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All reviews for VLC media player
| 138 reviews, Showing 1 to 138 reviews |
Yes BeeGee, you are useless. Indeed.
Review by AC/DC on
Oct 20, 2022 Version: 3.0.17.4
OS: Windows 10 Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Absolutely Useless
Review by BeeGee on
Oct 18, 2022 Version: Most Recent
OS: Linux Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
I've been using the average VLC player for around 10 years. I think it's the best open source player there is, it even has a series of tools that other players lack, such as subtitle and audio track synchronization. However, one thing that I believe can be better is playing HEVC videos for older computers (in my case I have a computer with an Intel Celeron E3400 @ 2.60GHz processor and 8 gb of ddr3 ram memory), and the 720p and 1080p videos encoded in HEVEC, whether mkv or mp4, simply freeze when we move forward or backward (for example, from MPC BE, it has settings, where I can play a video in hevec, without crashes, as well as a video in H264), I've already tried a series of settings so that I could optimize VLC for HEVC playback cases but without success. In addition, it still (like most players"), does not play xHE-AAC audio, which I believe is not a negative point, since the codec is new. efforts, because for me, VLC is one of the top 3 free media players.
Review by Diego Souza on
Jul 15, 2022 Version: 3.0.17.4
OS: Windows 8 64-bit Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
The current version still is not capable of *properly* playing x264 10bit HDR content. The program still doesn't have the needed decoder to play the HDR encoded video file to produce the proper colour & contrast. Still waiting for a program update that looks after this.
Review by Tony on
Sep 22, 2021 Version: 3.0.16
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
Works great on all types of files that are video related. I have been using VLC for a few years now and it works like a champ. The only time it was in question was once and they fixed it pdq. You can not beat "free" to the open public. Quality solely depends on the encoding of the file it is playing. Never under estimate a program that is free. Great job
Review by Backpain on
Aug 16, 2021 Version: 3.0.16
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Sad day for VLC, a once fine and useful bit of software. Several versions ago it became fairly well unusable.
Had to switch to PotPlayer, which has superb playing performance, even if setup is a bit quirky and oddly lacking.
Good luck to you all!
Had to switch to PotPlayer, which has superb playing performance, even if setup is a bit quirky and oddly lacking.
Good luck to you all!
Review by Sad Day on
Aug 16, 2021 Version: 3.0.16
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 2/10
Functionality: 2/10
Value for money: 2/10
Overall: 2/10
Videolan pulled 3.0.15 from their website without any details or even noting the fact that they pulled it. That's not great form, but hey, what do you want for free?
For those of us who have 3.0.15 installed (and have a compatible OS for which its not broken), will there be any issues with upgrading to the next version or uninstalling now or after the next upgrade? It would be nice to know, as there is at least one report in their forum about uninstall failures.
I totally understand that testing is a big challenge and a lot of work, but the lack of info coming from Videolan about the problems with the current release and what to do next for everyone with it installed is disappointing. Testing is a lot of work, but good communication is just editing a text file.
For those of us who have 3.0.15 installed (and have a compatible OS for which its not broken), will there be any issues with upgrading to the next version or uninstalling now or after the next upgrade? It would be nice to know, as there is at least one report in their forum about uninstall failures.
I totally understand that testing is a big challenge and a lot of work, but the lack of info coming from Videolan about the problems with the current release and what to do next for everyone with it installed is disappointing. Testing is a lot of work, but good communication is just editing a text file.
Review by Todd on
Jun 12, 2021 Version: 3.0.15
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 6/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=157511
Let's hope an update will come soon :)
Let's hope an update will come soon :)
Review by Brazil on
Jun 11, 2021 Version: 3.0.15
OS: Windows 8 64-bit Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
I agree, confirms bug that I've seen on Win 8.1. Also, for completeness, works OK on Windows 7 32-bit
Review by JoJoMo on
Jun 10, 2021 Version: 3.0.15
OS: Windows 7 Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Runs fine on Windows 10 X64, but crashes on Windows 8.1 X64.
Review by mail2tom on
Jun 10, 2021 Version: 3.0.15 X64
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Looks like VLC 3.0.15 immediately stops (crashes) after loading video file to play. Reinstalled 3.0.14 and things are back to normal.
Review by JoJoMo on
Jun 10, 2021 Version: 3.0.15
OS: Windows 8 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 1/10
Rating by slobber on
Jun 5, 2021 Version: 3.0.14
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 3/10
Functionality: 5/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 4/10
VLC Player is my second favorite Movie Player (first one is MPC-BE Player because of LAV-Filters, MadVR, etc.). I love this program, because you can find it on different operating systems (Windows, Android, etc.) and there are some special features of the program, I sometimes need and use. The design of the player is old, but okay. You can play video files from harddisk, from internet and it is DLNA compatible. So you can stream your movies with univeral media server (UMS) to TV or other devices with VLC player. That is great. Futhermore it is possible to capture streams from the internet. With this software you can convert video files, with a few settings. VLC Player is an allround talent for video and audio files and it is a perfect portable app for your usb stick.
Review by James Pous on
Aug 2, 2020 Version: 3.0.11
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
good and enough for me
Review by iori on
Aug 2, 2020 Version: 3.0.11
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Not the best player.
Review by on
Jun 20, 2020 Version: 3.0.11
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
It doesn't handle well long playlists, it freezes when I want to move long playlists from the main playlist to the media directory, or as simple as deleting long playlists it freezes too :(
Review by pad39b on
Apr 29, 2020 Version: 3.0.10
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 2/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 6/10
Rating by veinylover on
Mar 13, 2020 Version: 3.0.8
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
To me its the best player ever. It's the google chrome browser of the media player.
Review by Skydust on
Mar 11, 2020 Version: 2.2.4 32bit
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Theoretically, the player has everything to be at the forefront. It is available under windows and linux, open source, has been stable developed for over 2 decades.
But then you still have to fight for the very average out-of-the-box usability. Folder show & play and full functional mouse usage is only to get by installing addons. But honestly lots of the addons are not more working from the internal addon store, so you have to goole for workarounds....sure i know long development.
So i don't understand why developers don't even focus on good usability. (good hint: potplayer)
This player and its team deserves a 10/10 rating. But i gave 8.
But then you still have to fight for the very average out-of-the-box usability. Folder show & play and full functional mouse usage is only to get by installing addons. But honestly lots of the addons are not more working from the internal addon store, so you have to goole for workarounds....sure i know long development.
So i don't understand why developers don't even focus on good usability. (good hint: potplayer)
This player and its team deserves a 10/10 rating. But i gave 8.
Review by VidiMini on
Oct 24, 2019 Version: 3.0.8
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
I have been a VLC average Player user for over 7 years, and I don't have a negative point at first to talk about, because the program has taken a huge leap in its functionality over the years, I use it not only to watch TV channels. tv via broadcast link (including I record the content when it suits me) besides playing files in .ISO without the need to emulate it (but sometimes when I open the file in .ISO the dvd menus just don't are functional, although very rare to happen), but especially for testing subtitles on videos that low (yes it is an excellent tool for you to test subtitles for their sync). Anyway I just have to congratulate the developers for making available, and developing, a great free tool (by the way is not easy), I also hope that vlc makes its video editor (VLMC) available, be available as soon as possible, for sure will help us a lot!
