Why I Don't Use VLC

[@ChrisTitusTech]

Prior Video - VLC Alternatives: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rprbgJScl9uEe9k

[@MirekFe]

You said that MPC looks like the media player from XP. The classic Windows Media player was actually from 1998. _Brings back memories._

[@abdallahtarek3602]

Make a video about installing ttf vista fonts on Debian Kde

[@fiddledotgoth]

Maybe its my hardware, but vlc plays full HD better than any mpv based player like celluloid and as long as I remember to stop the video before closing the window, it doesn't lock up... (AMD e450 GPU)

[@MirekFe]

@@fiddledotgoth _Mileage may vary._ Still, the fact remains. VLC is too bloated. Not like what it used to be.

[@fiddledotgoth]

@ramakuna The crappy little laptop with it's weak cpu I got for £40 on Ebay is just fine for my purposes as a traveling street musician; crappy enough not to get stolen and easily replaced (second one so far) while handling basic video/audio editing tasks, browsing etc - It handles 1080 HD just fine with vlc, and now I know that ctr H trick, on mpv too I will quite happily use the faster responding mpv sometimes, and the more fully featured vlc that I'm used to, at other times It seems a bit silly to have HW acceleration turned off by default; is that just to trick noobs like me...? ;-)

[@andresilvasophisma]

Before VLC in Windows you used to have to download each codec separately, with VLC they all came included. That's one of the reasons I started using it. Other advantages was being able to set personalized rewind and fast forward intervals in seconds, and synchronize subtitles. Never had issues with it hanging or performance issues.

[@TorrentFiend10]

No you didn't. There have been great players on Windows like mpc, km player, now called DAUM player. VLC may have been one of the early Superstars but there are better media players out there for those who know. A lot of the more advanced streaming features of VLC are cool if you have a use for them but most people don't so it's unnecessary. Also it doesn't do playback as well as better players like DAUM do. VLC doesn't offer nearly as many detailed settings for playback and correcting playback issues than more advanced players do.

[@mecca6801]

I use CCCP alongside VLC

[@TheCrazyCanuck420]

@@mecca6801 hello fellow old school dude 😀

[@weedthepeople2795]

Ya VLC was a godsend back in the day....before VLC I had like 3 different media players, plus downloading the dirty dang codecs,.....remember Real Media? my jaws dropped when I first started using VLC and it played real media files! and every other format known to man......praise the holy VLC

[@quademasters249]

@@TorrentFiend10 MPC was my goto but I got used to VLC and started using it more. Development was more active and there was less worry about malware. MPC was really hard to beat from an ergonomic perspective. My needs are simple and VLC is good enough.

[@standardbrickproductions3328]

your only windows complaint is VLC has to many features? Bruh

[@TheRiotonmars]

I once installed MPC due to its hype but had some problems downloading subtitles. VLC did it without any problems. I don't see any difference in performance. As a windows user, I also agree with most people. VLC JUST WORKS. Just install and go. Easy Interface. Yes there are more features but it is not cluttered as MPC.

[@poeboi4429]

Careful! You might accidentally summon Todd Howard, our Lord and Creator of the Finest Gaming Engines in all Universes. We do not want to anger the Todd Howard...

[@RoyalGraphX]

to be completely honest with you , i’ve seen the thumbnail and video float around my recommended for a few weeks now, and i don’t mean to bring up a dead thread, but i was genuinely expecting some real solid reasons coming from the kind of youtuber you are. Hell, i thought you were about to expose VLC for logging data and whatnot, but it turns out it’s just because it doesn’t work on your linux box? not only does it sound like a hardware issue, or a version issue that is distributed on your debian distros repositories, which is definitely fixed BY NOW, but quite literally was annoyed i sat here for 14 minutes waiting for a solid answer. I’ll give you a piece of advice i’ve learned over the years from being more advanced in technology than others: if it’s a matter of opinion, you have no right to tell someone that another program is better. because it just works. why do you or me care if they use the advanced toolset? it plays your content, and it. just. works. if it works. nothing is broken. what a waste of time of a video, of replying to comments, and overall just left me in a bad mood smh, if it was broken for you, then SOL. but no use in ranting and keeping this video up.

[@dallasmojicancamuyot]

VLC supports almost any music and video formats, and it packs a lot of features, which are just there and can be used when you most need it. I use VLC on both Windows and Linux (specifically in Ubuntu) and had never ran into a problem or issues, over the years I used it. It just works, and fast. Old video file types, just plays. Heck it can even read old Handy Cam CDs and even display the menus from it, which I can't do on modern OS these days (unless I install another software, which is bothersome to do). Unheard of media formats, just open, including newer ones (after updates of course). To me, VLC is an all in one solution for my needs, because it just works, and the only time it just doesn't, is because the file I opened was corrupted, or because it was misconfigured, which is not VLC's fault.

[@LandonJobe]

FFMPEG supports almost any media format. VLC implements it, and a few other libraries. Most modern players will hook into ffmpeg if it's installed on the path. You can even use it raw, from a terminal prompt. e.g.: "ffplay -i concat:VTS_01_0.VOB\|VTS_01_1.VOB\|VTS_01_2.VOB" (where .VOB files are on a DVD) _or_ "ffplay /path/to/file" _or_ "cat [file(s)] | ffplay -i -"

[@picklerick98]

10:00 yes many of us still have PTSD from installing codecs back in the day so have stuck with VLC for all these years (in Windows) as it JUST WORKS

[@TheC0wboyWay]

It's broken in Linux. That's why I stopped using VLC.

[@GradyBroyles]

sadly on linux, it's stopped "just working" the app its self now hangs when you quit. So the window disappears but it's not quit and it wont let you start any new videos until you kill the process manually. like with a killall command.

[@SB-qm5wg]

Oh yeah...The bad old days. Codec packs with trojans, toolbars, etc..

[@madthumbs1564]

@@GradyBroyles Noobs could just open system monitor, find it, right click and kill it.

[@Soulskinner]

@@TheC0wboyWay That's actually funny. Coz I was thinking that VLC primary made for Linux.

