VLC Media Player

Years ago, open source software was limited to very techy, very geeky applications. Most folks would not touch the stuff because it didn't sport an intuitive user interface and because it was just plain hard to use. For some applications, this still holds true, just as it does for very techy, very geeky closed source apps. However, there are some open source applications that are very nice to use and provide a surprising array of features that even the best corporate software can't match.

Take, for instance, VLC Media Player. This little goodie is really a very powerful application. It's also very simple to use. VLC plays just about every type of media file in existence due to its library of open source codecs. It is even able to play a DVD movie without proprietary software DVD codecs being installed. (This is unlike the way Windows Media Player works. If you wish to play a DVD with WMP, you must first install proprietary DVD codecs onto your system.) The only common formats that VLC doesn't recognize are the RealMedia formats, though this is rarely an issue for me since I don't use those formats very often.

I love to use VLC to play parts of videos that I am working on but do not wish to add them to my Windows Media Player library. If I play them using WMP, they will be added and I would have to go in and remove them. But with VLC, I can simply play the video without having it added to any libraries. I especially like the drag-and-drop interface so that a user does not have to select a file to play from the "Media > Open File" menu.

VLC Media Player sports a very basic user interface that is skinnable; however, I choose not to skin it because many of the skins I have seen diminish from this simplicity. They also cause the player to use more CPU resources than it should (as is the case with many applications running skins.) Speaking of CPU resources, I have noticed that sometimes during playback of an MP3 file, some other applications will cause it to pause briefly. Most notably, I see this happening when I am loading Web pages with Firefox while playing a song. However, considering that my PC is a nine-year-old PIII 1GHz with 512 MB of RAM, this might be a bit of an issue.

One of the really cool, but perhaps needless additions to VLC is its ability to do modifications on videos while they are playing. For instance, using the Video Effects in the Adjustments and Effects tool, I can rotate the video through 360 degrees, reverse the colors and even make it look like a rotoscoped movie (kind of like those Charles Schwabb commercials.) Even on my old PC it does this without skipping a beat.

I endorse the VLC Media Player and suggest that anyone who wants to should give it a try. It really is a very useful little piece of software. ****1/2 out of *****

Pros: Very simple user interface, vast support of different media file types, quick execution, extensive array of tools and effects.

Cons: Strange volume control (goes from 0 to 200% - I don't know how you can get 200% volume), sometimes cryptic messages when a file type is not playable.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc