avi, mpg and DVD and more. Has all codecs included and is 100% free (as in beer and as in freedom of speech)

darkpepe reviewed v0.7.2 Test 3 on May 21, 2004

Wow! This Player rocks! Will play any file without installing any s***ty codec (except real and quicktime crap)

ArKay74 reviewed v0.7.2 Test 3 on May 20, 2004

Great player! Plays most of the movies which some buggy codecs under Windows aren't able to play.

mikero reviewed v0.7.1 on Mar 3, 2004

The only viewer capable to preview movies being downloaded from Bittorrent network. To view these movies with MPC you have to close the Bittorrent client first, VLC does not require that.

illuvatar reviewed v0.7.1 on Mar 3, 2004

The player looks promising, but it still is quite unstable. It crashed on me several times. It has some unique features (streaming people :-) and plays most formats I feed it. It uses its own codecs to decode video files, which is handy when you're the lazy type :-) I prefer ffdshow though. Also the internal codec approach blows up the size of videolan: the installer is 6.1MB. Bsplayer is under 2MB and MPC under 1MB. Anyway, I'll watch out for new releases...

BillBraskey reviewed v0.7.1 on Mar 3, 2004

Anyone who would give this app a bad review is incapable of understanding what this program actually does, and is capable of. Sure it crashes sometimes and is very militant with bad videos ie bad spots etc, BUT this program is capable of playing pretty much every single video and audio format WITHOUT the need for installed codecs...Can you say convenient. In laymans terms "This is all you need to watch a movie on multi platforms". Someone mentioned "Media Player Classic" on here....comparing that program (which still uses windows media components) to this is ludacris. For video viewing, by default I use winamp5 or Windows Media Player 9, because of the lack of ATI Remote Wonder support...but if you have a slower system, this app is the fastest around....And it is constantly being updated, so eventually we will probably see the error skipping that the other players feature and no more lockups when it encounters a corrupt area of a file.

premii reviewed v0.7.1 Test 2 on Feb 23, 2004

This is the only software i have in my computer to play VIDEOs. New version even plays/broadcast live stream from WINTV250 TV Tuner Card.

urbanriot reviewed v0.7.1 Test 2 on Feb 23, 2004

Good program, in regards to rebust media support and was extremely stable for me... it's a FREE DVD player! My only gripe is it's not simple for a "casual" computer user to use. The ability to use it as my autorun DVD player would be excellent as well, but I've been unable to configure that.

Tidus41 reviewed v0.7.1 Test 2 on Feb 22, 2004

VLC ROCKS. VLC FOR MAC ROCKS.

robodesign reviewed v0.7.1 Test 1 on Feb 22, 2004

Hello!
Very good program, in a way :)... I'm mean that at the first glance, is way good. It previews your unfinished downloads and bla, bla, but when you use it much and often you will see that it crashes your system totally. It is very, very crashy, not just the program, but the whole system gets 200% CPU Usage and you need to reset it: Win2K pro + SP4.

jeffbacon reviewed v0.7.1 Test 1 on Feb 13, 2004

VLC rocks, 'nuff said

yuit reviewed v0.7.1 Test 1 on Feb 12, 2004

newsflash: aalaap is an idiot.

thexfile.web1000.com reviewed v0.7.1 Test 1 on Feb 12, 2004

Very Good !

chowmein reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 8, 2004

aaalap, I hope that you get banned for spamming like that. Only scumbags do that.
This program is awesome, lightweight, no codecs required, plays Divx/Mpeg/AVI WHATEVER...just download it and use it. The versatility, portability, and lightweight make it one of my number one recommendations for a Vid Player.

BNuser reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 8, 2004

@aalaap: Obviously you didn't recognise that his program is meant for streaming video. Something the player(s) you mentioned aren't designed around. Too bad one single person can bring down the rating by spamming and even haven't read or visited it's homepage. I have to give this program 5 stars, because it does what it claims. Period. I would have given 5 even if I didn't like it because of that reason. This is how I understand this ratingsystem.

BB88 reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 7, 2004

Freeware! Very nice indeed. Glad to see all the enhancements in the new version. Play many of my unfinished downloads from BT and eMule.

matt2971 reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 7, 2004

the people who mention the codecs are corrent. I use Media Player Classic and IMO that's the best player. But you do need codecs in addition to that player and 99% of others. Even using ffdshow doesn't always guarantee a good result - VLC will play some files that simply won't play with anythinmg else - because it's the only play I know of that uses it's own codecs and acts differently.

My order of trying to play a file:

1. play it in MPC with the proper codec (specified by G-Spot utility)

2. play it in MPC using ffdshow

3. Play it in VLC

thehunger reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 7, 2004

iTunes music store digital rights management has been cracked by DVD Jon who cracked DVD encryption. The crack can integrate with VideoLAN for Windows to remove the bits that ensure that your iTunes downloaded music only can be played on Windows.
Check out this story: http://www.theregister.com/content/6/34712.html

glassdesigns reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 7, 2004

good program but still crashes when trying to play some part files. It's getting better but is not quite there yet.

TeleAjax reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 7, 2004

aalaap, you must not understand how this place works, this is not a spam log. You rate the version you tried once, and do not unfairly deflate a program without reason.

aalaap reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 7, 2004

Another newsflash: MPlayerC + ffdshow = 1.6mb and u can play anything you want!

Beastage reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 7, 2004

It seems that people completely miss the purpose of this great freeware!! to give a complete player with all the needed codecs without the need to look for 3rd party codecs and to configure them properly .
People mention Media Player Classic (which is great stuff as well) and state how small download it is - NEWS FLASH: IT DOES NOT CONTAIN THE CODECS!!!

ty....

meelz reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 7, 2004

YAWNS!
by the way ... which movie is that !?

joske reviewed v0.7.0 on Jan 7, 2004

absolutely great software. version numbers has not made it bloated. better than mpc.

IVStalin reviewed v0.6.0 on Jun 25, 2003

A very good program. There has been steady and consistent improvement with this software since I started using at v0.3.x. Shame that it is so time consuming to get the Linux version to build, but worth the effort if you use Linux. Some of the libraries they are distributing are the wrong ones to build against for the latest version of the source, and there are only RPMs for a few Linux distributions. Previous versions even had some particularly unusual novelty features, such as ability to watch DVDs in console mode with ncurses, although this seems to be gone in the latest binary distribution for Win32.

klumy reviewed v0.5.3 on Apr 17, 2003

Great program, but sometimes it crashes, if the video is incomplete, so I just give it 4 stars

WRFan reviewed v0.5.1 on Feb 19, 2003

useless both for windows and for linux, where there are better alternatives. I still installed it, to preview incomplete files in Emule plus, which supports it. But I wouldn't use it for anything else. seems as if most most people believe open source means better programme. But it's the other way around - most open source programmes are total crap.

klumy reviewed v0.5.1 on Feb 19, 2003

Excellent programm, perfect in connection with file sharing !!