VLC Media Player 3.0.18 reviews

VLC may have been one of the first universal type multi-platform players that could handle everything without the need for a system-polluting codec pack, but it sure never felt like a true Windows program.

Clunky UI, convoluted settings, and general lack of niceties found in other modern players really hold it back (even though it "just works" for most folks).

Not to mention taking forever between versions. Will 4.0 ever be released?? And finally have seek bar preview, for example? Maybe someday VLC will be a worthy alternative again.

I have been a VLC user for quite some time and believe it to be the best video player available. Videolan recently released the latest version (3.0.3). I was pleased to discover that it supports closed captioning.

I sometimes have trouble hearing what people say, particularly when they have an unfamiliar (to me) accent or they mumble (which happens a lot in TV shows and movies).

One minor downside of the new version is that fast-forward at 8x doesn't work any more -- it worked perfectly in version 2.2.6. Fast-forward at 4x sort of works. It trundles along for a few seconds, then the picture freezes. If you wait a while, it will restart, but not where it left off. It restarts where it would have been if it hadn't frozen.

Another option is to quickly backspace 3 seconds when the picture freezes and, in most cases, it will get by that freeze point. It's a fairly minor point (after all, how often do you want to fast-forward at 4x or 8x?) but I do use it from time to time to catch reception errors on recorded TV programs that I haven't yet watched at normal speed before passing the program on to someone else.

Going through a one- or two-hour program at 8x takes long enough -- 4x obviously takes twice as long. Anything less than that is pretty much not worth the time. I hope that they correct this in the next version -- but that could be a long time coming.

They tend to leave a rather long time between versions. Nevertheless, VLC is a terrific video player and that one quirk is not enough to lower my rating.

It seems kind of sad as long as hdmi/hdcp has been out that this wonderful player would work with hdcp!!

just a note though, i did get the audio working but the picture was bad. a week later my computer crashed and i have never been able to figure out what i did again. ha ha.

Biggest plus: best sharpen filter by a country mile, worst feature: inconvenient, duh-what's-"usability"-mean? interface.

I put up with the interface for the razor-sharp image, but i sure wish they'd get around to making it usable one of these decades.

A de-noise filter would be nice too.
One head-scratcher. I keep reading about new versions [i have one about 8 years old] but when I d/l them I find the interface is IDENTICAL to my old version.

So, are there really new features?????

its a good player butt its not playing X265 HEVC video properly loosing frames so many . how to rectify it ?

A real good player, and FREE.

Have very few problems (like slow motion mode buffer) and need to improve the performance with .ts and high bitrates files.

VLC media player is really nice app. It plays almost any media file. I remember I initially installed it because I could not play my file in another player. Then I came across more such files which were not playing in other media players.

Finally, I started playing all files in it. If there is any file which VLC is not playing, then you can be assured that it won’t play in other media players either.

It is like all-codecs-in-one player!

DbaiG

Always reliable and plays almost everything. The only exception is digital tv files recorded using Arcsoft Total Media in which I have to use Media Player Classic.

I have used VLC player for years. It either works great or it flat out causes major issues with your computer.

Version 2.0.6 cannot be scanned by my Anti-Virus, Vipre Internet Solutions.

It took many attempts to install it. When finally installed, it pretty much took over all audio and video, and the audio quality on playback was terrible, fuzzy and difficult to understand.

I will continue trying to make it work correctly, but in the meantime, Windows Media Server and GOM are my backups. I hope a new revision comes out quickly.

I use Windows 7 64-bit with a fast Intel cpu and LOTS of memory.

Pros :
.Easy to use
.Don't know your actual codec installation ? It comes with its codec files and will use them
.VERY efficient when playing damaged, corrputed, incomplete files
.Will defintitely save you time when your current player fails on some specific files

Cons :
.Well, if you DO know why you have your current choice of codec installation, VLC won't use them cause it uses its own files
.Ergonomy : inefficient when you want to get just a few seconds backward \ forward.

Just do like me : Use MPC-HC with K-Lite Mega Codec Pack. When you have a problem on a specific file (let's say once every 2 years), VLC is the guaranted working alternative, saves me the trouble of seeking throw the net or trying to fix the file.

It is continually improved and is very versatile. I used it together with MPC-HC.

Without these problems, it would have been almost perfect for me:

1. Volume normalization is very bad. As it tries to constantly adjust volume up and down, sound is uneven and right down nasty. At best, it's annoying. At worst, it's headache inducing.

2. Video playback is choppy when I play videos that have been converted from PAL to NTSC, and vice versa.

version 1.1.11 is good, plays 1080p HD fluently but the thing that i hate the most is that it doesn't keep the settings i want after i close it and open it again..big disappointment

I started using VLC about 4 or 5 years ago, when Windows Media Player wouldn't play a lot of the movies I had download,and never looked back.

Version 1.1.4 was real buggy with certain codecs for me but 1.1.8 everything so far is fine. I love the ability to customize so many settings, and the fact it take almost anything I can throw at it.

I donate to this project when ever I can.

Rating 9/10

I agree with wdc. Ever since 1.0.3 it's been buggy as hell, Can't seek mkvs, m2ts s, crashes frequently too.. I dumped it for good..

vlc lost its way, it used to be a terrific player, now it's just another one, slow, resource hog, keeps icon in systray even after close, keep my files busy after closed, too many bugs. i'm using mpc right now and dumped vlc for good.

