Author Topic: Best Video Player there is (Read 20834 times)

jgpaiva · « **on:** January 18, 2006, 10:32 AM »

I was just about to see a movie in my pc, when i remembered it would be a nice idea to know other people's favorite players.
I myself use bsplayer, because it is very good to add subtitles to movies, and it allows me to do everything i want in a video player.
I've tried winamp, but those plugins for subtitles aren't enough, and for wmp and real player, i hate those bars that appear when you accidentally move the mouse

So, what's your choice?

mouser · « **Reply #1 on:** January 18, 2006, 10:44 AM »

i know i have to be one of the only people on the planet to choose realplayer, but for so many years they were *the* company that made possible streamling audio and video from cspan and "this american life", and they've always done right by me, so i love them for that.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #2 on:** January 18, 2006, 10:47 AM »

You know, in part, i do agree with you, i use real player for watching dvd's, i don't know why but real player is the only player that allows me to stretch the video to fit my screen properly (my screen is wide format)..

Ampa · « **Reply #3 on:** January 18, 2006, 10:53 AM »

I use Media Player Classic for dowwloaded video clips and PowerDVD for rented DVDs. Have both the Real Alternative and Quicktime Alternative installed so as to avoid both products.

Ampa

jgpaiva · « **Reply #4 on:** January 18, 2006, 10:56 AM »

Thanks for remembering me, ampa.. I knew there couldn't be so few media players... I'll add quicktime and powerdvd..

brotherS · « **Reply #5 on:** January 18, 2006, 11:08 AM »

How could you forget the best one?

Zoom Player is my weapon of choice!

http://fileforum.bet...Standard/978385825/1

housetier · « **Reply #6 on:** January 18, 2006, 11:20 AM »

Flamebait
people will think "there goes the FOSS zealot again"...

Recommending MPlayer

anyway I strongly recommend MPlayer, even for windows. I installed it on a friend's PC and he was so thrilled that he in turn recommended it to two other friends who also where amazed by its capabilities. So far I have gotten only positive feedback, if you disregard the complaint about lack of an uninstall function (what is not installed, you cannot uninstall). MPlayer for windows ist just one .exe with a directory full of codecs. This makes updating either totally supereasy and also does not mess with codecs of other players.

There seem to be installers available too. I am sure you will find your way :-)

Why it rocks

MPlayer will play anything: avi, mkv, mov, ogm, mpg, dvd, vcd, svd, kvcd, mvcd, rm, wmv, disc images...; it will play any stream, even those bloody rstp-streams (which it can also dump on harddisk so you can listen to it later). MPlayer also understands all the subtitle formats and even can convert between several of them.

Keyboard shortcuts are "teh win"

What I like best about MPlayer are the sensible keyboard shortcuts: <space> for pause/play; f for toggling fullscreen view; . (dot) to go frame-by-frame; m for toggling mute; +/- for adjusting the subtitle delay; z/x for adjusting audio playback delay; <left>/<right> for jumping back/forward 1 second, <up>/<down> do the same in 10-second-intervals; q to quit the player. There are some more keyboard shortcuts, but these are the ones I use regularly.

With GUI, and without GUI too

It is a command line program, a fact which will scare away many potentially happy users. But fear not, brethren! For there are GUIs available too. You only have to find one that suits your needs. (As a Linux zealot I am in the comfortable position that my OS allows me to customize my desktop which acts as a GUI to mplayer)

Lack of features

What it doesn't do: it won't interfere with windows media player; it does not need admin privileges for "installing", just copy the .exe on your desktop and drag your media files onto it; it won't create suspicious registry entries; there is no "telephoning home" or other "usage reporting".

Possibly difficult to build on windows

MPlayer is actively developed, so frequent updates from CVS are a good idea. However, I have no idea about building it on windows. You will get help on irc://irc.freenode.net/mplayer though. They have always been friendly towards me.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #7 on:** January 18, 2006, 11:31 AM »

Well housetier, that's a big post

Exactly what i was looking for when i created this pool

I've used mplayer in linux, i didn't know it could be used in windows... That's why i use bsplayer, it's the closest to mplayer there is in windows (at least, for what I've seen), although zoom player seems very nice too

I guess this is a good lesson: never make pools on matters like this, it seems that there are lots of good alternatives out there, the "other" option seems like the winner one

Again, about mplayer, Housetier: if you're a linux guy, and don't use windows, that sure seems like a good powerfull alternative, but if you need a player for windows, I'd check BSplayer, i think it is a good alternative to building mplayer in windows.. (yes, I'm not a big fan of compiling stuff for windows

)

nudone · « **Reply #8 on:** January 18, 2006, 01:31 PM »

i used 'sasami2k' for quite some time but i've stuck with 'media player classic' as it appears to have the right amount of features.

i find it even more appropriate to use as it comes with the CCCP (combined community codec pack) that seems to get all the codecs to work correctly on your system (famous last words). you'll also get the ffdshow filters/configuration panel installed at the same time which is very handy.

