I use the perian codec pack with Quicktime for videos, and iTunes for my music. I find VLC to have memory leak issues, interface issues, and the likes.
VLC - Absolute Garbage
So, what do you use instead?
Each time an update to VLC is released, I tell myself, "I have hope this will fix my random beach ball symptom which makes VLC unexpectedly quit." I've waited far and long enough, and now I've had enough. What a total piece of garbage when it comes to software. It's the only piece of software installed on my Mac which simply refuses to function properly.
I'm about to empty the trash, but before I do, what's a suitable replacement?
Each time an update to VLC is released, I tell myself, "I have hope this will fix my random beach ball symptom which makes VLC unexpectedly quit." I've waited far and long enough, and now I've had enough. What a total piece of garbage when it comes to software. It's the only piece of software installed on my Mac which simply refuses to function properly.
I'm about to empty the trash, but before I do, what's a suitable replacement?
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VLC is not garbage. It's better than Quicktime, which won't even play full screen without the apple extortion fee.
VLC is fine on my machine - no beach balls at all. Perhaps there's something else going on with your system.VLC is not garbage. It's better than Quicktime, which won't even play full screen without the apple extortion fee.
And as for the extortion fee, TMR, that's no longer applicable. One of the recent QT updates removes the Pro restriction of the full-screen feature.
Yea Apple smartened up and put fullscreen playback as a standard feature though I'm still glad I bought Quicktime Pro as I do use it for quick and dirty edits and exports. I personally prefer Quicktime, it has a lot less problems than VLC although a few different kind of incompatibility issues do pop up in which case I use VLC.
Try switching in between non-full screen and full-screen half a dozen times while a video is playing. That will eventually cause VLC to force quit itself like the piece of junk it is.VLC is fine on my machine - no beach balls at all.
Good thing for Quicktime.
VLC is installed on my machine, sure. I even used it early on, but it was so buggy, I gave up on it. Quicktime is rock solid.
I too tried VLC before I finally gave it the big old "Double Bird" after it crashed for the hundredth time when it could not even play a simple mp3 music file or was it an OGG..I don't know but it was pissing me off all the same. Everything else VLC is supposed to do is a complete load of crap as well. Like the ability to play DVDs? What a joke! I popped in "The Number 23" starring Jim Carrey a month ago when something goofed up DVD Player. Instead of going straight to the movie, the duplicitous piece of crap started playing the special features and I had no way of knowing when I'd get a chance to see the movie because all I could do was skip the video tracks to yet another special featurette.
Way back in early 2005, I opted for the 30 dollar pro license for QT Pro and I have never regretted it ever! Apple may want a little money for QT Pro, but it is frigging worth the money to be allowed to export and do all the stuff I love to do with QT Pro. Instead of using either iMovie or FPC Pro, I use QT Pro to export my video projects to iPod format and MOV format.
Way back in early 2005, I opted for the 30 dollar pro license for QT Pro and I have never regretted it ever! Apple may want a little money for QT Pro, but it is frigging worth the money to be allowed to export and do all the stuff I love to do with QT Pro. Instead of using either iMovie or FPC Pro, I use QT Pro to export my video projects to iPod format and MOV format.
I have few problems with VLC, other than that it doesn't properly decode high bit rate 1080p films.
QT, on the other hand, for me, is extremely slow and buggy. In fact, for WMV, it is almost useless.
QT, on the other hand, for me, is extremely slow and buggy. In fact, for WMV, it is almost useless.
I have no problem with VLC.
I use it mostly to read DVDs on the Mac that are from a different zone than 1, as the DVD player won't play them and there is no region free utility to work with my DVD player.
I also use it quite exclusively on my PC to watch ripped movies, and I rarely have any issues.
I use it mostly to read DVDs on the Mac that are from a different zone than 1, as the DVD player won't play them and there is no region free utility to work with my DVD player.
I also use it quite exclusively on my PC to watch ripped movies, and I rarely have any issues.
You could always try one of the players listed on Versiontracker, but with the latest release VLC works for me. My aged G4 does not have a DVD player (internal, won't recognize external) so I need something other than Apple's DVDPlayer and VLC fits the bill. Mplayer was close, but not as good.
Try Patchburn Patchburn HomepageYou could always try one of the players listed on Versiontracker, but with the latest release VLC works for me. My aged G4 does not have a DVD player (internal, won't recognize external) so I need something other than Apple's DVDPlayer and VLC fits the bill. Mplayer was close, but not as good.
It certainly is odd that people seem to use QT because VLC is bugger *or* because VLC because QT is buggy.
I wonder why that is. User error?
I wonder why that is. User error?
Ah, harzack, then you obviously aren't a MacBook owner. I used VLC to view non-region-1 DVDs on my iBook G4.... but now that I have a lovely MacBook, the damn Matsu****a drive in it won't play anything but the region it's locked to (1). There are no utilities, no firmware hacks, nada that will make this damn thing play any non-Region-1 DVDs. Not so good when you're living in Mexico!I have no problem with VLC.
I use it mostly to read DVDs on the Mac that are from a different zone than 1, as the DVD player won't play them and there is no region free utility to work with my DVD player.
I use VLC regularly for its feature set, include playlists, and full-screen playback while using other applications. Quicktime doesn't have those features.
G
It could relate to the actual video material in question. There are a LOT of codecs and wrappers out there and when you add them up it makes for a LOT of combinations.It certainly is odd that people seem to use QT because VLC is bugger *or* because VLC because QT is buggy.
I wonder why that is. User error?
As for Lars' comment that's it's absolute garbage, each to their own. I find that thread title a little abrasive (ok a lot abrasive). I certainly hope that no one ever comes along and says that something you've dedicated a ton of your time to and is released for free is absolute garbage.
I personally use VLC daily and don't have many problems with it. I do get the odd crash or beachball, but it's pretty rare and often times related to network drops or videos playing from a network share mount. I think VLC is the single most capable audio/video player available. VLC does a lot of things that quicktime will never be capable of doing (streaming, plugin architecture, video wall, etc).
Lastly, this is for Lars .. have you tried any troubleshooting with VLC? Have you removed the old VLC preferences when you updated to newer versions (as they suggested, and provide an Applescript to do so with the new versions)? I had issues with beachballs and crashes once and after doing a little RTFM and clearing out old preferences it solved all the issues for me.
I've exhausted most troubleshooting techniques and am running the latest and greatest version. VLC is great when it works, but its become so frustrating over time. I had it crash twice watching 'Fight Club' last night. That was essentially the last straw for me.Lastly, this is for Lars .. have you tried any troubleshooting with VLC? Have you removed the old VLC preferences when you updated to newer versions (as they suggested, and provide an Applescript to do so with the new versions)? I had issues with beachballs and crashes once and after doing a little RTFM and clearing out old preferences it solved all the issues for me.
VLC is not commercial software, it is 'in progress applied research', which is why it is both free and versioned to 0.8 only.
Instead of moaning, report bugs and help them make it a better product...
Instead of moaning, report bugs and help them make it a better product...
I have to agree with mguertin and Moscool. VLC may not be perfect, what software is, but it is free and a work in progress so when you consider that I find that it works pretty darn well for what I use it for which is playing full screen video content from my Mac Mini to my HD wide screen TV. Yeah sure every once and a while I get memory leaks and other issues, but most of the time if I simple click on dismiss the video keeps on playing fine.
All in all, I understand how frustrating it can be to use software that doesn't work properly, but I think that frustration should be tempered by the price of admission, which is nothing.
All in all, I understand how frustrating it can be to use software that doesn't work properly, but I think that frustration should be tempered by the price of admission, which is nothing.
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