[@R-L-D]

Never once have I had an issue with VLC.

[@realmtl6829]

I've only recently switched from using VLC. It wasn't bad but it doesn't have any features that make me want to use it.

[@guymerritt4860]

Same here. I've been on Linux for about 15 years, never had an issue with VLC. I like Chris' videos, but, he kinda lost me on this one.

[@SirMeowric]

VLC worked for me on Ubuntu and Linux Mint, but when I switched to Manjaro it drove me nuts. 7:36 looks like me. It doesn't matter which desktop environment.

[@DaVyze]

@@guymerritt4860 In my case I had sometimes the same problem as Chris. Maybe only guys with the name "Chris" have this. ;-D But in my case it happened only for rare videos with a weird configured codec. On Linux it's even more rare. But if anyone want a REAL alternative that can play ANYTHING (even encrypted Audible M4B files!), look no further than ffplay. ;-D

[@zvxcvxcz]

I have, many times. It's still my go to for sure, it opens so many formats by default that can be nasty to get working in other players.

[@rickbhattacharya2334]

Well i use VLC everywhere from Android to Windows to Linux and it just works .... So no change from me 😀

[@dennisgatere7821]

It works for me as well but he is right that VLC refuses to terminate regularly after being closed on Linux, and creates some different set of bugs on Gnome when playing videos on the notification area

[@julianojosoa2145]

Same here! Me too i am using vlc on both my distro and my phone. I got frustrated with Google play music

[@dennisgatere7821]

@Buffy Foster I'm using Arch, very often when playing videos and closing the video window, they added a new feature in Gnome 3.36 of displaying a notification that allows pause/play/skip of videos and this is per program. Occasionally after watching a VLC video the notification refuses to go away and I have to open System Monitor and kill the process. Not sure how you're checking but the issue manifests differently for me but fact is the process refuses to terminate. This actually cause the notifications to spawn multiple instances from time to time also when using VLC. As soon as I switched to Celluloid have never encountered the issue again

[@arashkmahshidfar7780]

@resigned liberal a desktop environment CAN be broken in this situation but not a window manager.

[@robgrenzeback3425]

VLC is just slow on my Android device. I use MX Player instead.

[@ar-ar86]

In my opinion, I use windows 10 and I prefer to use vlc compared to mpc. One of the reasons of my preference is vlc's ability to play videos in faster speed without distorting the audio. Just make sure that "Enable Time-Stretching audio" is checked in "Tools" to make use of this feature. You cannot do that in mpc.

[@georgeemerald4389]

MPC-HC has the capacity to be much higher quality though

[@michaelblake2280]

Yep VLC kicks ass!!!

[@gamepunk7963]

@@michaelblake2280 i prefer vlc because you can convert audio formats

[@garystinten9339]

Thanks for that.. now I can fix the audio sync issue I have when I fast forward.

[@bar10005]

MPC also has that ability, you just have to switch audio renderer from default to internal in settings.

[@awolsam]

VLC is going to get a major UI change soon, so you might want to try it again when that releases. I use VLC mainly because it is the best at handling DVD and Blu-ray menus. Most of the other players either don't support menus at at all, or do a worse job with them.

[@endymallorn]

You can even play “set-top games” which some DVDs included. It’s awesome.

[@heatshield]

How soon is soon? I only really use it for my dashcam so it won’t really change anything for me but any insight is appreciated.

[@awolsam]

​@@heatshield There is no set release date, it will be released when the developers are confident that it is complete/stable. My guess based on the state of the current VLC 4 beta is that the release should only be a few weeks/months away. I'm still hoping to see a release before the end of the year. Why I think they should rather release it sooner rather than later, is that HiDPI displays have become mainstream. And that is a problem with media players with an old GUI like VLC and MPC-HC (the GUI does not scale well with high resolutions). The lack of HiDPI support was for example one of the main reasons why VLC got replaced as default media player in a popular Linux distro.

[@heatshield]

@@awolsam really cool. I appreciate your time. Always nice to speak with someone who knows and cares about what they're talking about. Cya round. ✌

[@bretth5070]

Will the new version be able to stream YT videos? Apparently, YT has changed something which has disabled using the network stream to play YT videos.

[@decompyler]

I use MPV on both linux and windows. I just love how simple and quick it is and the ability to just scroll through a video with the mouse wheel is very nice.

[@geekdesprairies]

MPV is really cool indeed. Works just as well on MacOS!

[@mchief4487]

MPV all the way

[@encycl07pedia-]

Real men use mplayer in framebuffer.

[@georgeemerald4389]

Definitely the best player around.

[@titanbringer9635]

I do love the look and feel of MPV - it was always my favorite in those regards - but it is a bit messy on Windows and Mac when it comes to where to download, updating, and setting defaults. Can always run scripts for those, but those will always hold it back for most people. On Linux there's practically no reason to use anything else.

[@skimble_shank]

In addition to different hardware configs, lots of Linux users seem unaware of how hardware video decoding is almost always disabled by default. In Linux, frame drops, stuttering, artifacts, tearing, loud CPU fans, etc are obvious at 4k60, though this is solved with the right drivers and enabling decoding in options or config files. In Windows, this isn't the case and video is almost always buttery smooth ootb. I'm hoping this gets easier for Linux users to troubleshoot, because I find the ootb experience for high quality video on Linux subpar. Moving away from H264 isn't making this any easier either.

[@patriley2]

Weird, I haven't had any hang ups with vlc on Ubuntu for the past 3 years. I have used it with 16.04, 18.04, and 20.04 seamlessly.

[@brentsummers7377]

This is why bugs like this are so hard to fix. VLC is garbage on my PC when running linux yet for many people it's working perfectly.

[@juanjomtz4606]

I have used VLC in different distros in 3 different laptops and a couple of desktops and I have never had that problem, weird. I love MPV and MPC also.

[@goodmorning192]

I love VLC, a very simple interface, and lightweight. I never faced any issues to date. I believe it's the most reliable source for media.

