VideoLAN Considering Options for VLC as Mac Developers Disappear

[*LTD*]

Start charging $1.

In any case, one free mediaplayer disappears, another one comes to take its place . . .

I think it's more Apple's control freak "WE MUST OWN EVERYTHING ON THE PLATFORM" attitude - that has grown exponentially with the success of the iPhone and App Store - kicking into overdrive.

As long as Apple offers the same or better, who cares? All we need for QT is an .mkv plugin of some kind.

 

[hokkdawg]

Bummer

Very bummed out. VLC is easily the best all-around media player that requires virtually zero effort to use. As good as quicktime is, I find that in order to play a lot of alternative video formats (matroska, etc) it requires a heapful of external codec downloads and plugins, which don't always work the best.

Hopefully it's not a sign of a dying breed of mac developers, but this is the exact problem that has plagued Apple for decades - there just aren't enough developers writing MacOS software to entice the bulk of consumers & businesses to use the platform.

When you are in the market for a new computer, the consumer has two choices - buy a mac and use the apple software, or buy a PC and enjoy the myriad of office apps, media players, blu-ray compatibility, cutting edge games, fancy graphics hardware, and compatibility with every piece of software sold at the local Best Buy.

At least Apple knows that very few people actually need their computers to do anything except have internet, play music, and play videos. Just need to shake that inferior compatibility stigma that potential customers always use to smack down on Apple.

 

[rubenerd]

But the Qt is not really free on Mac i think

Qt can be downloaded for free for the Mac, its dual licenced under the LGPL and commercial.

http://qt.nokia.com/downloads/downloads#lgpl

I've used Qt and like it a lot. Not the most Mac like interface, but if it'll keep the project going I say go for it. In any case the interface VLC has for the Mac isn't exactly that crash hot anyway.

 

[Berio]

And who have to suffer for it? Your loyal customers.

if loyal customers are suffering, it's their fault for being loyal customers.
buy stuff from other manufacturers, stop being loyal to a corporation.

i don't recall apple promising to cooperative with the VLC developers, so why are you pissed at apple for being uncooperative?

they exist to make money, not to fulfill some hippy dream.

 

[diamond.g]

Start charging $1.

In any case, one free mediaplayer disappears, another one comes to take its place . . .



As long as Apple offers the same or better, who cares? All we need for QT is an .mkv plugin of some kind.

and an alternate method of subtitle support.

 

[hokkdawg]

Would guess they all working overtime to make some more iPhone apps happen.
About the interface i agree. Also annoying with VLC that when going fullscreen, it blacks-out all screens,...
I use it only for things that quicktime fails to play.

Actually, blacking out all screens is a customizable thing - I have my VLC set to not black out my main laptop screen, and only be in fullscreen on my external LCD.

 

[Berio]

Could VLC's use as a player of copyrighted material (that's been downloaded illegally) partially explain Apple's lack of cooperation?

can't you play illegally downloaded material in QT as well?

i presume apple just isn't interested.

 

[*LTD*]

This makes no sense, anyway. Mac market share is the highest it's been in years. Macs are flying off the shelves every quarter.

There's something else behind this announement from VLC.

 

[HLdan]

When you are in the market for a new computer, the consumer has two choices - buy a mac and use the apple software, or buy a PC and enjoy the myriad of office apps, media players, blu-ray compatibility, cutting edge games, fancy graphics hardware, and compatibility with every piece of software sold at the local Best Buy.

At least Apple knows that very few people actually need their computers to do anything except have internet, play music, and play videos. Just need to shake that inferior compatibility stigma that potential customers always use to smack down on Apple.

I was with you until you wrote these last 2 trolling paragraphs.

 

[AAPLaday]

Hmm i used to use VLC now and again for some videos. The thing to be concerned about isn't that it is having problems but why it is having problems. VLC is synonymous with playing pretty much anything you throw at it and is always one of the first programs i get for my mac.

 

[DipDog3]

VLC was always good on Windows and Linux.

I guess every one who develops for the Mac is more interested in making a few bucks from the App Store than helping out VLC.

 

[alexk82]

handbrake

I use it for hand brake and that's it. it's going to suck if that goes away

 

[crisito]

The only decent player for mac is MOVIST. Plays every codec properly, the subtitles are great (anti-aliased) and the GUI is the best. Here's a screenshot:

Detail: The icon is from VLC, but who cares

Thank you! I have been looking for a replacement for VLC for a long time!

MOVIST is excellent!

 

[*LTD*]

Regarding MOVIST:

What's its development like? Does it support everything VLC does? Do the devs plan to stick around and continue to work on it?

