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Main Area and Open Discussion => General Software Discussion => Topic started by: superboyac on December 07, 2009, 02:49 AM

Title: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 07, 2009, 02:49 AM
I'm looking for the quickest responding video player out there.  Please note the emphasis on "quick".  I don't know what else word to use, but I'll try to describe it in more detail.  I'm not asking simply "what's the best" or "what's your favorite".  I want to know which player is the fastest as far as double-clicking on a file and starting the video.  Now, I'm well aware of the normal responses like VLC, MPC, KMPlayer, so before you just throw that out there, please remember that speed is what I'm looking for.  Normally, people just want to know what works with all video files, which the aforementioned software are all good with.  My question is different.

Let me describe how I use video players.  Like many here, I don't have just one favorite.  I use several of them depending on the situation.  However, I do have my "default" player which is the one associated with the video files on my system (Windows XP).  This is the one that opens up when I double-click on a video file, and this is the one that I have a question for.  I'm not concerned about DVD playing ability so much with this one.  OK, on with what I know so far.  Here's my little roundup and analysis:

Light Alloy
For years, this was my default double-clicker video player.  I know few, if any, of you use this one.  It's not free.  What I love about it is how quickly the video opens after double-clicking a file.  And it has a lot of configuration options to boot.  However, it does not include it's own codecs; it's only a player.  But I wonder if that's the very reason why it responds more quickly than the others.  I would continue to use this except development seems to have stopped, and it seems to crash a lot randomly recently, especially with larger files or HD files.

KMplayer
My second favorite of the bunch.  It has a lot of configuration options, and plays everything (codecs are included).  But it's significantly slower than Light Alloy.  I'd prefer something faster.  If this were faster, I would use it for sure.

GOM Player
Another good one (also comes with all codecs).  Faster response time that KMPlayer.  However, it has a couple of quircks I can't stand.  For example, there is a pause when you click once on the screen to play/pause, just in case you want to double-click for full-screen.  You can disable this pause, but then you lose the double-click option.  No other player handles it this way.  I find it annoying.  Also, I can't find a way to add previous/next buttons on the player.  If it were not for these things, I may prefer this one.

VLC
Not my favorite at all.  It's slow, and I don't like the interface at all.

SMplayer
Nice, but responds weirdly.  Not that fast, either.

MPC
Haven't tried it for years, but when i was using it, it was significantly slower than Light Alloy.

Zoom Player
I love Zoom.  It's actually pretty quick relative to the others.  I may settle on this one.  It's quicker to open than it is to close.  But it's faster than most of the other programs here, except maybe for Light Alloy.  It also seems to have a hard time with my larger or HD files.  Why?  I have no idea.  I have a pretty impressive computer, I can't imagine it not handling any kind of HD video.  Frankly, the idea of it annoys me a lot.


So, any suggestions?
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: MrCrispy on December 07, 2009, 03:17 AM
I don't really have a player to suggest, but the speed of the player will depend on 2 things - its internal code, and the codec/filter graph used. Most players are either DirectShow based, or use bundled codecs, so you might want to try out different combinations. Kmplayer has a super speed option (which disables a bunch of advanced options), might want to try that.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on December 07, 2009, 03:19 AM
Hm, when you mentioned "SMPlayer" I kind of figured you meant SPlayer, but I see there is also an SMPlayer. So, if you haven't tried Splayer, you might want to check it out:
http://www.splayer.org/index.en.html
It claims speed and low memory use as advantages. I've found it's pretty decent, I'm testing it as a secondary or even replacement for my current favorite The KMPlayer.

However, I do have another thought. Have you looked into optimizing The KMPlayer? For example if you're willing to use a player without built-in codecs, you could turn off all it's own codecs. Not sure if this would make it faster... or slower. But something to test. Also I imagine what video renderer you use affects this. I know there are many more options that affect this, such as playlist reading modes, etc, etc. I would think there is probably optimization-related discussion on the KMPlayer forums (hopefully in the English part :D). If you do look into that, let us know if you find anything promising, as it's something I'd be interested in too.

Good luck!

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 07, 2009, 03:22 AM
After googling around a little bit, I discovered that Light Alloy is still slowly being developed.  However, they are doing it all in Russian.  I don't blame them; I don't think anyone gave two seconds of thought to their software.  You can find the russian forum here:
http://www.softella.com/la/forum.ru.htm

Their original english site has not changed for a long, long time:
http://www.softella.com/

In their defense, and because I think some of you here actually would be interested, I am going to make the following statement:
Light Alloy is hands-down the fastest responding video player I have ever used.  Fastest to open a file, and fastest to close the program.
It responds beautifully.  No codecs are included, it uses the system installed decoders.  I know that will deter a lot of you, but give it a shot.  I think you will be impressed by its speed.

Anyway, using the google translater, I was able to see that it is still being slowly developed.  The updates are only available in the russian forum.  The english website still has the old version.  But if you want to purchase a license, the english site will give you a valid one.  Mine still works on the newer versions.  I've attached the latest installer here, just to make it easier to find for english users (version 4.4 build 873).

I hope this is helpful for any of you.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 07, 2009, 03:28 AM
Thanks Java!  Splayer looks interesting, I'm going to try it out.
Also, regarding the configuration of filters and such; not to be difficult, but I just don't have the heart for it at this point.  Maybe I will later, but I'd crossing my fingers that there's one that works awesome right out of the box.


PS I have to say, this latest version of Light Alloy is pretty amazing.  This may be the winner.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: cmpm on December 07, 2009, 05:37 AM
I know MPC is not what you want to hear, Mpc-Home Cinema is fast and a codec pack with it from here.

http://www.cccp-project.net/

Updated 9-9-09

Having switched to W7, I've had to find a better player.
Vlc and mpc did not work well. Although, now with this codec pack WMP plays flash and more, it's still slower then MPC-Home Cinema.

I even tried Real Player, and it works fine but not as fast.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 07, 2009, 05:45 PM
... Light Alloy is still slowly being developed.  However, they are doing it all in Russian.  

Have you (anyone) figured out what font the Light Alloy user will need, in order so see the proper Cyrillic characters in the program (not the site)? The titles are easy to read, but the mouse-over texts makes no meaning.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 07, 2009, 06:11 PM
... Light Alloy is still slowly being developed.  However, they are doing it all in Russian.  

Have you (anyone) figured out what font the Light Alloy user will need, in order so see the proper Cyrillic characters in the program (not the site)? The titles are easy to read, but the mouse-over texts makes no meaning.

Oh, I should clear that up.  You have to go into the Preferences menu, change the language to English, and everything will be fine.  I'm at work right now, so I can't give a screenshot, but i can later tonight.

Actually, screw it, I can do it here at work:
Press F10, that will bring up the preferences setting (after clicking on the left button for the nag screen; I'm assuming yours is not registered).  Then pick English.  See the screenshots below:
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Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 07, 2009, 06:45 PM
Hm, when you mentioned "SMPlayer" I kind of figured you meant SPlayer, but I see there is also an SMPlayer. So, if you haven't tried Splayer, you might want to check it out:
http://www.splayer.org/index.en.html
It claims speed and low memory use as advantages. I've found it's pretty decent, I'm testing it as a secondary or even replacement for my current favorite The KMPlayer.

However, I do have another thought. Have you looked into optimizing The KMPlayer? For example if you're willing to use a player without built-in codecs, you could turn off all it's own codecs. Not sure if this would make it faster... or slower. But something to test. Also I imagine what video renderer you use affects this. I know there are many more options that affect this, such as playlist reading modes, etc, etc. I would think there is probably optimization-related discussion on the KMPlayer forums (hopefully in the English part :D). If you do look into that, let us know if you find anything promising, as it's something I'd be interested in too.

Good luck!

- Oshyan
Splayer is very, very nice.  I will have to compare its speed with Light Alloy when I get home.  I like it a lot.  If it is slower than LA, it's not by much.  Nice find.  It's nice looking as well, and has some cool options.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: fenixproductions on December 07, 2009, 06:47 PM
2superboyac
Just wondering:
did you try to use command line version of mplayer.hu (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/news.html)?
The engine is the same as for SMPlayer but getting rid off GUI made it the quickest one on my PC. Original version also had dhahelper.sys driver which increased its speed a lot. Even though there are a lot of good players I am still using it as default one (sorry KMPlayer).

Oh! And there is also Total Commander plugin to use this application through lister interface. I don't dare to dream for more ;)
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: skwire on December 07, 2009, 07:15 PM
Hmmmm...I just tried that LightAlloy build you attached.  I couldn't get it to play video for any type of file I tried (avi, mpg, mkv, or vob).  It would play the audio but not the video.  Furthermore, it didn't seem any faster than the MPC(HC)/CCCP combo I've used for years.  In fact, MPC seemed faster to me.  *shrug*  I don't mean this post as a flame...I'm just posting my thoughts.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 07, 2009, 07:17 PM
2superboyac
Just wondering:
did you try to use command line version of mplayer.hu (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/news.html)?
The engine is the same as for SMPlayer but getting rid off GUI made it the quickest one on my PC. Original version also had dhahelper.sys driver which increased its speed a lot. Even though there are a lot of good players I am still using it as default one (sorry KMPlayer).

