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Topic: What's the best free media player for PC?
IncrEdible_vEgetable
Posts: 1393
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
I would like to know what people use as their primary media player eg. WMP, Winamp etc.

I used to use Winamp back in the 2.0 days and for some reason left it by the wayside. It's been so long since I used it and apparently it is not longer freeware. Is the new version worth getting, or has it been commercialised and made ghey?

I don't really want to pay for a player but the default Windows one is pretty lame when it comes to visualisations and so on.

I want something that looks nice and plays music - don't really care about ripping/burning cds and all that jazz. Oh and it can play movies too I guess.

Suggestions?
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Freewheelin
Posts: 1412
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
vlc is getting pretty decent, and you can get good skins for it. it plays pretty well anything you can throw at it without s***ting up your machine with dirty codec packs

the latest version (0.98a?) has a bit better/nicer control that the earlier ones
reload!
Posts: 4359
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
vlc or mpc for videos
winamp for music
whoop
Posts: 13410
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
dvdsimple:// is broken in the latest versions of VLC so if you're used to playing DVD's directly to the movie and skipping all the menus/warnings you're out of luck unless you use an older version. It's all over the forums but looks like it's been broken for a couple of versions (since 0.96 I think) so I don't know if they're even going to fix it.

If you want visualisations go for winamp + milkdrop, it s***s all over windows media player and even anything VLC has (yes it has visualisations).

I must say though, I do like a couple of the viz plugins I have for windows media player 10 but still, milkdrop is better.

last edited by whoop at 00:42:44 20/Jan/09
IncrEdible_vEgetable
Posts: 1394
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
hmm just installed winamp and yes, it has some nice visualisations and skins.
only problem is some of the buttons on some of the skins are so small and when you increase the size it looks like all kinds of ass.

think I'll go for basic skin as they seem to work and look better

latest version of winamp also has a function that streams to wii, 360 and ps3.
be interested to see how well that works.
infi
Posts: 10903
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
wmp for mainstream vids and vlc for the tricky stuff.
whoop
Posts: 13412
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
I use the modern skin that comes with winamp, you can change the colours. I don't know what you mean about the buttons being too small, they look fine to me. What do you care about the looks of the player for anyway? Start the viz plugin, minimise winamp and make the visualisation full screen, use the hotkeys to control playback or media keys on your keyboard if you have them. You never even need to look at the main player.
TiT
Posts: 1876
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
VLC for all media... but use Itunes for my MP3 Playlist/orgnaising
IncrEdible_vEgetable
Posts: 1397
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
Nah I just meant on some of the skins you can download the buttons are tiny. As in they pack in a whole bunch of stuff and you can't see what they are.

Anyway as you said once you set it up it is probably not a concern. I probably wouldn't use most of those functions anyway.
Crakaveli
Posts: 3022
Location: USA
I use VLC/Media player classic.
giririsss
Posts: 3052
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
MPC for media, it's just easier than all.

winamp for music though, havent had a reason to change from it.
rubba-chikin
Posts: 6251
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
I use foobar2000 + fofr skin/mod

Why? it looks sweet and has replaygain plugin (tags each mp3 with a + or - gain rating for all your mp3s so they play at the same volume)

For video I use MPC + FFDShow codecs
Spock
Posts: 1034
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
+1 for foobar 2000

very easy to sort
simul
Posts: 372
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
VLC for video
iTunes for audio (while I love winamp, the podcasting in iTunes is my addiction)
simul
Posts: 373
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
Why? it looks sweet and has replaygain plugin (tags each mp3 with a + or - gain rating for all your mp3s so they play at the same volume)


iTunes can do this on the fly ('sound check' in preferences)
TiT
Posts: 1878
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
there are alot of iTune haters
Midda
Posts: 3030
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
I stream pretty much all of my videos to watch in the lounge, but Media Player Classic plays everything I need it to. I also have VLC installed, but rarely use it.

Again, I don't listen to much music at my PC, but I use the Zune software when I do. It's pretty nice to use. Looks good too.
Kimbo
Posts: 386
Location: Melbourne, Victoria

Winamp or Foobar 2000 (but foobar isn't supported by the Razer Lycosa so I don't use it) -> Music
VLC -> ANY Video file, Any DVD Disc, Any VCD
Spook
Posts: 23924
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
wmp for mainstream vids and vlc for the tricky stuff.


infi, lets make out and watch medias together
infi
Posts: 10911
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
you don't know how long i have waited for you to say that.
eightyeight
Posts: 1015
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
vlc or for videos
winamp for music


have to agree with that.
rubba-chikin
Posts: 6252
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
Problem with itune is its a bloated POS...

