Is VLC? I haven‘t really taken a look for a long time, but I remember from way back when sandboxing requirements for App Store apps were implemented that media players were leaving the app store because of issues with having to ask for file system access. That caused problems with functions like loading external subtitles, autoplaying of the next file in a folder and so on. I don‘t know if that is still the case though.
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is IINA a decent and safe alternative to VLC?
- Thread starter wirtandi
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I don't think VLC is in the store. You're probably on to something with the sandboxing requirement problems.
Anyone know why the app hasn’t been updated in almost a year? Can’t seem to find any comments by the devs for the lack of updates. The last beta was in January and the last nightly was in march.
That seems odd and not good security wise. If the devs abandoned the project they should say so.
That seems odd and not good security wise. If the devs abandoned the project they should say so.
VLC didn't exist in 1998 according to Wiki. Present release is three months old. I'll probably stick with VLC on my iMac although I don't use it that much as QT does what I need.
IINA is looking increasingly like abandonware. Why isn't it in the App Store?
I was curious how old VLC really was. I think it was originally a Linux project between a German and a French university. I've used it on and off for years. Although I think I prefer SMPlayer on Ubuntu.
One thing I've noticed about VLC is that it can even play damaged or broken files where others won't.
QuickTime still does everything I need anyway.
One thing I've noticed about VLC is that it can even play damaged or broken files where others won't.
QuickTime still does everything I need anyway.
Nah......can use my AppleWatch as a remote for VLC. Not with IINA which is so 1988!!
Neither is anything Rogue Amoeba makes. It often has more to do with sandboxing and Apple's rules than it does with the security of reliability of a piece of software -- though apparently Apple's done a pretty good job training people to mistrust anything Apple doesn't deem acceptable.
Sounds about right. I'd be wary of downloading any media player that hadn't been updated for a year though.
Why? It's been updated to Apple Silicon support and seems stable enough. Also, it's free.
Reminds me of a sign I've seen up in repair shops: "You can have if fast, inexpensive and high quality (pick two)".
In this case it's a very nicely designed and functional media player which is entirely free. I'll take the hit on it not being updated constantly, myself.
You could well be right. I must be getting paranoid about apps not being updated every five minutes. A year's a long time with software though. Especially these days.
I wonder if some of that super frequent update stuff is
To me it's kind of a sliding scale. If I paid outright for something and it's more or less feature-complete and running smoothly on the current OS, I'm usually satisfied with occasional bug fix updates. Especially little indie apps that I just assume might not get updated much unless they really need to.
I've always wondered whether rapid updates/upgrades are just to make it seem the developers are busy and on the ball (I'm talking about you Google Chrome!).
Unfortunately apps I really liked haven't been updated for long periods and cease to work properly as the OS has updated.
Don't get me started about Photoshop Elements and Mac upgrades lol.
It's interesting to see all the glowing reviews in this thread. I use Iina but it frequently crashes: I double-click a video file in Finder, Iina pops up and starts playing the video, but none of the controls work and I need to force quit.
Does anyone else have that issue and do you know how to resolve it? It happens on all three of my computers (OS 10.13, 10.14 and 11.6).
Does anyone else have that issue and do you know how to resolve it? It happens on all three of my computers (OS 10.13, 10.14 and 11.6).
I use both Iina and VLC. Iina feels more modern and plays multiple series episodes (next in Finder order) automatically in a "binge mode," but does crash sometimes in Mojave on Intel Macs. VLC feels a little more robust (mature?), but not quite so modern. It's my backup if Iina crashes.
IINA is a waste of my time. Contrary to what others have said: "IINA performs better", for me IINA can't even 'perform' let alone 'better'. I've tried several times to load and play a variety of DVDs to no avail. VLC plays them all without any fuss. It makes me wonder what else IINA doesn't play? I don't have time to try out all the different video file types to see if IINA can handle them and how well it does. All the above people who think IINA is better than VLC probably haven't tried DVD—FYI, it is a very common video file format used by billions of people around the world. If I can't play DVDs with IINA, because I need to download and install some additional special software…WELL…that just confirms to me that IINA isn't as easy to use as VLC, which requires no special time and effort simply to play a DVD.
I've seen comments on IINA that it is a better video player than VLC and that it runs all popular video files. Clearly it is not better in several ways. It is a fair argument that many have made that IINA has a better user interface. But does it live up to the frequent hype that it is has better "performance" than VLC? Clearly it does not perform better with regards to playing DVDs, and for all I know the same may apply to many other video file formats.
I was mislead by all the hype all over the web that I should switch to IINA. I tried it and thank GOD I discovered early on, before I invested a lot of time learning to use most of its features, that all those people lauding it were really quite ignorant of its deficiencies.
IINA is a good alternative to VLC as a media player, and the many posts in this thread are valid and fair. Just because your use case is a very specific case for use as a DVD player does not make all the posts “misleading“ or “ignorant“ or validate your ignorant opinion. Yes for DVD player don’t use IINA, no one forced you to. Media player is not the same as DVD player.
You misread my comment. Show me where I said all the posts are "misleading" or "ignorant". Unless you can do that please don't bother me with your clearly false accusations. Also, show me where I said someone "forced" me to use IINA. I said many have mislead me into believing IINA could perform better. It does not perform better (or at all) with respect to playing all video formats, especially one of the most common formats—DVD. It may also fail at many other video and maybe audio formats (there is no point in me studying it further), let alone the various networked media. I don't wish to explore it any further when it has already demonstrated its inability to play one of the most common and popular video formats. It's like a like a supermodel woman with and IQ of 80.
yes that app is garbage to be honest. Glitches and random crashes everywhere. Was OK in mojave though
How about mPlayer? I thought it was discontinued but seems it was updated on Feb 2022 which is much newer than IINA update. Any one know if its based on mpv or vlc?
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html#source
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html#source