[@mariolis]

Yeah, just because it has more features doesnt mean its bloated Its quite lightweight even for my old pc No need to use something else

[@bengmelea8646]

One downside is that VLC don't have an option when you either set up or on their UI to stop it from accessing the internet. In the end I had to use my Firewall and add this program and block access that way. You'd be surprised how much GB it chews through when you don't even stream content through it.

[@georgeemerald4389]

@@mariolis you should use something else because VLC has terrible quality.

[@type_mob]

vlc is god tier, we should keep supporting projects like that, not many left

[@Mallchad]

Never seen a faster response on all of KZbin. Aside from quickdraws in the comments of course.

[@RichMoreen]

I give your viewers more credit than saying we just use VLC as just a media player. Lots of users probably like having one robust program instead of a bunch of different apps that aren't as high quality. Many probably use VLC to Download KZbin Videos, Record Video Clips, Capture Desktop, Convert Video Files, Record Webcam, Subscribe to Podcasts, Cast to Chromecast, Cast to Speakers and so much more.

[@vibor123]

I use SMplayer on all win and linux systems, its fast and have subtitle download, which is convenient if you use subtitles.

[@andremalerba5281]

I also use SMplayer on PC and MXplayer on android. I really like SMplayer more than VLC!

[@TheFiretiger20]

VLC can also download subtitles

[@TheMadHaxor]

MPC can also download subtitles

[@ralgore]

Chris: "blahblahblah...installing KLite Codec Packs...blahblah..." ......... **Vietnam flashbacks**

[@rana1561]

*playing "fortunate son" on WinAmp while it whip Llama's ass.

[@maratb5291]

I've used VLC almost exclusively in both Windows and Linux (Mint, Ubuntu, PCLOS, MX). I convert videos fairly frequently, and VLC does a decent job. It's flexible, and as I never run more than one process at a time, I have not experienced the issues you have had. My brother uses MPC and swears by it. I do the same with VLC. Different strokes, and all that.

[@shanedavenport734]

The problem you are experiencing on Linux with VLC has to do with the Hardware Acceleration with AMD cards (Atleast I didn't notice it with the Nvidia card). Change the the Acceleration under Video from Auto to VDPAU and install VDPAU drivers and should be good to go. Oh, also disable the tray icon and limit it to only opening one instance at a time. This problem has been a major pain for several years now. It would be nice if someone would light a fire under the VLC people to get it fixed.

[@dduchesne01]

Love your videos but VLC just works so that’s where I’m staying!

[@user-zp7hd3rf7g]

He is the type of kid who think he cool becuz he use a software that no one use.

[@mohmmad68m]

@@user-zp7hd3rf7g MPC for the old school, new kids just stuck with VLC and STFU.

[@user-zp7hd3rf7g]

@@mohmmad68m No

[@Jmvars]

Yeah it's the first media player I found that _will_ play everything I throw at it, even blu-ray ISOs. Once I got on the open source train I was relieved to find VLC is open source as well so I still had no reason to change so I just stuck with it. I haven''t used it much in Linux but I will see what happens.

[@babagandu]

MPC the best

[@Rypervenche]

So I've noticed that you tend to overgeneralize whether something *works* or *doesn't work* in Linux, based on your experiences. I don't think that your comparisons are fair in that on Windows you will be using the latest version of a software, but in your distribution of Linux, you're not. I've found that programs having to do with media are often best when you use the latest versions from the developers, however you won't get this on an Ubuntu-based distro. And I've found distros like Ubuntu-based ones to sometimes have very buggy versions of software. I'm not saying that I disagree with your analysis of the VLC, but I think that you should at least be saying "It crashes for me on " instead of "It crashes for me on Linux". Or be saying, "I couldn't get it to work for me in my distribution" or "...on my system". Just my two cents.

[@russellbrooks3622]

VLC has always been great, dude. I had problems with it on MX Linux, but it turned out to be because of a setting in preferences that needed to be changed from automatic to an XVideo option. No more problems after that. I've always been a fan of Media Player Classic, as well.

[@wolphanto]

I use PotPlayer. Both VLC and MPC seemed like ancient Video Players to me. This is why I like PotPlayer: 1. PotPlayer shows previews when you seek videos (like KZbin). 2. Custom subtitle font, positioning, etc. It just has a huge array customization in Preferences. Also has a subtitle browser, where you can search words and dialogues and double click dialogues to start playing from where the dialogue is being spoken. 3. Brightness, Contrast, Saturation control (to match my likings when a video seems too washed out, too dark or less vibrant). 4. Playback speed control. 5. Audio Equalizer 6. Lots of shortcuts. Some Example: W/E - Brightness Up/Down, R/T - Contrast Up/Down, Y/U - Saturation Up/Down, I/O - Hue Up/Down, Q - Cycle Color Changes to Default/Custom, X - Slow speed, C - Fast Speed, Z - Cycle speed to Default/Custom, M - Mute, D - Previous Frame, F - Next Frame, A - Cycle Audio (For Multi Audio Files), L - Change/Load Subtitles... and many more. Bonus, less used features 7. Stream videos from network (direct download link). 8. Plays 360degree videos. 9. Plays 3D Videos 10. Have many post processing effects (maybe for improving low quality videos) I don't feel much freedom in any other video players. I jumped to using PotPlayer from KMPlayer back in 2015.

[@CreeperDaGuy]

"If it's not broken don't fix it."

[@AmanSinghYT]

This is how you do a video. Explaining your point throughout and not just saying vlc is trash. I use pop os and vlc runs very well, idk what's the problem in yours, I'm using flatpak version btw.

[@madthumbs1564]

He wasn't wrong though, and made multiple points against VLC. In the comments you'll find people talking about better picture quality, audio, and performance other players have. -Issues you won't recognize as software issues if you never try other players.

[@shadowopsairman1583]

Vlc is trash

[@nurarihyon07]

I use pop os too I am facing the same issue( doesn't play media one after another if close through a tab) it only worked if we right click (options) and quit from there. Could play videos one after another without killing it everytime!

