anyone using VLC video player on MBA? or is there something better?

[Jaranson]

I jumped ship from Windows to Mac recently. My only Mac device right now is my MBA.

Since I'm used to VLC video player on Windows, I installed it on the MBA and MKV videos(720p or 1080p) play just fine.

However, I'm wondering if there's something better suited to the MBA?

Thanks!

 

[Dweez]

I use it exclusively on my MBA as well as other computers. I've tried converting to a few different formats and finally settled on mkv. Sure, the files are big but I'm to the point that I don't care about storage - it's cheap. I load the movies I want to watch onto a 128 gig PNY StorEDGE card and life is good.

I feel that there's always going to be 'something better', but VLC is free and does a fine job of playback.

 

[Chatran]

You could also try MPlayerOSX.

 

[Mrbobb]

I don't like that VLC seems to work like iTunes. When I open a file with VLC it opens its big screen and wants to put my file on a playlist. Can't I just play that ONE file and show me a little playback screen and that's all? What's with the 800 LB gorilla intrusion?

 

[Roman2K~]

Nothing better than VLC that I know of. Some lean alternatives that I like:

• MPlayerX (based on MPlayer and ffmpeg)
• mpv (fork of mplayer2, itself a fork of MPlayer)

 

[teffers]

I'm using xbmc and my android phone as a remote

 

[Steve121178]

However, I'm wondering if there's something better suited to the MBA?

Nothing better IMO. VLC is an amazing app.

 

[Miat]

Between Quicktime and VLC, you have almost every media file type covered, certainly all the common ones.

Whatever its quirks, VLC is one of my most used and appreciated programs.

And its free!

 

[netopin]

I was using VLC when I switched from Windows, then I discovered a free Mac App Store app MPlayerX. It runs smooth so far and feels like a native app. And updates are less pain. But I keep VLC, just in case.

 

[twintin]

I use Beamer since I mainly watch movies through my ATV and that is the only player I know of that can stream to an ATV without AirPlay mirroring. MPlayerX as mentioned above also seems like a nice player (better UI than VLC IMO).

 

[Roman2K~]

I was using VLC when I switched from Windows, then I discovered a free Mac App Store app MPlayerX. It runs smooth so far and feels like a native app. And updates are less pain. But I keep VLC, just in case.

You should install MPlayerX from its website since the developer stopped updating the Mac App Store version.

 

[Miat]

Just tried MPlayerX, and it looks like pretty good value.

Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[Jaranson]

You should install MPlayerX from its website since the developer stopped updating the Mac App Store version.

does that mean people should avoid this app in the future?

 

[Dark Dragoon]

does that mean people should avoid this app in the future?

Only the version on the Mac App Store.
The version you can download from the website is fine.

 

[Roman2K~]

does that mean people should avoid this app in the future?

Only the version on the Mac App Store.
The version you can download from the website is fine.

Exactly. The MAS version is obselete and won't be updated. MPlayerX should now be downloaded directly from the developer's website.

 

[calaverasgrande]

Folks don't use flip4mac or Perian?

 

[Roman2K~]

Folks don't use flip4mac or Perian?

Flip4Mac is closed-source (backed by Microsoft), Perian is abandoned. I wouldn't use any of those given the existing open-source, free, battle-tested alternatives.

 

[halledise]

does that mean people should avoid this app in the future?

not at all.
MPlayerX was updated just before Xmas, but as mentioned earlier, direct from the developers site (rather than App Store)

if you're running MPlayerX, the default is to 'check for updates automatically' - which it does.

the main reason I prefer it to all the others is it's ability to play pretty much any clip and it has better 'sound control' than VLC or any other player.
add in Boom and you have a great movie watching app

 

[mpantone]

Moreover, if you are using Handbrake to transcode video, you need VLC anyhow because Handbrake requires VLC's compression binaries for the encoding work.

 

[coldjeanzzz]

I use VLC but it seems to have gotten worse on Mavericks

 

[Dark Dragoon]

Moreover, if you are using Handbrake to transcode video, you need VLC anyhow because Handbrake requires VLC's compression binaries for the encoding work.

This isn't correct Handbrake is standalone, the only thing Handbrake needed VLC for was ripping DVD's as VLC included libdvdcss which was not bundled with handbrake.

However as of VLC 2.x libdvdcss is not included, so VLC isn't used/needed for anything that handbrake does anymore.

 

[joeray]

best MAC Player

The best MAC Player for DV to Blu_Ray is MacGo... Granted, it's a one time fee of 39.00 but I haven't found a better player.