Oh! And there is also Total Commander plugin to use this application through lister interface. I don't dare to dream for more ;)

-fenixproductions (December 07, 2009, 06:47 PM)
I have tried it, and removed it.  Although i don't really remember why.  It may have been because it was a little too minimalist for me.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 07, 2009, 07:25 PM
Hmmmm...I just tried that LightAlloy build you attached.  I couldn't get it to play video for any type of file I tried (avi, mpg, mkv, or vob).  It would play the audio but not the video.  Furthermore, it didn't seem any faster than the MPC(HC)/CCCP combo I've used for years.  In fact, MPC seemed faster to me.  *shrug*  I don't mean this post as a flame...I'm just posting my thoughts.
It doesn't come with codecs internally.  The codecs need to be configured on your system for it to play video.  it's not the player's fault.  MPC is pretty fast also.  To be honest, I don't know why I ever stopped using MPC.  Years ago, i think I was just looking for newer programs to play with and MPC wasn't playing everything the way I wanted and/or there were errors every now and then.  All this stuff depends on what each person's video habits are.

I liked Light Alloy because it was specifically built for speed.  I think even with MPC or any other preferred player anyone has, it will be hard to beat the speed of Light Alloy.  Now, you may prefer other things about other players, but it can't be faulted for speed.

There are so many video players out there!  Someone should do a roundup.  It's weird how VLC is so popular even though I don't think it does any one thing better than another of the alternatives.  It definitely has the biggest name.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: skwire on December 07, 2009, 07:42 PM
It doesn't come with codecs internally.  The codecs need to be configured on your system for it to play video.  it's not the player's fault.

Yes, I know.  I have the CCCP codec pack installed; LightAlloy should be able to use those codecs.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on December 07, 2009, 10:01 PM
I've never really understood the popularity of VLC, although it *used* to have some features (ability to play certain file types) that other players usually struggled with. But the UI is still atrocious, and other players have far surpassed it both in features and format support.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 07, 2009, 10:09 PM
It doesn't come with codecs internally.  The codecs need to be configured on your system for it to play video.  it's not the player's fault.

Yes, I know.  I have the CCCP codec pack installed; LightAlloy should be able to use those codecs.
I'm not sure then.  That's one of the areas I'm not too good at.  I don't know how the system and video players figure out how to decode a video, nor do I know how to configure settings too much.  I understand for the internal ones like VLC, everything is just packaged with the program.  But with the ones that depend on your system configuration, it's an area I'm weak at.

The cccp pack should work, I don't know.  I would say ask the Light Alloy developer, but unless you are fluent in Russion, it might be difficult!
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 08, 2009, 05:43 AM
...I kind of figured you meant SPlayer, ..., you might want to check it out:
http://www.splayer.org/index.en.html

- really good and fast :-)
SPlayer is only almost as fast as Light Alloy, but more stable / agile.

I am however confused / disappointed that the huge number of hotkeys SPlayer comes with  doesn't come with a common and easy to use disable button, but each hotkey must be clicked several times in the settings, in order to merely disable it. You cannot use the rest of the computer when SPlayer Home Theater is running. Even characters like "A" or "H" are hotwired per default! But maybe I didn't notice the relevant button? Or maybe the secret is to learn to differ between the two versions the user actually gets (at installation it puts two shortcuts (SPlayer and SPlayer HomeTheater) on the quick launch bar)?

Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 08, 2009, 06:32 AM
post deleted, I said it wrongly
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: lanux128 on December 08, 2009, 06:53 AM
any thoughts on BSplayer (http://www.google.com/search?q=BSplayer)? incidentally there's a band called Light Alloy (http://www.lightalloy.com/).
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: steeladept on December 08, 2009, 07:59 AM
I can't say for anyone else, but I know the reason I like VLC (and the only time I use it) is because there is a portable version of it.  There may be others, such as GOM which I have heard was portable, but VLC was good enough at the time and I never bothered looking further.  That is most likely why so many others like it too...It works good enough, and it was the first one they came across.  </threadjack>
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 08, 2009, 10:42 AM
Hmmm...I like Splayer, but I wish it was a little more configurable.  It has one of the strangest preference dialogs ever.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Shades on December 08, 2009, 12:25 PM
Have you tried 'ALShow (http://www.altools.com/ALTools/ALShow.aspx)' already?

My system has never seen an installation screen of any codec pack, but this one seems to be able to play some of the "grown-up" content that I have without problems, while The KMplayer, VLC and MPC crash miserably playing those files.

They have more high quality freeware on that site besides the ALShow player.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on December 08, 2009, 12:54 PM
Lanux, BSPlayer used to be my favorite player, maybe 5 years back. But it turned into adware/crapware and (I think) payware, and now it's back in development but still struggling. I wouldn't recommend it, especially not with all the other great free options out there.

Steeladept: Your reasoning for VLC makes perfect sense, and now I totally understand. I've never been a portable apps nut so that need never came up for me, but I suppose your perspective on good software can totally shift if portability is a requirement!

Superboyac: What do you want to configure in Splayer that you can't do?

Shades: I tried ALShow ages ago, it was ok but didn't best KMPlayer at the time. I'm frankly quite surprised that it can handle things KMPlayer, VLC, and MPC all choke on. What format and compression codec(s)?

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Tuxman on December 08, 2009, 01:05 PM
Hm, mplayer.

For those who need "a bit" of GUI flavor: MPC-HC with ffdshow filters.
VLC's codecs are not made for playing local files.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 08, 2009, 01:37 PM
Superboyac: What do you want to configure in Splayer that you can't do?
Mouse button customization.  Most of these programs have options to assign functions to left-mouse, right-mouse buttons.  Also, program double-click function, etc.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 08, 2009, 02:20 PM
Superboyac: What do you want to configure in Splayer that you can't do?
Mouse button customization.  Most of these programs have options to assign functions to left-mouse, right-mouse buttons.  Also, program double-click function, etc.

SPlayer's hotkey settings includes the mouse, but is only available via Splayer HomeTheater:



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Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 08, 2009, 03:49 PM
Thanks Curt.  I'll give that a go.  They should make their options interface a little more, shall i say, normal!
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 08, 2009, 04:12 PM
At first I was excited by/with SPlayer, but now I am reluctant... It does almost every thing, but to me it's not quite the right thing! It will not allow me to close it to the sys-tray, but will closeclose = exit. The played files are added to a playlist, and I have not yet found a way to make SPlayer 'play&forget' without this playlist being created. If I minimize to sys-tray the playlist will be remembered, meaning that I'll have to clear it all of the time.

I would gladly have a hundred hotkeys less, in exchange for these minor changes. I wonder if it will make any difference to write these people? The non-Chinese part of the potential market doesn't seem to have their interest.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 08, 2009, 04:40 PM
I like your term: "play and forget".

I agree with your complaints.  I would also like those features you mentioned.  I'll be sticking with Light Alloy for now.  But Splayer is nice, I will be keeping my eye on it.  I love the interface, it's so clean.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 08, 2009, 05:25 PM
Another vote here for MPC-HC - the only player I use, (in it's portable version).  Single executable, integrated codecs, fully customisable keys/mouse.

It works on W7 and is also available in x64.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Zero3K on December 08, 2009, 05:55 PM
Curt: The developer of SPlayer has a MSN account. Its [email protected].
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 08, 2009, 08:50 PM
Another vote here for MPC-HC - the only player I use, (in it's portable version).  Single executable, integrated codecs, fully customisable keys/mouse.

It works on W7 and is also available in x64.
OOh!  It's portable?  I'm going to add it to my USB drive.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 09, 2009, 06:21 AM
OOh!  It's portable?  I'm going to add it to my USB drive.

Being a single executable kind of makes that easy :)

Just check the box Options->Player->Store settings to .ini file
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 09, 2009, 10:49 AM
OOh!  It's portable?  I'm going to add it to my USB drive.

Being a single executable kind of makes that easy :)

Just check the box Options->Player->Store settings to .ini file
MPC-HC is very, very nice!  I like it.  I may have found my default portable player.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 09, 2009, 02:23 PM
SPlayer has a MSN account. Its [email protected].
- thanks!  :up:
I mailed him this:

Thank you for making the fine SPlayer, and even more for offering it for free!

Feature requests:
Option to 'Close (not exit) to sys-tray, on Escape-button'.
Option to 'Do not create a playlist'.

(...)

Kind regards,

Now we will just have to wait and see. [hint] But of course the chances will grow tremendously if more people will write him[/hint]
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 09, 2009, 04:06 PM
MPC-HC is very, very nice!  I like it.  I may have found my default portable player.

I'm always finding things in it I never noticed before, eg. a couple of days ago I had a DVD that had minor audio/video sync problem, lo-and-behold you can adjust it from the Audio->Options menu.