 

[RedTomato]

However, QuickTime lacks all of the versatility that VLC has in the field of video and sound adjustments not to mention subtitles.

+1

I'm deaf and VLC is the ONLY app that can add external subtitle files (in most formats) to any movie file I have. I have many DVDs with no subtitles, (some even state on the box they have subtitles, but actually they don't) and with VLC it's a quick trip to opensubtitles.org or allsubs.org to get the file, load it up and I'm ready to watch. Even works with DVDs.

Another VLC bonus: due to the various frame rates used internationally, the subtitles often start lagging, or preceeding the dialogue. In VLC it's easy to move the timing of the subtitles without stopping the film. Can any other OSX film viewer do this?

If VLC dies, I'm gonna be left up ***** creek.

EDIT: saw the post above about MOVIST. Never tried it, looked for their website, but all I can find is a Chinese language website.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I'd be curious towards the specifics of this:

Apple has apparently been uncooperative in relation to the VLC project, offering roadblocks to the application's development.

 

[synth3tik]

So it all comes down to 1% of the code? Suck.

Humm, maybe if instead of roadblocking VLC Apple could have worked to expand the actual payable formats for QT we could have 2 really well rounded apps. Instead we have a pretty one that can't do much, and another one what can do everything except give you a compelling user experience.

 

[Detektiv-Pinky]

It's not a great player. I use Plex for MKV's as it seems much smoother and VLC only gets love for the occasional WMV.

Well, VLC is far more than just a simple player!

I use it mostly for its very versatile streaming functions (Unicast, Multicast, UDP, HTML,...).
Want to share some video over the LAN to a couple of people: set-up a Multicast stream and everybody can join watching without bringing down your network.

Also very handy for classroom demonstrations of QoS and bandwidth issues for Internet applications. You can 'see' the results immediately rather than looking at abstract packet-statistics.

 

[2499723]

I use VLC exclusively for all of my videos both within the PC and Mac environments. It would be very disappointing if VLC development for the Mac came to a halt or suffered from significant underdevelopment. In any case, we should try to get the word out to people who can help do something about this.

 

[freefall722]

Quicktime Changes

The "unco-operativeness" from Apple I would guess has more to do with the big Quicktime API transition that is happening right now. (Cocoa, 64bit, etc.)

If VLC is using any QuickTime API calls (which it would be hard not to if your doing anything related to A/V that you want to be compatible with OSX) they would be having a hard time keeping up with all the changes that are happening to that API right now.

I have an application I've written that uses Quicktime API's and I can say it is frustrating when Apple has made core changes in the past.

Although it was frustrating to have to rewrite code it did lead to better performance and usually more efficient code.

That's kindof the thing with OSX programming - Apple likes to shed old API's when they come out with better ones instead of supporting them forever like you see more often on Windows.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.0.1; en-gb Build/unknown) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

I havent used vlc for a long time but a few of my windows owning friends swear by.

Still, I think its a shame to see it in this position.

 

[Mac OS X Ocelot]

+1

I'm deaf and VLC is the ONLY app that can add external subtitle files (in most formats) to any movie file I have. I have many DVDs with no subtitles, (some even state on the box they have subtitles, but actually they don't) and with VLC it's a quick trip to opensubtitles.org or allsubs.org to get the file, load it up and I'm ready to watch. Even works with DVDs.

Another VLC bonus: due to the various frame rates used internationally, the subtitles often start lagging, or preceeding the dialogue. In VLC it's easy to move the timing of the subtitles without stopping the film. Can any other OSX film viewer do this?

If VLC dies, I'm gonna be left up ***** creek.

EDIT: saw the post above about MOVIST. Never tried it, looked for their website, but all I can find is a Chinese language website.

QT with Perian loads subs just fine for me. I think it has to be in the same folder and have the same exact filename though.

Just downloaded and tried out Movist. It works pretty well, but while the gui is nice I've grown partial to QT's new one. I like that when you have files set to always open in it it still loads the icon previews. They don't seem to preview when you set them to open in VLC.

 

[Farplaner]

Doesn't bother me. I've been using MPlayer OSX Extended for sometime and haven't looked back.

Same here. Very happy with MPlayer OSX Extended and I've been using it as my primary player as well.

 

[jon08]

So how does Movist's usability stack up against VLC? Is it really as good?

 

[shadowguard]

It's not a great player. I use Plex for MKV's as it seems much smoother and VLC only gets love for the occasional WMV.

Yeah PLEX ownes vlc, it plays full hd films rlly smooth where vlc cant handle handle it. But i liked vlc more for other then full hd movies because you can change more things like add subs easy and change the timing of subs etc. and rewind and forward in plex you have to do with buttons.