VLC Potplayer MPC-HC . . .

[vhwul62]

Just recently I stumbled over an issue with VLC where VLC had/has some problems with regards to displaying subtitles on Blu Ray. The subtitles are being displayed in just a very split second, in a flash so to say.
I then checked out an old, different media-player I still had, but one that I hardly use. In the past I used it for organizing music-files. It could play the Blu Ray (which I honestly did not expect) and the subs were displayed perfectly... so it must be a VLC issue.
Usually everything is going fine whilst using VLC. This subtitle-problem prompted me to check around for other players.

I don't want to spend a lot of time on configuring and stuff: for me a player should play all usual filetypes. Basically VLC is doing fine (except then for this subtitle-issue above). I should simply rightclick on the file, select play 'Play with ...'


I downloaded the latest version of MPC-HC: the Blu Ray played perfectly. Luckely MPC-HC is portable, so users are getting a good idea as to what to expect when installing the 'full' (=setup) version.

As Potplayer, is so highly rated I also tried that one. Regretfully no portable version is available.

First thing, by default, no context menu...

So, I drag-and-dropped the Blu Ray folder in question to Potplayer and the subtitles were displayed correctly. Fine.
I then stopped Ptplayer and was reverted back into the purple (empty) startup screen.
Then drag-and-dropped a VIDEO_TS folder into it, but nothing happened at all. Tried a couple of times, still nothing.
Closed Potplayer.

Launched it again, drag-and-dropped the same folder again and waited. Potplayer greyed out and I got a 'Potplayer not responding'-window.
Closed potplayer.

Launched it again. Drag-and-dropped the same video folder again into Potplayer. It did not get any further than the 'copy right warning'.
Closed Potplayer.

Tried another folder, same as before, copy right warning, that's it.
Tried again, but now using the 'File open folder'-option, instead of drag&drop. No go.

Mind, VLC played the VIDEO_TS folder (normal DVD) without any issues. Same as MPC-HC. Potplayer hanged and kept on hanging.

I'll remove it.

Am writing this all because I am wondering as to why this software is so highly rated...

At least I couldn't get it working doing just the basic stuff (same as VLC, MPC-HC and my old version of Media Center).
Note, I installed it in its default settings, except: I installed on another partition, not on C:

Also, I am posting this because after many years I tend to leave VLC (had some other, minor, issues in the past) and tend to return to MPC-HC that I have using a lot a long time ago. As VLC received so many possitive recommendations I changed to that one.

Anyway.. Question is - what is making one player outstanding, but another player just mediocre?

I wonder why Potplayer is so highly rated, because, as for me, Potplayer is way below average, sorry to say.

Just my 2cts...

Thanks
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[El Heggunte]

Well, there are MANY versions of PotPlayer... some are bad, and some are horrible ,
you are free to test them and choose the one which doesn't suck too much

BTW: unless things have changed for much worse very recently, you DON'T have to install PotPlayer,
you can unpack the installer with 7-Zip (or the Universal Extractor package) and select only what really matters

[vhwul62]

Thanks. I downloaded the "PotPlayerSetup64.exe" from the http://potplayer.daum.net/ site.
Unsure if I can extract that file as shown in your post. Am using WinRAR.

Just gave it a try with the portable Universal Extractor and indeed I could extract the file...
Have to admit, there is always a 1st time: frankly speaking, I never heard of Universal Extractor.
No need until this time as normally WinRAR takes care all the zip/unzip actions.

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[vhwul62]

Noticed that Potplayer isn't listed on wikipedia "Comparison of video player software"
That said, some extended features, such as taking snapshots aren't listed either.
VLC has this feature, AFAIK MPC-HC sofar hasn't, at least not an easy 1 press 1-button way.
There is a 'File->Save Image' or 'File->Save thumbnails' responding relatively slow when playing a video.

[Kerry56]

I've rarely had issues with PotPlayer, and though I use a different skin than the default, the regular 32bit version seems to work fine for me. Snapshots in PotPlayer can be found by clicking K.

Edit: You can also set up your own custom, one-click hotkey for screen captures if you wish.

[vhwul62]

Also tried the latest KMPlayer (x64) on my Windows 7 x64 using Opus x64 - same issues.
Stopped trying and trying.

Installed MPC-HC - tried everything possible to make it crash, I could not.
Whilst playing Blu Ray, dropped a VIDEO_TS folder, another VIDEO_TS whilst it was starting the first one, immediately followed by a MP4
and so on and so on.
It started playing immediately... (no delays, like in Potplayer).
Also .wmv files are played perfectly.

(VLC started of with a grey and garbled video (blocks) and after about 4-6 seconds the video was played normally. MPC-HC plays the file instantly and correctly).

MPC-HC is 2-3 (minor) things that I feel could be improved.
a snapshot button
a forum (similar to the other players, VLC, KMPlayer and Potplayer)
a nicer skin

But that aside, perfect tool.

[racer-x]

Been using MPC-HC for years and is the only media player i use in Windows. My needs for a media player are limited to test play videos I create anyway. In Linux, I use vlc because it come with it. I also use vlc on my android tablet.

I like MPC-HC best, but that's my opinion...........

[hello_hello]

MPC-HC is 2-3 (minor) things that I feel could be improved.
a snapshot button
a forum (similar to the other players, VLC, KMPlayer and Potplayer)
a nicer skin

But that aside, perfect tool.

You can use the F5 key for snapshots. I think it saves them to the last location used for saving snapshots via Alt+I. Or change it to whatever key you like under Options/Keys/Save Image (auto).

There's a MPC-HC thread at the doom9 forum. It's the closest thing to an official thread.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=166689

The skin is a little on the dull side. You can change the toolbar buttons, but that's about it.
https://trac.mpc-hc.org/wiki/Toolbar_images

MPC-HC needs a navigation preview. MPC-BE has one. I think Potplayer does. Even YouTube has a navigation preview feature. This kind of thing:



As you may be able to see from the above MPC-BE screenshot, I've never had much luck with getting it to de-interlace properly, although MPC-HC was the same before the switch to LAV filters for decoding. I'd probably switch to MPC-BE for the addition of the preview feature and use LAV as an external filter, but I pause and resume playback a lot by clicking on the video and MPC-BE loves to ignore many of those mouse clicks, which I find frustrating, so I stick with MPC-HC (and Play/Pause set to "Left Down" under Options/Keys as it doesn't ignore mouse clicks that way), but the preview feature would be nice.