VLC 3.0 Update Adds Cross-Platform 4K and 8K Hardware Decoding, HDR10, Chromecast Support, and More

[makr]

Strange... did anyone VLC automatically update from v2 to v3? Mine didn't.

Same, I downloaded it myself.
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surprised to read so much vlc hate.

I always have VLC but used it no more than 4-5 times. I don't like their user interface. I use SPlayer or MPlayer, last night installed IINA it seems even better than the other two.
To me VLC is like outdated UI, hard to use.

 

[TrueBlou]

I switched to IINA and never looked back...

Me too, switched to IINA out of curiosity a while back. At the time I just assumed my iMac wasn’t going to play 4K without stuttering like a virgin in a strip bar. Despite only being a couple of years old.

IINA really impressed me, it’s played everything I’ve thrown at it without a hitch. So it’s been my go-to player ever since.

I’ll be checking out the 3.0 VLC though, see how the old gals doing with her new goodies.

 

[potatis]

Can it play Bluray discs now?

None of the discs I ripped with Makemkv displays usable blu-ray menus. Will try an actual disc later.

 

[Mark-Technology]

Ok...used IINA for awhile but couldn't get my Mira infrared remote to work with it (had to use my mouse). VLC does. And to be honest VLC seems actually better than IINA.....so i'll wait until IINA comes of age before trying it again.

"The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase to begin software testing"
"Alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss. Alpha software may not contain all of the features that are planned for the final version." -- Wikipedia

Comparing a 17 year old program to one in alpha??

IINA is written in Swift and is keeping the whole macOS feel in mind while not causing my fans to go at full speed. That wins it for me.

To each his own though.

 

[nathansz]

x

 

[Mizouse]

Ohh interesting.

Just last night I tried using VLC to view some 4k timelapses I took with my 6D Mark II.

Couldn't even watch it.
It got stuck on the first frame.
Thought it would've been better than using QuickTime.

With QuickTime it plays but I have some dropped frames. I'm guessing it's playing back at like 15fps.

I have a 2012 quad core 2.3ghz i7 Mac Mini.

 

[Xavier]

VLC is back baby!

 

[Michael Scrip]

Only toke them 3 years but now it runs smooth on my macbook pro so im happy

Yes!

I wasn't able to play 4K DJI Phantom files smoothly on my few-year-old Windows laptop... (but Windows TV and Movies played them just fine... )

But VLC 3.0 plays those files with no problem! So I'm happy!

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Still no native airplay support?

 

[upandown]

Ohh interesting.

Just last night I tried using VLC to view some 4k timelapses I took with my 6D Mark II.

Couldn't even watch it.
It got stuck on the first frame.
Thought it would've been better than using QuickTime.

With QuickTime it plays but I have some dropped frames. I'm guessing it's playing back at like 15fps.

I have a 2012 quad core 2.3ghz i7 Mac Mini.

Mine didn't work either.

 

[jeanlain]

what real world use case does this difference affect

Playing 4K HEVC, where hardware acceleration actually matters. Because any CPU from the past few years can decode 4K H.264 in software.
Without HW acceleration, 4K HEVC is simply not watchable in VLC, even on the most recent CPUs. That's a fail.

 

[hwojtek]

Strange... did anyone VLC automatically update from v2 to v3? Mine didn't.

It's not going to upgrade from v2 to v3 automatically, I believe (YMMV).
BTW the difference in performance in regards to 4K content is astonishing. Buttery smooth playback...

Without HW acceleration, 4K HEVC is simply not watchable in VLC, even on the most recent CPUs. That's a fail.

...even on an 8-core 2,1 Mac Pro.

 

[berrymetal]

Didn't even know it existed. Looks really nice

VLC is far behind IINA

 

[edenbensal]

should I download from the web or just click check for update in my VLC app in my mac?

 

[MacDawg]

should I download from the web or just click check for update in my VLC app in my mac?

I'm not sure earlier versions pick up on the 3.0 update when checking
I downloaded fresh from the VLC website

 

[TwoBytes]

should I download from the web or just click check for update in my VLC app in my mac?

looks like VLC doesn't go from 2 to 3 so you shouldn't have the option of updating from the app.

 

[thejackD]

VLC is far behind IINA

VLC and IINA are good for MKV
but far behind Quicktime for M4V / MP4
in my opinion of course

 

[jeanlain]

I find IINA to be good for MP4, but nothing beats Quicktime when it comes to frame-by-frame.

 

[bobdobalina]

edit

 

[Cave Man]

My MacBook Pro dual-core i7 (2017) stutters with 4k HEVC with VLC; however, IINA plays the same video without any problem.

 

[ncc1701d]

"Check for updates" on my VLC says 2.2.8 is current version - do I have to delete that and install 3 or it will do automatically?

 

[hwojtek]

No, just like it has been said a couple of times already, the VLC auto-updates minor versions only, which means you need to download the 3.0 and replace the previous version residing in your "Applications" folder.

 

[Guy Clark]

Strange... did anyone VLC automatically update from v2 to v3? Mine didn't.

No you need to go to the VideoLan site and manually download it
https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.en-GB.html

I believe the reasoning behind this must be not all previous releases of OS X are supported.
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"Check for updates" on my VLC says 2.2.8 is current version - do I have to delete that and install 3 or it will do automatically?

It should automatically replace VLC 2. once you run the VLC 3. installer

 

[FriendlyMackle]

surprised to read so much vlc hate.

must be near 20 years and over many different os from mac to win to bsd and back again and countless machines from the shiniest new box to the alley salvage find. vlc is always one of the first few softwares i put on a machine

it’s never failed me and always does what i need it to do

for me, it always has and still does play any video file, in any format, from any source (networked or locally) at the best possible quality given the machine it is running on

and it can do so much more than that

for free software to have that kind of quality and longevity is amazing

to me anyway


if it doesn’t work for you than yr prob doing it wrong
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what do you mean by “resource heavy” exactly?

i’ve always found vlc to be quite capable on machines with slow old cpu’s and meagre amounts of ram
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what real world use case does this difference affect

I have been using VLC for around 20 years as well -- and it is still my favorite all-around video player. I also don't understand all the hate here! It has an active community, a long history -- so you can depend on the fact that the software will exist in another year, 2 years, 5 years...and will continue to grow, change, etc.

Really not sure what all the whining is about from these other folks.

Oh, and I never use the native Mac QT player. Never liked it, always encountered problems with almost any file. Apple does not care at all about their software, not anymore.

 

[jeanlain]

The interface of VLC is dated, and IINA has some features that VLC don't have, including thumbnails when skimming, which I personally find very handy.
Plus the fact that it doesn't use the dedicated hardware to decode HEVC. I was expecting that feature to be added with version 3.0...