good vidio player software suggestions please

[matey]

hello all

I have been using win media player for playback of vidios avi etc.

but is there another player that gives very good quality playback as there are so many different video players to choose from.

suggestions please

thank you

[Baldrick]

I like MPC-HC.

The new Potplayer might be something if you are loooking for several advanced video features.

[Hoser Rob]

The best video player I've tried in terms of video performance is smplayer with the following settings in Preferences:

Under performance-> cache, set local files cache to 8192Kb. I got that number from the serious video geeks at doom9's forum.

In advanced->mplayer arguments, enter "-cache-min 30" (quotes mine).

I don't want to make it sound scary with the settings. Other players I've used are a lot less straightforward.

Vlc would be my second choice. It's very good but smplayer has better video rendering, and it's even better at playing lots of different codecs.

Potplayer would be a distant 3rd choice for me. It has very good playlist features but it's buggy (there are tons of problems reported here with it) and it doesn't play back video as well as smplayer or vlc.

All of the above use their own internal codecs. As it should be. Be careful about trying a whole slew of media programs in windows. A lot of them install 3rd party codec packs because the developers can't be bothered to make their own work with the windows SDK. That crap is not recommended by microsoft for post XP windows, and it's a good way to get hard to diagnose problems due to conflicts.

[hello_hello]

All of the above use their own internal codecs. As it should be. Be careful about trying a whole slew of media programs in windows. A lot of them install 3rd party codec packs because the developers can't be bothered to make their own work with the windows SDK. That crap is not recommended by microsoft for post XP windows, and it's a good way to get hard to diagnose problems due to conflicts.

Can you provide an example of a media player which installs 3rd party codec packs? I think you'll find it's the other way around. 3rd party codec packs often install media players. And of course the free media players often tend to use the same internal decoders.

matey,
Every so often I try a new version of one media player or another, before inevitably going back to MPC-HC. It's not got a complicated interface, but has a few features I like which I've not found in other players. And while it comes with it's own internal decoders/splitters which let it play all the usual formats, it'll still let you use directshow filters if you so choose, allowing you to decode with something like ffdshow or LAV Filters, and more importantly for me, it means you can also use Reclock in combination with MPC-HC. It supports DXVA, even on XP, which means you can use the video card for much HD video decoding instead of bothering the CPU with it.
I can't say I've ever fussed about using play-lists with a media player as I only use MPC-HC for video playback and just open them manually. For audio I use a dedicated audio player... foobar2000 in my case.

[Budman1]

My favorite is Potplayer. Some of the many options and filters can seem daunting at first but are not actually so bad. It has the ability to use your registered codecs if you wish, plays incomplete files, and even accepts AVISynth files. It plays every file I've thrown at it except one and I merely changed the codec to my registered LAV and it played fine after that. I use it to play videos showing the time and frame references available with AVISynth to aid in editing and it has frame by frame advance and go back, a feature missing on a lot of other players.

As Baldrick mentioned, it has a LOT of features but if you are just looking to play most anything, MPC-HC is probably a good bet.

[hello_hello]

I recall trying Potplayer a fair while ago and thinking it seemed like a MPC-HC rip-off. I tried it again today and while I think it has a lot more options now it still seems to have a lot of similarities to MPC-HC.

I'm not saying I don't like Potplayer. I've only been playing around with it for a little while and I'm still getting my head around using it (I'm warming to it the more I do), but is Potplayer related to MPC-HC in some way?

[sheppaul]

Directshow players necessarily have similar parts because of the fundamental framework.

[hello_hello]

Directshow players necessarily have similar parts because of the fundamental framework.

It's not just that. The way it's preferences are laid out and even many of it's options are very "MPC-HC". It's use of pixel shaders, the numeric keypad for zooming and pan and scan, the method for setting internal/external filters, the way subtitle styles are configured..... it complains about needing to update DirectX when you install it just like MPC-HC used to.

I've tried/used a variety of video players over the years but Potplayer is the only one which to me feels like someone took MPC-HC and built on it, except for maybe KMPlayer. It's been so long I can't remember whether ages ago I gave Potplayer a spin or whether is was KMPlayer at the time.