[@tieran2009]

I like to be able to use arrow keys to skip forward and back a bit in a video. The last time I used it, VLC didn't accept that... heck, it's skip back and forth on Windows and MAC OS was a bit of a mess. To me, VLC compared to a bunch of other players is just... clunky. Mind you, I had only migrated away from KM Player (My favorite player) as it dropped native DVD support. Oh, CODEC Support... funny you should mention that... it's starting to become a thing again, due to some more recent players having poor to no native.AVI support. Yes, I realize that the AVI is just the container.

[@Soren_Skarsgard]

@@tieran2009 From XP, to now 7, i still use KM Player ver. 2.9.4.1434 - the best version ever!-)

[@s9209122222]

MPV is the ultimate video player on Earth, no matter in Windows or Linux, even Mac. You want it to be simplistic? MPV wins. You want the most powerful renderer on Linux? MPV wins.

[@s9209122222]

@@Zellonous There is no need to open terminal for it, I always use it in GUI only.

[@s9209122222]

@@evertonsap Who hides the features? The feature in MPV is too many that none of its GUI front-end can have all the options. mpv.io/manual/master/

[@papabones8753]

I love how you can add stuff to it. I missed MPC-HC where I could bookmark videos. MPV has a plugin for that which I use all the time.

MPV is fantastic. It's the best. If you need a GUI frontend for it: SMPlayer on Qt is amazing, Celluloid on GTK is pretty decent. But nothing beats pure MPV.

[@s9209122222]

@ True, only the pure MPV can have its latest feature.

[@leandrotami]

I love VLC and have used it since it first came out. Very few software products have the distinction of being loved by so many after such an incredibly long time. I feel I need nothing else. It was also refreshing considering that it was against US software patents.

[@KentuckyJoe]

here in 2022, still using VLC. It does everything I need. great at playing most video and music formats, can open stream links in it. The codex are built in so if for some reason the pc your using it on does not have the required codec to play a specific file it will still play it. Even works fine to play dvds with the ability to navigate there menus. I also like that vlc can increase the volume past what would normally be the max. It also runs great on windows for me, never had a hang up with it. You can attach subtitle files to videos that do not have them. Just works wonders for what I need.

[@maxthewincat]

I use both MPC-HC and VLC. I set up MPC's interface to have only title bar, seekbar and the status bar, because in most cases, I just use the keyboard shortcuts. But VLC has Visualisations better playlist design. Only little issue with VLC is that it starts up a little bit slower and when you seek, pitch gets lowered for few seconds.

[@yousefslimani99]

Same but I don't like using VLC too much I'm using MPC too much!!

[@TaiFerret]

I've been having some issues with VLC on Linux so I may give those alternatives a try. Back when I used Windows MPC was my favourite media player because of its basic interface and light weight, but I had VLC as a backup because there were occasionally some obscure codecs that MPC didn't support.

[@metalfyregaming2468]

I tried the same as you did in Linux with VLC. It closes and opens just fine. Even if done rapidly. Must be something in your current OS then. (Linux Mint 19.1 here).

[@eugenek1180]

Yes. I currently have Mint / Manjaro dual boot and it works great in Mint but it does get stuck in Manjaro. In fact, I found it unusable in Manjaro. It was very surprising.

[@akantor6760]

Same here on mint 19.3 with VLC 3.0.8, as soon as i close the window it disappears from task manager, open and close videos on a row and no problem with it.

[@CRogers]

Works fine also in Ubuntu 20.04, which is the Ubuntu version it's most likely to break.

[@TheCocoaDaddy]

@@CRogers Cool. I have access to an Ubuntu 20.04 live ISO so I'll boot it on a spare laptop and see what happens. :) Thanks for mentioning this!

[@CRogers]

@@TheCocoaDaddy I'd say good luck, but I think it's CTTs funky tiling window manager which VLC is having issues with. Of course we will never know, because it's easier to make a flaily rage quit video rather than file a decent bug report apparently.

[@zMeul]

I use MPC-HC compiled by clsid I found issues while using VLC, never looked back

[@zebraforceone]

Windows and Android here, and someone who remembers the very first video players, VLC has never, ever let me down

[@ArtificialDuality]

That issue you're having does not happen for me on arch or mint. A quick search shows that the not closing issue is probably a bug in 3.0.4 . That is old. If you update to 3.0.9.2 which is what I am using, that doesn't happen. I know it's a bit of a pain, but sometimes software has bugs. Check the reports, make reports.

[@AaronStarkLinux]

I use Arch and I have the issue in 3.0.10...

[@ArtificialDuality]

​@@AaronStarkLinux If you can, please do a trace and report it. I am not experiencing this issue or I would. When building vlc, use the --enable-debug option. Then you can use gdb to produce a trace with symbols that the developers can use to track down the problem.

[@AaronStarkLinux]

@@ArtificialDuality Of course, thanks

[@CRogers]

This. It's really disappointing to see prominent high tech KZbinrs railing against software they could just as easily help fix by making decent bug reports.

[@twistyjoygaming422]

I've used VLC on Linux and it runs just fine. I've never had any stability or resource usage issues. Maybe it just depends on the hardware? In my opinion, I think VLC is the best media player just because it's fast and it has many features that other players don't such as converting a video. I've also used it on Windows and it runs just as well. While it can have issues with blu-ray playback, it overall is a great media player. Great Video!! Keep up the good work Chris Titus Tech!! 🙂

[@MichaelJHathaway]

Thank you for the new video Chris. You are correct. And that's one of the reasons why Linux Mint removed VLC from its distribution. As I said before, I have Celluloid, Smplayer and VLC installed. However, I usually only use Celluloid. The hardware acceleration in Celluloid reduces cpu usage, heat and fan noise. For audio I use Audacity or Celluloid. Another problem with VLC is the music quality is not good. If I put on my Sony MDR headphones on the Fiio 5, there is so many harmonics on VLC, it makes me not want to listen to music. Celluloid is King in the audio playback, which makes me wonder why people would use VLC to watch movies. But if you need a specific feature in VLC and don't really care about quality, then it's there.

[@zenntropio]

MPV is for me, I use it with no-border-window, so it's a super minimal interface even in Windows, if you want to tweak it, you have always the terminal with super easy commands.