Review by Diego Souza on
Sep 30, 2019 Version: 3.0
OS: Windows 10 Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
VLC is a very good media player, lots of functionality buried deep in the settings and with a little research many of the hidden features can be discovered. If you've ever seen the various plagues that are apparent in the videos from some download sites... the movie theatre picture frame, reversed (mirrored) playback, too slow or too fast playback, VLC can deal with these issues. The filters are somewhat complicated to figure out but once you do you'll appreciate em all the more.
I also like the ability to make VLC portable on Windows... download the .zip or .7z version, extract contents, and BEFORE launching VLC for the first time make sure to create a \portable folder in VLC's root folder. All of VLC's settings will be stored in this folder, vlcrc, vlc-qt.ini, artwork from streamed videos, etc.
VLC isn't perfect but it's a fine piece of software and free for our benefit. Check it out.
I also like the ability to make VLC portable on Windows... download the .zip or .7z version, extract contents, and BEFORE launching VLC for the first time make sure to create a \portable folder in VLC's root folder. All of VLC's settings will be stored in this folder, vlcrc, vlc-qt.ini, artwork from streamed videos, etc.
VLC isn't perfect but it's a fine piece of software and free for our benefit. Check it out.
Review by MikeG on
Sep 19, 2019 Version: 308
OS: Windows 8 64-bit Ease of use: 5/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
nice program but leaves the remains in the operating system , for example ; c users (yourname) appdata roaming directory under , does not work under a single folder , setting files always on c drive , please correct this friends i cant use just like that
Review by handsome on
Sep 18, 2019 Version: 3.0.8
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Rating by Valdus on
Aug 15, 2019 Version: 3.0.7.1
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Rating by Popok Bayi on
Dec 16, 2018 Version: 3.0.4
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 5/10
Functionality: 5/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 5/10
Rating by Dreamer on
Nov 2, 2018 Version: 3.0.4
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 6/10
Functionality: 4/10
Value for money: 3/10
Overall: 3/10
Best video player out there for FREE. Always will be free. Works on nearly every OS. For encrypted DVDs simply find a copy of the LIBDVDCSS.dll for your OS,install it to the home directory (windows, copy, MAC: (NFI how to install as there are OS security issues to avoid).
I haven't used any other video player in over 15 years.
I haven't used any other video player in over 15 years.
Review by Dave m on
Jul 1, 2018 Version: 3.0.0
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Before updating to 3.0.2, vlc 2.2.7 worked perfectly with any thing I tried. After updating 10 vlc 3.0.2 related packages, noting was working. VLC player wouldn't start at all. Spent 8+ hours to remove new version packages and manually install back 2.2.7-1 (amd64) packages, VLC 2.2.7 was finally back and working again.
Review by V-viewer on
May 21, 2018 Version: Emmabuntu 1.01 Debian9
OS: Linux Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
Rating by V-viewer on
May 21, 2018 Version: Emmabuntu 1.01 Debian9
OS: Linux Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
Rating by Wakaku on
Mar 11, 2018 Version: 3.0.1
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 10/10
Version 3 seems to have resolved the brief video instability at the start of H264 based clips that crept in with later releases of 2 on my machines.
Review by AlanC on
Feb 10, 2018 Version: 3.0.0
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Installed this version, and now VLC no longer plays interactive DVD menu (VIDEO_TS.IFO). Downgraded back to 2.2.6 - now have DVD menu capability back.
Review by Twister29 on
Feb 9, 2018 Version: 3.00
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 5/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 6/10
I am using it for recording TV. It is invaluable to direct download whole stream containing all programs (video, audio, subtitles and everything is transmitted) and do not change it. So you can save whole multiplex. It has its disadvantage because you need lots of space to save it. 3xHD AVC + 2xSD mpeg + 2 radio station. 4 hours is +/- 30GB DVB-T. It vary from 2-4 MB/s because that multiplex is containing sport channel (higher bitrate + 2 track of audio 448kbps and 192 kbps).
I have not found any other free software that is able to do this.
Bernix
I have not found any other free software that is able to do this.
Bernix
Review by Bernix on
Oct 20, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
Very complete player though there are many others with better quality
Review by StarlessNIte on
Oct 15, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
Rating by Hansi on
Oct 15, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Rating by Hans on
Oct 15, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
VLC is great. But one peeve I have with the 2.2.6 ver is all the mp4, mkv avi, flv files that are associated with vlc now show as type "Media" and the icon is no more the orange cone that used to be in earlier versions. Anyone know how to fix this if it all it can be?
Review by skaye on
Oct 15, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 7 Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Rating by ad on
Jun 5, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
Rating by ac on
Jun 5, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
Rating by c on
Jun 5, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
Rating by a on
Jun 5, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
corrected post:
Good player with an ugly standard GUI.
One of the most annyoing bugs since years is the subpicture handling on DVD playback leads to disappeared subpictures in start menus. It's still unfixed. I wonder if I'm the only person being annoyed by that issue?
Still missed an update to last recent codec base.
Good player with an ugly standard GUI.
One of the most annyoing bugs since years is the subpicture handling on DVD playback leads to disappeared subpictures in start menus. It's still unfixed. I wonder if I'm the only person being annoyed by that issue?
Still missed an update to last recent codec base.
Review by Auggie_Smith on
May 25, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 6/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
Good player with an ugly standard GUI.
One of the most annyoing bugs since years is the subpicture handling on DVD playback leads to disappeared subpictures in start menus. It's still unfixed. I wonder if I'm the only person being Anbiederung by that issue?
Still missed an update to last recent codec base.
One of the most annyoing bugs since years is the subpicture handling on DVD playback leads to disappeared subpictures in start menus. It's still unfixed. I wonder if I'm the only person being Anbiederung by that issue?
Still missed an update to last recent codec base.
Review by Auggie_Smith on
May 25, 2017 Version: 2.2.6
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 6/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
The "portable" versions are not truly portable because the settings are stored in the AppData\Roaming\vlc folder and not in the unzipped app folder.
You can install different versions of VLC but they all use the same settings.
Bug in the 2.2.4 and 2.2.5 64 bits versions.
The snapshots are incorrectly named vlcsnap-errorXXX i/o vlcsnap-yyyy-mm-dd-hhmmssms
Despite that it's a great application
You can install different versions of VLC but they all use the same settings.
Bug in the 2.2.4 and 2.2.5 64 bits versions.
The snapshots are incorrectly named vlcsnap-errorXXX i/o vlcsnap-yyyy-mm-dd-hhmmssms
Despite that it's a great application
Review by skaleton on
May 23, 2017 Version: 2.1.5
OS: Windows 10 64-bit Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
About thread - VLC Media Player 1.1.11 The Luggage slow open Nov 23, 2011
Hay, I'm running VLC media player 2.1.5 Rincewind on a Intel i5 Desktop with OS Win 7 (64bit) updated 2015may08
After many googles finally the SOLUTION - in Malwarebytes (pro) and possible also in other anti-malware progams
go to Settings - Malware exclusions - select C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe
(maybe you have to add also C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc-cache-gen.exe)
Only with VLC.exe added it opens on my 8 gB memory PC in 3 secs now.
