15 replies to this topic

[*Anastasia]

A couple years ago, KiWi made a topic asking what media player we all used. Well, my answer has changed since then, so I figured I'd rehash the question to see where we all are.

 

Back when that thread was made, I was using Windows Media Player as my main such program. However, while I don't really dislike it, I've moved away from it mostly because of an annoying bug I experience with it, where if I open a file and then immediately close it, it stays open in memory as an unkillable process that remains open for an indefinite period of time, and prevents WMP from being opened again until it closes. So if I accidentally open the wrong file, it means I have to wait until it finishes… well, whatever the hell it's doing, before I can open the correct one.

 

Aside from that, though, I've always had trouble using it to play media file types such as OGG, FLV, FLAC, and Matroska, even when it should be able to.

 

As I use those sorts of files more often these days, my main media player is currently Media Player Classic – Home Cinema (MPC–HC)—specifically the version that comes bundled with the Kawaii Codec Pack. I use it as my normal media player for must audio as well as FLV, OGG, and Matroska videos. I'll also routinely use it to watch other video types, but WebM and MP4, the other major formats I use, I have set to open in Google Chrome by default.

 

I will also occasionally use foobar2000 to play audio files, especially continuous albums that use a CUE playlist to separate tracks. However, while I still like foobar2000 for its functionality, I experience extraordinarily high disk usage by it when playing back files, and I can't really understand why, considering no other media players I use have the same problem.

 

I also have VLC installed, though I despise it, simply because until recently, I've used it to convert Monkey's Audio files to FLAC. However, as I've since found a foobar2000 plugin to open and convert such files, I no longer actively use it for any purpose, and will only resort to it if other media players for whatever reason fail to open a file, just because it's nice to have options.

[King Biscuit]

I still use WMP.

Codec packs out the wazoo to make it work with all the new formats tho.

[Redezra]

At the moment I use Mplayer. Yes, the command line player in *nix systems. I also rip and transcode my music/video by hand.

 

Why?

 

I have no idea.

[*Anastasia]

At the moment I use Mplayer. Yes, the command line player in *nix systems. I also rip and transcode my music/video by hand.

 

Why?

 

I have no idea.

 

Heh, that's what I did when I used *nix. I still do do most of my media conversion in the command line with ffmpeg, just because it's so damned universal. Sure it means I have to google commands a lot, but that's still easier than finding 50 different programs to convert everything.

[KiWi]

I've regressed, so I basically just use youtube now.

I can no longer see god's light. I am pale & sickly.

[Scipio Africanus]

I kind of forgot WMP existed because it has been so long since I used it. So thank you for reminding me that it exists.

[Redezra]

Avconv > ffmpeg

[He who posts]

He who posts responds with PLEX to every question.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

I just use iTunes. Why? Because it's easy and convenient and (now) because I've been using it for so long that it would be a colossal pain in the ass to switch to something else. This has created something of a dilemma for me, as Apple's products have gotten less and less user friendly since Steve Jobs died. The latest "update" to iTunes turned what had been a godawful mess into an even bigger godawful mess. There are a lot of small, petty annoyances, but probably the one that sends me most over the edge is iTunes' alphabetization policy. They insist on alphabetizing things by artist's first name, which is just fucking insipid. So I spent an ass-ton of time going through every singly track in my iTunes and changing the sort settings to alphabetize by LAST name. But guess what? In the latest update it changed them all back to first name on my mobile device. I would seriously like to drive to Cupertino and bitch slap Tim Cook.

[*Anastasia]

Ugh, iTunes. What a shitshow. I'd never used it until very recently, so maybe it used to be better, but just… no.

[Killman4]

I use VLC (Still hoping they will implement chromecast support ). But I also use Kodi, thing is I need a new computer to run it because I can't run kodi and anything else at the same time.

[Redezra]

Be like me and have 10 computers in your computer lab

[Haflinger]

I use VLC on the Mac for non-streaming video. However, I have Rivet running on my Mac, which allows me to use my 360 to watch videos on my Mac's HD using its built-in media player, which is actually how I usually watch stuff because then I have a remote. (Also my blu-ray player has a Netflix app, and so does my 360, so when watching Netflix I usually use one of those two because I also have a remote. The sole exception is when I want to take a screenshot from a Netflix show, then I use the Mac.)

 

VLC on my tablet also interfaces with Rivet, so if I feel like watching stuff on the 8-inch screen from my Mac then that's how I do it. (Normally that's when I'm in bed sick. However, once again, I also can watch Netflix on the tablet using the app there.)

 

When I want to watch a streaming website that I don't have a 360 app for then I use the Mac as well of course. (My TV is my Mac's monitor. The Blu-ray player only has a Netflix and a YouTube app, and the YouTube app is terrible.)

[Haflinger]

Ugh, iTunes. What a shitshow. I'd never used it until very recently, so maybe it used to be better, but just… no.

iTunes 2 was incredibly awesome. Since then it's been all downhill. I only use it as a database for Rivet now, it's basically unusable.

[Justavictim82]

VLC

Edited by Justavictim82, 01 November 2016 - 11:10 AM.

[Killman4]

I Switched to MPC-HC today, we'll see how that goes.