VLC Media Player 0.8.4 is out

mctk writes "This new release features many improvements including a new VLC cone, new Mac OS X wizard and extend controls dialogs, tree playlist skins2 support, HTTP interface CGI handling, linux binary codecs loader, UPnP and Bonjour service discovery, shoutcast stream forwarding, new languages... Have a look here for the full list of changes. Binary packages and the source code are available on the VLC download page." Always been one of my favorites on any platform.

vlc - I like

[xiong.chiamiov]

I really like VLC. For the longest time, I used Winamp to play all my media files, but it is painfully slow. iTunes is okay, but still lacking. And WMP is out of the question (I try to run Windows as non-Microsoft as possible). Then, when trying to find something to run .ogm (Ogg Vorbis video files), I came across VLC, and haven't used anything since. And the fact that it's released under GNU doesn't hurt at all.

Re:Have you contributed?

[UCFFool]

Just like any project, they have to prioritize. Besides the massive amount of codecs it already does, it has h.264 running very well, which I have seen a lot more than WMV, and I use it on windows... I suppose I just avoid Windows Media in general. THe simple point is, if you want this codec so badly, make a monetary donation and add a Note: please put this towards the WMV3 codec! Ask and ye shall receive, but a little motivation couldn't hurt.

One of the bigger perks...

[(H)elix1]

One of the biggest perks for using VLC is it does *not* honor the 'thou shall not fast forward through the FBI warning and any damn previews/ads we applied the same flag to' setting. Skips right on by.

Ignores DVD Region Code

[Nice2Cats]

For those of us whose lives are lived between two or more of the infamous DVD regions (in my case, Europe and the U.S.), VLC is an absolute godsend. Every Mac user should get it: Apple's DVD Player wants me do pick one or the other RC, while VLC just plays the damn thing. Quicktime gives me nag entries in the menus -- like, I pay a four-digit sum for a computer and they won't throw in the $40 fee for the full fuctionality? Really clever, Jobs -- and so if I want to play around with the size and other stuff, I just use VLC for QT instead. VLC is one of the coolest pieces of software out there, free or corporate, and anybody who is not using it on whatever platform should be treated with suspicion -- they probably work for the RIAA or eat babies. Or both.

Thanks, guys, for all the great work. This and Firefox are some of the ones that make all the difference.

Re:Mac OS X wizard?

[l3v1]

complaints and suggestions for improvement are unwelcome

No, I think the point was that in FOSS land you don't bash an app if it has different key bindings than some of your usual native os apps. As it is, mplayer's key bindings are fairly easy to figure out if you spent some time with more than one app. Anyway, both vlc and mplayer rock big time, and I personally don't really care what movie players people like as long as I can have them both close.