My PowerDVD loving friend was most impressed :)
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 09, 2009, 05:24 PM
As far as I can or can't see, SPlayer and MPC-HC is one and the same program.

 :tellme:

I won't keep any of them.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Innuendo on December 09, 2009, 11:15 PM
I used to use MPC...then I moved to MPC-HC. These days I use KMPlayer (the last version before Pandora.TV bought them out).

I'm not sure what the obsession is with speed, though. I'll gladly give up a second or so in launch time for the sheer humongous amount of tweaking/tuning options KMPlayer gives me.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: libeco on December 10, 2009, 06:28 AM
I've been using Media Player Classic and VLC for years and I still like them better than any other program. What find annoying though is that on Vista and 7 dragging a video to the player to play it is not working anymore. In XP when dragging a file to the open player would keep the player on top of everything else. In Vista and 7 when dragging the player is immediately displayed behind Windows Explorer. This is very annoying when watching tutorial series which consist of many smaller videos, Alt+Tab'ing all the time.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 10, 2009, 10:00 AM
I'm not sure what the obsession is with speed, though. I'll gladly give up a second or so in launch time for the sheer humongous amount of tweaking/tuning options KMPlayer gives me.
No you wouldn't!  
 :o

Sorry for telling you what you would like, I have no right to do so. But superboyac did not ask for features or user-friendliness, or anything else than speed - in order to stop wasting time when he's walking through a collection of video files in Explorer, searching for the right one. There is no substitute for speed in such a case. If it furthermore is okay to wait another second or two, when you want to somehow edit or otherwise manage a file, then there is no need at all to have your favourite player set to also be the default player - you can merely right-click the file and make your choice.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 10, 2009, 10:35 AM
I'm not sure what the obsession is with speed, though. I'll gladly give up a second or so in launch time for the sheer humongous amount of tweaking/tuning options KMPlayer gives me.
No you wouldn't! 
 :o

Sorry for telling you what you would like, I have no right to do so. But superboyac did not ask for features or user-friendliness, or anything else than speed - in order to stop wasting time when he's walking through a collection of video files in Explorer, searching for the right one. There is no substitute for speed in such a case. If it furthermore is okay to wait another second or two, when you want to somehow edit or otherwise manage a file, then there is no need at all to have your favourite player set to also be the default player - you can merely right-click the file and make your choice.

Thanks Curt!  He described exactly the scenario I had in mind.

It's not an obsession.  I use many different video players for different purposes.  Sometimes, i even use a different video player just to change it up.  i.e. no reason.  But in this case, I wanted the quickest one.

It's just one of those things.  After using your computer for a while and trying out, say, a bunch of video players, you realize what is annoying you the most or what you find most pleasant.  In my case, I realized that I was really happy when I double-clicked a video file and the player quickly came up.  So I knew that was the feature that I liked most.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 10, 2009, 07:12 PM
In Vista and 7 when dragging the player is immediately displayed behind Windows Explorer. This is very annoying when watching tutorial series which consist of many smaller videos, Alt+Tab'ing all the time.

In MPC-HC, try right-click on the window and choose: View->On Top->While Playing
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 11, 2009, 03:08 AM
In Vista and 7 when dragging the player is immediately displayed behind Windows Explorer. This is very annoying when watching tutorial series which consist of many smaller videos, Alt+Tab'ing all the time.

In MPC-HC, try right-click on the window and choose: View->On Top->While Playing

- and this will then be the same way to do it in SPlayer...


As far as I can or can't see, SPlayer and MPC-HC is one and the same program.

I guess SPlayer is the more advanced version
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 11, 2009, 03:15 AM
... I would gladly have a hundred hotkeys less, in exchange for these minor changes.

Turns out that the only option missing is to minimize on Escape button, all the other features requested are already present!  :up:

But one has to search here and there and everywhere to find the relevant settings!

I am keeping SPlayer!  :up:
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 11, 2009, 04:08 AM
I guess SPlayer is the more advanced version

I would have said MPC-HC because it is only a single file and doesn't need a directory full of codecs and a batch file to (de)register them.

Oh well, to each his own :)

Addendum: My mistake, you can delete all the codecs and it will still work, (although I am unsure whether this is because ffdshow is installed or not), however I do have to say that the Options interface does rank among one of the worst I've ever used - not clearly laid out at all.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 11, 2009, 08:07 AM
- yes, you are so right about the options interface, the design is really awful. So, one reason I am keeping SPlayer is that it took me so long to do the settings, that I can't defend to my time manager to make it wasted time!

Maybe I was calling SPlayer the more advanced version because of the Home Theater part, but I don't like that part either. However, all this is not about 'The Best' player, but about which video player is the fastest to use... once the settings have been done!
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 11, 2009, 03:40 PM
SPlayer keeps getting better all the time! It now turns out that the Close on 'Exit' is called "BossKey". The key was different ("Ctrl+`"), but I simply changed this to "Esc", and Exit to "Ctrl+Esc".


Now I will have to use my imagination if I am to come up with more wishes.  

- hmm..: No! The BossKey has a side effect; the player doesn't pop up, when a video is double-clicked.
Argh! For a moment I thought everything was perfect.
And now WordWeb will no longer close on Escape!!
Sorry I was applauding to soon!
 :(
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 11, 2009, 05:14 PM
- hmm..: No! The BossKey has a side effect; the player doesn't pop up, when a video is double-clicked.
Argh! For a moment I thought everything was perfect.
And now WordWeb will no longer close on Escape!!

(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/sekret.gif) Should I mention that MPC-HC can do those things? (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/WHISTLE.GIF)

A new video will re-open the player and Escape only works on MPC-HC when it has focus, other programs work as usual when they have focus.
If you want the BossKey to work when MPC doesn't have focus then you need to pick a key combination that isn't used by another program - as it should be.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 11, 2009, 06:12 PM
- is this ALL true? To my (lack of) understanding, if I press Close, MPC will merely close the file, and stay in position on screen, not Close-and-minimize-to-systray. But of course, MPC also has hundreds of keys and settings, I might not have reached the proper combination yet.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 11, 2009, 08:42 PM
- is this ALL true? To my (lack of) understanding, if I press Close, MPC will merely close the file, and stay in position on screen, not Close-and-minimize-to-systray. But of course, MPC also has hundreds of keys and settings, I might not have reached the proper combination yet.

Now you've provided more info, so:
a) MPC-HC will minimise to the Taskbar and perform as I said above regarding the BossKey.
b) If you have selected to use the Tray icon, it will minimise to the Tray icon when you press the BossKey but will not re-open when you double-click another video file - as you found with SPlayer.
c) When I click the Close button in MPC-HC, it closes...period.  The file closes, the interface closes, the program exits.  It doesn't Minimise-on-Close and I can't find an option for that.
d) If I select File->Close or use the keys for Close, then it does as you describe.  There is no Minimise-on-File Close option.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 12, 2009, 12:02 AM
Hahaha... ;D ;D
I love this guy, the author of Light Alloy.
So I'm browsing his all-Russian website using Google translator.  The front page says that the program is free for Russian speaking customers and there's a link:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

which takes you to the license page.  Here, he gives the instructions on how to input the free license:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

That's hilarious.  I'm trying to figure out what "Then have a little break his head over a mystery" means!  Maybe this is his way of truly filtering out russian speaking customers.  He beat google at their own game.  Brilliant!
[edit] I get it!  It's a riddle.  Cool.  Anyone?
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: J-Mac on December 12, 2009, 12:12 AM
VLC Player was OK - I mainly used it for certain file types that didn't seem to want to play on anything else. Then with the versions right before 1.0 it got a lot better at just about everything on my PC. But Version 1.0 iddnt work very well at all for me and I was about to abandon it altogether. But the next two versions were about perfect IMO. UI is pretty bland, I agree, but it just seems to kick ass on files that I cannot get to play elsewhere. WMP11 is fine except for that doggone DRM. I had a number of downloaded tracks from Rhapsody that were perfectly legal; while the tracks were subscription-related I still had an active subscription to Rhapsody (heavily discounted on a deal with Comcast) and therefore the tracks should have been legal for me to play. But the latest version of Rhapsody Player at the time was real buggy and so I had not yet tried reinstalling it on a freshly reinstalled XP Pro. WMP11 would not play any of the tracks, saying that I must hafve Rhapsody Player installed before playing them. Other players played them anyway, so I gave up on WMP. I don't need that kind of policing.

VLC, since their 1.0 release, can now rip/burn DVD movies, believe it or not. My only big gripe is that if I'm watching a small video - wmv or avi - and don't want to open it up full screen, it keeps reverting back to the default size even though I set it to 2x. Every time a scene would change it would jump right back to small. So now I have to use the hotkey - Ctrl+4 - to make the size 2x and stay that way throughout the video. Plus, VLC has very decent frame-by-frame features, jump ahead or back short, medium, or long times. It just does a lot that other free viewers do not. At least that I have found.

Thanks!