Greets from "half down under water" Holland)
(Google tags - VLC media player opens slow starts slow slow loading running slow)
Hay, I'm running VLC media player 2.1.5 Rincewind on a Intel i5 Desktop with OS Win 7 (64bit) updated 2015may08
After many googles finally the SOLUTION - in Malwarebytes (pro) and possible also in other anti-malware progams
go to Settings - Malware exclusions - select C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe
(maybe you have to add also C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc-cache-gen.exe)
Only with VLC.exe added it opens on my 8 gB memory PC in 3 secs now.
Greets from "half down under water" Holland)
(Google tags - VLC media player opens slow starts slow slow loading running slow)
Review by WieboJW on
May 8, 2015 Version: 2.1.5
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
Versatile media player that can play about anything you throw at it.
It can crash on some occasion though with mkv files containing subtitles.
But its free. :)
It can crash on some occasion though with mkv files containing subtitles.
But its free. :)
Review by John1972 on
Feb 27, 2015 Version: 2.1.5
OS: Windows 8 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
While it has generally functioned well I have been having one very major issue with this version. Randomly the picture freezes and say 5 - 6 second segment of the audio stream goes into infinite loop. At this point I even have hard time in killing the application. The same video file plays flawlessly in version 2.0.7.
I wonder if it is just me - with sub-par original Intel hardware - or something is the matter with this version !
I wonder if it is just me - with sub-par original Intel hardware - or something is the matter with this version !
Review by pmshah on
Jan 13, 2015 Version: 2.1.5
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
I tried both versions 2.1.5 and 2.2.0RC2 (x64) and Audio garbles. Video OK. Tried install 2.1.4 over this, no can do. So, I uninstalled via Microsoft Add/Remove and decided to go with 2.1.3 since I saw "roma_turok" comment below. BTW, when I try to play a Movie with VLC, it does not show the video clearly right off the back. After few seconds that movie is playing then picture becomes clear.
Review by gonwk on
Nov 28, 2014 Version: 2.1.5 & 2.2.0
OS: Vista 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
VLC Media Player 2.1.5 crashes while opening any video but it was same in 2.1.4 version also. But 2.1.3 version is working fine. Please fix this bug.
Review by parag19 on
Sep 6, 2014 Version: 2.1.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 2/10
Value for money: 2/10
Overall: 2/10
In version 2.1.0-pre2 beta they finally fix it problems with sound
now sound volume change instant not like previous version its take 1-2sec
when pause video, sound muted instant
sound volume limited to 125%,
previous version was 200% was easy accidentally make to loud sound
now sound volume change instant not like previous version its take 1-2sec
when pause video, sound muted instant
sound volume limited to 125%,
previous version was 200% was easy accidentally make to loud sound
Review by roma_turok on
Jul 31, 2013 Version: 2.1.0-pre2 beta
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
VLC is the best I've ever used and I'm still learning what it can do. Seems nothing is out of bounds for this. Even use it for general transcoding, cutting, etc.
Review by andythebeagle on
Jun 4, 2013 Version: 2.0.6 twoflower
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Plays everything still. Not well but it will play the files. It's gotten slower and buggier. They now hide the options in a basic mode. This is never a good sign either there are too many options or the interface is bad so just hide part of it rather then fix it. In this case it's both.
In any case you will need to mess with all of the settings anyway to get useful video output. Now the video output when using H.264 in MKV and MP4 has periods of blockyness. For a program that just uses the already the open source codecs I wounder how they screw up this bad.
It's just a media player and it doesn't work out of the box what are they thinking. This is the perfect example of bloat and decay killing a useful software product.
In any case you will need to mess with all of the settings anyway to get useful video output. Now the video output when using H.264 in MKV and MP4 has periods of blockyness. For a program that just uses the already the open source codecs I wounder how they screw up this bad.
It's just a media player and it doesn't work out of the box what are they thinking. This is the perfect example of bloat and decay killing a useful software product.
Review by loster on
Apr 30, 2013 Version: 2.0.6
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 5/10
Best player I've ever used. It's nice they finally added support for Apple Lossless as well in version 2.0.6.
Review by hogger129 on
Apr 22, 2013 Version: 2.0.6
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Tried latest Version on W7 64, and the player crashes all the time. I had to go back to version 2.05
Review by kjay45 on
Apr 12, 2013 Version: 2.06
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
For years I had used VLC but after migrating to MPC-HC/PotPlayer+LAV+MadVR, I wonder if its worth updating to new version and use it? Its best for those that don't want codec installation mess and just want their video to play as is. But without any greater manual tweaking functionality it is not better to my opinion. But still it is good to have in the system as it can play most files which may fail otherwise in other players with external codecs! Plus SubtitleEdit needs VLC to draw the waveform which is essential sometimes.
Review by pearlblack15 on
Apr 11, 2013 Version: 2.0.5
OS: Windows 7 Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 6/10
It is one of the most backward player what I've ever seen.
Manual options close to 0
HW acceleration have many problems.
It use only TV color range only: 16-235 instead of 0-255 full color range, which causes problems in camcrder videos. (camcorder videos can work 0-255 range which is bigger than the color range (16-235) of DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-ray and Broadcast TV MPEG2 etc...
Backward player with few manual options and HW acceleration problems.
It is the player of the mid 2000s rather than a modern player in 2012.
Manual options close to 0
HW acceleration have many problems.
It use only TV color range only: 16-235 instead of 0-255 full color range, which causes problems in camcrder videos. (camcorder videos can work 0-255 range which is bigger than the color range (16-235) of DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-ray and Broadcast TV MPEG2 etc...
Backward player with few manual options and HW acceleration problems.
It is the player of the mid 2000s rather than a modern player in 2012.
Review by Stears555 on
Dec 16, 2012 Version: 2.0.5
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
You can also use remote control apps for Android:
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.enachemc.vlcblackremotedemo
It works with the screen turned off.
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.enachemc.vlcblackremotedemo
It works with the screen turned off.
Review by enachemc on
Nov 7, 2012 Version: 2.0.2
OS: Windows 7 Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
VLC has always been slow but it got worse. 1.0 would play 1080P .mp4 on my laptop without issues now it skips and has visual glitches. Also the bookmark feature has disappeared. Still plays almost every format. I have not tested for the dvd playing issues or the color of subtitles in .mkv that I have had in the past.
Review by loster on
Apr 2, 2012 Version: 2.0.1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 7/10
I'm a big fan of VLC player, however, the new version has some serious bugs. I tried to open a folder of .flv files. While browsing through the folder, the program would lock up. When I closed the program, and tried again, the same problem. Eventually my whole computer locked up. I went to task manager, and although no applications were running, under "processes" there were a couple of vlc player processes working simultaneously. Once I ended those processes, things returned to normal. I tried it again with the same bugs. I then deleted 2.00 and returned to version 1.11 and everything worked normally. I hope the bug is worked out. I scored the "functionality" and "overall" score very low, however, the old version 1.11 would get high scores. A fix with a "2.01" version would make me a happy camper.