Anyway, I'm still playing around with Potplayer and learning it's "quirks". For some reason I can't get it to use DXVA with the EVR renderer (XP). I don't know whether that's by design or not. The VMR9 renderer will allow it to use DXVA. MPC-HC can use DXVA with either renderer so I assumed Potplayer would too. Maybe not. Or maybe I should've updated DirectX....

[jagabo]

Of course, MPCHC comes from MPC which was specifically designed to look like old versions of Windows Media Player (MPC is an acronym for Media Player Classic). So it's no surprise that some other media player might have a similar setup.

[hello_hello]

These days, while MPC-HC has the same "look" as WMP 6.4, when it comes to everything else it's probably got about as much in common with WMP 6.4 as it would with a goldfish.

I'm trying to work out which is more likely.... 2 programs independently reproducing a feature from an old version of WMP, even though it was a feature the old WMP never had, while managing to independently reproduce the non-existent feature in almost exactly the same way.... or whether one of those programs simply copied the other.

MPC-HC's pan and scan menu:



Potplayer's pan and scan menu:



Basically the same menu, the same keyboard shortcuts, just slightly different labelling.
There's quite a few similar similarities, none of which, to the best of my knowledge, have anything to do with the old WMP.

Even when using "File/Properties" (MPC-HC) vs "Playing File Info" (Potplayer)....
MPC-HC opens a window with tabs. One's labelled "Details" and provides the basic file details, another's labelled "MediaInfo" and uses MediaInfo to display more specific details.
Potplayer's tabs are labelled "Play Information" and "File Information", but they're "Details" and "MediaInfo" tabs with different names.

[jagabo]

But who cares?

[sheppaul]

That was from KMPlayer, not MPC and afaik KMPlayer was the first player using mediainfo library. I can assure that. Other than this, the way of current filter setup had been started by KMPlayer too. Now potplayer has the features too. As you may know, the same developer created the both players. Recently MPC variants seem to have the same pages for filter setup.

[fritzi93]

If you like MPC-HC, you'd like MPC-BE. Very similar, as you'd expect, but seeking is improved.

[hello_hello]

But who cares?

I don't. Only about being told I was wrong.

Maybe one player ripped off the other, maybe they've both stolen ideas from each other, but the similarities seem to be more than something which could be passed off as necessity of design or co-incidence to me.

That was from KMPlayer, not MPC and afaik KMPlayer was the first player using mediainfo library. I can assure that. Other than this, the way of current filter setup had been started by KMPlayer too. Now potplayer has the features too. As you may know, the same developer created the both players. Recently MPC variants seem to have the same pages for filter setup.

I'll take your word for it as I know nothing about KMPlayer and it's history, but out of curiosity I looked back through my collection of old versions of programs. The oldest MPC (not MPC-HC) I have is version 6.4.5.8, and the exe is dated March 2003, and it has an identical pan and scan menu to the one MPC-HC has today.
The MediaInfo tab doesn't exist in any of the versions of MPC I have.
I've got quite a few old versions of MPC-HC but my collection jumps from version 1.2.908 (dated Nov 2008) to 1.5.2 (dated July 2011). The latter version has the MediaInfo tab while the former doesn't, so without doing some serious googling and investigating I can only be certain it was introduced sometime between 2008 and 2011.

MPC and MPC-HC have had the same type of filter setup for quite some time. The only real difference seems to be over time, more or different internal filters have been added. The oldest version of MPC I have (2003) as no menu for internal filters, but exactly the same menu for external filters as MPC-HC does today. The first incarnation of the current internal filters menu was introduced by MPC, around version 6.4.6, sometime during 2003. It looked like this:



The earliest version of MPC I have with a filter setup resembling the one we're familiar with in MPC-HC's options, is from MPC version 6.4.8.4. The exe is dated march, 2005.



PS. The "external filters" menu we're familiar with is still there in the version of MPC above, but apparently at some stage it was called "overrides" instead. I don't remember that, but obviously it happened....