[@darrinlong8038]

that guy in a horror movie. when the house says get out he still wants to investigate.

[@corey8704]

Good to know I wasn't alone with the Zombie VLC processes. I thought it was Cinnamon being weird.

[@madthumbs1564]

Does it in Gnome also.

[@DacLMK]

I never had that problem in Cinnamon.

[@petebateman143]

@@DacLMK Nor me.

[@jake4IXOYE]

Quote of the day: "It is getting so bad I would set a hot key to kill my VLC service" CTT

[@markh.6687]

Hot keys are sooo 1990's. :)

[@wweeks]

@@markh.6687 hot keys are so 90’s. my kill VLC command is a triple tap swipe up gesture

[@markh.6687]

@@wweeks Does that move also require a somersault or a pirouette? :) Wait, I'll get my scorecard ready!

[@reh.4919]

@@wweeks How does one kill a service and either set a hot key or a fancy gesture?

[@wweeks]

@@reh.4919 How do you kill that which has no life?

[@martinavaslovik3433]

Dude, I've been using only VLC for over 15 years, and I love it. It's all I'll ever use.

[@justsomerandompersononthei2595]

Same. I used it on Windows too before I switched to Linux, I'm never switching away from VLC.

[@JonMelbo]

I think anyone who says things like they will never switch, probably fall into the classic fan-boy or fan-girl category. The reason being it shows an appreciation for it which is not contingent on it's actual performance. One cannot evaluate future performance, only present and past.

[@bpm9295]

@@JonMelbo that's a possibility, but on the other hand consider that we're all under constant barrage of advertised alternatives decrying whatever thing we had before, promising to revolutionize our lives... turns out, I still don't need a media player to revolutionize my life. I'd use Windows Media Player if it wasn't trash, but it's trash, so when I set up a new Windows *or* Linux environment I go download the 64 bit VLC and install that badboy and never think about it again, and I've literally not seen it throw a code or otherwise flip any variety of bitch in something like a decade. TL;DR ? Awash in a constant onslaught of the new-fangled alternatives to everything, where simplicity, utility, and familiarity are eschewed for rotundity of features and general trendiness, I think there's still tremendous value in simple, performant resources that don't attempt to reinvent the wheel. TTL;DDR ?? Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff say: "If it ain't broke don't try to fix it"

[@BhdRoussos]

In my case VLC has proven to work well for Rendering rtsp -streams (IP-Cam) by an Android TV and Linux Mint 18.3 on a Lenovo M58 and watching mp4's on this Lenovo using VLC. In Windows 7 I used MPC ,because it was providing a better support for digital soundcards, where VLC only had a distorted sound. MPC seemed to by more integrated in Windows, than VLC. For a rtsp resolution of VGA(640*352) there's a CPU Load of 3 to 5 % , for a resolution of HD(1920*1080) here's a CPU Load of 10 to 13 % (no moving objects). Perhaps the source of 'his' VLC is not suited for 'his' Linux distribution.

[@martinavaslovik3433]

@@BhdRoussos I don't use Windows, I use Macs.

[@TheDeathmail]

I always used VLC on Linux.... and it never once had issues... it always worked perfectly.... no matter which video player I used, I always went back to VLC... it just runs the best on any desktop environment...

[@motionsick]

VLC is great on Windows, Apple TV and Android with my experience. Its one of the longest running quality apps out there. There have been a few videos over the years that didn't work but that's about it. It's one of the first apps I install on any new system.

[@vazgensargisian7928]

Since yesterday I'm using Celluloid, and I'm happier, on Manjaro VLC didn't exit properly time to time and I had to kill its process to be able to open another video again and the start time wasn't as fast as Celluloid, so thank you! 🙌

[@s9209122222]

You can also try the vanilla MPV player, it already has all the feature that you need.

[@ishanagarwal475]

@@s9209122222 celluloid integrates well with gnome desktop.

[@intellectualhybrid2]

In the same boat, I really like celluloid on linux. VLC hangs for my manjaro as well. I also have had annoying issues where I go back some seconds on a video and it begins to stutter and lag for god knows what.

[@s9209122222]

@@evertonsap With vanilla MPV, it does. Just press "[" and "]" to decrease or increase the playback speed.

[@s9209122222]

@@ishanagarwal475 It is not maintained anymore.

[@byrongilbert3720]

i fell in love with mpc back in the old intel p4 days. the hardware acceleration allowed me to play 1080p video using hardware acceleration. these videos where unwatchable on vlc. all the rendering was done with my old nvidia gt430 instead of the pentium 4. good ole days lol

[@tomtravers7127]

Instead of a hot key, create a bash file that kills VLC service after exit and set the . desktop profile to point to your script instead of VLC. This way, it's more natural and seamless. But I'm guessing there might be a run as service in the background Option in the settings that might be causing it to hang. Either way, it would benefit the VLC project if you open a bug report and state that it is replicated on various distros. If the devs don't know about it, they can't fix it. Just like if a tree fell in the middle of the woods and no one was around to hear it, did it really fall?

[@donaldstinnett5630]

Yes, the tree really fell. It isn't necessary for humans to be present for events in nature to occur.

[@ridespirals]

@@donaldstinnett5630 or the more classic version of that saying, "did it make a sound?" also yes, because sounds don't require something to hear it in order to exist, it just needs a medium to travel through; a tree falling in space wouldn't make a sound no matter how many people saw it, because sound can't travel through a vacuum.