Review by hddvdrebel on
Feb 27, 2012 Version: 2.00
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 2/10
Was great until v. 1.0. Then started crashing like crazy. On v. 2.0 now and it still crashes regularly. A long time and still no fix in site. No other player crashes with this frequency on my W7 machine. Pretty much if I touch it while a video is playing, it goes away.
Review by MilesAhead on
Feb 26, 2012 Version: 2.0
OS: Windows 7 Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 5/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
still no resume support.otherwise good player.
Review by human75 on
Feb 26, 2012 Version: 2.0
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
I really WANT to like this program. And 2.0 is nicer. The interface and sub handling are definitely better.
But ...
I played an unencoded rip of one of my DVDs. It still doesn't play it smoothly. Version 1.05 or whatever will, but the streaming is no longer secure.
I tried some files that play fine in SMPlayer and didn't in the previous VLC. They don't in 2.0 either.
There still doesn't seem to be any ASIO/Wasapi support. Come on people. If it had that I'd definitely use it as an audio player. Or if I were running Linux or Mac OS. They don't have that nasty habit Windows has of always wanting to resample audio.
I wish SMPlayer had an interface as good as this does. It's more like older versions of VLC.
But it still plays a wider variety of videos better, and the video filters are still MUCH better.
I don't dislike VLC enough to bother uninstalling it but I don't think I`ll be using it any more often than the previous version. Which is, increasingly, not much.
But ...
I played an unencoded rip of one of my DVDs. It still doesn't play it smoothly. Version 1.05 or whatever will, but the streaming is no longer secure.
I tried some files that play fine in SMPlayer and didn't in the previous VLC. They don't in 2.0 either.
There still doesn't seem to be any ASIO/Wasapi support. Come on people. If it had that I'd definitely use it as an audio player. Or if I were running Linux or Mac OS. They don't have that nasty habit Windows has of always wanting to resample audio.
I wish SMPlayer had an interface as good as this does. It's more like older versions of VLC.
But it still plays a wider variety of videos better, and the video filters are still MUCH better.
I don't dislike VLC enough to bother uninstalling it but I don't think I`ll be using it any more often than the previous version. Which is, increasingly, not much.
Review by Hoser Rob on
Feb 26, 2012 Version: 2.0
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 6/10
Xvids and ISOs (and everything else) work fine under VLC 2.0.0 for me. Check your system before you starting blaming the software. Love this app!
Review by slacker on
Feb 19, 2012 Version: 2.0.0
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Looks like V2 is a work in progress. Doesn't decode Xvid video stream, but audio is okay. Some ISO files don't start when dragged to the interface. So far no problems with Matroska. No crashes.
Review by mail2tom on
Feb 19, 2012 Version: 2.0
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
Mac version 2.0.0 on Snow Leo (10.6.8) - no problems. Still doesn't do a good job of transcoding videos but there are many other tools that do that quite well (like Handbrake, MP4Tools, Submerge, QT Pro Player).
One major flaw: Name of video in playlist window seems to be taken from metadata so, if you're comparing two different videos (let's say, one named MyVideo.AVI and another named MyVideo.MP4 in the filesystem), their names in the playlist will be identical if their metadata names are identical. You will, therefore, need to keep the "Media Information" window open so you can click and drag on the "Location" field so you can see the actual file name. PITA.
Solution: Provide a preference that permits display of the filename instead of the metadata name in the Playlist.
One major flaw: Name of video in playlist window seems to be taken from metadata so, if you're comparing two different videos (let's say, one named MyVideo.AVI and another named MyVideo.MP4 in the filesystem), their names in the playlist will be identical if their metadata names are identical. You will, therefore, need to keep the "Media Information" window open so you can click and drag on the "Location" field so you can see the actual file name. PITA.
Solution: Provide a preference that permits display of the filename instead of the metadata name in the Playlist.
Review by rumplestiltskin on
Feb 19, 2012 Version: 2.0.0
OS: MacOSX Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Clicking on most video files crashes it. Starts playing after clicking on it again (sometimes repeatedly). Once it starts playing, there is no problem. This is the installed version. Downloaded standalone version. Will try and report.
Review by mgh on
Feb 19, 2012 Version: 2.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 5/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Compared to my old favorite MPC-HC, and the new PotPlayer, I now prefer good ol' VLC because:
- It supports playing Windows Media Center recordings (.wtv) properly, including those flagged as "protected" (PotPlayer plays my digital tuner recordings with the audio out of sync; MPC-HC can't play "protected" recordings).
- It can properly play all formats faster when want to (MPC-HC can't play .wtv faster, e.g.).
- It time-stretches the audio properly when playing faster (PotPlayer causes a kind of reverb effect; MPC-HC still has no time-stretch at all).
Other than the above, all the other handy features are cool. I did run into some quirkages, though:
- For some reason, the playback speed setting default became 0.90x instead of 1.00x. I found how to fix it, though, by going into the "vlcrc" settings file and changing it there.
- If "post processing" is activated, it seems to cancel out deinterlacing. I was wondering why the picture quality seemed especially bad on some files, so I dug around and found disabling the post-processing filter actually improved things.
And will there every by a 64-bit version?!
- It supports playing Windows Media Center recordings (.wtv) properly, including those flagged as "protected" (PotPlayer plays my digital tuner recordings with the audio out of sync; MPC-HC can't play "protected" recordings).
- It can properly play all formats faster when want to (MPC-HC can't play .wtv faster, e.g.).
- It time-stretches the audio properly when playing faster (PotPlayer causes a kind of reverb effect; MPC-HC still has no time-stretch at all).
Other than the above, all the other handy features are cool. I did run into some quirkages, though:
- For some reason, the playback speed setting default became 0.90x instead of 1.00x. I found how to fix it, though, by going into the "vlcrc" settings file and changing it there.
- If "post processing" is activated, it seems to cancel out deinterlacing. I was wondering why the picture quality seemed especially bad on some files, so I dug around and found disabling the post-processing filter actually improved things.
And will there every by a 64-bit version?!
Review by IntelliMoo on
Nov 11, 2011 Version: 1.1.11
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
Thanks for the tip, but there's a bit more to this.
First of all, there's been a bit of discussion on the Kaspersky forum indicating you're correct in saying it's a false positive.
http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=20 ... try1623021
However, one of the posters there pointed out that on the VLC site itself, there are some indications that the download really is infected:
http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=89196
Why / How are you 100% sure that it's a false positive? 0
Oh, and as for "freaking out", as the saying goes, "only the paranoid survive". ;-)
Anyway, thanks very much for your input and have a nice weekend.
First of all, there's been a bit of discussion on the Kaspersky forum indicating you're correct in saying it's a false positive.
http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=20 ... try1623021
However, one of the posters there pointed out that on the VLC site itself, there are some indications that the download really is infected:
http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=89196
Why / How are you 100% sure that it's a false positive? 0
Oh, and as for "freaking out", as the saying goes, "only the paranoid survive". ;-)
Anyway, thanks very much for your input and have a nice weekend.
Review by jgg on
Mar 25, 2011 Version: 1.1.8
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
false positives happen. don't freak out and go nuts next time. the installer is clean.