Dissatisfied with Windows Media Player, this application is a far better alternative. It has more options and is easy to use. I recommend it for anyone who uses a DVD ROM or CD ROM.

VLC Media Player is a very user friendly, intuitive application that allows me to use my music libraries or 'movie of the day' without any struggle. It lets me gets started, the 'disappears' while in use. Then it comes easily to use when I am done.

1.0.2 is finally usable for me (Windows)! Still has flaws (creates invalid icon entries for the file associations; sometimes displays three little video popup windows when playing a wmv!), but this player is finally worthy enough to replace Media Player Classic here (HomeCinema was a good alternative but unfortunately that is just a bit too unstable).

VLC is quite heavy in the disk space department, but it can be cut down to about 55 mb (from around 80 -LOL). Quite good player so far, and the playback speedup while keeping the same sound pitch is great (seems only this player offers that).

Using VLC 1.0.2, WMV file, with WMV3 format video and WMA3 (VLC codec "wmap") format audio, plays video fine but has NO AUDIO!!

VLC is one pretty smart media player. However, I found that with VLC 1.0, when seeking through a WMV file, playback was slow. When downgrading to the 0.9.9 version, the file instantly played after each seek time with no pause afterwards. I will stick with the 0.9.9 version until the 1.0 version becomes more stable and this issue with WMV files is resolved. Other than that, this is a great media player. Will use this for great .WMV file playback.

Very good on older youtube video clips but image is shaky on newer youtube clips even those with lower resolution.

Using VLC 0.9.9, under Tools->Preferences->Audio->Filters->spatializer there are 5 parameters/options but no descriptions or names for these parameters/options on the left.

Help->Check for Updates... appears to be broken. I get pop-up window with title "VLC media player updates". Window shows "Launching an update request...", but then comes back with "An error occurred while checking for updates...". Clicking on "Recheck version" button at bottom of pop-up window, repeats this error.

I'm using VLC version "f".

It does play .wmv files fine. That's a positive!

However,

* It displays .3gp (3gpp) video, but has no sound.
* It displays .3g2 (3gpp2) video, but has no sound.

* It does not even open a .avi file!

pro:
-played most audio/video formats well...


con:
- click on timeline to seek or move forward backward failed to do so in flv and vob files

Only real problem I have with VLC (which for most things is quite nice) is the subtitle support. It's absolutely the worst. How about working on improving that for the .i release????

It doesn't play video's, horrible UI, skippy playback, useless options, needed options missing.

Only plays audio. No video at all. Doesn't work with streaming media. Bad download ? loaded this software 3 times same problem. Bri

"The libty_plugin.dylib in the Mac OS X version STILL doesn't play series 2 ty files from tivo."

But a kind soul at www.dealdatabase .com has just created one!

The libty_plugin.dylib in the Mac OS X version STILL doesn't play series 2 ty files from tivo.

Pros:

Awesome plaback capabilities works with pretty much every known codec without installing any other shady codec packs.

Cons:

1. Flash Video or FLV seeking has been broken for a long time.

2. Seek bar behavior is odd, always jumps somewhere else on the timeline when clicked upon.

I've never had any problem with it until I had to reinstall Windows XP. Now I can hear the films but I can't see the image.
Please help

the only viewer that is for me,
it lets me watch everything for free.
From the tiniest clip , to those as big as a house.
It will work for you too, and even for your spouse!!

i like VLC!!! it can almost all of my favourite video & audio files. my second favourite media player after GOM player. give me a favour, I wish da' graphics in vlc 0.86c could be compared. i also hope that vlc can pla my favourite 3GP files. by da' way, GOOD JOB for VLC

I get no sound on VLC Portable. Regardless of the file I have no sound. I have an audiophile 24/96 soundcard and never had trouble with sound before downloading the VLC Portable player.

What can I say? VLC is one of the best players around. It plays most video files easily and without the need for extra codecs.
If you don't want to faff about getting codecs to play this and that then this will do the trick.
If you're into your P2P and BiTorrent downloads then this is essential because it can play incomplete videos without interrupting your download. Another nice thing about VLC is the way it handles high quality and high-def videos. It runs them really smoothly without as much lagging as most media players do, which is great.

Even though it plays most videos, there are the odd ones that it either completely refuses to play or just doesn't display properly. This can leave you stuck and scrambling for those codecs you were trying to avoid, but that's very rare and unlikely for the average guy.
Also, the video quality isn't really the best out there, but that's just me being fussy.

All in all, VLC is really popular for a reason. Its really convenient and works great. I definitely recommend it as a main player or at least a backup player, should your main one fail with a certain video type.
But if you want something that can handle absolutely everything and is configurable, then give GOM Player a try

yes yes yes ... this is good .... nå slipper vi og gråte noe mer . greates hilsning from norway

now i can play tsuchiya's drift bible with excellent sound playback..thnx yall

VLC 08.5 plays almost anything... great sound but poor Video quality. nice spare when nothing else works..

i've downloaded the VLC player but can't understand one thing.
if there's a downloading process of video files running on my PC and almost 20% of it is completed,can i use VLC player to view the already downloaded 20% content ??
if Yes,then someone please throw some light on how to do it...thnxx !!

yo how does the vlc work, i tried playin a movie on there and it doesnt work any suggestions ?