Jim
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 12, 2009, 12:14 AM
By the way, I did a few experiments with MPC-HC and Light Alloy:
Light Alloy is still quicker to open a file.  Not that MPC is slow, but LA is quicker.  Just FYI.  I tried it with all kinds of files.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 12, 2009, 04:31 AM
Hahaha... ;D ;D
I love this guy, the author of Light Alloy.
...
 I get it!  It's a riddle.  Cool.  Anyone?

- no, I don't have it, (I couldn't even find a way to purchase it from the Russian spoken pages), but I am eager to learn! The Russian SLO.RU (http://www.slo.ru/files/video_players/light_alloy) states Light Alloy to be freeware, so the answer to the riddle may not be too difficult, for Russians... (unless the SLO version is a special SLO-Russian version).
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 12, 2009, 06:08 PM
The Russian SLO.RU (http://www.slo.ru/files/video_players/light_alloy) states Light Alloy to be freeware, so the answer to the riddle may not be too difficult, for Russians... (unless the SLO version is a special SLO-Russian version).

Actually it says on the Softella (http://www.softella.com/la/index.ru.htm) website: Free for the Russian speaking population.

So, technically, if you can speak Russian you can use it for free.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 13, 2009, 12:31 AM
The Russian SLO.RU (http://www.slo.ru/files/video_players/light_alloy) states Light Alloy to be freeware, so the answer to the riddle may not be too difficult, for Russians... (unless the SLO version is a special SLO-Russian version).

Actually it says on the Softella (http://www.softella.com/la/index.ru.htm) website: Free for the Russian speaking population.

So, technically, if you can speak Russian you can use it for free.
Yeah, but it seems like you have to be able to solve the riddle to find out what to enter in the registration fields.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 13, 2009, 12:37 AM
Geez, another interesting thing about Light Alloy from the website in the contact section:
For discussion of all issues there is a forum in which even works search.

However, if you have an irresistible urge to send a message to the author the player, here you can do it.

Be aware that the likelihood that you will receive a response almost zero, but perhaps, your message will be read.

He's certainly one of the more peculiar authors that I've come across.  But he makes a fantastic product.

Other peculiar authors with great software I've come across (just FYI):
The Bat
Xfilesdialog
Calendarscope
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 13, 2009, 01:28 AM
Yeah, but it seems like you have to be able to solve the riddle to find out what to enter in the registration fields.

Sorry, missed that bit.

Using Google Translate, I get: "Then have a little break a head, I hope all will end well."

Which makes a little more sense if, for example, the program phones home to check the validity of your claim to be Russian speaking.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 13, 2009, 01:45 AM
No, the program doesn't phone home.  If you enter the correct key, it will register (it's internally programmed).  It's a riddle.  I also found another forum yesterday (i'll post the link if I find it again); in the forum (which was also in russian), a bunch of russian people were trying to figure out what the answer to the riddle was.  No one in the thread seemed to have found it.  So, I'm not sure how the free registration actually works.  I think the author is just having fun.

[edit]
http://programki.net/koment_all.php?pr=20&pg=3
There's the forum.  If you translate it, you can read how they're trying to figure out the riddle.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 13, 2009, 02:05 AM
OK, I'm getting closer...
If you leave the program (Light Alloy) in Russian, and then go into the license registration screen, you will see that there is something prewritten in the "Registration Name" field:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

So that must be a prompt or something.  Maybe it's a question, and the answer is the key, and if you put it in, the registration is complete.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 13, 2009, 02:21 AM
OK, I've almost figured it out.
The author has programmed a bunch of riddles into the program's registration dialog.  So if you leave it in Russian mode, there will always be a different riddle in the "registration name" field.  If you know the answer, put it in the bottom field and you will succeed with registration.  I'm trying to figure it out using some online translators, but i can't seem to figure out any of the riddles.  The closest I've come is the current one I'm trying:

What has five closets and one door?
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 13, 2009, 02:26 AM
Another one:

The more from it you take, the more it becomes.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 13, 2009, 02:30 AM
Shoot, I thought I almost had one!

Question: Fish in the sea - a tail on a fence. (roughly translated)
Answer:  Beaver

But it didn't work.  I though the answer was beaver because it swims and build a dam, but it didn't work.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 13, 2009, 09:40 AM
if your time is worth anything it would long ago have been cheaper to simply purchase that $20 license, wouldn't it.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 13, 2009, 11:09 AM
if your time is worth anything it would long ago have been cheaper to simply purchase that $20 license, wouldn't it.
Curt, I've already bought a license years ago.  I'm just having a little fun.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Innuendo on December 13, 2009, 11:16 AM
if your time is worth anything it would long ago have been cheaper to simply purchase that $20 license, wouldn't it.

Sometimes it's not about the money, but rather the challenge.

For the curious, another developer that does the "free for Russian speaking users" thing is Westbyte. For the non-Russian speaking populace they have a download manager called Internet Download Accelerator which is shareware. However, if you speak Russian they have a download manager available called Download Master which is the exact same program, but has a hard-coded Russian interface. Download Master is freeware.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: AndyM on December 13, 2009, 01:52 PM
The more from it you take, the more it becomes

A hole?
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Shades on December 13, 2009, 03:41 PM
or taxes?
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 13, 2009, 07:12 PM
or taxes?

Taxes take from you - it doesn't fit the first part: "The more from it you take...."
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Shades on December 13, 2009, 10:26 PM
Then let me fill your mind with the following thought:

Societies that have a lot of taxes in general, also have a lot of rules and regulations for people to take their (fair) share out of the collected taxes. To keep all that administration and what not going...more taxes are required.  :(

Hence my previous post.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Grorgy on December 14, 2009, 03:09 AM
The more from it you take, the more it becomes - life
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: kakarukeys on December 14, 2009, 05:12 AM
For video player, I'm not looking into the fastest and lightest, but features that can save you from worst nightmare. E.g. some video player allows you to adjust the playing speed and subtitle/sound synchronization.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: 4wd on December 14, 2009, 06:12 AM
MPC-HC will let you set a variable audio delay, Options->Audio Switcher->Audio time shift (ms).  You can also advance/delay the subtitles in steps of 500ms, (F1/F2), won't affect hardcoded subs naturally.

Variable rate playback is limited to specific steps: 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0, (Cntrl-Up/Down).

Since this is only likely to occur on AVI files wouldn't it be better to remux, (AVI-Mux GUI (http://www.alexander-noe.com/video/amg/)), the file so that audio/video will always be in sync?

With subtitles, just load the subtitle file into ReSync, (part of VobSub (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/subtitle_tools/vobsub.cfm)), or Subtitle Edit (http://www.nikse.dk/se/) set an appropriate delay and save the output with the new offsets.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on December 16, 2009, 05:47 PM
KMPlayer can do all the fancy offset stuff, fairly customizable, both for audio/video and subs. I think you can even save offsets associated with a particular file name for future use...

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 16, 2009, 07:23 PM
KMPlayer can do all the fancy offset stuff, fairly customizable, both for audio/video and subs. I think you can even save offsets associated with a particular file name for future use...

- Oshyan
There's pretty much nothing that KMPlayer can't do.  But Light Alloy is significantly faster in starting up (double-click launch).
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Innuendo on December 16, 2009, 10:29 PM
There's pretty much nothing that KMPlayer can't do.  But Light Alloy is significantly faster in starting up (double-click launch).

KMPlayer is just awesome. When i need fast nothing is faster than hitting F3 in Total Commander. :)
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: MilesAhead on December 16, 2009, 11:34 PM
If anyone runs into a free Windows player that plays BluRay discs please post.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: J-Mac on December 17, 2009, 01:31 AM
There's pretty much nothing that KMPlayer can't do.  But Light Alloy is significantly faster in starting up (double-click launch).

KMPlayer is just awesome. When i need fast nothing is faster than hitting F3 in Total Commander. :)

Hmm...  I thought pressing F3 in TC was View File? Is that a custom config? Or are there features that I don't know about?

Thanks!

Jim
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Innuendo on December 17, 2009, 11:10 AM
If anyone runs into a free Windows player that plays BluRay discs please post.

I think if anyone were to come out with such a thing The Man would swoop down on them pretty fast. Licensing fees must be paid to Big Brother and all that, you know.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Innuendo on December 17, 2009, 11:13 AM
Hmm...  I thought pressing F3 in TC was View File? Is that a custom config? Or are there features that I don't know about?

Yep, F3 is View File & there are a few plugins available that will provide functionality to view movies. For the super-impatient there's also a plugin to play mp3s, flacs, apes, etc. as well. With a little time & effort spent there's not much that Total Commander can't do.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: J-Mac on December 17, 2009, 11:54 AM
Hmm...  I thought pressing F3 in TC was View File? Is that a custom config? Or are there features that I don't know about?

Yep, F3 is View File & there are a few plugins available that will provide functionality to view movies. For the super-impatient there's also a plugin to play mp3s, flacs, apes, etc. as well. With a little time & effort spent there's not much that Total Commander can't do.

Cool!  :)

Thanks!

Jim
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: MilesAhead on December 17, 2009, 01:16 PM
If anyone runs into a free Windows player that plays BluRay discs please post.