Review by aedipuss on
Mar 24, 2011 Version: 1.1.8
OS: Windows 7 Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
I downloaded the latest version from Source Forge and installed it on my XP SP3 IBM machine. Then my anti-virus program, Kaspersky Internet Security, detected a Trojan in it and said a "special procedure" was needed to eradicate it.
The "special procedure" completely screwed up my machine. Fortunately I was able to find a Restore Point that got the machine working again, but I had to uninstall and re-install Kaspersky.
I know there's apparently a security problem in VLC 1.1.7 (http://www.videolan.org/news.html), but I think I'm going to wait awhile before re-installing the new VLC.
Too bad. It's a great viewer.
The "special procedure" completely screwed up my machine. Fortunately I was able to find a Restore Point that got the machine working again, but I had to uninstall and re-install Kaspersky.
I know there's apparently a security problem in VLC 1.1.7 (http://www.videolan.org/news.html), but I think I'm going to wait awhile before re-installing the new VLC.
Too bad. It's a great viewer.
Review by jgg on
Mar 24, 2011 Version: 1.1.8
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 5/10
Just a "must have". Also able to record stream and convert between file formats.
Review by hfrmobile on
Mar 13, 2011 Version: 0.8.6
OS: Vista Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
This player is doing exactly what is expected: plays all kinds of files, like avi or mkv without a problem. ease od use and respecting aspect ratio of the move. Can't ask for anything more.
Review by xzarkad on
Dec 19, 2010 Version: 1.1.5.0
OS: Vista Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
V.1.1.4 seems to have solved the inability to play a dvd from a folder on a HD, introduced in v.1.1.2 (crash) and sustained in v.1.1.3 (no action at all). Now works fine.
Review by CobraPilot on
Aug 29, 2010 Version: 1.1.4
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
With VLC crashing, the inability to play a DVD folder from my hard drive, and the noticeable slowdown in execution from previous releases, I've switched to KMPlayer until VLC becomes more stable.
Review by mail2tom on
Aug 21, 2010 Version: 1.1.3
OS: WinXP 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 6/10
V.1.1.2 crashed immediately if I tried to play a DVD from a folder (and sent a crash message to Videolan), so I returned to v.1.1.1 and awaited v.1.1.3.
Here came v.1.1.3: It doesn't crash immediately, but does NOTHING when you select a DVD from a folder. Just sits there. No crash report.
So, it's back to v.1.1.1 and hope v.1.1.4 works . . . or v.1.1.5 or v.1.1.6 or . . .
Here came v.1.1.3: It doesn't crash immediately, but does NOTHING when you select a DVD from a folder. Just sits there. No crash report.
So, it's back to v.1.1.1 and hope v.1.1.4 works . . . or v.1.1.5 or v.1.1.6 or . . .
Review by CobraPilot on
Aug 20, 2010 Version: 1.1.3
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 5/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
Plays most all formats, BUT crashes instantly when I try to play a DVD ripped to a folder on my HD. V. 1.1.1 and earlier did not have this problem on my computer. A reinstall made no difference. Will revert to 1.1.1 and cautiously test upgrades past 1.1.2 to see if this problem is fixed.
Review by CobraPilot on
Aug 2, 2010 Version: 1.1.2
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 4/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
This was one of my favorite most dependable players prior to v. 1.0. Anything after v. 1.05 is totally useless for me. It looked as though PGS subtitles would finally be supported in a software player. But as soon as you touch this thing, it crashes. I'll check it out again maybe around v. 1.5. I'm just tired of watching it rebuild the font cache every time I reinstall trying to get it to work. Looks like a great player has gone by the wayside.
Review by MilesAhead on
Jul 29, 2010 Version: 1.1.2
OS: Windows 7 Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
This version of vlc m.p. is better than ANY media player I have ever used. I am very reluctant to even upgrade because of possible negative changes that may occur.I cannot fathom anyone complaining at all about this product. The interface is very simple and can be modified to fit per user tasks. It records, takes snapshots, and covers most,(I can't say all because I need only use a few different formats)video formats, is FREE!, with FREE! upgrades, and you can actually adjust audio and video flaws in lower quality videos, and add various video effects, and record the finished product. What more could anyone ask for out of a media player,with cost OR free? While some people are spending all their viewing time worrying about "per-snickety" B.S., I am watching SUPERB quality videos the way I like to view them. Thank you VSO for the great service you have help to provide.....
Review by mozillagorilla on
Jul 3, 2010 Version: 1.0.5
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
I see some, well a lot of negatives with other users ... but for me it has been great. The color adjustments are really good, the volume change with mouse wheel, the ability to save playlists, easy change of audio and caption tracks ... well they're probably all easy - other players. It has cropping, zooming and aspect ratio settings which made a lot of difference on Woody Allen movies which are 16:9, I guess but don't appear in reg. letterbox. I need some info on this part of video ... anyway, I haven't experienced crashes on video or audio. I use it a lot, every day. XP SP3
Review by benhoff on
Mar 15, 2010 Version: 1.0.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
Did not pass go, it didn't work
Found it, downloaded it, installed it. Tried using it to pay a DVD, it didn't work, just ended, and then I had a message that it had crashed.
On investigating by looking on their forums, found a reference to the problem, and the bottom line from the developers was it's not our problem, take it elsewhere, we're not going to fix it.
And other posts by the VLC team displayed the same arrogant attitude
Found it, downloaded it, installed it. Tried using it to pay a DVD, it didn't work, just ended, and then I had a message that it had crashed.
On investigating by looking on their forums, found a reference to the problem, and the bottom line from the developers was it's not our problem, take it elsewhere, we're not going to fix it.
And other posts by the VLC team displayed the same arrogant attitude
Review by etr220 on
Mar 15, 2010 Version: 1.0.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
VLC player is better in Win7 than in WinXp because Win7 is much better at data transfer. But CPU Usage of MPC-Home Cinema is three times less than VLC player when playing HD Matroska files.
Review by luigi2000 on
Jan 11, 2010 Version: 1.0.3
OS: Windows 7 Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Great but the dvd playback is still broken in many ways. Sometimes menu buttons are unelectable, sometimes menus are broken and the skip over FBI warning feature can't be turned off. However the player is very good and plays almost any file.
Review by loster on
Dec 24, 2009 Version: 1.0.3
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Last three versions are not as good or efficient at handling mp4 as MPC with ffdshow.
Review by luigi2000 on
Sep 25, 2009 Version: 1.0.2
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Like most media players, it doesn't recognize calibration .icm's and can't be set to display proper white-points, black levels or color balance. Works OK (usually, but buggy option menus and toolbars that look different every time it starts), but overall display quality looks as mediocre as any other player.
Review by sanlyn on
Sep 4, 2009 Version: 1.0.1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 3/10
Overall: 3/10
crashes like crazy...