[@DeSinc]

Surprising to see saying VLC isn't the best is a disliked opinion. Like everyone else I swapped to VLC because of the codec nightmare back like 10-20 years ago, but I've been using MPC forks for years now. I think I started using it primarily because of PLUGINS and external renderers. I used a 60 fps interpolation plugin with MPC for a long long time to upscale content in real time to 60fps, I think it was called S4P or something.. (edit: SVP - smooth video project) and I think to this day I still use a third party video and audio renderer, not for SVP but just for performance. Also VLC wouldn't give you full colour depth by default or something so having to go to options to enable it each re-install annoyed me giving you limited colour range like on a TV or something (maybe a false memory?? this was like 10 years ago mind you). Maybe that's not an issue now but the other reason I think I swapped was speed and stability. I think mpc edges out vlc a bit, and it also has I think better configurability on things like choosing how big the window should open on first launch every time, if it should always start maximised or in a window, etc. Good god I just launched vlc and it took 6 seconds to load up its ui. Why the heck? I guess speed might have been a reason then, too. On top of that being able to click on the video itself to play/pause has become something I hate not having in VLC. Also pressing 'O' to launch options instead of ctrl + P is nice (lmao!) Basically I think mpc is better for a power user who has a specific use for the features. One con to the original MPC and even still in the updated MPC-BE fork I've found (not sure if VLC also does this or not) is when sharing screen of MPC in discord and full screening or loading a couple of files in a row on the same window that's being shared, it has a tendency to just hang and crash to desktop which is annoying. Maybe I'll try HC to see if it does that.

[@norbydroid3430]

Nice video. This just goes to show not everyone has the same experience and while some may have no issues whatsoever, others do. I have been running Linux for quite some time now (many years) in Windows and linux and have never had any issues at all. Yeah, my use of vls is mainly audio and video including network streams and I may find a better program, but being so used to vlc with not one problem, I just see no reason to change. On another note, there is some software in linux where I have had to find alternatives or use a Windows vm because running in Linux was a complete nightmare. I believe the best advice which goes for MANY things is find what works for you, what you like and use that. Everyone will have different experiences and there will always be people who either agree, disagree, or even have no comments at all. What matters is whatever you use you are happy with amd it works the way you desire.

[@edsonsantiago9135]

I use Potplayer. It’s perfect for me. It’s has everything I need and more, like an equalizer and subtitles finder and download. Also it’s freeware.

[@kristoffergrundstrom3112]

Freeware doesn't necessarily make it open source.

[@verAlvyn]

On android I've been using vlc since years. Never had any issues. I just love it there :D

[@rickbhattacharya2334]

@@Cytoplasm4508 mx was good but now days it's complete garbage . Ads everywhere and they also added some kind of online streaming service into it

[@MarkHobbes]

@@Cytoplasm4508 MX used to be good, but the ads... ew

[@madthumbs1564]

Sorry but the comment is idiotic. If you don't try other players; you won't understand that it has issues. -You'll think that oh it's the encoding, 1-2 seconds loading is normal, etc. All of these 'works for me' posts are the same ignorant types that never tried his suggestions.

[@verAlvyn]

@@madthumbs1564 Maybe. But if it works for me, If I don't have any issue with it, why should I change? VLC wasn't the 1st player i tried. The stock one just annoys the crap out of me, MX displays ads when connected with internet and VLC "just works" and gives me no ads (I tried several more, don't remember names). If I'm happy with the current solution, there is no reason for me to change it. I switched for Celluloid on linux and it's great but for Android? For now I'm staying with VLC, sorry. You can call me ignorant or whatever you want but you don't know how i started using VLC for Android several years ago but for some reason I stick with it. And I don't think there is anything wrong with it.

[@Just2Dimes]

Thanks for the additional explanations as to why you don't like VLC. I think it's a good habit to do that always when you speak negatively about something. I used MPC-HC on Windows and was looking for a video player on linux that wasn't SMPlayer and my first impression of celluloid is good, so thanks for suggesting that one! I was just wondering one thing: is it possible to integrate opensubtitles with celluloid? A quick internet search didn't result in anything. Would be a great follow-up video if you want to support your argument even more!

[@thefloridaman6527]

Got here because vlc didn't make it through a 90 minute online class before hanging up. I installed Celluloid and instantly loved it. Nice design, fast, no stability issues for me.

[@thefloridaman6527]

@@jaimefernandez2624 thank you for the recommendation :)

[@FoxyAnimater]

They'll see is great if you want to be able to play any media file on the planet, be able to access network streams on devices in which aren't necessarily compatible with network streams anymore, and be able to play MIDI files on your computer if you don't run windows. It's also great if you need a very short-term screen recorder or if you need a ton of other pretty useful information about the media you're watching. VLC is more than a video player, I get that. But the fact that it's being so multiplatform and so versatile makes it one of the best tools out there. Not having it installed on your system is the same as using Microsoft's included video and audio players. You won't really find a better alternative to VLC because no better alternatives exist.

[@piyushgolait]

I use MPC-BE as default. It's very fast and simple. But when I need to boost the volume of a video or need to sync the subtitles/audio, I go for VLC. Also, changing track playback speed is so much better in VLC, the likes of which we have on KZbin. MPC also changes the pitch when changing the track speed so it's not the preferred one for this function.

[@yousefslimani99]

What do you mean By "BE" is it suppose to be MPC-HC?!

[@piyushgolait]

@@yousefslimani99 MPC HC is not under development since 2017. MPC BE (or Black Edition) is a fork of it that is actively maintained by another dev I guess and is available on the Microsoft Store too!

[@yousefslimani99]

@@piyushgolait Dang, So MPC-BE version is still under development!!

[@tesstickle1182]

exactly why i use vlc.. but in my old laptop i use mpc hc because its too fast and doesnt lag . talking about the pitch when changing speed. there are so many videos showing how u can fix that.

[@oniondesu9633]

I used vlc for years and it was fine, then I tried mpv and was amazed by how snappy and simple it was, plus having single key configurable bindings is very nice. (mpv+youtube-dl=god)

[@indf89]

Well.. Just tested VLC on a bunch of random files (music and video) "launch again" style like you did at 7:30 and I had no issue. Manjaro. Not really familiar with the alternatives you are talking about, part that I know they exist. Using VLC for years for one reason - it just works. So I had no reason to try an alternative. Same as with the last video you did, no reasons given why VLC is bad. You showed some strange and annoying thing that happens on your part, that I just cant believe that it happens "on Linux" in general (works fine here...). For me it feels like you are shilling for different media players, while trying to nitpick on the one strange issue that happens to you and you only. The reason why I clicked on this and the previous VLC clickbaity videos is that maybe I could learn something about another cool program. Both of those videos are dishonest and they made me lose a bit of respect for you.

