My lappy currently uses the Zune software and the Sony Media Gallery as music players. Zune software, because it syncs with zunes (and looks awesome). Sony, because it scans through my entire music library and organizes everything into playlists based on whatever I want. It actually scans the music file and remembers what songs have similar melodies, which would be good for a rainy day, which have powerful vocals, etc. Useful when you have a large number of songs that aren't in English. It also looks decent, though it isn't as awesome as the Zune software interface-wise.

So, first of all, does anyone know of any other software that does what the Sony Media Gallery does comparably well, or is this actually as much a gem as it seems to me? Also, tell me what you use, I'm mildly interested. I used to use Songbird because it had very nice text-encoding support, so 80% of the songs that currently show up as gibberish in the title/album/whatever would show properly. Sadly, didn't sync with Zune and maintaining two copies proved taxing. I would've used Foobar, but it didn't have the Songbird text-encoding support. Seemed better otherwise, though. And, like everyone else...

I'd started with iTunes.

zomg I just got a ZuneHD for my birthday a couple days ago! I have to say I prefer the Zune software over the iTunes software, because it doesn't appear to be as bloated. But I've only used it a couple days so I might be wrong.

To play music on my hard drive I use winamp, mostly because it will slim to a bar and then dock to the top of my screen, over any windows I have open. (its a little sliver, you can't tell until you mouse over it). Its really simple I think, and the skins are simple and nice. But I don't like doing all the fancy things that I think you'd want to do. I just find winamp incredibly user friendly. <3

These are all the programs I've used. I've not been happy with any of them.

Windows media player: A bitch to use. They simplified everything down too much for me to actually like it.
Foobar2k: I really don't get what the fuss is about. I can't use the arrow keys to adjust volume/skip 5 seconds without getting rid of basic functionality.
Winamp: Winamp has detected an important security update!!! I got tired of that shit fast. Haven't tried it again, but I think it's probably the best.
Songbird: seems like bloatware
iTunes: bonjour? Au revoir.
Amarok: Apparently it's not a windows media player.

I don't use advanced functionality. I want to play this song, and I want to look around my library easily. I don't want it to connect to the internet--well over half my music won't have lyrics or any information in whatever repository the program will look for it.

This whole "sync" business popularized by apple is a terrible, terrible thing. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to rename files, and randomly place them in a hidden folder on the device was an incredibly selfish person. If your media player can't play an audio file that you placed on it in the "music" folder using a simple move command, it's a subpar product. I'm incredibly happy that my iPod has rockbox support, otherwise I don't think I'd use it ever.

I can't concentrate on tasks other than driving while listening to music.

Kame, with the Zune software installed you can right click on the bar on the bottom (with Windows) and add a Zune Toolbar. Then, if Zune is minimized, a bar with what you need to do on it will appear. Very handy. Sony doesn't have it.

I don't like Sync either, but it gives them more control over the music they sell, so they like it. Might as well deal with it. Zune can also download special album art and artist art for the background (Zune feature, it's nice where it recognizes the artist). Also, I have special relaxation-playlists for when I'm doing work .

Winamp.
And rockz, to get rid of security updates use old versions. Winamp 2.91 is the best there is.

I've used Winamp 5 Lite and haven't seen such messages either. It is basically like the old Winamp. Never tried the non-lite version because I've heard it is bloated, and I only used Winamp as a music player anyway. I don't remember exactly why I tried Winamp 5 Lite in the first place. It might have been to see if it had better tag support or that I was having trouble playing something even though I had a plugin for it. I can't think of any reason to go back to the older version, though.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Aug 16 2010, 5:36 am by ShadowFlare.

My only issue I've had with WinAmp is that when I begin doing anything processor intensive I've found that it likes to skip a little bit on the music, while I've never seen the same problem with even WMP

Winamp is the best.

I dunno, I lurv Zune. I love the aesthetic style, and it's pretty damn functional for something so pretty. It also comes with a toolbar like iTunes does (I read) and a mini-player. I just tried out downloading a video from the marketplace and watching it (first psych episode, it was free), and the GUI there looks awesome.

Still, it doesn't support as many formats as CCCP and doesn't have nice wheel-volume or click-pause (alas), so I'll always keep MPC around. Still, awesome.

CCCP is deprecated now, fyi.

Eh. Worked for me. If you have an alternative, I can try it out, but it made MPC play files MPC wouldn't play alone, so it works for me.