Review by zoobie on
Jul 9, 2009 Version: 1.0.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 5/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 5/10
This app has been really great, especially since it started support for rm and rmvb playback, I trashed rm player for it. I give this app a 6 because it cannot save custom settings to audio or video in options. The moment you leave the player (close) it forgets all custom saved settings in adjustments and effects (equalizer,brightness,sharpness.. everything), giving a loud bass and very low vocals when you start playing a movie. I have to turn off my speakers before starting a movie. Version 0.8.6 does save settings as required but with it comes so many unsolved bugs
Review by Kelorevin on
Jul 2, 2009 Version: vlc-1.0.0-rc4-win32
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 6/10
It claims to playback AVCHD. It is the slowest thing a have ever seen in my life!
it creates slideshow on my Quad core 2.6GHz. The worst player for AVCHD i have seen :(
it creates slideshow on my Quad core 2.6GHz. The worst player for AVCHD i have seen :(
Review by nitro1973 on
May 27, 2009 Version: 0.9.9
OS: Vista Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 5/10
Value for money: 5/10
Overall: 1/10
Liking the interface overhaul in 0.9.2 and 0.9.3 BUT on my system both of these versions often disappear from the screen when going from fullscreen to a window, sometimes you get an icon in the taskbar (which may or may not restore to a window again) but often it just disappears with the audio still playing and has to be killed from the Task manager.
My other issue with the new look is that in fullscreen mode the 'Controller' is centered relative to the desktop, which is fine if you only have a one-screen setup. However, on my two-screen setup (a 1152x864 22" CRT and a 1680x1050 22" LCD TV) the 'controller' ALWAYS appears on the LCD TV in fullscreen regardless of which screen the video is on.
Reluctantly I'm going back to version 0.8.6i.
My other issue with the new look is that in fullscreen mode the 'Controller' is centered relative to the desktop, which is fine if you only have a one-screen setup. However, on my two-screen setup (a 1152x864 22" CRT and a 1680x1050 22" LCD TV) the 'controller' ALWAYS appears on the LCD TV in fullscreen regardless of which screen the video is on.
Reluctantly I'm going back to version 0.8.6i.
Review by TimA-C on
Sep 27, 2008 Version: 0.9.3
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
Won't play compressed AVI created with Video for Windows, even if VFWupport is installed. Doesn't like huffyuv AVI's at all. Like most Windows media players, it ignores any .icm color profiles or other means used to calibrate a PC monitor, instead uses your monitor's own user-controlled default settings, which are usually set to factory default if you're using Adobe Gamma or other .icm files for calibration. Have to change many player settings every time you open a new video, many settings are in hidden menus that disappears when VLC is closed. Nog that much of an improvement over Win MediaPlayer or PowerDVD. Some davanced settings are very useful, but a pain in the enck to get at.
Review by sanlyn on
Jun 29, 2008 Version: 0.8.6
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 6/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 6/10
Best player I have used. Will play anything I throw at it. I do have one complaint/comment.
My control panel has no rewind/back key. It also has no frame forward/frame back keys(when paused). Even if it is open source, I do not have the skills to add these features.
Does anyone know if these features are included but need to be manualy added to the console/control panel? Or how to add them to your player?
Hopefully they will be included in an update for future versions.
My control panel has no rewind/back key. It also has no frame forward/frame back keys(when paused). Even if it is open source, I do not have the skills to add these features.
Does anyone know if these features are included but need to be manualy added to the console/control panel? Or how to add them to your player?
Hopefully they will be included in an update for future versions.
Review by hitman3000 on
May 26, 2008 Version: 0.8.6c
OS: Vista Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
The most useful, flexible quality player I've encountered.
Review by nzo on
Jan 17, 2008 Version: 0.8.6d
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
The previous comment about VLC "hijacking" file associations is perhaps unfair.
During installation, there is a step where the user has the option of selecting any/all file associations. I always uncheck all checkboxes so NONE are associated with VLC until I'm sure I want that association. While I have found each upgrade to be stable, there's always the chance the next one won't be; hence, my "no association" choice at installation. With drag 'n drop, VLC is always readily available for individual files, and it's easy to open discs and video directories.
As good as this program is, I continue to wonder why the author still has the version numbers in the more-or-less "beta" category less than v. 1.0. What IS coming in 1.0? Teleportation capabilities? ;-)
During installation, there is a step where the user has the option of selecting any/all file associations. I always uncheck all checkboxes so NONE are associated with VLC until I'm sure I want that association. While I have found each upgrade to be stable, there's always the chance the next one won't be; hence, my "no association" choice at installation. With drag 'n drop, VLC is always readily available for individual files, and it's easy to open discs and video directories.
As good as this program is, I continue to wonder why the author still has the version numbers in the more-or-less "beta" category less than v. 1.0. What IS coming in 1.0? Teleportation capabilities? ;-)
Review by CobraPilot on
Jan 14, 2008 Version: 0.86d
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
I could not play AVI files on an old Sharp MM10 (Transmeta chip based 256 Mb RAM, 1 GHz processor) laptop with Windows Media Player without videos freezing or audio sync problems. I installed VLC media player and now I can play my AVIs on this old, slow, but light and slim laptop.
Review by patpend on
Jan 14, 2008 Version: 0.8.6d
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
pretty much best media player out there!! it does 'what is says on the tin' and yes, you can use it to convert files from one format to another. and it's free!!! that's gotta be good!
Review by uzi on
Sep 24, 2007 Version: 0.8.6c
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Videolan is MUCH more than a media player! Use it to convert files from one format to another. I use it to convert VOB digital video files to asf and other formats. Videolan can also be used, I understand, as a streaming server, which is pretty cool.
Review by LilPeck on
Sep 24, 2007 Version: .8.6c
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
GREAT program and plays ISO files even!
Review by formlessness on
Sep 21, 2007 Version: 3.4.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
wow, now this is the God-father of video playback apps! plays anything ,can transcode anything it can play and plays iso's as if it was dvd , all without out directshow! and frequent updates ensure you wont ever have to use wmp with a directshow filter. why are you still reading this , download it now you system will thank you
Review by dannyboy48888 on
Sep 15, 2007 Version: 0.86c
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
This tool works great for pre-viewing my iso files prior to burning them to my DVD. This software seems to do much more but it is great for what I need!
Review by videojxa on
Apr 6, 2007 Version: 8.6a
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
I have graded VLC as 5 overall because of one unforgivable bit of programming misbehavior: when I installed it, it changed the file type of every sort of media file (.avi, .mpg, etc.) to "VLC Media File" and gave them all that ungraceful "traffic cone" icon. I have changed all the file associations to other apps -- mostly Media Player Classic -- but I can't get rid of the file type or the icon. It doesn't affect function, I know; but it bothers me constantly, and doing it without permission is damnably arrogant.
Review by OldAmateur on
Mar 10, 2007 Version: 0.8.6a
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 5/10
Absolutely the best player available. Plays any file with ease. It is faster than WinDVD and the image is much better than PowerDVD. Some reports give Media Player classic an advantage. Media Player Classic still relies on the proper codecs to be present in your system. VLC however does need any codecs to be installed. Plus the extra features: takes perfect snapshots with ease, customizable to suit any taste, preset equalizer, even visualizations.
Value for money? In this case this is a joke question. The best player ever and is totally free. And it only takes 9 MB. And installs without asking for an internet connection to download updates from Microsoft, etc.
Lets hope the developers keep it up. My HTPC would be a lot harder to run without it.
