PotPlayer now Adware!

[Baldrick]

Another great player that is crap now.

It's adware from the official download from https://potplayer.daum.net/

(videohelp mirrors are still not adware)


[Attachment 49351 - Click to enlarge]

[stax76]

Isn't there a portable 7z/zip archive download?

[Baldrick]

Nope. Not any official.

[stax76]

I've never used this player, it has many features but also many issues.

[Damn]

Damn that sucks, I've been using potplayer for the last couple years. Time to go back to VLC.

[Baldrick]

I've never used this player, it has many features but also many issues.

Yep, tons of features but yes it's a bit buggy.

But I still prefer VLC as my standard video player.

[Budman1]

I suggested the author remove the adware and this was his answer short and sweet. As you say I have used for years but time to find another


[Attachment 49418 - Click to enlarge]

[Baldrick]

[Nilzzon]

You can open the installer with 7zip.
it seems to work if you just unpack and run it.
The ad dll seems to be hYEBnFBwH.dll eset flag it

[Chopper73]

So it's just the installer that has the Ad and unticking the box stops WebAdvisor (or whatever) from getting installed?

[Dreamer]

Right, I just tried it, installed the PotPlayer to a new - test folder, unticked the checkbox for ad ("I have read the privacy notice..."), it's possible to finish the installation (of PotPlayer), after the installation I couldn't find it (ad) anywhere, start > recently added, settings > apps, programs and features.

PotPlayer works good, can't see anything wrong, so the ad is just in the installer and you can skip the installation - and even if you install it, you can easily uninstall it, it's the part of the text "I have read...", as you can see on the screenshot above.

So you can still use PotPlayer without ad and you don't have to install that ad, it's just one more click.

BTW What about Windows, it's adware too and you can't even uninstall some "adware" if you don't want to use it.

[Chopper73]

Thanks Dreamer; I hoped as much.

So no unnecessary knee-jerk reaction or hyperbole from me either then. I guess I'll keep using and upgrading PotPlayer as per normal.

BTW Never seen a single Ad in Windows myself; mind you, 'O&O ShutUp10' and Open-Shell only took seconds to install.

[Baldrick]

Right, I just tried it, installed the PotPlayer to a new - test folder, unticked the checkbox for ad ("I have read the privacy notice..."), it's possible to finish the installation (of PotPlayer), after the installation I couldn't find it (ad) anywhere, start > recently added, settings > apps, programs and features.

Most adware installers work like that. If you uncheck all boxes you can usually avoid crap. https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/369585-What-is-Bundleware-Opencandy-Adware-How-to-avoid-it

But my dad doesn't understand shit like that I have to clean his PC all the time....

[teodz1984]

use UNCHECKY APP to uncheck these..

[Highlander71]

They've made the best media player (by far), they answer when you ask for something, they take care of every bug report, they try to implement most feature requests. I've contacted them numerous times (I use it heavily, so I have certain needs from it) and I always get answers, help and explanations.

I use PotPlayer for professional screenings, and its feature of having fullscreen playback on the second monitor and the main interface with all the controls on the primary monitor, is simply unbeatable. I've also found out that SMPlayer can do it correctly too, but as a player it has other issues (By the way, if there is another player that can do that, I'd love to know). That VLC crap still can't do that properly, and actually in the last update they managed to make it even worse. Unbelievable. I, and many other people, have been asking the developers of VLC for this feature for more than one year and a half now. Still nothing...

Whenever I asked PotPlayer developer something, he implemented it to his next beta release and then to the official.

They do all this work for free, so if they found a legal way to make some money from their work, I'm OK to make just one click to uncheck a box once every few months when they release a new update. Of course I wish they remove it, but still, it's just one click...

[Dreamer]

I, and many other people, have been asking the developers of VLC for this feature for more than one year and a half now. Still nothing...

Whenever I asked PotPlayer developer something, he implemented it to his next beta release and then to the official.

I agree. I reported one bug in VLC, it was fixed, after SIX YEARS!

Most of bugs I reported in PotPlayer were fixed in less than 24 hours.

BTW If you don't need new features, you can use the last adfree version, I guess it will be still better than any other player for years.

[stax76]

I can see why vlc and mpc are popular but for PotPlayer I don't get it.

