vlc VLC Media Player 2.0 'Twoflower' released

[Sir Topham Hatt]

It seems better, but still struggles with some HD MKVs and 1080p content as well.

Boo.

I noticed with the last five or six updates it was handling HD content worse and worse with every release. So much so,it drove me back to WMP with some codecs installed which plays like a dream.

Will still upgrade and test though.

[Drag and Drop] works perfectly fine for me on Windows 7 x64

That's strange as I can't drag and drop anymore either.

How did you install? Did you delete preferences? I didn't.

Looks like I'll be looking for a new player then. Old faithful VLC is so last year!

I re-installed deleting preferences. Still wouldn't drag and drop so I found an HD file (associations set VLC as default player), right click and "Play". NOw I can drag and drop again.

[LaP]

If developers can be bothered to actually switch their existing apps over to it.

Maybe if MS would get their act together and make .NET framework/Silverlight works for all popular operating system then multiplatform windows app would look better. For now you'll need to get used to qt interface and such. I know there's Mono/Moonlight. But last time i checked it was oudated.

[LaP]

OS X gets a snazzy new interface, whilst the Windows version still looks dull. WMP12 looks better.

Who cares what it looks like. When i'm watching movies i usually don't want to see any interface at all.

WMP12 is a really good music/jukebox player with a good looking interface (i use it instead of iTune). It can even play acc natively if you have iTune installed ... But as a video player i would not touch it with a 10 foot pole. I had many problems in the past playing DVD or video using WMP (dvd not working at all or video showing garbage). I never had such problem using MPC-HC. It's really frustrating when you plan to watch a movie and it's not working.

Also i had bad experience using codec pack in the past. I prefer my video player to come with all required codec bundled. So far MPC-HD did not require me to isntall any codec to play mkv, ogg or avi files.

VLC is a good option but on windows i prefer MPC-HC 64 bits even if the UI is really really ugly.

That's strange as I can't drag and drop anymore either.

How did you install? Did you delete preferences? I didn't.

Looks like I'll be looking for a new player then. Old faithful VLC is so last year!

I have no problem with drag and drop. No problem playing 1080p mkv either.

It's the first time i install VLC on this system though. Last time i used VLC was version 0.8 i think. It went a long way since then. If i was not used to MPC-HC i would consider VLC now.

[lalalawawawa]

probably because the last i knew VLC has hardware acceleration OFF by default where as MPCHC has hardware acceleration ON by default which takes a major load off the CPU. especially if you got a older CPU it's even more needed as my PC can't play 1080p and stay in sync on CPU alone where as with hardware acceleration on CPU use is around 5percent instead of well over 60percent+

to make sure GPU Acceleration is enabled... CTRL+P > Inputs & Codecs > then on that menu CHECK the "use GPU accelerated decoding".

p.s. for the record... i still prefer 'Pot Player' (i.e. http://goo.gl/GFOrM ) the most as it's also got hardware acceleration by default and it's overall interface and the little things make it comfortably ahead of VLC etc if you ask me.

Oh, then I only get a few frames per second. It is a lot worse with GPU acceleration enabled.

I noticed with the last five or six updates it was handling HD content worse and worse with every release.

Totally the same thing here too.

[vanx]

yeah, that's why i was quoting that person as they where having 1080p playback issues which is easily cured once you turn on the 'use GPU accelerated decoding" option (assuming your graphics card can do it) in VLC's options.

plus he was saying MPCHC plays the video files fine but it's because that automatically uses dxva acceleration by default where as VLC don't which explains why he's having problems playing 1080p video on VLC.

It's not as black and white as that. I have GPU accelerated decoding switched on and still encounter stuttering and pixelation on some (!) 720p and all 1080p MKVs. No problem whatsoever with MPC-HC.

[ThaCrip]

Oh, then I only get a few frames per second. It is a lot worse with GPU acceleration enabled

weird... if you got a GPU that supports it, it should be nothing but beneficial if anything due to the reduced CPU load.

It's not as black and white as that. I have GPU accelerated decoding switched on and still encounter stuttering and pixelation on some (!) 720p and all 1080p MKVs. No problem whatsoever with MPC-HC.

weird... i would assume if your files are fine it should be nothing but beneficial. must be buggy VLC.

but either way... i never really cared much for VLC personally as i find it overall worse than MPCHC/Pot Player etc but yet it somehow remains popular.

but if it where not for Pot Player odds are i would also be using MPCHC as my player of choice.

[ViperAFK]

I've never had an issue with any vlc version playing hd content.

[Sranshaft]

"Completely reworked Mac and Web interfaces". -__- Does windows not exists?