If nothing else, that was a little trip down memory lane. I've even got versions of MPC with two exe's. One for running it on Win98 and the other for Win2000.

[sheppaul]

maybe they've both stolen ideas from each other

Maybe. Copying ideas are everywhere when it is really convenient. By the way, you should know that there is no reason to copy the interfaces where there is much more advanced one. Just look at the pan & scan menu and the subtitle section in preferences of KMPlayer. The KMPlayer has better interfaces except for technical parts.

[AngelaMoore]

My best video player is definitely VLC. It has everything I ever needed for video playback. Including great support for subtitles, streaming files and more. Also, it is an open-source program and it is extremely fast app.

Potplayer is the new thing to me. I am going to check it out too.

[hello_hello]

maybe they've both stolen ideas from each other

Maybe. Copying ideas are everywhere when it is really convenient. By the way, you should know that there is no reason to copy the interfaces where there is much more advanced one. Just look at the pan & scan menu and the subtitle section in preferences of KMPlayer. The KMPlayer has better interfaces except for technical parts.

I love MPC-HC's pan and scan abilities (using the numeric keypad), and therefore by extension I love the way Potplayer does it. One of the reasons I've gone back to MPC-HC every time is it's panning and scanning, along with it's ability to use pixel shaders. My life would be incomplete without both and no other player I've tried does both, except now for Potplayer (if I tried KMPlayer it was years ago and I can't remember).
Is KMPlayer's pan and scan different?

I must admit, Potplayer's ability to show a preview as you move the mouse along the navigation bar (like YouTube) peeked my interest. If I switch to Potplayer, that'll probably be why. I normally hate that sort of thing (such as Windows taskbar previews) but for navigating video it's a very good idea. MPC-HC doesn't do that, although I vaguely remember reading somewhere MPC-BE does. That could be wrong. I might check it out.

[sheppaul]

Is KMPlayer's pan and scan different?

To some extent. I like the default layout of the pan and scan of KMPlayer, and therefore I really don't like the way Potplayer controls it. Now I know that is the same arrangement as MPC-HC thanks to you. I have no idea why the layout is completely changed differently.

[fritzi93]

I must admit, Potplayer's ability to show a preview as you move the mouse along the navigation bar (like YouTube) peeked my interest. If I switch to Potplayer, that'll probably be why. I normally hate that sort of thing (such as Windows taskbar previews) but for navigating video it's a very good idea. MPC-HC doesn't do that, although I vaguely remember reading somewhere MPC-BE does. That could be wrong. I might check it out.

Yep, MPC-BE can do it. Options -> Interface -> Use the preview in the search.

[hello_hello]

Yep, MPC-BE can do it. Options -> Interface -> Use the preview in the search.

Nice!
So in order to take it off my sh*t list so I can actually use it... any idea how to get pixel shaders to work?
I've pretty much set up MPC-BE the same as MPC-HC. The Shaders menu works, but pre-resize Shaders always give me a "cannot load shader" error on the status bar. Post-resize Shaders do nothing.

Maybe I'm missing the obvious but they work fine using MPC-HC and Potplayer, and not having them is a deal breaker for me. I use the "BT.601 to BT.709" shader to correct colours quite a bit.

[fritzi93]

Sorry, no idea. Maybe someone else will chime in.

[davexnet]

The last time I looked, VLC could not do DXVA video acceleration under XP, while mpc-hc can.
This may be an issue for those still using XP (myself included) .

I have VLC installed, but I use it for network streaming only.

[hello_hello]

I must have remembered incorrectly. I thought MPC-HC could do DXVA under XP using the EVR renderer. I don't know about other versions of Windows but it won't with XP. It will use DXVA with VMR9 (renderless), which is the renderer I normally use anyway. In order to use pixel shaders it seems to require VMR9 (renderless) or EVR (custom presenter). MPC-HC also has a renderer called "sync renderer" which according to the GUI is a variation of EVR and it does support DXVA, but the status bar didn't indicate the use of DXVA. Likewise the GUI indicates VMR7 (renderless) supports DXVA but there's no DXVA in the status bar when using WMR7 either. Maybe it's XP, maybe it's my video card.

