In need of a good Media Player

[SmK]

After many many years I've been forced to use the rather humble Windows Media Player, Quicktime, and DivX.

 

Aren't there a Media Player which supports everything? (avi, divX, mpg e.g.) and at the same time is user friendly. I get sick of using WMP's slow/not at all user friendly utilitizes. Not to talk about Quicktimes tardy performance. (This is just my oppinion though).

 

Are these Players really the best offers on the market? I'm almost willing to pay for a such Media Player which could perform better than this, almost

 

What do you guys use? And what do you recommend?

 

to clerify things, I'm in need of a Media Player which can do the following:

 

->Play all video formats, well relatively all. (avi, divX, mpg etc.)

 

->User friendly

 

->FAST, if you didn't get that I'll say it again FAST, quick performance. not have to wait a million years just to load a damn video clip.

 

->Don't care much for mp3 files and so forth, but that would be nice too.

 

Maybe this is unrealistic, I don't know. But I hope not.

Edited January 2, 2006 by SmK

[Black-hawk]

I think what you're looking for is Media Player Classic.

I'm too lazy to post a link, but Google will probably find you teh player.

Edited January 2, 2006 by Black-hawk

[RMT]

VLC Media Player

 

1. Plays nearly all codecs as far as I'm aware.

2. Very simple player.

3. A very, very, very light player. Still does quiet alot despite this.

 

May not be the best out there. But it looks like it suits your needs well enough.

[Bond996]

While MPC is an excellent player and it works well and such for what he wants, it needs codecs regardless. You'd need to install a codec pack in order for it to be able to decode EVERY type of file. I use a combination of Quicktime/Real Alternative, and K-Lite Mega Codec Pack, and I've never seen a file I can't play with MPC. It is occasionally buggy, but rarely crashes on me. Link to SF.net page.

 

But then there is VLC, which does NOT require codecs. VLC has built in libraries to figure out how to decode all sorts of files without needing to install a codec pack. However, it is a lot more complicated IMO to use than MPC. It also cannot handle every kind of quicktime file perfectly, which Quicktime Alternative + MPC should be able to do better. VLC does have DVD support without requiring another package like PowerDVD and other things though. Overall I prefer it technically, but it doesn't have the same UI support as MPC. Link to their project page.

[_-playero-_]

Media players? Sing a cappella, that's what I do!

 

[realpost] Hmm, first time I've heard of VLC, thanks for the link[/realpost]

[*zeP]

I'd probably say VLC Media Player.

[Exkabewbikadid]

I've used VLC before, but I found the UI to be crap i.e. switching from full screen to window mode isn't a smooth transition. It does, however, play any region specific DVDs

 

Honestly though, after replacing Quicktime and Real with Quick/Real Alternative, I just use WMP for everything.

[Svip]

Meh, I like xine, totem and mplayer. Great players, never lets you down.

 

You might realise their UI are not pretty, but I like the command based part in it.

 

Though I prefer xine over totem.

[Bond996]

Meh, I like xine, totem and mplayer. Great players, never lets you down.

 

You might realise their UI are not pretty, but I like the command based part in it.

 

Though I prefer xine over totem.

I've never really liked totem. I've used it when based upon GStreamer and xine, but both times it hasn't been very good. I found it capable at playback, but impossible to use. Xine standalone is just so much better.

[boobtronic]

I can can offer nothing other than Winamp. it's served me well for about 3 years now, and I love it.