CCCP is:
* CoreWavPack
* ffdshow-tryouts (custom build)
* Gabest's FLV Splitter
* Gabest's MPV (MPEG-2) Decoder
* Haali Media Splitter
* Media Player Classic Home Cinema (custom build)
* VSFilter
all combined into one. The new versions of MPC-HC do not need VSFilter, and the new version of Haali, along with the internal codecs of MPC-HC make it so that you can play just about anything (you'll need real lite and qt lite to play real and quicktime). I don't know if CCCP supports DVXA either, which is highly recommended.

By the way, here's the newest version of MPC-HC: http://xhmikosr.1f0.de/. I heard the mpc-hc_msvc2008 version is more stable. xhmikosr is one of the doom9 people who have access to the source, and compiles it almost every day. Alternatively, there's http://www.xvidvideo.ru/ which took a break, but looks to be back on.

VLC Media Player

That shit's simple to use, yet has plenty of excellent features. The absolute best media player I've ever used.

I'd use it if it had click-to-pause/unpause.

Features like dvxa? Flawless h264 playback and seeking? Excellent subtitle support? Ability to play any format?

MPC has a lot of problems that in sum don't justify the smoother playback. Both VLC and MPC have some gimmicky features that the other doesn't have.
- dxva? Cool but then how come that MPC needs about 30% more processing power compared to VLC when playing the same DVD?
- Doesn't play the more exotic formats without installing external packages (I hate having to find and install extras), for some I didn't find anything at all: aacplus stream ( check box below )
- Doesn't always properly navigate through DVD menus. (I have a problem where scene selection just doesn't respond when it does in VLC.)
- Fewer aspect ratio settings (useful when the default doesn't get the desired result)
- Freezes when done playing and left open for several hours
- Super gay playlist implementation
- No looping (wtf?! even WMP does that...)
- Slower/faster playback useless due to jerky movement
- No interface customization

Well and it can't stream or convert local files. But I guess you can't expect that from a player, still VLC does it and I do use it sometimes.

I've really thoroughly tested MPC and I do like some things about it but it's just not worth all the trouble it causes imo. So unless you can't present a solution for at least half of the problems stated I'm just gonna delete it. (Despite how it sounds it's not meant as a threat, I'm just interested if there's solutions)


The parser doesn't like streams?

Before I get started, remember this: we both like our media players. Obviously if VLC will run everything you watch fine, there's no reason not to use it if you like look and feel of it. However, VLC fails to play MANY videos on my computer, whereas MPC plays them fine. Smooth playback is the most important thing in a media player. If it's jumpy, terribly pixelated, or off sync, I can't watch it, period.
Interesting. I've never bothered with a DVD on my computer (I own maybe 4?). When I watch a DVD, it's usually on a real TV. Even then, on most of my videos (and this is WITHOUT dxva) VLC uses more processor power. 1080p h264 AAC at 30 fps runs ~80% in MPC + CoreAVC, whereas VLC stutters down to 20 fps and 100% processor. I don't have dxva on my computer, since it's not supported by my video card.
I'm not a streamer outside of flash and html5. MPC is a video player after all, and is a poor audio player.
I can only say I don't watch DVDs.
You can actually do a pan&scan preset, but it's manual. You can also increase/decrease width and height with the numpad.
Seems like a minor annoyance, unless it freezes your entire computer. Obviously a bug, but it's better than crashing every time I try to seek on a video. If you're done watching, it's done with anyway, and you just have to manually close it.
Perhaps it's because I've never been much for playlists, but if you think VLC's is better, I don't get it. You can't add stuff to the playlist without minimizing the video. And it's a just a playlist...
I hate these types of answers, and I'm only making excuses for a real problem, but why would you want to loop a video? Endless youtube is just for music (you just leave a tab open, never to look at the video again). Still should probably be implemented.
I don't understand.
Again excuses, but you're not looking at the window while watching at full screen. It's not like you can really customize anything in VLC to improve functionality or ease of use aside from hotkeys and hiding toolbars, both of which are in MPC.

The only thing I can say about that is bloat. Sure, it's useful if it works, and it works well, however when you start cramming everything into one program, more stuff can go wrong, and often times its more useful to have two separate programs to do so. If I'm converting a file, now I can't watch a video with vlc while I wait.

Go ahead. I use both, but mostly MPC for watching videos. VLC is for watching streams I can't get to work, simply because MPC's interface is superior in my eyes, and it plays more things in my library than VLC does. Obviously VLC plays more things in your library than MPC, and you like VLC's interface better. For some, however, click to play/pause is a dealbreaker.

You have to admit that VLC is a terrible audio player, especially when compared with winamp/itunes/and even wmp. You can't get away without having an audio player on your computer anyway, unless you really don't listen to music, and then why would you be listening to audio streams?

