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06/19/2007
Finding software to play your videos should not have to be a chore. With all the different video formats on the web today,
it is not uncommon to have three or more different media players installed to play all the files. VLC is aiming to
put a stop to this. With support for tons of different formats, does VLC have the potential to give their competitors a
run for their money?
VLC Overview
I started out my testing of this product on a fresh install of Windows XP Pro with only an Antivirus and Firefox installed.
I then ran it through the following types of media:
I was able to play every single one of these files with just the VLC. However, VLC isn’t limited to just these types
of files. I have been using it for years and it has supported just about every media type I have thrown at it. One thing I
did notice is that .Wmv files did occasionally become fuzzy and not play right under VLC. This occurred on 9 of the 28 .Wmv
videos I tested it on, or roughly 32%. This appears to be solely a .Wmv issue as out of 118 test movies, it only occurred
in the .Wmv movies.
Basic Features and Usability
Right out of the gate, one of the first things I look at when choosing a media player is volume control. With VLC, I
was not impressed. The volume control on VLC is a bulky green bar which can be hard to adjust to the correct volume.
Also, when you close the program, it does not retain the previous volume, forcing you to reset it every time, which can
be a hassle.
The next thing I look at is the playlist management. The playlist management on VLC is nothing special. It opens up in a
new window and it is your basic add either a file, directory, or URL then present the files in a tree format. The search
feature is very basic and functions as it is supposed to, but if it were to filter the relevant results rather than just
highlighting them, it would make the search superior. Another issue is that the speed up and slow down buttons are way
too close to the next and previous playlist buttons. I found that I am constantly hitting the wrong button, which is an
infinite source of irritation.
The next feature I looked at was the shuffle feature. I was rather disappointed with this. While it worked, it did not
work in the way I had hoped. It shuffled the songs that were played, but every time you pressed the previous playlist
item and next playlist items, rather than going back to the previous one or the next one, it chooses a completely new one
every time. So if you want to watch one clip over again while it is on shuffle you cannot simply just go back to it.
Advanced Features: Streaming Media
VLC claims to be able to stream from a URL, so I put it to the test with both an online radio station and online video. I
started off with a broadcast from a local radio station. While the initial setup can be a little confusing at first,
it was pretty simple to get the music to stream and I was able to listen online to my favorite radio station without
any issues.
The video stream was not as friendly. I started out with a completely random online video from ramses.com. I figure it
should be able to play any stream regardless of whether or not it is a popular source. With this video, I was only able
to play the audio. No matter what I tried, it would not play the video with this site. I switched over to
Windows Media Player Classic and it worked just fine. After fiddling with it for a good 30 minutes I was finally able to
make it work, but it only seems to work on certain sites. This feature is overall pretty hit and miss, but when it wants
to work, it works well.
VLC also offers an option to record streaming media. This does work if you are using the wizard. However it may take a few
tries to make it work correctly. Unfortunately it does not allow you to listen and record at the same time. If you can make
it work, it works pretty decently.
Advanced Features: Fun and Useful
There is a set of filters included in the extended GUI called Video Filters. While these do not seem to serve any real
purpose that I would ever use them for, they are fun to play with. They include the following. Image Clone, is a filter
that does exactly that, it clones the video into two windows, which could be useful for viewing on multiple monitors.
Distortion makes the video wavy. If you are into the fun house thing, this could be a good way to watch videos.
The next one is Inversion. This inverts all the colors and gives everything a blue green hue. It might be good for those who have
an affinity for aliens. Blurring makes everything look like it is going in slow motion. Possibly for those who want
everything to look like an instant replay. Transformation changes the video 90 degrees, perhaps for those who have rotating
screens. Finally magnification will zoom the video in. Probably for those who want a better view of something they thought they saw in the movie or for people who don’t see well.
There is also a set of video tools that you can use to improve your viewing of the video. Included in these are things
such as changing the aspect ratio, deinterlacing, cropping (which does the same thing as changing the aspect ratio), and a few other things.
The three here that I would like to point out are Always on Top, Wallpaper, and Snapshot. Always on Top is a very useful
tool for those who, like me, keep losing their videos in a sea of windows. While it is not a feature I use often, it is one
that I found to be very useful when a lot of things are open. The Wallpaper feature takes your video and sets it as your
background. While not highly useful, it can at the least be slightly entertaining and eliminates the need to have a
window open. Unfortunately this doesn’t put an icon down in the system tray to eliminate the item off the task bar, which
would make this more useful. Also, for those who have multiple monitors, this only works on the main monitor.
The third feature is the snapshot. This allows you to take video caps. This is great for those who want to post videos online and need previews.
However, the program lacks a set of hot keys to create the video caps, causing you to have to go to the drop down
menu every time you want to create one, which could cause you not to get the cap you want.
Settings and Customization
This area was of a great disappointment to me. While there are plenty of skins available for VLC, they do not make it easy for
you to select them. You have to go into the alternate skin then change the skin to the one you want. Also if you want to have it
open up one of the new skins you downloaded every time you start VLC, you have to manually type in the file name and path and
file name of the new skin under the advanced options in the preferences. Another thing that hurts this program is that it
does not retain any of the settings. Having to manually reset the settings every time to get it the way you want is a hassle
and takes away from the experience of using this program.
Final Thoughts
In its current state, I cannot see ever using it as my default media player for everyday use. It has a lot of flaws in it
and things that just do not lend it to being as useful as it could be. The core functionality of the software works fine for
the most part, now they need to improve on making the interface more user friendly and easier to use. Interface designs are
holding it back from being what it could be. However, despite these shortcomings, Its ability to play just about any media
file you throw at it, makes this an essential addition to any computer. It is one of the programs I use the most and I would
highly recommend this program to anybody.
Rating: 3.5/5
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