Consider replacing VLC with SMPlayer in Linux Mint 18.2

[dark]

Much better than VLC. Its like MPC-HC for Linux.

http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/

[jimallyn]

OK, I tried it. It is a rather nice media player. Although it choked on the first file I played.

[dark]

No problems for me. I use SMPlayer with mpv multimedia engine.
http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/en/mpv

I get problems with VLC though and have been for years, whenever i play videos in VLC that have fast moving/action scenes, the video breaks in square artifacts like this for example http://i.imgur.com/6ipQr.jpg which is annoying. Funny thing is same thing happens in VLC on my Android phone lol so i think this issue is something inherent to VLC.

[lyndave]

well i have used VLC for years both on windows, when i used to use windows, and for a few years on linux mint and have not had any real issues. i have watched many action movies with no problem

[gmorehouse]

I thought Xplayer was the default video player.

Anyway, you say that SMPlayer is better than VLC. Please define "better."

VLC works with nearly every media format known to humanity, which is a huge point in its favor.

The default UI isn't exactly clean, and it has far more functions than just being a media player, which is a point against it.

[LenF]

>> the video breaks in square artifacts like this for example http://i.imgur.com/6ipQr.jpg which is annoying.

I have seen exactly the same breaking. It happens on my older PC when playing HQ videos with high bit-rates (1080P etc).
So basically VLC needs a bit more power to decode video.
I tried SMPlayer on my old PC and there's no break-up but it plays in slow-mo.
With mpv Media Player the video plays ok with no slow-down and no breaking-up even on my old PC.
I guess that is why mpv is the default program for mp4 files.

[dynamikspeed]

Since i installed SMPlayer I haven't gone back to VLC. VLC is excellent too.

[MintyO]

I don't see VLC as the default player in Mint 18.1 so do you mean "not include VLC in 18.2 installed programs"? I would object to that. I don't have any problems with VLC not being the default player in Mint, but like to see it come with the OS. I can imagine if you test around a bit, you'll find many cases where in fact VLC isn't the best tool for the job, but I like the fact that it seems to be a tool that always works - and hence I like to keep it around.

[Citizen229]

I use vlc and "Media Player"( thats what XFCE calls it)
With open source AMD drivers both sucked
With fglrx AMD drivers both were great.
And now with my nvidia card both are still great.

[ilikereading]

Much better than VLC. Its like MPC-HC for Linux.

http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/

Stick with VLC please, don't listen to this guy.
If you want SMP find a way to install it on linux.

[lyndave]

i use vlc and media player and both work fine so please don't change it in mint 18.2

[Schultz]

I prefer SMPlayer over VLC. I've tried to like VLC, but I simply just can't stand it. I'm not too crazy over SMPlayer either, but for me it's the best that's available for Linux. My all-time favorite media player, MPC-BE, is not, unfortunately, available in Linux.

But to get to the point of this thread, it doesn't really matter to me whether VLC or something else comes pre-installed with Mint or not. I just put on what I like and delete what I don't.

[o-l-d]

Mint uses the vlc phonon backend instead of gstreamer phonon backend. It is a difficult task to uninstall vlc and reinstall only smplayer due to the dependencies and assorted plugins needed for the gstreamer backend. I would much prefer vlc pre-installed and the option to add whatever media player afterwards. Kubuntu 17.04 uses the gstreamer phonon backend and doesn't come with vlc installed. DragonPlayer and Amarok are pre-installed in it. If you feel the need for MPC why not use it in WINE or PlayOnLinux? My personal favorite Window$ media player, good ol' Winamp, lost linux support years back.

[dynamikspeed]

OK I have been using SMPlayer a lot lately but it just cannot compete with VLC for file type playback.
I just tried to play some MP4's in SMPlayer and it only plays the audio not video. In VLC and XPlayer these play fine.

I have been using SMTube with SMPlayer to play youtube vids/music but I just learned that you can right click the video in SMTube and select play in VLC and add URLS to the VLC Playlist.
However now i might just paste the URL in VLC then remove SMPlayer and SMTube.

Note: I was getting a common MRL error when trying to play directly in VLC. The locally installed version in Mint 18.1 is 2.2.2 I had to upgrade to 2.2.6 and now it is all working. So it might be worth updating the local one in the next Mint release.

[ilikereading]

I will still sick with VLC, it is good enough for my needs.

[ArtGirl]

I always had VLC as favourite on Windows, but, since coming over to Linux, have gone to SMPlayer. The odd hiccup now and then, but VLC drove me nuts auto-resizing the window per video, no matter what settings I tried. With SMPlayer, the window stays the same size, fits the video to that window, and that's a huge headache gone. With the 'always on top', I can watch vids while painting, and not be constantly resizing the window.

[lyndave]

if you want sm player just install it

[xenopeek]

Linux Mint 18.2 has Xplayer ("Media Player") as default. If you want another media player, like VLC or SMPlayer or the many other options, you can install that after installing Linux Mint.

[Sunderlandgreen]

Good suggestion, I can use SMPlayer to play virtually all video and audio formats. It doesn't need any external codecs. Just install SMPlayer and you'll be able to play all formats without the hassle to find and install codec packs.

[DGMurdockIII]

Vlc has just become even better with chromecast, HDR and 8k video support. Why would you want to use anything else and a player that hasn't evolved much and just relies on the backend MPlayer