[@djole0501]

There's a fix for that, go to settings and set Allow only one instance to true and Use only one instance when started from file manager to true.

[@BB0ysGames]

Ive been using VLC for years on Win and Linux, VLC always provides me what i need, watch movies with subtitles, VLC is my primary choice.

[@totallynuts7595]

Personally, I like the options to be there, even if I don't use them. During the quarantine I figured out how to use vlc to stream films for my friends so we can watch them together. If I had used anything other than vlc at that time, I wouldn't have found out that the option is there. For the most part, I do cut down on unnecessary crap when it comes to apps I use, but media playing is one aspect where I want the options to exist (sound eq, codecs, video cropping on the fly, whatever)

[@radiotec76]

I stream audio and video. I can play movies from home from my laptop running CentOS 8 Stream. Obviously due to bandwidth on 4G I stream old Top 40 radio air checks to an iPhone I have plugged into my car’s entertainment system.

[@alexanderthegreat8156]

How you do that?

[@JessicaFEREM]

I really love celluloid becasuse it's just so gosh darn simple that you don't have to worry about it. I've seen people struggle with VLC on school computers because they don't know what half the buttons do, and the DVD dialog is in a menu that you'd never figure out in a million years if you were a noobie

Personally, my favourite video you made is: Why Ubuntu is the Devil. :D I love the fact you have no problem with talking crap about popular things.

[@ChrisTitusTech]

I always say you have to be yourself. Even if it goes against the court of popular opinion. I always love giving a counter argument to pretty much anything as it makes people critically think instead of just following the herd.

[@MarkHobbes]

Talking crap or talking facts? Hahahaha

[@eminmacanovic7071]

@Krešimir Balkan Linux user, huh? :)

[@sydhamelin1265]

It's funny, but I couldn't even remember why I switched to VLC, until K-Lite was mentioned, and the codecs. VLC just managed codecs so much better. But yeah, that was back in the Windows XP days. One HUGE problem VLC has is its sound features. I was mixing down some live music we did, and played it through VLC, and was blown away at how terrible it sounded coming from my standard audio software, which is just Audacity. So I opened it up in another app and it sounded fine. I looked for EQ settings in VLC but what I was getting was phase cancellation. Didn't dig too deep since I could just use another app, but VLC was the only one giving me that problem.

[@MrKbeaumont]

I never had that issue with VLC in Linux. I can see how it would annoy you. I use it on Mac & Windows too. I use it with Reaper DAW because that combined with ffmpeg are what Reaper uses to do video editing on windows. And that is what Reaper recommends. Another reason I use it is for years it was the ONLY decent solution for linux. I have been developing on and using linux systems since about 1998. And when VLC came on the scene it was a godsend.

[@Codename1Alice8]

I recommended celluloid with gpu performing.

[@DaveSomething]

vlc became buggy in linux anyway... it didn't want to close so it wouldn't open if you switched videos. meh, ain't nobody got time for that!

[@thomassynths]

Says more about Linux than VLC itself. Windows and Mac 4tw

[@kderules]

VLC seems to work great for me on Mint. I'll try MPV.

[@madthumbs1564]

If you don't try anything else you won't recognize the issues.

[@AudioReplica2023]

not sure if anybody had this finding , but im a Mac user and found out that the default video player from Mac (DVD player app) wasn't playing any dvd's or videos at all until I downloaded VLC app. Maybe has to do with some plugin or codec been installed to made it recognize dvds and stuff again . Not sure but both works fine

[@GamingHelp]

For me, the one brutally frustrating thing about VLC is it's buffering behavior. Specifically, buffering video's coming from SMB/NFS shares. Let's pretend you have a buffer that's 10 units in size. You fill that buffer and start playing. When do you start fetching new data to fill that buffer again? Do you fetch another block once the buffer runs down to 9 units of data left? Do you wait to fetch more data until it's 5 units left? How about 1? Well, VLC seems pretty good at saying "You can set any size buffer you want, but I'll only fill it up again once it's completely empty". GOOD buffering behavior should be a hard spike in network traffic initially, small bumps here and there to keep the buffer filled. Not VLC. Virtually every version I've ever used, doesn't matter if it's Linux, FreeBSD or Windows, they all do the same thing. Fill the buffer, start playing, then sit at nearly zero network traffic until the buffer is empty, then stop playback, fill the buffer, start playback again. Fine, so you just make the buffer bigger. Well, all that really does is ensure you're going to be really mad when it runs that buffer right out and now pauses for 5 to 15 seconds while it fills the buffer again. Honestly, it's got to be the worst buffering behavior in a popular app that I've ever seen.

[@yuuseir3391]

So, title of video should be : Linux has a bug

[@drgibs347]

Vlc is by far the best video player ever made and i highly reccomend it, it'll even play cooked(corrupt) files. Been using it since it was first announced.

[@Treize1412]

7:42 this issue is driving me nuts i switched to mpv but use libvlc for some of my own programms because there many libs for it and it works everywhere

[@MrMsedek]

Go to Tools > Preferences > Video and then set the value for Output field to XVideo output (XCB).

[@roracle]

Nothing else works the way it's expected to work. Meaning even if codecs are installed, some video players just simply don't care to work or work properly. VLC, in my experience, has never screwed up.

[@williamnessanbaum7464]

I like VLC because it plays AVI files that are encoded for The Duck Corporation's TMI, or "DUCK" codec. Duck, TM1 was used exclusively by the Sega Saturn. If you have any Sega Saturn discs, drop it into your PC and search it for AVI. If you have VLC installed, it should play those videos with no problems.

[@StraussBR]

I use XFCE and never had problems with VLC, and also XFCE os notoriously stable for pretty much everything that involves video, if you ask me it is likely related to your Desktop Environment

[@BatEatsMoth]

Interesting. I've never had any problems with VLC in Linux. What could be causing the problems you've experienced?

[@mariozenarju6461]

Right way of using VLC: 1: Don't close it. Just keep it minimized to taskbar. 2: Disable integrating video in interface. 3: Allow only one instance. Enjoy!

[@ghw7192]

I have been using VLC for years, have it on all of my computers and I love it!

