Is VLC best substitute for Win MediaPlayer?

earthrisers wrote on 6/3/2015, 12:31 AM

after win8 made its own most recent updates on my laptop, I was playing a video and a message came up saying that I had to download a new version of the app in order to keep playing my video, and that I should get it at the Windows store.
This was fairly enraging, because it happened WHILE we were playing a video. It stopped playing the video,and said we had to update in order to continue playing it.
I suspect it's a part of MSoft's strategy of going to subscription basis for Windows 10 and probably all their other apps too. So I'm jumping ship. No more MS media player for me. As far as I can tell, VLC Media Player is the best replacement... But I thought I'd post the question here in case anyone has knowledge of a superior replacement.
-Ernie

Comments

john_dennis wrote on 6/3/2015, 12:52 AM

Have you considered the possibility that your system might have been hi-jacked by adware?

PeterDuke wrote on 6/3/2015, 1:27 AM

Another free media player to consider is Media Player Classic - Home Cinema (MPC-HC).

Cyberlink PowerDVD is a good paid for alternative, with extra features.

John_Cline wrote on 6/3/2015, 3:17 AM

About a month ago I installed PotPlayer and it has been the best player I've used in a long time. It has hardware GPU acceleration and it has played everything I have thrown at it VERY smoothly, including some 4k-60p MP4 files.

http://www.videohelp.com/software/PotPlayer

Kit wrote on 6/3/2015, 8:35 AM

I prefer MPC -BE - it plays more kinds of files than MPC-HC. Not keen on VLC - I find customisation cumbersome. MPC-BE works well from the commandline as well.

OldSmoke wrote on 6/3/2015, 9:14 AM

I have MPC-BE too and really like it.

videoITguy wrote on 6/3/2015, 9:27 AM

VLC is clearly outranked by other choices...and for all its faults Win Media Player is still the most universal comfort zone for most file distribution.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/3/2015, 9:45 AM

I have win 8.1 and use Media Player sometimes. Never had it say I needed to pay to keep playing.

But I also use Media Player Classic & VLC for majority of video playback. Both have their pluses and minuses, some play a file the other won't (IE one hangs on some file types).

wwaag wrote on 6/3/2015, 10:45 AM

I mostly use MPC-HC that has one advantage over MPC-BE--the use of shaders. You can apply conversions such as 0-255 to 16-235 or vice-versa which can be useful for previewing how your media will appear on either a TV or computer screen, regardless of how it was encoded.

wwaag

malowz wrote on 6/3/2015, 11:56 AM

MPC-HC + ffdshow

wwjd wrote on 6/3/2015, 12:23 PM

VLC
WIN MEDIA PLAYER
MPC
QUICK TIME

in that order.
I tried PotPlayer over the last year also, and really liked it.

Kinda confused how VLC does NOT play 4K stuff back smooth on two laptops, but other players play it back with zero jitters? But VLC plays it fine on my desktop.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/3/2015, 12:47 PM

I don't even have QT player installed. Never liked it. Forgot it even had a player!

wwjd wrote on 6/3/2015, 1:03 PM

I hate it as well, but like to test file output with various players to ensure compatibility. That is the ONLY reason I have it installed.

PeterDuke wrote on 6/3/2015, 7:01 PM

You must have QT installed if you want to process MOV (and MP4?) video in Vegas.

john_dennis wrote on 6/3/2015, 8:19 PM

"[I]You must have QT installed if you want to process MOV (and MP4?) video in Vegas.[/I]"

That's probably true for most .MOV files but Vegas Pro 12 and later handles some .MOV files with a Sony .dll. My camera happens to be one of them, though others like the 5D Mark III require Quicktime, I'm told.

NormanPCN wrote on 6/3/2015, 8:36 PM

Vegas directly handles MOV files with AVC video and PCM audio. This is typical of most DSLR output including Nikon, Canon and Panasonic.

Stringer wrote on 6/5/2015, 9:55 AM

@ John Cline

Based on your recommendation I installed PotPlayer and could not get any audio with DVDs..

The audio settings were just too overwhelming for me to try to guess what might work..

Also, during install I was asked if I wanted to include some ' codecs '... I declined not knowing what havoc might be wreaked..

Do you know what my audio problem might have been? - Acer laptop with Realtek audio, working fine with all other applications...

Hulk wrote on 6/5/2015, 12:12 PM

Another vote for Potplayer.

earthrisers wrote on 6/23/2015, 6:33 PM

My apologies to Win Media Player...
A wee bit of more research revealed that it wasn't Media Player that interrupted my video and demanded an app update, but a piece of the bloatware that came preinstalled on my ASUS Win8.1 laptop. ASUS installs its own video app, and makes it the default player.
And through incompetent or inconsiderate (or both) design of the user-experience part of the software, their app DOES interrupt right in the middle of some video you're watching, telling you you can't watch anymore unless you update their app from the app store.
No way.
The "innocent" Media Player is now my default video player on the laptop.