What's the best software to play all video file types?

[mikehende]

Hello all, I want to get into videos, just for my personal playback enjoyment so I want to load a folder of videos located on my HDD and have that automatically shuffle. Here's what I am seeking, to have all videos played back at a constant volume so I won't have to frequently go adjusting volume on my rig for different videos. I have videos in different formats so would be great if any video file type could be played without having to first convert every file to the same type. Can you guys recommend the best software which can do all of the above please?

I had tried VLC some years back, their volume normalizer wasn't effective but some of the video's audio might have made it sound like that. Earlier today I had tested with Media Monkey but one file type I think is .flv and MM would not play it.

[Baldrick]

You could try PotPlayer and see how its Normalizer works.

[mikehende]

Thanks, will give it a shot tomorrow, report back.

[mikehende]

Guys, I need help here please. I am seeing these file types in my collection .flv, IFO and VOB and .mp4.

I am seeing the IFO and VOB files in one tune, which one of those two files should I import into my playlist together with the .flv and .mp4 files please?

[sneaker]

Video_ts.ifo

[mikehende]

In PotPlayer the Video_ts.ifo is not playing with this error message:

Can't find DVD. The files exists but does not seem to have any video.

I hen added the other file in this tune which is the VOB Video_TS file to the folder and playlist but same error message regarding the IFO file?

[Hoser Rob]

The only video player I've ever used that plays pretty much anything I've ever throen at it is SMplayer ... VLC doesn't quite deserve its "play anything reputation", and it's better than potplayer.

I don't think you're going to find any player which has a normalize function that will play ALL videos with the audio at the same volume.

[mikehende]

Ok, seeing that I have these 3 different file types, I am guessing I should convert all into just one file type, if so, which of the 3 types mentioned should I convert to in order to get my desired results please?

[Hoser Rob]

Ok, seeing that I have these 3 different file types, I am guessing I should convert all into just one file type, if so, which of the 3 types mentioned should I convert to in order to get my desired results please?

I assume you're talking about the 3 diffferent types in the VIDEO_TS folders since for the other types it wouldn't matter.

I haven't done this recently but if you open the 1st video file in the series (VOB_1 or something similar), Avidemux will notice the other VOB series files and ask you if you want to open them as well. Hit yes and it'll append all of them and index them.

Then make sure that you have Video and Audio set to Copy and the output format to mpg. Save is as a .mpg file. No converison neccessary.

It's been a while since I've done this, and I'm typing this in a cafe using a netbook that doesn't have avidemux installed. But I've done this and it worked, no problems.

[jagabo]

IFO and BUP files contain no video or audio. They are contain instructions that tell a DVD player how to play the video (VOB) files. BUP files are simply backups of the IFO files. If the DVD player can't read an IFO file it will read the BUP file instead. Most players know how to use a full IFO/VOB set to play DVD content (either on the original disc or after being ripped to the hard drive as a VIDEO_TS folder). Sometimes you can just copy a VOB file to another location and it will play properly. But other times the information in the IFO files is needed to play the VOB files correctly. But to use an IFO/VOB set you need to have the correct files. So it's best to use a program like VOB2MPG or MakeMKV to parse the IFO files (from the full DVD rip) and output MPG or MKV files containing the audio and video data in the VOB files.

[mikehende]

Ok thanks. Any reason why I shouldn't save to mp4 since most of my collection are already mp4 files?

[jagabo]

Remuxing with VOB2MPG or MakeMKV is very fast and results in no loss of quality.

[Krispy Kritter]

For PC use, pretty much any media player should handle all current file types. It's just a matter of trial and error to find one that you like (ie: how it looks, layout, features, etc.).

[mikehende]

That's very true. Actually Pot player seems on first testing to be doing ok with shuffling and playing all 3 file types so yeah, no need to convert them. I will only know on saturday about the volume levels when I run it on my main rig, will report back here. I can already see that I will have issues with large screen with my old 60s/70s videos but I guess no way around that issue.

[notoriousrfp]

VLC all the way for me

[mikehende]

Guys, if I have to convert to one file, since most of my files are mp4, what's the best free software I can try for one tiime use to convert the VOB and flv files to mp4 without losing quality please?

[Baldrick]

handbrake or vidcoder. if you use the high quality preset wont you lose much quality.

[mikehende]

Thank you very much, I just tried the vidcoder and unless I am mistaken seems the converted VOB to mp4 show even better, is that possible? Also, I am not seeing an option to batch convert? Same deal with handbrake.

[DustinDeTorres]

I use SPlayer. One of the best, light media player. Just love it.