I think if anyone were to come out with such a thing The Man would swoop down on them pretty fast. Licensing fees must be paid to Big Brother and all that, you know.

The whole thing is bizarre.  I remember there were big furors in the past with VHS and audio cassette.  Now if you tell someone there was a big resistance to recording songs off the radio using your cassette recorder they look at you like you're nuts.  Then again, with the younger generation it seems before the Garden of Eden was even created, there was cable TV(what do you mean it wasn't always there? You're crazy!!)

(http://www.smileyvault.com/albums/CBSA/smileyvault-cute-big-smiley-animated-035.gif) (http://www.smileyvault.com/)
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: sajman99 on December 17, 2009, 02:17 PM
... Then again, with the younger generation it seems before the Garden of Eden was even created, there was cable TV(what do you mean it wasn't always there? You're crazy!!)

 ;D ;D Gotta say--that one killed me! ;D ;D
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: MilesAhead on December 17, 2009, 04:53 PM
(http://www.smileyvault.com/albums/CBSA/smileyvault-cute-big-smiley-animated-023.gif) (http://www.smileyvault.com/)
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: mrainey on December 26, 2009, 10:01 AM
After playing around with Light Alloy (on XP), I have two negative observations.

The program starts very quickly but seems to sit for quite a long time before actually playing anything.

A significant number of flv files won't play at all.  I get an error message and Light Alloy crashes.  All the files play on FLV Player with no problems.


Ideas?

Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: sajman99 on December 26, 2009, 01:15 PM
...All the files play on FLV Player with no problems...Ideas?

If the .flvs play on FLV Player, the odds are quite good they will play on KMPlayer as well (sorry- I don't use Light Alloy).

Also, I recently updated Universal Viewer (http://www.uvviewsoft.com/) and discovered it plays .flvs flawlessly. I got the UV portable build, and I cannot give enough positive comments about this brilliant freeware multi-format player.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: MilesAhead on December 26, 2009, 06:46 PM
I think if anyone were to come out with such a thing The Man would swoop down on them pretty fast. Licensing fees must be paid to Big Brother and all that, you know.
-Innuendo

From what I read in user comments for Media Player Classic Home Theater, the user claims he can play discs in the optical drive once scanned with AnyDVDHD.  AnyDVDHD is running a promo for a few more days... but that's not really enough time for me to try it out.  Might be overkill for what I need anyway.

Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 26, 2009, 06:51 PM
... Universal Viewer (http://www.uvviewsoft.com/) ... this brilliant freeware multi-format player.

How many plugins are necessary / what can it do by itself ?

Isn't it $23 ?
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: MilesAhead on December 26, 2009, 07:00 PM
Not sure how fast but if you need to handle large .mkv and .mp4 files on Windows you might try Splash (http://mirillis.com/splash.html)

I use the free Lite version.  It can handle large files without crashing, the seek slider seems to work very smoothly whereas VLC will sometimes crash as soon as you advance the slider.  Also it claims, even in the Lite version, hardware acceleration for supported video cards.  On my quad core I have the acceleration enabled.  It doesn't seem to cut down on resource usage, but I haven't noticed any pauses when playing the video as I'll sometimes get with VLC or MPCHT.

Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: sajman99 on December 27, 2009, 02:36 AM
... Universal Viewer (http://www.uvviewsoft.com/) ... this brilliant freeware multi-format player.

How many plugins are necessary / what can it do by itself ? Isn't it $23 ?

http://www.uvviewsoft.com -very bottom of page:
License: the main application is freeware; the add-on "Navigation Panel" is shareware (requires registration)
System requirements: Windows All (32-bit), MS Internet Explorer 4.0+

I've been using the freeware version without the optional navigation panel for the last few years. Unlike in the past when I had to use Lister plugins to get video file types (and also .swf) to play, I installed no plugins in the current Univeral Viewer and everything (.avi, .flv, .mpg, .wmv, mp4) I throw at it plays out-of-the-box. :) The name ("universal") is accurate as this app can play/view many different file types--not just video files.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 27, 2009, 05:48 AM
- thanks.

I am trying it now, and can surely confirm that it can handle a lot more file types now, on Vista, than the last time I tried it, on XP or Win2000. However, I cannot see how it can be sufficient without the navigation panel. It feels awkward, without. Isn't it supposed to replace Explorer, or are you setting it as default for many file types?
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: sajman99 on December 27, 2009, 12:39 PM
My preference with Universal Viewer is to enable the "Show Explorer context menu" so I always have that option available whether I'm using a file manager or Explorer. I haven't chosen to set any file associations to Universal Viewer, but it still stands "ready" to deal with whatever file type I encounter.

With or without the navigation panel, Universal Viewer seems to be a very useful app to have available. :up:
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: mrainey on December 27, 2009, 08:58 PM
I just gave KM Player a try, and on my system it opens and starts actually playing videos much faster than Light Alloy does.  It plays the flv's that Light Alloy choked on.  It has far more features and overall polish.  It's a much better program by any standard I can think of.

Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 27, 2009, 10:16 PM
I just gave KM Player a try, and on my system it opens and starts actually playing videos much faster than Light Alloy does.  It plays the flv's that Light Alloy choked on.  It has far more features and overall polish.  It's a much better program by any standard I can think of.
There's no question KMPlayer is a better overall program with loads more features.  I find it hard to believe it starts fast than LA, but you never know.  I wouldn't be surprised if LA didn't handle flv files well.  flv files don't seem to be well supported by a lot of players.  But, still, from my experiences, for normal like avi/mpg/etc, LA is significantly faster to load than KMP.  But KMP is just, well, better overall.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 27, 2009, 10:17 PM
Not sure how fast but if you need to handle large .mkv and .mp4 files on Windows you might try Splash (http://mirillis.com/splash.html)

I use the free Lite version.  It can handle large files without crashing, the seek slider seems to work very smoothly whereas VLC will sometimes crash as soon as you advance the slider.  Also it claims, even in the Lite version, hardware acceleration for supported video cards.  On my quad core I have the acceleration enabled.  It doesn't seem to cut down on resource usage, but I haven't noticed any pauses when playing the video as I'll sometimes get with VLC or MPCHT.
Splash looks really cool!  Very nice looking player, and it 'feels' fast for now.  I haven't played with it extensively yet, but it looks promising, even if it is shareware for the pro version.  Hopefully, they will soon make it full featured.  It's pretty minimalist right now.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: MilesAhead on December 28, 2009, 11:26 AM
One thing about it that contrasts with players like VLC and MPCHT is it doesn't take up the whole screen or show oversized with scrollbars on HD content when run in Windowed mode.  When sampling video it's good to keep this in mind since the output tends to look glassier and smoother with the lower resolution.  But checking for graininess while maximized fixes that.  It's just easy to forget it.

The main thing with me is I haven't seen it crash yet from advancing the slider.  That's very frustrating when using VLC.  Seems like half the .mkv files crash as soon as you touch it.  There's supposed to be a new Lite version out soon with some bug fixes and perhaps a few new features.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 28, 2009, 05:03 PM
One thing about it that contrasts with players like VLC and MPCHT is it doesn't take up the whole screen or show oversized with scrollbars on HD content when run in Windowed mode.  When sampling video it's good to keep this in mind since the output tends to look glassier and smoother with the lower resolution.  But checking for graininess while maximized fixes that.  It's just easy to forget it.

The main thing with me is I haven't seen it crash yet from advancing the slider.  That's very frustrating when using VLC.  Seems like half the .mkv files crash as soon as you touch it.  There's supposed to be a new Lite version out soon with some bug fixes and perhaps a few new features.

That's cool.  I also found that using the slider was pretty smooth with HD mkv files.  Most of my other players really struggled with the large mkv files.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 29, 2009, 11:19 AM
Splash is really quite fast.  I've been very impressed by it over the last couple of days.  For anyone who cares to try, take one of your very large HD files and play them in Splash like MilesAhead said.  Then click around the seekbar to jump to different positions.  I haven't seen many if any players handle it that quickly and smoothly.

If Splash adds some more options I'll consider replacing Light Alloy for sure.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: shobazi on January 03, 2010, 05:59 PM
Thanks Java Jones for introducing this splayer..really interesting one I need to try out..I am using VLC from very long back..according to me it is right now i will try out splayer..
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: sajman99 on January 06, 2010, 12:41 PM
For those interested in a truly minimalist solution, KoolPlaya (http://koolplaya.de) is actually a capable video player provided you have the codec support.

