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VLC better alternative

A

andygabriel

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 1, 2009
133
0
Hi,
are there better softwares to watch videos on the mac. I use VLC but do you guys recommend any other that will play any video format?

Cheers
 
Lunettes is a new attempt at "saving" VLC for the Mac and tries to redesign the interface while using the same core.
 
I've been using Lunettes for a few months now and it works quite well. Sometimes it crashes when I go into full-screen mode but overall, it's nice.
 
PLEX all the way

andygabriel said:
Hi,
are there better softwares to watch videos on the mac. I use VLC but do you guys recommend any other that will play any video format?

Cheers
Click to expand...

Hi guys, try Plex, it is fab. It based on the XBMC core, plays all my HD MKV files and just works. Not only that, the interface is sooooooo polished, it could have been (or perhaps SHOULD have been) what Front Row is.
 
QuickTime can handle almost anything with Perian, Flip4Mac, and XiphQT installed. I find I only ever need VLC for some MKV files.
 
I like MPlayer OSX Extended. Seems to play my mkv's more smoothly than VLC. I generally use QT + Perian for most things, though.
 
davegoody said:
Hi guys, try Plex, it is fab. It based on the XBMC core, plays all my HD MKV files and just works. Not only that, the interface is sooooooo polished, it could have been (or perhaps SHOULD have been) what Front Row is.
Click to expand...

That's interesting; it's been 2-3 years since I last tried Plex and the UI was very clunky back then. I might give it another go now since it sounds like it's been improved.
 
Last edited:
Nermal said:
That's interesting; it's been 2-3 since I last tried Plex and the UI was very clunky back then. I might give it another go now since it sounds like it's been improved.
Click to expand...

Plex is good when used with remote but quite a bit slower than the others when used with mouse&KB. It's amazing for HTPC though, definitely the best media app to be used with Apple remote for instance
 
The new update to XBMC is quite good (better than Plex). I don't have a HTPC so I'm not really all that into those though. I generally use QT + plugins for most of my media needs. I probably watch more media on my iPhone though and it's extremely limited in what it can playback.
 
MPlayerX

I've been using MPlayerX as my default player for a while now and personally I think it's the best player around. It looks good, is actively being developed (unlike MP OSX Extended) and it's fast.

By the way, I'm looking at the Lunettes Github, and the last commits are dated from back in July.. Is there still any development going on there?
 
One nice thing about VLC is that it includes libDVDcss that is require by some apps, such as Fairmount and Handbrake, to have full functionality.
 
I've been using VLC, QuickTime and Recently re-started to use XBMC.
VLC is for sure the one best option for videos...on top of that, if you have an iPhone you can use the VLC remote App to manage it.
But in terms of overal Media experience, XBMC is looking great, (I would even say a bit better than plex) but my big hustle with it is to get all my media organized...that is my real problem with my media Center right now!
 
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