Vlc Media Player beats Mplayer handsdown.

Chat about anything related to Linux Mint
Forum rules
Do not post support questions here. Before you post read the forum rules. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
carum carvi

Vlc Media Player beats Mplayer handsdown.

Post by carum carvi »

For some reason Vlc seems to get a lot of vague complaints from people who state it is overrated or not their cup of tea. I was always puzzled by this, but since the Linux community is known for it's diversity of opinions I always thought there might be a good reason why Vlc was overrated according to them.

There are never any concrete reasons mentioned though WHY someone doesnt like Vlc, besides the well known cross eyed structrure of Vlc in which some settings are put somewhere completely in a dark corner, difficult to be found for first time users. But besides the NOT user friendly menu structure in Vlc everything else is just working dandy. Vlc is not just working dandy, it actually WORKS perfectly. EVERYTHING seems to work in Vlc, no matter what video format one throws at it.

That is my Nr 1 reason to choose Vlc. For over 10 years it beats any other Video player out there just for this excellent characteristic: Vlc will play EVERYTHING.

It is as if I were to buy a car and sometimes it wouldnt start.
It is as if I were to bya a house and sometimes I couldnt get in.
The first rule of succes is: does something I use actually work for what it is designed for, and the only thing a mediaplayer HAS GOT TO do is play EVERY video format. And Vlc Mediaplayer does fulfill that condition excellently on LInux, Apple, Windows and on smartphones, while a lot of other mediaplayers DONT.

I have been an avid Vlc Mediaplayer user for over 10 years now, but I read about other forum user's good experience with Mplayer (grahphical Smplayer frontend) so I decided to give it a try.

First 2 things that made me scratch my head when reading about this new Mplayer software I had just installed was the fact that they mentioned (as a big plus point) that Mplayer (Smplayer frontend) had got audio synchronization, just like Vlc has had for over 10 years already. Dont even wanna think about the possibility that any Mplayer edition before did not have audio synchronization, which would make it instantly garbage material for me.

Secondly I read in the Mplayer notes that it could play "many" videoformats. Hmmm. It could not play ALL videoformats as Vlc can automatically, but Mplayer could only just play "many" videoformats? That doesnt sound good compared to the succes of Vlc Mediaplayer that can and will play everything.

I Tried Mplayer (Smplayer frontend) anyway. And I liked it. Yes I liked it a lot. Great user friendly menu structure. Better than Vlc. And all the important options available in Vlc seemed to be available in Mplayer as well.

Then I started watching a video. Oops my harddisc suddenly got disconnected when I started to play a new videofile. What was that? Closed everyhting. Connected everthing and now it worked without my harddisc going haywire. Later it happpened again. Hmmm, not very reassuring.

Then the real reason for my post. I started watching a video on Mplayer and I was greeted with SCREEN TEARING. That did it for me. This was suppsosed to be a good alternative to Vlc and the first thing I get is screentearing while Vlc has got none.
Another complaint about Mplayer after which I totally gave up on this "alternative" for Vlc. Soundquality couldnt be enhanced in Mplayer with the abundance of settings as Vlc can. No compressor setting was found for instance which enhances speaking voices quite succesfully.

To end this topic: Vlc beats Mplayer handsdown.

Mplayer (with a Smplayer graphical frontend) is only suited for newbies or for those who for some reason just dont like the feel of Vlc, which I can totally understand.
The great thing about the cross eyed menu structure of Vlc is though, that it is constant in being cross eyed. However weird some menu settings are placed, they have been placed at the exactly same weird place for over 10 years now. So longtime users will find what they were looking for quickly. New time users might be confused though if they want to meddle with the many settings.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
gm10

Re: Vlc Media Player beats Mplayer handsdown.

Post by gm10 »

Saying that something that you do not like is "only suited for newbies" says more about you than about the target of your ire.

Also why do you care? I use mpv for video playback. I just need a fast, no-nonsense video player, not the behemoth that is vlc which needs several times the system resources. vlc is great at what it can do that mpv cannot, I just don't usually need any of it, so it would be a bad choice for me on any OS. I also don't use gimp to look at photos...

Maybe that's why Linux Mint comes with a large software repository, so everybody has a chance to find the tool that meets their needs and preferences?! :idea:
User avatar
trytip
Level 14
Level 14
Posts: 5371
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2016 1:20 pm

Re: Vlc Media Player beats Mplayer handsdown.

Post by trytip »

haven't used vlc since maybe 10 years ago. the same gripes you have about smplayer i have about vlc . mplayer was not meant to be used on it's own. mpv is the superior single file player at the moment
Image
Hoser Rob
Level 20
Level 20
Posts: 11806
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:57 am

Re: Vlc Media Player beats Mplayer handsdown.

Post by Hoser Rob »

carum carvi wrote: Tue Jan 15, 2019 1:02 pm ... Vlc will play EVERYTHING. ...
Ill informed, ridiculously wordy rubbish. VLC is NOT better than SMplayer at playing formats.

Plus the VLC UI is awful. E.g. if you want to do one of the most basic performance tweaks, setting the size of the cache for local files, your have to go to settings > advanced > input & codecs. That's just stupid.

BTW SMplayer hasn't incuded mplayer as a back end for some time, it uses mpv, though you can install mplayer and use that if you like. That's about how much you know about the subject.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken
Locked

Return to “Chat about Linux Mint”