It obviously won't be replacing the fully-featured KMplayer or GOM Player on my system, but still I can't resist this little 452 kb executable.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Tuxman on February 21, 2010, 12:16 AM
The "problem" with the KMPlayer is that it tends to pollute the registry. (To be honest: I haven't checked it for a few months now, but I really doubt that this has changed since then.)
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on February 21, 2010, 12:26 AM
There is a "save settings to ini file" option. I haven't tried it but it may avoid some of the registry "polluting" you mention.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Tuxman on February 21, 2010, 12:28 AM
Is it available before actually having to start it?
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on February 23, 2010, 12:42 AM
I believe it's part of the first-start "configuration wizard", which might indicate it is before it stores settings in registry entries.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Tuxman on February 23, 2010, 01:06 AM
Hm, before it is actually started, the installer already creates registry keys.  :D

(Just tested it: HKCU/Software/KMPlayer is created before actually doing anything in the wizard!)
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: skwire on February 23, 2010, 02:12 AM
So?  Big deal.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on February 23, 2010, 08:37 AM
So?  Big deal.
;D
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Tuxman on February 23, 2010, 09:47 AM
Yes, it is.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Josh on February 23, 2010, 10:22 AM
Everyone, please do not get roped into this debate.

(http://www.pmdawnonline.com/forum/images/smilies/dontfeedtrolls.gif)
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Kamel on February 23, 2010, 10:51 AM
honestly, for the quickest player i would my money on straight up plain old mplayer. not mplayer+gui, not kmplayer, not qmplayer not anythingmplayer, just mplayer. it has no gui and loads/plays basically immediately. for an even faster response (according to your video card) try changing the video out to gl2.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: J-Mac on February 23, 2010, 03:00 PM
Unfortunately this is one of those threads where a good question is asked but I'm not certain that there is any one answer that would satisfy the needs and/or wants of all. What one user likes about a given player might be unimportant or not liked by others.

This is a perfect topic for one of those Software Review Shootouts (https://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/index.html) that were once fairly common here at DC. That way a group of video players could be reviewed and all features, all pros and cons could be spelled out clearly giving users good, solid info to help them find a video player that suits their own desires. It's a shame that they are so time consuming to write. I would give it a try but I'm afraid that like most I don’t really have the time to test/try out a lot of different players and then write detailed reviews of each. Sure, personal opinions probably shade some of those reviews but they are still a great resource for our readers!

All that said, I am still using VLC for watching videos on my computer. I can't really compare it to others because I haven't really tried many others; again, I don’t have time to line up a half dozen and test them. Since Windows Media Player - which is actually a very good player otherwise - often refuses to play some videos (and audio tracks for that matter) if it reads them as files that should have a license and can't find a license to load. It has done that here on a few occasions where the file has no DRM and should be able to play freely. That makes it "player-non-grata" to me! I downloaded VLC to see if it would play those files and it worked fine without a peep. Also it doesn’t install a boatload of codecs and I like that. Some players load so many darned codecs and then I CAN'T easily remove them if I uninstall the player. In some cases they replace needed codecs and removing them screws everything up. Real bad if you are not especially versed in what codecs Windows needs and where to get them.

So I'll probably keep using VLC until it stops working for me or until something comes along that I try because it is touted as "all that" by users here. That would most likely make me give it a try.

Anyway thanks for listening!   :)

Jim
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Josh on February 23, 2010, 03:54 PM
VLC is what I use as well. It supports everything I need it to, is lightweight, portable and can be configured (although the hotkey configuration system leaves a bit to be desired).

VLC gets my vote.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: mouser on February 23, 2010, 04:26 PM
while i don't share other people's concerns about registry bloat per se, this issue with video players very much concerns me:

Also it doesn’t install a boatload of codecs and I like that. Some players load so many darned codecs and then I CAN'T easily remove them if I uninstall the player. In some cases they replace needed codecs and removing them screws everything up. Real bad if you are not especially versed in what codecs Windows needs and where to get them.

Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on February 23, 2010, 07:18 PM
What player is installing all these codecs *into the system*? Most of the ones discussed in this thread all have *internal* codecs, but they're not being registered in the system and so they should have little or no system impact and should be gone once you uninstall the player. *Codec packs* that come with players (e.g. CCCP-Project or KLite Codec PacK) are an entirely differeny matter of course.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on February 23, 2010, 09:14 PM

This is a perfect topic for one of those Software Review Shootouts (https://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/index.html) that were once fairly common here at DC. That way a group of video players could be reviewed and all features, all pros and cons could be spelled out clearly giving users good, solid info to help them find a video player that suits their own desires. It's a shame that they are so time consuming to write.
J-Mac, I agree with all of your thoughts here.  Those shootouts are extremely difficult to churn out.  It burns you out very quickly.  I tried to do one with the notetakers and I just couldn't sustain it.  I've tried a variety of ways to contribute good software reviews here apart from the normal forum participation.  But all the ways I tried were nothing I could sustain.  The best solution I came up with, and that i'm very happy with, is asking DC to host my website, and there I have a special section for short reviews ( on the level of the "mini-reviews").  And they aren't complete in any way, and they don't offer much in the way of comparison to alternatives.  But I highlight the features that really stand out, and all of the ones I list are the software that I prefer and use every day.  So it's one of those things where if people trust my opinion, then they have some assurance that the software I'm talking about is a good choice.  I based this model on Zaine's now-defunct Great Software List.  Once I realized and trusted that he knew what he was talking about, whenever I wanted to pick a software, I'd just go to his list and choose the one he recommended and I knew I'd be happy with it.  So that's the best model I've found so far, and it's something I can sustain no matter what my schedule is like.

Not to be off-topic, but you brought it up. And it is my thread, after all!

back on topic.  Regarding this thread, I kind of knew that it would go off-topic eventually.  I tried to be clear in identifying the one particular feature that I was interested in.  But as soon as you say "video player" and "best", it opens the floodgates.  You knew you'd have to fight through all the usual VLC vs. KMPlayer vs. MPC posts.  But it did help me find my answer.  i also think it's a good reference thread to come to sometimes.  Such is the nature of forums.  Still, donationcoder is remarkably  well-behaved compared to any other forum I've ever come across.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Kamel on February 23, 2010, 10:10 PM
I never claimed mplayer was the best, i don't even use it myself. if you want the quickest loading and the one that has the smallest impact on your system integrity, i seriously doubt you'll get any better.

you can make your other arguments about it, but i think this is something that can be measured, according to the OP's requests. mplayer meets them all. until i see new requirements that aren't listed, i will assume that mplayer is the correct answer to your question, despite the assumption that no correct answer exists.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: J-Mac on February 23, 2010, 10:28 PM
What player is installing all these codecs *into the system*? Most of the ones discussed in this thread all have *internal* codecs, but they're not being registered in the system and so they should have little or no system impact and should be gone once you uninstall the player. *Codec packs* that come with players (e.g. CCCP-Project or KLite Codec PacK) are an entirely differeny matter of course.

- Oshyan

@Oshyan: I haven't tried any of the players here so I don’t know about them. I mentioned that one reason I like VLC is that it also doesn’t do that. But in the past I have installed the "latest great thing" in the way of video - and audio - players and got stuck with a lot of codecs replaced in my system. That's why I haven't tried any of those mentioned here: I don’t know if they do that and since VLC is doing the job to my satisfaction I don’t feel the need to try the others.   :)

@SuperboyAC: I agree that you have done a good job with your mini-reviews! And I wasn’t saying that you should write any shootout reviews; just mentioning that they were always very helpful to me. Also I wasn’t trying to hijack the thread and I hope you didn't see it that way. I kinda though I was staying on-topic by talking about trying various alternate video players - which is in the right ballpark I believe.

@Kamel:  I hope you didn't think I was saying that. I don’t believe that I mentioned any by name other than WMP and VLC. And actually your post is extremely on topic, relating to the speed of that video player!

Thanks all!

Jim
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on February 23, 2010, 10:57 PM
no problem, J-mac!  Talk away!

Kamel, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I have to have SOME kind of interface.  I'm all for minimalism, but not nothing-ism!  That's why I've never adopted all that poweruser keyboard-shortcut stuff that the hardcore guys do.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Kamel on February 23, 2010, 11:02 PM
Kamel, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I have to have SOME kind of interface.  I'm all for minimalism, but not nothing-ism!  That's why I've never adopted all that poweruser keyboard-shortcut stuff that the hardcore guys do.

Ah, ok, so...

until i see new requirements that aren't listed

Has happened, lol. Mplayer does indeed have a gui, but honestly, it's very easy to use the keyboard for standard things. left/right for seeking, up/down for seeking a lot, space for play/pause, and f for fullscreen. not too complicated, and honestly that's all i ever use

Anyway, just trying to help. Good luck finding your holy grail. I might recommend trying mplayer gui though (NOT kmplayer or <insert some letter>mplayer, but the mplayer gui in addition to mplayer. it does literally that, and just that, adds a gui to mplayer.

