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.)

Is it available before actually having to start it?

Hm, before it is actually started, the installer already creates registry keys. 

(Just tested it: HKCU/Software/KMPlayer is created before actually doing anything in the wizard!)

So?  Big deal.

Everyone, please do not get roped into this debate.

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 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

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.

This is a perfect topic for one of those Software Review Shootouts 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.

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

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/

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.

Splash Lite has updated to 1.3.  I think it's mostly small bug fixes.

http://mirillis.com/splash.html

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.