[teodz1984]

https://unchecky.com/

[Dreamer]

I can see why vlc and mpc are popular but for PotPlayer I don't get it.

Read the 2 posts above yours.

PotPlayer has better and faster support, skins, more useful features, more customization, presets - different options for music, movies, IPTV, streams...

Some features I like: border-less window, auto-hide for navigation bar and playlist also in window mode, RAM timeshift for IPTV/streams, subtitles reading/TTS, custom keyboard/mouse shortcuts, incl. wheel tilt, slideshow for music playback with the images from custom folder(s)...

The "problem" is, that default settings are not perfect, I had to re-configure all hotkeys, change many settings, find better skin (fMod), use LAV for subtitles, ffdshow to remove logo (for IPTV). It was not easy, I had to use the forum to find some settings, but after all, it's the best player and I can't configure any other player like this.

[stax76]

PotPlayer has better and faster support

It's hard to believe that the developers of one of the most popular players can react to most requests. Before I had my own player project I made requests to both PotPlayer and MPC and would not even get a reply, nothing.

Skins are based on 90s technology, the default skin looks horrible on 288 DPI, I can prove how broken it is with screenshots. Even the 80s UI of MPC-HC looks better.

more useful features are awesome, problem is there is much quantity with hardly quality, everything is overloaded which might be bliss for very smart people but it's totally unusable for people sensitive for cognitive overload. Nothing is searchable resulting in horrible usability. Everything is based on ancient legacy tech and it shows. I rather have less but more polished features. PotPlayer and ZoomPlayer are failed apps for me, for vlc and mpc there is hope at least.

[Dreamer]

It's OT, so just a note, if you never try the features, you will never know how useful they can be, how much time they can save you, or how much more comfortable usage can be.

[stax76]

Yes but what if it misses an important feature or you want to design features your own?

[Dreamer]

Many features I requested were added (in few days!), and I don't need any feature necessarily now. Some missing features can be solved by external filter or using existing options.

In other programs I'd be missing too many features, options, but again, It's OT, I already answered your question above, of course, if you tried all PotPlayer options and you don't need them - and in other program there are all features you need, just use it, but it's not OK to say it's just quantity or that it's overloaded, if some feature is useless for you, still it could be useful for other user. Until the program is fast and works good, the number of options is not a problem, just (as I already said) the first day, when you want to customize it.

[jackuars]

Just a question. Is the adware still present now from official download link?

[lingyi]

Yes.

And as I said in your other thread, it's in the updates also.

Also, it's extremely unlikely to ever be removed because it provides free ad money to the developers.

BTW: If there's any question about it being in the updates, I just updated about an hour ago and had to opt-out.

[Dreamer]

Yes, it is.

And, yes, it's still just one click to skip ad installation, just the button names changed, you have to uncheck the checkbox for "agree" and click the "accept" button - ad will NOT be installed this way, 100% confirmed.

[Kizzume]

Yes, you can stop it from installing SiteAdvisor by unchecking the little box. Having said that, their latest version swaps the left and the right audio channels, and their official forum doesn't send out the confirmation email, so I can't post the audio channel bug there.

I like PotPlayer because it always plays 1080p 60fps video without hiccups or dropped frames, and I can set it to default to playing video at half the window size of the resolution of the video. VLC handles default window size like it's still 2003 and drops frames often on 60fps video.

[Dreamer]

It's OT, but check the Preferences > audio > language... > Swap stereo channels.

Regarding reporting a bug, check the spam folder, or send the bug report directly via email, go to homepage, scroll down, "Contact Us".

[manybuddies]

I advice people not use Potplayer anymore, since it's now bundled with wares. This happened to KMPlayer too (after the change in management). First, it's bundled with wares. Then, the installer malfunctioned and install the bundled wares even when you've chosen to opt out. And the most unfortunate thing was, one of those bundled wares actually contained a virus. True story. That was when KMPlayer suddenly had frequent weekly updates. I should've seen the signs (stupid me). Unless you know what is going on internally with Potplayer (and trust them wholeheartedly), I advice everyone to stay clear.

[Havokdan]

I had not any problem with the installer, only I canceled what I did not want and everything followed as always.