Value for money? In this case this is a joke question. The best player ever and is totally free. And it only takes 9 MB. And installs without asking for an internet connection to download updates from Microsoft, etc.
Lets hope the developers keep it up. My HTPC would be a lot harder to run without it.
Review by miciurin on
Feb 13, 2007 Version: 0.8.6a
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Great product, but does not play windows media files very well.
Also the updates never link to updates, only the last stable release!
Also the updates never link to updates, only the last stable release!
Review by palooka on
Jan 4, 2007 Version: all
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
I, too, stumbled upon this a while back. I use it on Linux and Windows. It's the best one I've found, better than the pay-for players out there. It's got M$ Media Player beat, and I'm sorry to say Media Player Classic takes a back seat to this as well.
This plays just about anything you throw at it, ISO's even!
Thanks for such a great player!
This plays just about anything you throw at it, ISO's even!
Thanks for such a great player!
Review by orion940 on
Dec 13, 2006 Version: 0.8.6
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
I stumbled across VLC a while back and although I wasn't expecting much, it has become just about my favorite piece of software. No, it's not flashy or sexy; it doesn't have cool skins and i didn't have to steal a bootleg copy. But it works better than any other media player I've tried. The video quality is heads above anything Microsoft has come out with in a while. And the absolute best thing: IT WILL PLAY ANYTHING. Files that are damaged that Windows Media Player won't even open and start to play, VLC somehow manages to work through them. It's amazing. And how can you not love something so totally free?
Review by flbuzcut on
Dec 11, 2006 Version: 0.8.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
I was having all kinds of problems trying to sync up subs on this avi file and I downloaded this player and BAM problem solved for me:) I didn't have to mess with vobsub or timing or anything. Plus the picture is clearer too. This player Rox! I'm recomending this to my friends! Thanx guys!!!
Review by sioko on
Jul 2, 2006 Version: 0.8.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Works pretty well and is free, but has some annoying omissions.
Pros:
* Plays most audio and video files, except for AVI.
* Plays Nero "NRG" DVD image files like they were DVDs. (Even Nero Showtime can't do that.)
Cons:
* No ability to rewind.
* Can't immediately resume playback (by hitting "Play" or something) while fast-forwarding. You have to hit the "slow-down" button as many times as you hit the fast-forward button. So if you hit the fast forward button a few times to increase the fast forward speed, and you get to the part you want to watch, you can't quickly stop fast forwarding. You have to slow it down step by step.
* No ability to play AVI files.
* Clunky interface.
You get what you pay for, and this is free.
Pros:
* Plays most audio and video files, except for AVI.
* Plays Nero "NRG" DVD image files like they were DVDs. (Even Nero Showtime can't do that.)
Cons:
* No ability to rewind.
* Can't immediately resume playback (by hitting "Play" or something) while fast-forwarding. You have to hit the "slow-down" button as many times as you hit the fast-forward button. So if you hit the fast forward button a few times to increase the fast forward speed, and you get to the part you want to watch, you can't quickly stop fast forwarding. You have to slow it down step by step.
* No ability to play AVI files.
* Clunky interface.
You get what you pay for, and this is free.
Review by Razz on
Jun 25, 2006 Version: 0.8.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 6/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 6/10
The best overall player for OS X, esp. since its free. YouTube flv's that play then crash can be made usuable for free with iSquint at www.isquint.org (not .com)
There are still some wmv that MPlayer handles better, so it pays to have both.
They take donations at VLC. I made one. VLC would be worth paying for.
There are still some wmv that MPlayer handles better, so it pays to have both.
They take donations at VLC. I made one. VLC would be worth paying for.
Review by dnix71 on
Jun 25, 2006 Version: 0.8.5
OS: MacOSX Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
Great quality of image, plenity of options. It can really replace a lot of other programs. The support for avisynth files (*.avs) still lacks. So for movies is OK, but not for testing avs scripts...
Review by nicksson on
Jun 20, 2006 Version: 0.8.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
This is an absolute pearler. Fast to load, plays anything without a fuss.Makes you wonder why MS cant manage this. I even use this to check partially downloaded torrents. It just works!
Review by vileswine on
Apr 29, 2006 Version: VLC
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
The greatest thing about this player is that, unlike most media players, it is bare simple by default -- just a plain little, un-assuming, standard window, kind of like Windows Notepad. That is despite it having just about every kind media playing capability you could want for whatever kind of file, stream, or disc you might want to play. That means it can replace a handful of other programs. It just does what you want it to do and does it very well. To me it's ideal.
Review by C53248 on
Apr 16, 2006 Version: 0.8.4a
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Great mediaplayer. It plays nearly every videofile I tried, even H264/AVC except for a video encoded with Mainconcept H264 encoder V2. If this function is added, I'll give it a 10
Review by filipdebie on
Feb 17, 2006 Version: 0.8.4.a
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
Don't know when this was added but this 0.8.4 version has an export wizard which actually makes it much easier to convert "this" to "that". Earlier versions of VLC had this capability but it was hidden behind obtuse dialogs with the prefs; this change, alone, ratchets up the "ease of use" from a 6 to a 10. This is a welcome change and makes this already excellent player an even more useful tool.
Review by rumplestiltskin on
Nov 27, 2005 Version: 0.8.4
OS: MacOSX Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
The new VLC player is good it just needs better h.264 support, don't get me wrong it can play h.264 vidz, but it will start stoping and pausing, if you do any thing else well the video is playing, sometimes even crash. for h.264 vidz i'll stay with CCCP
Review by dragon_1 on
Nov 27, 2005 Version: 0.8.4
OS: WinME Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
I'm posting another comment because upon further investigation I find that the ability of the "older version" of VideoLan to bump up the volume I mentioned in my first comment, is really a fuction of the skin. So there's no need to install 2 versions of VLC Media Player on your machine. To play DVD .iso images that have low volume just use the skinned shortcut to vlc.exe(the player with
the brushed aluminum look.) Sorry for the misinformation.
the brushed aluminum look.) Sorry for the misinformation.
Review by MilesAhead on
Jul 15, 2005 Version: 0.8.2
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
By far one of the best Players created, this with media player classic are number one, plays every well known filetype and has much functionality plus its free. It definatly replaced PowerDVD for me.
Review by criscr0ss on
Jul 2, 2005 Version: 0.8.2
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
I use both VLC Media Player and Video Lan. The new VLC beta has nice features but one quirk I like in Video Lan is I can boost the volume when playing ISO images prior to burning, without adjusting
the Windows Volume control. It's just very convenient. So I'd say
don't discard the old version! :)
the Windows Volume control. It's just very convenient. So I'd say
don't discard the old version! :)
Review by MilesAhead on
May 25, 2005 Version: 0.8.1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
WOW ! This little program has replaced Winamp, BS PLayer, WinDVD and Windows Media Player for me in one simple FREE download....
I could not recommend anything more for playing video files, some more functionality for DVD playback would only make this thing even better.
I could not recommend anything more for playing video files, some more functionality for DVD playback would only make this thing even better.
Review by TBFL on
May 25, 2005 Version: 0.8.1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
It plays even compressed RARs while they are downloading! It's a player of my choice for 3 years now. There is no any other player that can do what VLC does!