MPC-BE and Potplayer seem to be exactly the same, except at the moment I can't get shaders to work with MPC-BE at all, and Potplayer doesn't have the "sync renderer" option. If not for the shaders problem I'd probably at least switch to MPC-BE while I continuie playing around with Potplayer. I like the thumnail previews above the navigation bar.
I mainly use shaders to correct the colours when bt.709 video is being displayed using bt.601. The plethora of standard definition MP4s encoded from HD sources which can be found on the internet are all like that. Plus the Windows renderers make "odd" choices regarding method which to use, so the shader is handy for when they get it wrong. Video displaying using the wrong method for RGB conversion bugs the hell out of me. I can't believe most people don't seemed bothered by it.

I also noticed the sync renderer enabled the option to output 10bit RGB. I assume there'd be no advantage to it unless your TV/monitor is 10bit capable as I'd also assume it'd be converted back to 8 bit by the video card?? I gave the option a shot and the video still displayed fine using my CRT TV monitor. I haven't tried it using the TV yet.

[sheppaul]

To enable pixel shader under XP,

1. Use VMR9 Renderless
2. Change VMR processing method to 3D texture

I guess you can get the same result with any players providing a similar setup (VMR9 renderless + 3d texture).

I thought MPC-HC could do DXVA under XP using the EVR renderer

If it was possible, it could be available in other players too. It's not a player specific problem. IIRC, it was possbile in KMPlayer too but there was some limitations as XP does not support DxVA2 officially.

[hello_hello]

MPC-HC appears to tell you when DXVA and pixels shaders etc can be used, while the other players seem to prefer to make it a guessing game, but unfortunately MPC-HC doesn't seem to necessarily get it correct. Maybe it does when using newer versions of windows but displays the same info for XP, which doesn't work the same way.

For instance when selecting the Sync Renderer, MPC-HC's Options indicate it's all systems go and everything should work, but there's no DXVA being displayed in the status bar when using it, so I guess it's wrong. At least for XP.



Ctrl+J confirms it. DXVA is listed as "Not using DXVA".

Oh well, the VMR9 renderer works as you described and I'm happy to use it.

[jseidel]

The best video player I've tried in terms of video performance is smplayer

I'm trying this out and loving it so far. Thanks

[hello_hello]

For completeness, I thought I'd post regarding my inability to use pixel shaders with MPC-BE. It turned out to be user error.
Like MPC-HC, it requires the very latest DirectX9.0C. MPC-BE does prompt you to install it the first time it's run.

I thought I'd copied both the required DirectX files from the MPC-HC folder to the folder where MPC-BE resides, but it turned out I'd only copied one. With the second file copied to the MPC-BE folder, pixel shaders now work.

I think I'll switch from MPC-HC to MPC-BE. I'm still playing around with Potplayer, but in some ways it almost seems to be overly complicated when it comes to configuring it's options, although maybe I just need to get used to it.
I tried smplayer and hated it almost straight away. The lack of hardware decoding being the main dealbreaker, but it doesn't have the same pan and scan ability as MPC-HC/BE/Potplayer and I'd prefer not to live without it.

[jagabo]

I find so many of files don't play properly with (h.264) hardware decoding that I just disable it and use software decoding.

[hello_hello]

Maybe it's a video card thing. For me it's never caused a problem. Well actually.....
Very occasionally I'll play a video which freezes at one point and I'll have to stop it and restart just past where it froze, but that's so infrequent it's not enough to worry about. I've never been able to work out why. Oddly enough the last time it happened I tried the same video again and it played right through using the TV's built in media player, so technically it shouldn't have been a problem for the video card. Usually if anything it's the other way around... the TV's media player is more fussy. Switching to CPU decoding also stopped it happening.

I watch pretty much everything using the PC and hardware decoding though and for me anyway, it's pretty much trouble free.