Is VLC Video Player good or bad?

[Nujui]

I usually watch a lot of videos, usually in different formats ranging from .avi to .mp4. People usually suggest VLC player for such a thing, though I've also seen people say it's pretty crappy. I've had mixed results with it. I was wondering if there was anything any better then VLC player, or is it really that good?

 

[Quietlyawesome94]

I personally recommend Plex Media Player just because of all the eye candy. You tell it where your media is and it downloads all the meta data by it's self. Including covers, descriptions, IMDB ratings and more. It plays videos well too.

As for VLC Player, that's what I previously used. It gets the job done.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I've only ever seen one person say it's crappy and he's wrong. VLC works great on almost every PC I've tested it on and I've never had a single problem with it.

 

[The Catboy]

I never heard anyone complain about VLC before and I have been using VLC for years now on several operating systems.
Thus far it has played every format I have thrown at it and played them perfectly as well I have had very little problems with it, the most problems I have had weren't VLC related, they were computer related.

 

[SifJar]

Most people will advise installing a decent codec pack. I believe the two best are K-Lite and CCC. But only install one or other, not both. Both would cause conflicts.

Once you install a decent codec pack, most media players should be able to play most files. K-Lite comes with Media Player Classic I think, which is an attempt to recreate an older version of Windows Media Player, before it became so bloated etc. After K-Lite is installed, MPC should play virtually every file you throw at it.

VLC is less hassle, as you don't need to mess with codecs - it has them all built right in. I haven't come across a media file it couldn't play (except those with DRM). Some people say it has poor versions of codecs though, and can struggle with certain content. I have personally never had issues.

The other player I use sometimes is Zoom Player. I have the Pro version, but the free one is almost the same, minus DRM support. It has a tool with it for downloading and updating missing/outdated codecs, to ensure you can play pretty much anything. Slightly nicer UI than VLC.

Haven't tried Plex, but I might have to look into that one. XBMC is pretty nice in terms of eye candy media players.

 

[Nujui]

Most people will advise installing a decent codec pack. I believe the two best are K-Lite and CCC. But only install one or other, not both. Both would cause conflicts.

Once you install a decent codec pack, most media players should be able to play most files. K-Lite comes with Media Player Classic I think, which is an attempt to recreate an older version of Windows Media Player, before it became so bloated etc. After K-Lite is installed, MPC should play virtually every file you throw at it.

VLC is less hassle, as you don't need to mess with codecs - it has them all built right in. I haven't come across a media file it couldn't play (except those with DRM). Some people say it has poor versions of codecs though, and can struggle with certain content. I have personally never had issues.

The other player I use sometimes is Zoom Player. I have the Pro version, but the free one is almost the same, minus DRM support. It has a tool with it for downloading and updating missing/outdated codecs, to ensure you can play pretty much anything. Slightly nicer UI than VLC.

Haven't tried Plex, but I might have to look into that one. XBMC is pretty nice in terms of eye candy media players.

Well, mostly my issues come from the video picture screwing up if I skip to a different part, or sometimes the picture just messes up all on itself.

 

[Wombo Combo]

I dont like it that much its doesn't want to play certain video codecs correctly

I would go with this http://www.filehippo...ite_codec_pack/
Comes with codecs and Media Player Classic.

 

[SifJar]

Well, mostly my issues come from the video picture screwing up if I skip to a different part, or sometimes the picture just messes up all on itself.

So you have problems with it, but posted a topic to ask if it's good? That seems illogical to me. Anyhow, I'd recommend trying some of the suggestions in this thread, such as install K-Lite.

 

[prowler]

PRO SOFTWARE
A+++++++++++

VLC is for the ignorant.

 

[Nujui]

Well, mostly my issues come from the video picture screwing up if I skip to a different part, or sometimes the picture just messes up all on itself.

So you have problems with it, but posted a topic to ask if it's good? That seems illogical to me. Anyhow, I'd recommend trying some of the suggestions in this thread, such as install K-Lite.

Well, it doesn't happen all the time, only a couple of times so it doesn't really bother me all that much, it could probably be the video that's the problem , I just wanted to know if it really as good as people say it is and wondered if there was any good alts incase any other problems come up or current problems keep appearing.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

VLC has never given me a problem. I've been using it for years. Before that I was using Media Player Classic with the K-Lite codec, and then I found MPC to start become too heavy to use. I tried VLC and found that it uses less resources and it played everything I threw at it.

Honestly, the only people who have trouble with VLC are the ones who don't know what they're doing. The program has never caused me trouble at all.

 

[prowler]

Honestly, the only people who have trouble with VLC are the ones who don't know what they're doing.

I laughed so hard.

 

[Celice]

I use it because it's a simple answer to most codec needs (really, on an old system I had such a bland time putting together codecs manually--not fun).

Kinda feels outdated though...

 

[SifJar]

*snip*

PRO SOFTWARE
A+++++++++++

VLC is for the ignorant.

Yep, that definitely looks like a video I am likely to highly enjoy if it played normally. Oh wait. No, it doesn't. I have never come across a video that I wanted to watch that hasn't worked flawlessly in VLC.

But having just installed XBMC again (never got round to installing it again after getting a new laptop), I can strongly recommend it's use as a media player/centre.

 

[Foxi4]

From my experience, VLC plays every format imaginable and more, I rarely have problems with it.

 

[Depravo]

I don't recall having any issues with it but I'm more likely to use the media player built into my TV these days.

 

[prowler]

Yep, that definitely looks like a video I am likely to highly enjoy if it played normally. Oh wait. No, it doesn't.

Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
It's an example, I'm not telling you to watch it on a daily basis.

None of these VLC FuckUps(TM) would show up in other good players, which is why it's better to get something else then to keep using VLC and get these problems somewhere down the road.

 

[Gahars]

I can't speak for the other programs people have mentioned, but I've found VLC to be worthy enough. It was such a nice step up from Windows Media Player.

 

[alphamule]

Actually, yes it is crappy. But only on really old versions (

 

[Rydian]

Hey Prowler, mind taking a chunk of a video file VLC doesn't play and uploading it here for us to analyze? The only time I see VLC fail is when video files are corrupt or malformed. Many people uploading pirated materials don't know a codec from a container format and tend to make video files that don't fall within standards.

"Well other video players still play the files so it's okay." Yes, and IE still displays web pages that don't conform to standards, which is what has allowed people to keep coding shit sites.