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Forget VLC, MPlayer, etc. Use THIS!

C

czeluff

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 23, 2006
272
2
alot of people complain that vlc crashes since it's been beta forever, that mplayer doesn't work like they hope, and that Quicktime doesn't play enough formats. I found THE solution:

download a plugin called Perian (google it). Perian makes Quicktime play EVERY format except wmv files. Then download Flip4Mac, which allows Quicktime to play those wmv files.

If you like Quicktime, you can stop here, but personally, I do not. Full screen doesn't actually "fill" the screen, etc. So now, download NicePlayer.

NicePlayer "can play all the same things that your Quicktime player can play". Therefore, if you installed Perian, NicePlayer can utilize it. The same goes with Flip4Mac. NicePlayer is a stripped down version of Quicktime that gets rid of all the ads, all the crap, and then adds amazing full screen, stretching support so that your videos fill the ENTIRE screen....and it still looks amazing!

Perian + Flip4Mac + NicePlayer = the best video watching scenario.

Please share your opinions.

Chad

p.s. if VLC works for you, then great. my point isn't to bash it. But it DOES crash from time to time for me, especially if you play the files off of an external drive. VLC always hangs whenever I try to close the video. It hangs so bad, in fact, that I have to reboot.

MPlayer was a good alternative for awhile, but it's fugly, and a Linux port that is not updated as often as its Linux brother.
 
Thanks for the recommendations. I have Perian and Flip4Mac for my QT player, however I use VLC to play everything, especially now that it supports WMV. That being said, it has crashed on me a couple times, so I might have to grab this NicePlayer and kick the tires on it to see how it performs. It's always great to have alternatives out there, so again. :cool:
 
I love VLC, and maybe the recent attention from the Mac Bug a Day thing going on this month will get them to patch up a few small holes. Still, VLC has always served me well, and it would be hard to switch away from it.
 
vlc crashes? I can't remember it happening to me. Now, iTunes and Safari....yes, crashy apps at times.
I find the latest issue of vlc addressed my only gripe (a full-screen problem). Now I have no complaints. One thing I like about QT is the frame-by-frame advance/reverse. I wish vlc had that, too.
 
no qualms

thanks for the quick responses!

Again, VLC's bugs mainly exist when playing from external devices, it seems. In my case, I have every South Park, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and StrongBad episode on that drive. The complete VLC lockups got tiring. So far, I have nothing bad to say about NicePlayer & Perian. NicePlayer is ridiculously small (800kb or so) and has been rock solid. At least give it a try. Of course, one of the great thing about Macs is that there isn't a program that "everyone must use". There's alot of available options, so I simply encourage people to see if this becomes THEIR media viewing method of choice.

cz
 
its a quite nice one, i guess the real advantage this one have over VLC is that this player can play multiple files at same screen, while VLC and mplayer can't. (I know quicktime can)
 
czeluff said:
thanks for the quick responses!

Again, VLC's bugs mainly exist when playing from external devices, it seems. In my case, I have every South Park, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and StrongBad episode on that drive. The complete VLC lockups got tiring. So far, I have nothing bad to say about NicePlayer & Perian. NicePlayer is ridiculously small (800kb or so) and has been rock solid. At least give it a try. Of course, one of the great thing about Macs is that there isn't a program that "everyone must use". There's alot of available options, so I simply encourage people to see if this becomes THEIR media viewing method of choice.

cz
Click to expand...

I play almost everything in VLC from an external drive, and it rarely hangs.

Also, even with Perian, QT still doesn't support the Matroska container. (which is an awesome container too)
 
joepunk said:
I know that VLC can be a bit jumpy when playing a DVD. Is NicePlayer smoother?
Click to expand...

oh my, this thing is quite difficult in playing DVD, u need to switch plugins (from quicktime to DVD player), and the switching process isn't that smooth. quite complex and not clean. DVD play control is difficult too, and confusing, quality should be same as apple's DVD player.
 
VLC's main pro, for me, is the ability to up the audio 300% — anybody know of a program that expands ALL audio output -- some sort of volume boost that works on top of every program -- a sort of stripped-down audio hijack, I'm thinking...
 
clevin said:
oh my, this thing is quite difficult in playing DVD, u need to switch plugins (from quicktime to DVD player), and the switching process isn't that smooth. quite complex and not clean. DVD play control is difficult too, and confusing, quality should be same as apple's DVD player.
Click to expand...

Good to know, I definitely won't use it to play DVDs then. I'll probably still check it out FWIW though...
 
actually

actually, for dvds i still like apples dvd player the best. its sweet.
 
I have been using niceplayer for years and I like its simple gui...its very minimalistic. Unfortunately it doesn't come close to what vlc is capable of doing. Niceplayer is updated rather slowly and is missing many rudimentary and essential features such as supporting surround sound and subtitles.
 
1. Niceplayer stinks. Either get a QT fullscreen widget, or Quicktime Pro. I have Pro, and you get way more than fullscreen ability for your $30. It's well worth it for the hundreds of features. I can export audio and video in basically every format.
2. You forget the A52 codec. Many internet radiobroadcasts won't play in Quicktime without this.

So, to correct your little calculation::D
Perian+Flip4Mac+A52+Quicktime Pro= :)
 
VLC just works great for me, I can't recall it locking up. Plus, it has a much lower CPU usage versus Quicktime for the same movie files, which makes a huge difference on my G4 Mini.
 
capran said:
I can't recall it locking up. Plus, it has a much lower CPU usage versus Quicktime for the same movie files, which makes a huge difference on my G4 Mini.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on the CPU usage of Quicktime. VLC doesn't tax my PPC G4 as QT does. But as the OP pointed out, VLC tends to be unstable if you play media off an external Hard drive.
 
After reading more of the comments here I think I might grab NicePlayer just to take a look at it, but I'll definitely be sticking with VLC. :cool:
 
But Perian can't play the 'msa' or 'ms ' audio format....what can???

Is 'msa' or 'ms ' the Matroska format? How can I get this to play in Quicktime???? :confused:
 
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