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The New (And Improved?) VLC

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Ehtyar:
Recently VLC was updated from 0.8.6 to 0.9.2 (0.9.0 & 0.9.1 were skipped due to blocking bugs, anyone notice a little lag? :P). The new release includes the following improvements:
1. New interface based on Qt (see screenshots below).
2. Improved playlist with support for:

* Media library support
* Live search
* Shoutcast TV listings
* Audioscrobbler/last.fm
* Album art support3. New demuxers
4. New decoders
5. New video/audio/stream output and filters
6. Improvements to the developer interface/libVLC via Google's Summer of Code.
7. A beta LUA module for providing additional functionality.
I am posting this information because after using the new version for some days, I like it much better than the earlier UI, though there are some features that tick me off, so I would like the opinion of other users on the subject.
Firstly, there's the new main window, as shown below. It has much enhanced menus (though they're not visible here) as well as better volume control and an improved controls bar. The volume control appears to ramp the volume to 200%, though playing the same video in 0.8.6 and 0.9.2 side-by-side 100% in the new player sounds exactly the same as 100% in the old player.
The New (And Improved?) VLC
Then there is the new open dialog, which unfortunately IMO is quite the step backward. VLC now appears to handle indexing of files itself, which in windows causes some big issues when indexing a large directory, and the interface is not particularly intuitive. I've also found that, occasionally, trying to open something in VLC via one of the open dialogs causes a CPU spike prior to the display of the dialog itself, and the fullscreen control panel appears briefly at the bottom of the screen.
The New (And Improved?) VLC
Speaking of the fullscreen UI, here it is. It has also been a much missed feature of VLC.
The New (And Improved?) VLC
And just for comparison sake, here is the old UI:
The New (And Improved?) VLC
I've never been a fan of VLCs skinning options, as you always seem to lose controls and menu options with the skins, indeed frequently you lose the menus altogether. I am however a fan of the new VLC as a whole, and I hope the new UI at least will encourage users to move away from behemoths like QuickTime and WMP to this free, open alternative. Please let us know your opinion.

Ehtyar.

lanux128:
the new UI looks very sleek and nice. :up:

jgpaiva:
Also, here's a link: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Paul Keith:
Thanks. Ironically I just redownloaded VLC today after a long while without reading this thread and was surprised with the new look. I'm not sure what to say to it.

It looks better but at the same time, looks too kiddie but I always never felt right when I couldn't go fullscreen using alt+enter.

CleverCat:
I hope they upgrade the portable version as mine only has audio?

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