foobar I can open and close probably 3 times in the time it takes itunes to load up and start playing once.
Superform
Posts: 5267
Location: Netherlands
keep in mind 1 thing about VLC..

i used to be a vlc fanboi.. but then i got a HD tv with a quad processor.. vlc couldnt decode large mkv files...

reason being is that it doesnt have support for multi cores..

mpc has multi core support so can play the large mkv files that vlc chokes on

so if your playing avi and normal stuff not in HD then vlc - otherwise mpc is clearly better
Midda
Posts: 3036
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
Yeah, I've also noticed far better performance with HD in Media Player Classic than in VLC. MPC seems to scale with fewer artifacts too.
scooby
Posts: 3601
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
any way to get VLC to remember window size and volume settings every time it opens? this is what i appreciate most about MPC
eightyeight
Posts: 1017
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
Yeah, I've also noticed far better performance with HD in Media Player Classic than in VLC. MPC seems to scale with fewer artifacts too.


its coz you don't have a quad core. duh.
whoop
Posts: 13414
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
any way to get VLC to remember window size and volume settings every time it opens?

tools -> preferences

|
-> Interface
|
-> Main interfaces
|
-> Qt -> Automatically save volume on exit.
rubba-chikin
Posts: 6253
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n239/rubbachikin/fofr.jpg?t=1232441086

Now I'm not at work and photobucket isn't blocked, this is what foobar + fofr looks like.
deadlyf
Posts: 244
Location: Queensland
WMP for everything, VLC crashes on me when playing MKV's so I don't use it anymore.

koopz
Posts: 7380
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
wow... I just grabbed that albumn

mpc here for most stuff.

vlc for high def



I put a bullet in my media centre. computers break. no daytime chick tv turns wifey into a witch. it's not pretty
Seven
Posts: 859
Location: Wollongong, New South Wales
vlc for videos
winamp for music
step
Posts: 1668
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
MPC
Crusher
Posts: 238
Location: Newcastle, New South Wales
Winamp 2.76 ftw
Fn
Posts: 5358
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
vlc for videos
winamp for music
$ack
Posts: 358
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
rhythmbox on ubuntu ftw
FocaL
Posts: 5
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
Music: itunes
Video: Zoom player with CCCP installed http://www.cccp-project.net/

Zoom player pisses all over VLC. It plays everything and is very responsive and intuitive. That being said, I haven't used VLC for about 3 years, the newer versions could be better.



last edited by FocaL at 19:41:27 21/Jan/09
z0r
Posts: 1754
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
winamp 2.91 for music - tripex for visualisation
mpc for video

i hate the new winamp. i like my music player nice and simple.
Debbie
Posts: 1
Location: Queensland

I can't believe this, everyone says something about their favourite video players but no one mentioned GOM Media Player, it's free, supports all major and popular video formats. You can download GOM Media Player here : http://www.downloadbestsoft.com/GOM-Media-Player.html

Not to mention that you will need also K-Lite Codec Pack as codecs and you should be able to play 99.9 % of all video content.

This is for video files, for music I agree with everyone, Winamp is the most popular one with another mention, try to use an older version, it's better.
paveway
Posts: 9578
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
debbie, obligatory self pics or LYING
Dan
Special text
Posts: 9140
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
Yeah, I've also noticed far better performance with HD in Media Player Classic than in VLC. MPC seems to scale with fewer artifacts too.
That's because VLC uses it's own internal codecs for everything and MPC uses external ones that you can install and replace. If you're getting better HD performance, you're probably running the awesome CoreAVC.
mongie
Posts: 6109
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
foobar / media player classic homecinema + ffdshow-tryout.
demon
Posts: 4219
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
foobar / wmp or mpc ... vlc has been giving me the s***s lately coz it still can't seek smoothly!@$ you slide the seek slider n it pixelates like mad for a few seconds :[
Midda
Posts: 3391
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
Combined Community Codec Pack is what I use now. Doesn't install any codecs to the system, just uses FFMPEG, and allows WMP to play MKV. I actually just use Windows media player for most stuff now anyway, because it's nice and minimalistic in Windows 7.
Opec
Posts: 5663
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
Vid: MPC
Music: WMP
ctd
Posts: 7115
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
MPC > VLC. But I use both.
Pinky
Posts: 1187
Location: Melbourne, Victoria

Nice ad, Deb. Would have been better with a banner image or some interactive Flash content though.
sLaps_Forehead
Posts: 4165
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
there are alot of iTune haters


I fkn hate iTunes
Superform
Posts: 5426
Location: Netherlands
dan i allready explained y on page 1 i think

I DEBBIE IF U LET ME SEE UR TITS IN A ZIP FILE I"LL DOWNLOAD UR B/F'S NEW SOFTWARE
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