Author Topic: Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)? (Read 114095 times)

Curt · « **Reply #25 on:** December 08, 2009, 02:20 PM »

Superboyac: What do you want to configure in Splayer that you can't do?
-JavaJones (December 08, 2009, 12:54 PM)
Mouse button customization. Most of these programs have options to assign functions to left-mouse, right-mouse buttons. Also, program double-click function, etc.
-superboyac (December 08, 2009, 01:37 PM)

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

Video player: What's the quickest (fastest/lightest)?

superboyac · « **Reply #26 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!

Curt · « **Reply #27 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.

superboyac · « **Reply #28 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.

4wd · « **Reply #29 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.

Zero3K · « **Reply #30 on:** December 08, 2009, 05:55 PM »

Curt: The developer of SPlayer has a MSN account. Its [email protected].

superboyac · « **Reply #31 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.
-4wd (December 08, 2009, 05:25 PM)

OOh! It's portable? I'm going to add it to my USB drive.

4wd · « **Reply #32 on:** December 09, 2009, 06:21 AM »

OOh! It's portable? I'm going to add it to my USB drive.
-superboyac (December 08, 2009, 08:50 PM)

Being a single executable kind of makes that easy

Just check the box Options->Player->Store settings to .ini file

superboyac · « **Reply #33 on:** December 09, 2009, 10:49 AM »

OOh! It's portable? I'm going to add it to my USB drive.
-superboyac (December 08, 2009, 08:50 PM)

Being a single executable kind of makes that easy

Just check the box Options->Player->Store settings to .ini file
-4wd (December 09, 2009, 06:21 AM)

MPC-HC is very, very nice! I like it. I may have found my default portable player.

Curt · « **Reply #34 on:** December 09, 2009, 02:23 PM »

SPlayer has a MSN account. Its [email protected].
-Zero3K (December 08, 2009, 05:55 PM)

- thanks!

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]

4wd · « **Reply #35 on:** December 09, 2009, 04:06 PM »

MPC-HC is very, very nice! I like it. I may have found my default portable player.
-superboyac (December 09, 2009, 10:49 AM)

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

Curt · « **Reply #36 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.

I won't keep any of them.

Innuendo · « **Reply #37 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.

libeco · « **Reply #38 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.

Curt · « **Reply #39 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.
-Innuendo (December 09, 2009, 11:15 PM)

No you wouldn't!

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.

superboyac · « **Reply #40 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.
-Innuendo (December 09, 2009, 11:15 PM)
No you wouldn't!

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.

-Curt (December 10, 2009, 10:00 AM)

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.

4wd · « **Reply #41 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.
-libeco (December 10, 2009, 06:28 AM)

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

Curt · « **Reply #42 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.
-libeco (December 10, 2009, 06:28 AM)

In MPC-HC, try right-click on the window and choose: View->On Top->While Playing
-4wd (December 10, 2009, 07:12 PM)

- 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.
-Curt (December 09, 2009, 05:24 PM)

I guess SPlayer is the more advanced version

Curt · « **Reply #43 on:** December 11, 2009, 03:15 AM »

... I would gladly have a hundred hotkeys less, in exchange for these minor changes.
-Curt (December 08, 2009, 04:12 PM)

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

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

I am keeping SPlayer!

4wd · « **Reply #44 on:** December 11, 2009, 04:08 AM »

I guess SPlayer is the more advanced version
-Curt (December 11, 2009, 03:08 AM)

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.

Curt · « **Reply #45 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!

Curt · « **Reply #46 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!

4wd · « **Reply #47 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!!
-Curt (December 11, 2009, 03:40 PM)

Should I mention that MPC-HC can do those things?

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.

Curt · « **Reply #48 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.

4wd · « **Reply #49 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.
-Curt (December 11, 2009, 06:12 PM)

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.