Edit: The original one I was referring to may have stopped development? it was an official one. At any rate, I highly recommend >> http://sourceforge.net/projects/mplayerguiwin/
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on February 28, 2010, 01:53 PM
Kamel,
I will say one thing for mplayer (or smplayer gui) that I just discovered.  It was able to play certain large (>2gb) HD wmv files that no other software on my computer could handle.  KMplayer, light alloy, mpc, etc. all froze or crashed or just basically killed the computer's memory when trying to play the file, but mplayer played it without a hitch.  It was able to seek through the file with no problem.  All the other software could not seek at all, if I tried to, the entire computer would crash (seemed like the RAM was getting maxed out or something, I don't know).
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on February 28, 2010, 02:12 PM
See, this is my problem with stuff like mplayer.  It's so freaking ultra-minimalist, I mean it's ridiculous.  I've just spent the last 15 minutes trying to find the compiled exe of mplayer so I can stick it in mplayergui and start using it.  But it's next to impossible.  Look, I don't know how to compile, I don't even know where to begin.  Why can't they just put a nice big button for the exe on the download page?  Anyway, please help (kamel)...in the meantime, I'll be playing with smplayer.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on February 28, 2010, 02:30 PM
Yeah...mplayer is pretty great.  I'm not messing around with this command line stuff yet.  I'm using the smplayer packaged version, and it is good.  It has all the options I'm looking for so far.  A little more experimentation will be necessary!
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: MilesAhead on March 01, 2010, 01:27 PM
Splash Lite has updated to 1.3.  I think it's mostly small bug fixes.

http://mirillis.com/splash.html
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on March 01, 2010, 01:44 PM
Splash Lite has updated to 1.3.  I think it's mostly small bug fixes.

http://mirillis.com/splash.html

Yeah, I'm keeping my eye out on it also.  I like it a lot.  Very polished and fast.  I feel like it won't have enough options for me, but we'll see.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on March 03, 2010, 09:24 PM
OK, I've been playing with smplayer for a few days now.  It's not as quick to start as Light Alloy.  But it handles my very big wmv HD files a hellova lot better.  In fact, better than any other application i've tried on my computer.  It's feature rich also.  It can do just about anything you want it to.  not as many options as KMplayer, though.  but nothing has as many options as kmplayer.  The only bad thing is that it crashed on me a couple of times.  no big deal, but i can't remember any other player crashing recently.  It's definitely in my rotation of video players now.  Maybe I'll replace it as my goto player later.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 08, 2010, 09:19 PM
Light Alloy is making big progress!  A new beta for v4.5 has been released.  The new features are:
Portable version!  Yes!
Also, it is now being packaged with internal codecs, which a lot of people prefer.  He is also offering the lighter, no-codec version also.  So he has covered all bases.  Great developer.  Fantastic video player.  My favorite general purpose player.
http://www.light-alloy.ru/download_v45up/

Woohoo!
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: techidave on December 08, 2010, 09:33 PM
is there an english site?
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 08, 2010, 09:45 PM
is there an english site?
unfortunately, no.  but just translate it with google, download it.  Once you start it, you can change the language to english in the preferences and everything will be fine.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 09, 2010, 02:11 AM
is there an english site?
unfortunately, no.

[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

http://www.softella.com/

have you been hanging out with those Russians for too long, boy?
 :P
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Renegade on December 09, 2010, 06:10 AM
ALShow was recently renamed to ALPlayer (http://www.altools.com/ALTools/ALPlayer.aspx) and it's finally out in version 2 now.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on December 09, 2010, 06:23 AM
I use ALSong (http://www.altools.net/ALTools/ALSong/tabid/58/Default.aspx) for music.
(...)
Disclaimer: I work for the company.
(...)
So: When are ALTools gonna launch a genuine media player (ALLPlay)  ???   ;)
- I cannot be the only one longing for this version!?   :tellme:

ALShow was recently renamed to ALPlayer (http://www.altools.com/ALTools/ALPlayer.aspx) and it's finally out in version 2 now.

 :up:

Thanks for telling
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on December 09, 2010, 01:19 PM
is there an english site?
unfortunately, no.
(see attachment in previous post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=20880.msg226470#msg226470))
http://www.softella.com/

have you been hanging out with those Russians for too long, boy?
 :P
That site has not been updated for years.  Do not think you are getting the latest information or downloads there.  The current stuff is all on the russian site and the russian forum.  Although if you wish to purchase the program, I think you can still do that with the old english site above.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: tomos on December 13, 2010, 02:16 PM
Light Alloy is making big progress!  A new beta for v4.5 has been released.  The new features are:
Portable version!  Yes!
Also, it is now being packaged with internal codecs, which a lot of people prefer.  He is also offering the lighter, no-codec version also.  So he has covered all bases.  Great developer.  Fantastic video player.  My favorite general purpose player.
http://www.light-alloy.ru/download_v45up/

Woohoo!

thanks for the recommendation
easy and plays nice  :) :up:
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: MilesAhead on December 13, 2010, 05:20 PM
I'm starting to like SPlayer myself.  Since VLC crashes incessantly on my Windows Seven machine I've been looking for alternatives.  SPlayer uses GPU acceleration even though the card in the W7 machine is only nVidia with 128 MB dedicated ram(even Splash Lite won't do acceleration on that PC.)  Doesn't dig out embedded PGS subs but it will pick up idx/sub with same base filename so I can get around that by demuxing the subs and using BDSup2Sub to export idx/sub.


Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: mrainey on February 11, 2011, 10:30 AM
Apparently Light Alloy is now freeware.  I used the Google translator and scrolled to the bottom.

http://www.light-alloy.ru/
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: MilesAhead on February 11, 2011, 03:56 PM
Apparently Light Alloy is now freeware.  I used the Google translator and scrolled to the bottom.

http://www.light-alloy.ru/


Cool. You can also download the standard version from Softpedia instead of waiting for the download server count down:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Video-Players/Light-Alloy.shtml
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on February 11, 2011, 11:43 PM
Apparently Light Alloy is now freeware.  I used the Google translator and scrolled to the bottom.

http://www.light-alloy.ru/

Cool. You can also download the standard version from Softpedia instead of waiting for the download server count down:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Video-Players/Light-Alloy.shtml

Very cool, thanks!  THat's way better.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on February 12, 2011, 04:02 AM
So, how much has Light Alloy developed; what are the pros and cons, now?
 :tellme:
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: lanux128 on February 12, 2011, 06:43 AM
Apparently Light Alloy is now freeware.  I used the Google translator and scrolled to the bottom.

http://www.light-alloy.ru/

thanks for the heads-up. i noticed that there is also a portable version on the download page. might be a good time to check out this player.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Kinjal on August 15, 2011, 09:36 PM
>So, how much has Light Alloy developed; what are the pros and cons, now?
Well, since I'm a head developer of Light Alloy, my opinion can be slightly preconceived, but I will try to be objective.
I would prefer to start with cons:
 - Lack of unicode support (gonna be fixed in Light Alloy 4.6.0 RC-3)
 - Some performance issues (also gonna be fixed in 4.6.0 RC-3)
 - Same problems with codecs, as MPC-HC has (since we use MPC-HC's codecs/splitters, but slightly modified to fit our needs).
 - Lack of online-video support (url/rtsp, we have plans to add support for it in 4.6.1)
 - Video-oriented player, not audio (major changes about this gonna happen in Light Alloy 5.0)
 - Playlist without tabs.
 - No looking up subtitles online (planned for LA 4.6.1 or 5.0)
 - No uICE support, WinLIRC only
 - Newer versions (4.6.0 RC-1/2) are buggy and can stop respond (because of very active development since August 2010 and major changes in code, in 2007-2010 development of player was actually stopped), but we working on it :)
 - Not unified look (additional windows like subtitle options/picture options and so on are not skinned at all), but we gonna something to do with it in 4.6.0 RC-3.

Pros:
 - Well, it can play video with dxva :)
 - It can show you charge of your notebook battery when you watching movie -- http://light-alloy.ru/dcoder/batterycharge.jpg -- sorry, but I can't show you real-case screenshot because I haven't notebook. :)
 - It has timeline, instead of progressbar. -- http://www.light-alloy.ru/timeline.png (first one - it's timeline in LA)
 - It has media-oriented open dialog -- http://sourceforge.net/p/lightalloy/screenshot/scr_open_dialog_en.jpg -- with highlight recently created files/folders
 - Not so much options, like KMPlayer/PotPlayer have -- http://sourceforge.net/p/lightalloy/screenshot/scr_options_en.jpg -- and I think its a good decision. I think there is very small amount of people who need full-set of features/tweaks that KMP/Potplayer provide.
 - Easy accessable subtitle options dialog -- http://sourceforge.net/p/lightalloy/screenshot/scr_mw_subsopts.jpg -- with a lot of options out-of-box (others hided in Preferences->OSD->Subtitles).
 - Can create screenshots with customized OSD info: http://www.light-alloy.ru/dcoder/screenshot_osd.jpg
 - Allows to create customized thumbnails.
   Settings: http://www.light-alloy.ru/dcoder/thumbs_settings.jpg
   Result: http://www.light-alloy.ru/dcoder/TrueGrit.png -- "Additional" shows you presence of embedded subs/chapters in file.
 - Most player button in control panel are click-able via right mouse button -- http://www.light-alloy.ru/dcoder/adds_menus.jpg -- for easy to access to often requested options (for example, right click on 'sound options' button will show you pop-up with audio streams available to switch).
 - Scheduler - http://www.light-alloy.ru/dcoder/scheduler.jpg
 - Easy File/Subtitles browser like in GomPlayer -- http://www.light-alloy.ru/dcoder/easyfilebrowser.jpg -- also controlable via WinLIRC.
 - Popup menu with often uses functions - http://www.light-alloy.ru/dcoder/popupmenu.jpg (i would not say about it like a 'pros', but anyway)
 
But after all, its just another media player :) No actual pros/cons.