Apparently. The Windows version still looks like complete ass compared to the OSX version. I think I'll still use MPC-HC for my videos though.

Maybe if MS would get their act together and make .NET framework/Silverlight works for all popular operating system then multiplatform windows app would look better. For now you'll need to get used to qt interface and such. I know there's Mono/Moonlight. But last time i checked it was oudated.

This is where separating the backend stuff (video playing, etc) from the frontend (the UI) comes in handy.

[lalalawawawa]

weird... if you got a GPU that supports it, it should be nothing but beneficial if anything due to the reduced CPU load.

nVidia GeForce 9800M GS with the latest official drivers.

[PyX]

Is this a joke ? The interface is wayyyyyy too complicated for a movie player?

[alexalex]

I meant with DXVA.

Without DXVA you need 3Ghz P4 or faster for 720p (non-BD bitrate).

MPC-HC run 720p/1080p just fine on my aging 11 years Thinkpad XP Pentium Mobile 1.7 with ATI mobility 64MB memory graphic card, something that VLC could never accomplish. I am staying with MPC-HC 64 bit now (Windows 7).

[ViperAFK]

Apparently. The Windows version still looks like complete ass compared to the OSX version. I think I'll still use MPC-HC for my videos though.

This is where separating the backend stuff (video playing, etc) from the frontend (the UI) comes in handy.

Personally I'm confused as to why people keep saying vlc on windows is ugly... Sure it doesn't look as good as the OSX version, but its certainly not ugly on windows. VLC 2.0 still looks noticeably nicer than the previous windows look. This is being exaggerated IMO. And MPC-HC is definitely uglier than vlc lol :)

My main issue with vlc is it SUCKS BALLS at streaming video over samba. Its not an issue on my desktop because I watch all video locally there, but I had to switch from vlc to gnome-mplayer on my laptop. When I stream video from a samba share with vlc it lags horribly. I used to be able to fix this by going to input/codecs > access modules > smb and ramping up the cache value there, but for some reason in recent releases it stopped working (changing value stopped having any effect), and in 2.0 the option for the cache under smb is totally gone, replaced with a simpler option under the main input and codecs window (you can set the cache to "lowest latency" through "Highest latency") even changing it to "highest latency" it lags horribly.

Mplayer lagged pretty bad too out of the box, but it has a cache setting that works great, and no lag after setting it.

[farmeunit]

It's far from being as fast or offering enough video options. As for the skin, I believe MPC-HC is the worst looking even in its Black Edition.

You just dropped a generic VLC "defender" reply there without any substance whatsoever.

What substance was needed? Several complained about the UI. It still plays media better in most instances for me, regardless of the UI. I don't know what else to tell you. I have issues with KMPlayer and Pot Player both when scanning forward/backward through file.. Is that satisfactory your highness?

[ArialBlue]

MPC-HC run 720p/1080p just fine on my aging 11 years Thinkpad XP Pentium Mobile 1.7 with ATI mobility 64MB memory graphic card, something that VLC could never accomplish. I am staying with MPC-HC 64 bit now (Windows 7).

Without DXVA, not possible on such low-end hardware (even with deblocking disabled using CoreAVC) - 1080p that is, 720p low-bitrate rips should work.

The main point to make about VLC though is that it doesn't outperform MPC:HC whether you are using your CPU or GPU. It is just popular and not good, like Justin Bieber.

[ZeroFearX]

I played mt2s flawlessly before 2.0/ Now when i play them they throw out 5 direct3d output windows and the main screen. Now i got 5 mini windows playing the movie as well as one big one. Each mini window next to the main window is a version of the directors cut with commentary and each window is in a different language. Quite annoying its like running 6 movies at once.

Edit : Quick fix, go to Video, Video Track, Disable. This disables all video tracks then I re enable track 1, seems to work.

Weird, many of mine were lagging. Probably something on my side but it is now working :)

[SiCKX]

What substance was needed? Several complained about the UI. It still plays media better in most instances for me, regardless of the UI. I don't know what else to tell you. I have issues with KMPlayer and Pot Player both when scanning forward/backward through file.. Is that satisfactory your highness?

My screen gets pixelated on VLC when I click to seek. The other 2 have no issues, even on 1080p media. PotPlayer uses keyframe seeking by default, really fast. UI was not even brought into question, but the number of options offered to the user, type of files played/special functions and speed. WMP12 plays everything just fine and faster/more stable than VLC ever did if we were to talk about "oh, it plays my files".

[-Alex-]

Finally, the option to set a default aspect ratio!

Tools > Prefs > Video

Scroll down > Type '16:9' etc into Source Aspect Ratio

Saves me forever right-clicking videos and changing the Aspect :)