media player classic also gets my vote as it will play DVD disks without having to install things like WindDVD or PowerDVD or some other software you'll have to PAY for (i think media player classic is better than VLC also).

anyone going for the CCCP install will also require things like quicktime and realplayer (or the 'alternative' versions) to get the full set of codecs (okay, i'm sure there will be something missing but this setup has served me well so far).

if you've had trouble in the past with codecs then try CCCP. it worked for me and i do a lot of messing about with virtualdub and premiere and xvid, blah de blah. http://www.cccp-project.net/

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #9 on:** January 18, 2006, 03:34 PM »

Probably heretical on here but I use WinDVD which seems to give good image quality and good support for different audio formats. It is also fairly flexible in how it displays with Desktop wallpaper, skinned window, window without borders and fullscreen modes. It also seems lighter on resources than other players I have tried and doesn't suffer from stuttering and pauses like Windows Media Player does unless you leave memory intensive stuff running.

I suppose I like WinDVD too because I use WinDVR to watch TV. It is much more stable than ATI's multimedia software, uses less resources and has reasonable picture and sound quality (at least in the UK with the usual crappy reception quality anywhere other than within sight of the transmitter when the moon is full).

mouser · « **Reply #10 on:** January 18, 2006, 03:48 PM »

you might want to give powerdvd a try carol. i've had nothing but bad luck with windvd, but powerdvd behaves very well for me. but on the other hand if windvd is working for you i guess there is no need to change.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #11 on:** January 18, 2006, 03:54 PM »

I have used WinDVD since version 4 to the current version on two different systems and have never had a problem. Maybe I am lucky but I do like it.

Black Mamba · « **Reply #12 on:** January 18, 2006, 04:10 PM »

My vote goes for Zoom Player.

It's very configurable, in fact too configurable for novice users.

I use for all my files, including DVD's, too.

jpfx · « **Reply #13 on:** January 18, 2006, 05:17 PM »

I agree, teh zoom player.

vegas · « **Reply #14 on:** January 18, 2006, 11:21 PM »

Zoom Player WMV, then VLC (VideoLan Player) and lastly MPC (Media Player Classic)

Hirudin · « **Reply #15 on:** January 19, 2006, 03:55 AM »

Possibly difficult to build on windows
-housetier (January 18, 2006, 11:20 AM)

You bastard! Not really... I'm another BSplayer fan, but what you posted about Mplayer sounds awesome, well... up until that windows bit.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #16 on:** January 19, 2006, 08:43 AM »

I'm another BSplayer fan
-Hirudin (January 19, 2006, 03:55 AM)

Glad to know that, Hirudin!

I was starting to think that no one knew bsplayer!

superboyac · « **Reply #17 on:** January 19, 2006, 10:35 AM »

i know i have to be one of the only people on the planet to choose realplayer, but for so many years they were *the* company that made possible streamling audio and video from cspan and "this american life", and they've always done right by me, so i love them for that.
-mouser (January 18, 2006, 10:44 AM)

Wow, mouser...I am shocked. You'd be the last person that I would expect to actually prefer this program. I will admit that RealPlayer can be tamed if you turn all of their automatic stuff off, but I still hate the program. And I hate Quicktime also. I have bothe Reaplayer ALternative and Quicktime alternative installed, but I have noticed that while it works initially, I always find out that soon after, they don't play realplayer clips or mp4 files and I'm always left confused. I tell you, the whole video codec thing is very confusing to me. Filters, codecs, I can't seem to find a good way to manage everything or even figure out how it all works. And I also like Zoom Player for watching movies and DVD's, but it's kind of hard to configure all of the codecs and DVD filters and what not. You know what other problem I have with Zoom Player? Is it me or is the volume always much lower in it than in other programs? I don't understand that either. I play a DVD in Zoom player and the volume is very low, and I can only get it up a certain amount, then I play it with PowerDVD and the volume is fine.

For the record, I use Media PLayer Classic (MPC) for most of my short clips and as my default video player. If there is anything simpler and lighter than it, please let me know.

Black Mamba · « **Reply #18 on:** January 19, 2006, 02:38 PM »

The problem with volume is probably due to poorly configured filters. Check the filters section, if they are properly registered etc.

Yes, there is a player lighter on resources tham MPC or Zoom Player: Light Alloy.

superboyac · « **Reply #19 on:** January 19, 2006, 05:14 PM »

Thanks Black Mamba, Light Alloy seems very interesting...but compared to the free MPC, it would make it a tough decision.

Perhaps I can give you a private message and you can help me figure out filters for Zoom Player?

Black Mamba · « **Reply #20 on:** January 20, 2006, 04:09 PM »

Configuring filters is Zoom is not an easy task, especially if you have many of them.

I suggest to register on Inmatrix forums, tell them your problem and I'm sure you'll get an answer in a short time. There are many nice people there and the creator of Zoom Player often visits the forums.

Poll

What is your favorite video player?

Author Topic: Best Video Player there is (Read 20834 times)