I think it's all about doing what you were meant to do well. MPC-HC is supposed to be an excellent h264/local video player with decent codec support. VLC is really meant for video streams and massive codec support at the cost of performance and space. Winamp could be considered the audio counterpart of VLC (I've finally reinstalled winamp, lite this time. I might switch over to regular for the bento skin if I can't get a decent library to work).

Strange that you pretty much have the same problems with VLC I have with MPC but we both don't have it with the other program...
At least now I finally understand what problems you have with it. If VLC wouldn't run everything perfectly I wouldn't be so fond of it. Do you have version 1.0+?

Playback isn't jumpy. I don't have vids that are out of sync and it just gets pixelated/blocky/weird colored when you click a random time on the timeline which goes away after the next key frame so it's not a big deal. It's not like it's happening out of the blue while just watching. Keyboard based seeking is fine for the most part. MPC doesn't update the video while holding a seeking key, so you have to stop seeking to check if you found the part you were looking for. Annoying.

I was testing a DVD, AVI and MPG don't use enough CPU power to be significant. I don't think I have h264 files. Do you know where I can get some? (PM if necessary) I'd like to test that.

VLCs playlist isn't good, but at least it's another window so it doesn't take away space for the video and I can open it with 1 click, even in fullscreen (thx to interface customization), then click on the '+' to add a file. There seems to be no way in MPC to add files except drag and drop so you can't add videos in fullscreen. Also, quick search long playlists anyone?

I do use looping sometimes. Usually for music, and then it's downloaded yt vids that winamp can't play.
The A to B loop function is also useful when you're trying to understand or see a certain part.

When watching I don't need an interface of course. I need it when I want to control something. Slow motion, A to B, framestep, screenshot buttons for example. Generally I need my programs to cater to my needs and default settings never do that, thus customizability always wins.

Usually I'm also a fan of small specialized programs, but when I find a program that does everything I need (and does it well) why not use it? Since v1.0 it's become ridiculously easy to convert between pretty much any format. Right now I'm recording a live radio stream which took me 15 seconds to set up. It's np to open a 2nd VLC window and watch your video while doing that. When I need precise control over bitrates and the like then I still have SUPER as backup. But for most things VLC is fine. You can even watch a video and convert it the same time. Or you can watch videos that you haven't finished downloading yet (not sure if MPC does that too).

VLC is not bloated. I couldn't name a single module that I don't find useful. Yes, it's bigger than MPC but that's because it already has everything you need. For MPC you need to download and install codecs which probably bring it close to VLCs size.

Click to pause almost became a deal breaker for me. But against MPC. I often run videos windowed and switch between tasks so whenever I click MPC to gain focus the video stops. I've gotten used to it however.

I wouldn't use VLC as my main audio player, but thinking about it I don't even know why not, except aesthetics. I listen to audio streams because that's how online radio stations offer their music. If I like what I hear I can start recording it within seconds without the need of another program.

VLC was a streaming client/server originally (Video Lan Client), and you can still benefit from these roots, but since v1.0 it has become a competitive media player too (renamed to VLC Media Player). I just can't say anything about h264 (yet).
You're really the first person I know that can't play videos properly on VLC. Whenever someone had problems playing his videos I recommended VLC and they happily reported that it works now. I wonder why this is different for you... Since it has its own codecs it shouldn't be affected by OSes, codecs packs or w/e.
Since VLC doesn't play your files the discussion is moot, but at least it was insightful.

I sent you some files which either don't play well, or don't play at all.

The seeking is interesting, as it's never bothered me before. Typically fast forwarding goes way too fast. I'm glad to see that VLC finally fixed the seeking problem I had with it (it would frequently go to a non-key frame and start there, rather than recursively go back and fast forward to the frame you wanted. Speaking of frames, I can't get VLC's "next frame" to work. MPC has both a next frame and previous frame function, though obviously it has the same limited use as many of VLC's features that I never use. I think the reason fast forward works the way it does in VLC is because it seeks to the nearest key frame, rather than the spot you actually want. I can actually sit there, pressing shift+ right (forward 3 seconds), not holding it down, and keep doing so, every half second or so, and the video will NEVER move from that spot.

First result: test_hd_9refs_high_l5.1.mp4 plays at ~4% CPU in MPC and at 40% CPU in VLC. Yay for DXVA. Anyway to disable it for testing?
Hmmmm this is interesting. Lia_-_Tori_no_Uta_long_version.mkv plays fine at 50% CPU in MPC if I choose the fastest renderer, otherwise it stutters. In VLC it is at 100% CPU and unwatchable, but the sound is consistent. It goes to fine playback with 50% CPU when there's no subtitles. That makes me think the subtitle engine is broken for mkvs.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Sep 4 2010, 2:18 pm by NudeRaider.