P.S. Since August 2010 its fully freeware. Also home page and forums can be displayed in english language, not only russian.
P.P.S. Mine pros/cons based on Light Alloy 4.6.0 RC-1, but battery charge screenshot has been made in 4.6.0 RC-3 (this feature available also in v4.5, but without battery preview like on screenshot which has been added in v4.6.0)
P.P.S Sorry for my bad English.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on August 16, 2011, 09:05 AM
Fantastic!!
I didn't realize it was freeware now.  It's probably my favorite player now.  Light Alloy and KMP are my two most used players.  Here's what I like about Light Alloy:
As I've said many times, it's the most responsive and quickest of the players I've tried.  That's subjective, but it you use it a few times, you'll notice it.
The developers have been VERY active lately.  Really making a lot of nice improvements and continuously fine tuning every little thing.  I had an error the other night, which automatically generated an error email, and by the next morning the developer had emailed me with the solution and the bug would be fixed in the next build.  Amazing customer support, free or paid.
The program comes in three flavors:
--player only (uses system codecs)
--complete player (uses internal codecs, like kmp)
--portable player (also uses internal codecs, obviously)

One of my favorite software.  Whoever introduced it to me here...thanks!
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on August 16, 2011, 02:18 PM
Great to see the dev post here. Thanks for stopping by Kinjal! Your English is fine. :)

I will have to take another look at LightAlloy.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on August 16, 2011, 02:31 PM
Great to see the dev post here. Thanks for stopping by Kinjal! Your English is fine. :)

I will have to take another look at LightAlloy.

- Oshyan
I would actually love to hear your thoughts on it.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on August 16, 2011, 04:45 PM
I did take a look at it (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25205.msg232282#msg232282) briefly in the past. But as I mentioned, will have to revisit. The consideration changes given it's totally free now, too. Although I still loves me some KM, heh.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on August 16, 2011, 05:27 PM
I did take a look at it (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25205.msg232282#msg232282) briefly in the past. But as I mentioned, will have to revisit. The consideration changes given it's totally free now, too. Although I still loves me some KM, heh.

- Oshyan
Ah, that's right.  I remember reading that.

Yes, let me mention some of the changes I've noticed in the latest 4.6 beta.  The new gray skin is much better than the previous ones.  It's more polished and nicer to look at.  I think you and I have the same ultimate question: "What would make me choose Light Alloy over KMP?"  I don't have a good answer to that since I can't really find too many faults with KMP, hardly any.  One of the reasons why I like Light Alloy is because it's being very actively developed, and I like the types of improvements they are making.  So it feels more personal to me.  Geez...I think I'm taking my software a little too seriously...
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on August 16, 2011, 06:14 PM
I hear you, those "intangibles" can actually have a big influence on me as well. I have always hated that the KMPlayer dev wasn't that accessible (in English) and now with Pandora.tv owning it, I'm also a bit uncomfortable with that. I tried PotPlayer but it didn't really work for me even though it was nice to see more rapid development again. Honestly something like Splash is a beautiful attempt to simplify this whole thing while bringing it in to the modern age (full GPU acceleration, good scaling and other effects), but it falls short in other areas like format support and is missing a few too many options. Light Alloy seems very promising, especially now, given an active and accessible dev with English speaking ability (and willingness? hehe). I use The KMP not because I'm totally happy with it but because I haven't found anything better...

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Kinjal on August 17, 2011, 12:03 AM
>I will have to take another look at LightAlloy.
Don't review 4.6.0 RC-2, since it buggy a bit, wait for 4.6.0 RC-3 (i'll also notify here somewhere when it became available, approximately we plan to release it in 25 August, just when we finish with rewrite major parts of code for unicode support and finish move to Delphi XE).
By the way, about your review, just had read it, well I liked it :) Very objective and unprejudiced review.

>and accessible dev with English speaking ability
Actually, anyone who has problems with player can easily add me to his ICQ/Skype/Live account for technical support/suggestions, I'm open-minded about it.

>What would make me choose Light Alloy over KMP?
It's depends. If you need not much heavy player, and you don't need a lot of tweaks that KMP/Potplayer provide you, and if you not gonna play some very extra rare media formats(that MPC-HC also cannot support), than you can drop a look at Light Alloy. Plus, since we use MPC-HC's codecs/splitters, all what is MPC can play also Light Alloy can to play.

P.S. And just a few words, about english-speaking users support. I was actually thinking, that no one use my video player outside of Russian-speaking countries, but as I can see at least a few people use it :) So if any problems with player ooccur for you, feel free to write to: our forums (http://www.light-alloy.ru/forum/english-support-forum/) (my nickname there is "Vortex"), or to mine e-mail - (http://light-alloy.ru/img/gb_forum.jpg), or skype/icq/livemessenger
P.P.S And again sorry for my bad English.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Curt on August 17, 2011, 01:15 AM
I refuse to use Ligt Alloy if you don't stop excusing your English! Donationcoder's forum is made of people from all over the world; we have all learned to search for the meaning rather than for the good English..., so to speak. Your English is just fine :-) and I am looking forward to test the next version of Light Alloy.
 ;)
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: JavaJones on August 17, 2011, 03:19 PM
Thanks for being so supportive of your users here, this is really impressive from a freeware developer. Honestly I would drop KMP for LA on that basis alone, as long as all the major features I need are there. I *like* the extreme customizability of KMP, at least in principle, but I have to admit that I don't always know what I'm doing with it and do sometimes find it hard to fix some problems that I know KMP can resolve, but I don't know the right settings. If something "just works" as well or better than KMP, with fewer settings, that's good enough for me.

I hope to get another look at LA in the near future. Your RC3 post will remind me, hehe.

And by the way, as I said before, your English is fine. :)

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on August 18, 2011, 01:12 PM
Yes kinjal, your english is perfectly fine!  We love that you are participating here, and hopefully more people will appreciate the good effort being made with this video player.

One of the tiny little feature requests I have is this (I got the idea from KMP):
It would be great to be able to control the volume steps.  Right now, Light Alloy can change the volume in increments of 5%.  I'd like to be able to set that increment to something else (either larger or smaller).  KMPlayer does it in this way:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Kinjal on August 18, 2011, 11:25 PM
>One of the tiny little feature requests I have is this (I got the idea from KMP):
We have it, but as a hidden feature (because not much people need it). Search for "VolumeStep" in LA.xml file, and change it from 5 to any desired value you want.

P.S. Yesterday, I released 4.6.0 RC-2a, interim version before RC-3 with fix of a few critical issues(like crash with subtitle timing), direct link: http://www.light-alloy.ru/LAbeta_v4.6.0_RC-2a_build-1797.rar, changelog:
Spoiler
[ + ] Preferences->Interface: new checkbox.
[ + ] Preferences->Keyboard: menu was fully redesigned
[ + ] Support for multimedia keys on Windows-compatible keyboard.
[ + ] Some optimizations in players. Further improvements in this area will be made in RC-3.
[ + ] Added link to bugtracker in 'about'.
[ = ] Preferences: "global keys" and "Winamp" tabs has been deleted.
[ = ] Preferences: fixed height, to make fit preferences window to typical netbook screen resolution.
[ = ] Updated internal splitters and mediainfo components in video engine.
[ - ] Fixed loading of m3u files.
[ - ] Fixed player crash with empty playlist.
[ - ] Fixed impossbility of loading a plugin written in C++.
[ - ] Fixed tickets: #6, #7, #8, #10, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #21, #22, #25, #36, #38, #40, #44, #46, #47, #51, #61, #66
[ - ] Fixed some problems with multi-display support. Tickets - #29, #48.
[ - ] 'File information' dialog didn't display info about aspect ratio.
[ - ] Fixed player crash when you trying to change subtitle timing.

But one of users told me that he experience some issues with skin(i.e PK-69) redrawing (but he has kinda outdated computer) on player window resize, may be skin system regression(not sure, because I cannot see same issue for me), so don't be too strict :) Anyway, we're working on completely new skin system for RC-3.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: superboyac on August 19, 2011, 04:23 PM
But one of users told me that he experience some issues with skin(i.e PK-69) redrawing (but he has kinda outdated computer) on player window resize, may be skin system regression(not sure, because I cannot see same issue for me), so don't be too strict :) Anyway, we're working on completely new skin system for RC-3.
I can confirm that behavior on my computer also.  My computer is fairly powerful, so I hope that helps.  I'd love to see the new skin, they keep getting better and better.
Title: Re: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?
Post by: Jim64 on August 22, 2011, 04:42 AM
If this has already been mentioned here it deserves a mention again.

Splash Pro from Mirillis (http://mirillis.com/en/index.html)

It has the best upscaling and plays TV episode MKV files with superb quality.