[@DozerfleetProd]

For most of my time in college, there either was no VLC, or the school refused to use it. So if a codec were missing, you were screwed. But you still had to pay tuition to take it in the rear. Sadists.

[@GafftheHorse]

I used to use VLC, for a while a few years ago I noticed longer loading times so I switched to mpv, first with the likes of baka-mplayer (and tried a few other mpl/mpv frontends) but in the end, the simple mpv default was enough once I set up a .config. I only use VLC these days for DVD discs and format files. Never came across the VLC problem described in Linux (Arch).

[@Netscape-kd6mg]

possible that it's just a config problem. if i recall there's an option that if VLC is open, openning a new file just adds it to the playlist without actually putting vlc back upfront

[@GafftheHorse]

Almost exactly why I drifted away from VLC - mpv loaded instantly while VLC took a few seconds. I still use VLC for DVDs and also for playing audio books and dramas for the ability to multi-load several files for a playlist. I too went through baka-mplayer and a couple other frontends for mpv (whose names escape me just now) but now I just use basic mpv. I've gripe with VLC, I think were I to switch to an unfamiliar distro, vlc would be my goto again until I sorted out the codec installs for an mpv setup.

[@DSTechMedia]

I use Totem for just playing video. It's simple, borderless, elegant. Plus it has optional plug-ins that are awesome, and can find and download subtitles. That said, I still use VLC for everything else. VLC is a swiss army knife for streaming, capturing, encoding and I honestly think it's probably one of the best examples of open-source destroying the competition.

[@NickoPorras627]

Change from vlc to mpc-be a long time ago. Never gone back. For linux, mpv players are my goto

[@shadowopsairman1583]

I still prefer WMP/MPC, dont need multiple vid players when 1 can do it with codecs. Plus vlc to me sounds like spyware

[@daneo617]

I use VLC to separate audio tracks from movies for videos does your MPC do it 🤷🏻‍♂️👍🏼✌🏼

[@stefanalba]

there is much to like about MPC-HC - I agree - but configuring it for pass-through of multi-channel audio over HDMI is a total headache, unlike VLC where, as Todd Howard would probably say, "it just works". Configuration of MPC-HC for audio is shockingly badly explained online, and if you ask in any of the forums you summarily inevitably get told not to use optical connections often with an explanation of why you shouldn't (when you already said you were using HDMI (no fibre optics involved, duh!)). As you're such a fan of MPC, perhaps you could do a video explaining how to set it up to pass through DTS-HD, DolbyTrue-HD, DD+, Atmos etc for those of us who CAN afford a home theatre AVR, because (even though your video here was made 2 years ago) there is STILL a distinct lack of this information in a simple to digest format, or even, tbh, at all. Not everyone wants to become an expert, conversant with every aspect of the configuration menus of their media player application, just so they can get multi-channel audio to output correctly, when they could just install and run VLC, and it will just work.

[@deultima]

Oh, that's a common bug? I was just living with it because I thought it was just me. I probably will switch to something else then.

[@KCmndr]

Yes, I too have had to use the kill command when vlc locks up. Gets old fast. Good video Chris!

[@madthumbs1564]

I didn't. I just go into System Monitor, right click it and kill just like I did on Windows.

[@MrMsedek]

Go to Tools > Preferences > Video and then set the value for Output field to XVideo output (XCB).

[@jotaseth]

That's why I stopped using VLC in Manjaro. I prefer SMplayer, Bomi, etc.

[@MarkHobbes]

WTF is Bomi?

[@robertcromwell9736]

Been using VLC in Linux and windows for years with zero issues. I generally just watch videos with it.

[@nehikmetse]

The weird thing is that it rarely gets stuck when you close it via the vlc icon on the top left.

[@RobertHalvarsson]

Listen to your cousin Jim Carey, he's a funny and thoughtful guy.

[@vivanecrosis]

Anyone using Windows 7 is totally cool in my book. One of my computers has Windows 95. Though it has no network card, so no internet on that old beast. I don't actually use Windows 7 myself. I prefer Mac, Linux and Windows 10.

[@DonaldWilliam]

" I don't use all the features of the Photoshop variants or GIMP, so I use MS Paint for all my artistic, editing, and image viewing needs." Flawless logic.

[@saphi20]

it actually is, if you are unable to see the pros and cons... thats your issue

[@danw1955]

Personally I switch back and forth between Media Player Classic and VLC when running Windows. There's some stuff MPC just won't play, and vice versa. VLC *does* have some nice effects, and that's helpful for videos that might have been recorded at lower than optimal light levels, etc. VLC *does* take longer to load and seems to use more system resources than MPC, and in Linux (especially in Ubuntu on the Raspberry Pi 4B), VLC is just about unusable except for videos that don't have much action/movement. I'm sure a lot of this is due to lack of decent graphics support, but there's quite a few players out there for Linux that are a lot lighter on resources.😉

[@mat_max]

Use the k-lite codec pack version of mpc-hc instead of regular mpc. It takes care of codec support and gives you filtering options

[@SergeDudko]

Thanks, man! I'm relatively new user of Linux and I was struggling very bad with VLC with many lags. And now I've tried Celluloid and it works perfect and smooth!

[@dlGarts]

It's safe to give GRANT PERMISSION FOR VLC MEDIA PLAYER FOR ANDROID APP?

[@zongzoogly4549]

This is an engagement comment. I am very engaged.

[@noelj62]

Chris you've got a point here. I've always found VLC player slow and clunky. And I've got the same problem when I open two or three videos in a raw.

[@LevaniKa]

never used vlc, using media player classic for ages.

[@Learn.iq01]

For AV1 files?

[@Learn.iq01]

Which player do you use for AV1 files?

[@dmo848]

Agree plus I'm used 2 it

[@2661634]

I use many features that where not available on other software and it's a hotkey paradise, I use features like: open network streams, record videos, convert to other formats, view videos at different speeds 2x 4x 8x with audio, view frame by frame, crop video or more often adjust the aspect ratio of the video to the one of my monitor, delay or speed audio to sync it to the video