Review by nick13 on
Apr 13, 2005 Version: all
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
WOW, WOW, All I can say is wow. I downloaded the NERO demo a few weeks ago, and will purchase it tomorrow. The demo died and I couldn't watch my nerodigital encoded cds, but VLC Plays them flawlessly, forget the other downloads of codecs, this is definitely the way to play nero digital .mp4 for free. I can't believe it took me this long to open my eyes and pay attention to all the people pointing at VLC.
Review by bgstratt on
Apr 12, 2005 Version: 0.8.1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
thank you Baldrick.Never knew such an amazing player like this and...free!!
Review by encman on
Apr 6, 2005 Version: .81
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
If you have DVDs that MPC can't play, then something's wrong.
Review by State of Mind on
Mar 19, 2005 Version: new
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
Great player! It played some dvd's that M Player & WinDVD simply couldn't!
Review by branimir on
Mar 19, 2005 Version: 0.8.1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Very flexable player. Plays everthing I need. Good job!! Well done!
Review by schematic2 on
Mar 12, 2005 Version: 0.8.1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Great Tool
functional,codec inside,Stable+++
functional,codec inside,Stable+++
Review by rsb on
Feb 7, 2005 Version: 0.8.1
OS: Win98 Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 3/10
Overall: 10/10
This thing rocks! So far VLC has played every problem video I had in stock. I have at least 10 players (many that cost money) I was evaluating that I am now going to scrap. Most players out there cannot play anything that Media Player fails to play. Fancy skins are useless if you can't get playback. I was having some success with the player from Divx, but VLC plays AVI files that the Divx player and even my Philips 642 will not. App loads quickly, videos load quickly, and App takes minimal resources. You can run multiple instances without bogging down the system. The only problem I have had is that sometimes it would play fragments of a previous video and go sort of wacky. Seemed to happen if the current video was MPEG, and the previous video was AVI. Restarting the app fixed that everytime, and is so quick to do, that restart is not costly. The elegance of functional simplicity... Can't beat this at any price!
Review by avast on
Feb 2, 2005 Version: 0.8.1
OS: Win2K Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
As usual, the VLC developers have put out an excellent product. They've added more support for different codecs. Also they've included a new Wizard that makes streaming a hell of a lot easier.
Review by sctele on
Oct 3, 2004 Version: 0.8.0 test-2
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
i also forgot to mention that all codecs are included...also, a lot of OS's are supported...
Review by sctele on
May 4, 2004 Version: 0.7.2
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
An excellent player that plays everything: vcd, svcd, dvd, mpeg1, mpeg2, divx, xvid, wmv (1 and 2), almost all audio formats (except for real audio and AMR (3GPP)), bin/cue files...
For complete list: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html
For complete list: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html
Review by sctele on
May 3, 2004 Version: 0.7.2
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Eventhough it's a good player (plays many many video file formats), I cannot add a whole bunch of .avi's (or .mov or whatever) to the playlist. VLC simply adds a few randomly and skips others. Adding them to the playlist one by one does work and they do play, so I don't understand why I cannot simply add 10 files to the playlist. Other than that a good player (would like to see 'time-remaining' though). Overall score of 5 is due to the add to playlist functionallity.
Review by PhilDVD on
Feb 23, 2004 Version: 0.6.2
OS: MacOSX Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 5/10
this is the best player out there! i got rid of the bsplayer the divx player and powerdvd player. also easy to place on disk and load anywhere. the message feature is wonderful. had a file that wouldnt do anything right look at the message while trying to play and could tell that it had a header issue that needed solving. that meant i didnt have to waste time trying to figure out which thing needed fixing. also the dvd player kept turning the computer volume to mute. now i only have to have one program to take care of ever type of file i have.
Review by thesavages on
Jan 23, 2004 Version: 0.7.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Plays everything smoothly, superb scaling. Plays even broken and faulty files perfectly, for example those with "incorrect length"-syndrome.
Review by miksu on
Jan 8, 2004 Version: 0.7.0
OS: MacOSX Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
Plays any damn thing even lets me play vcd or avi's at work where the computers are all locked down, the boss don't like it. But screw the boss.
Review by barryland on
Sep 4, 2003 Version: 0.6.2
OS: Linux Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
Excellent MPEG2 player.
Review by k2 on
Sep 4, 2003 Version: 0.6
OS: Win98 Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
I've ran the program on a Duron-700 with win XP for playing home made S-VCD's. It's working very smoothly. Later I tried it on a vintage laptop, a Compaq Armada 1700 (P-II 266 MHz W98SE) and even on this one it works, a bit shaky though. This is a great tool for playing S-VCD's on a PC, and the price is right for a duthman like myself ;-). Cheers, Leo
Review by hatross on
Aug 28, 2003 Version: 0.6.2
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
I am always amazed to read words of praise for this player. Crashes and or plays slow and or with audio/video sync problems. M Player on the other hand plays nearly everything I throw at it. Clearly different machines work differently. So give the other one a try if one doesn't work on your machine.
Review by schwinn on
Aug 8, 2003 Version: schwinn
OS: MacOSX Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
This program is the best....I have been using it since I first found it months ago.....plays unfinished avi's....even plays movies that everything else I use won't.
And it uses very little memory....it is based on linux commands and it is very small. Blows away everything else I have tried.
Can't wait to try the new version
And it uses very little memory....it is based on linux commands and it is very small. Blows away everything else I have tried.
Can't wait to try the new version
Review by coyote on
Aug 5, 2003 Version: 5.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Vlc Player also plays .bin movie files straight up. .Bin files would normally have to be either burned first, or extracted using a program such as ISOBuster before you could view them. This program is the end-all program. Toss BSPlayer, Divx Player, and Media Player, this is all you need.
Review by ndaher on
Jun 21, 2003 Version: 0.5.3
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
I love this program....I have been using it since I found it about 6 months ago. It will even play unfinished avi files without having to fix them. Even as they download
Review by coyote on
Jun 19, 2003 Version: .5.3
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Is the best among all the players that i hv in VLC one can play all the movies & even can watch the movies while being downloaded
Review by fashionjogger on
Jun 19, 2003 Version: 0.5.3
OS: Win2K Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
This is the only freeware player that TOTALLY ROCKS
It'll play things that won't play in the other players-but should.
It'll play DVD VOLUMES or files over a network brilliantly
It even got around a system that WOULDN'T DISPLAY ANYTHING with any of the other players because it was a FLAT SCREEN VGA and wouldn't supoport OVERLAY or some such bull!
I've also used the for MAC 9.1 version..great
It doesn't advertise for iself or anyone...love it
It'll play things that won't play in the other players-but should.
It'll play DVD VOLUMES or files over a network brilliantly
It even got around a system that WOULDN'T DISPLAY ANYTHING with any of the other players because it was a FLAT SCREEN VGA and wouldn't supoport OVERLAY or some such bull!
I've also used the for MAC 9.1 version..great
It doesn't advertise for iself or anyone...love it
Review by dcsos on
Jun 11, 2003 Version: vlc-0.5.0-win32
OS: Win2K Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
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