Now, I don't know if MPlayer is that difficult (it doesn't look like it is, according to the screenshots I've seen) but I think this GUI is certainly not helping much. It features a nicely designed interface and really simple usability – something we users should be thankful for – but it's also quite buggy. To begin with, I had problems when using the scroll bar, with the video not moving to the position I had set. Then, if you resize the window or open any other window on top of it, the covered area is blackened, meaning it doesn't display the video image anymore.

It's a shame RulesPlayer has these glitches, because other than that it seems quite a complete player, featuring support for all popular video and audio formats, subtitles and including also all the necessary codecs so that you don't have to download them separately.

As a new GUI for MPlayer, RulesPlayer does provide a simple, nicely designed environment which, unfortunately, doesn't work as well as expected.

Download RulesPlayer 0.99.3 in Softonic

All the formats and features you might need

BS.Player is a great media player that features anything you need to watch movies or any other kind of video on your PC. BS.Player supports all popular video formats (and audio as well, in case you were wondering) and though its basic interface is not really the nicest one I've seen, you can easily customize it with skins. Also, if you're missing any video or audio codecs, BS.Player will download them right away during installation.

BS.Player supports video subtitles, takes screenshots of movie currently playing, lets you create bookmarks and chapters to move along videos more easily and has also support for plug-ins, making it very similar to apps like UMPlayer.

Shortcuts

I especially liked the way you can control playback, either by using keyboard shortcuts or simply your mouse: one click to stop the video, two clicks to go full screen, mouse wheel to raise or lower the volume... It's really comfortable.

Reliable and easy to use

BS.Player is reliable and full of features. The only drawback if any, is the fact that the program doesn't include any documentation except for a FAQ section that you need to open in your browser. Not that you can't use BS.Player without help, but it's always nice to have some documentation to rely on in case you get stuck.

Overall

BS.Player lets you enjoy your favorite movies on the PC with a wide range of features: subtitles, screenshots, bookmarks and more.

Download BS.Player Free 2.64 in Softonic

In a market that's saturated with media players, Zoom Player attempts to be two players in one - a no fuss simple one and an advanced one with just about every imaginable tweaking and customization option.

It's a unique offering and chances are that if you've found your current player lacking in some department, you'll find what you're looking for in Zoom Player. If you just want a bare bones media player, then you may be better opting for something like VLC Media Player but Zoom Player lets you have your cake and eat it if you need something with a little more to offer.

The basic version of Zoom Player comes installed with a graphic equalizer, playlist editor and everything else that you'd expect in a basic player. Zoom Player's professional version however comes with a whole lot more power, including a more powerful Playlist Manager, added safety features (such as password protection), Media Definitions plus Web Remote (so you can control Zoom Player from your web browser) and an Extended command line interface, exposing many Zoom Player functions directly from the command line. Finally, the professional version also supports playback of DRM protected movies and music (Windows Media DRM).

Zoom Player's interface is slimline but expandable very easily. By clicking on the circle of dots in the bottom right hand corner however, you reveal a top bar within the main screen which is packed with features. The symbols used in the menu aren't particularly helpful as they look like hieroglyphs so your only option is to work out what each one does by trial and error. These advanced features include a station manager (for streaming radio and TV channels), skin changer and media library editor.

Indeed, the amount of options in Zoom Player available will intimidate anyone that just wants a playback application. It takes quite a while to understand what all the audio options offer, for example, although there is an extensive list of help files that comes bundled with the installation to help you. This is probably the biggest annoyance of Zoom Player: the advanced options seem extremely "spread-out" and it's rather overwhelming to get to grips with where they all, let alone what they do.

On the plus side, one particularly useful feature of Zoom Player is that if you don't have the correct codec installed, it will tell you the exact one you need without the need for a third party inspection device. Playback is smooth, files are loaded quickly and the playlist supports ID3 tags. You can also easily change skins through the skins editor plus you can download more from the developer site.

Zoom Player is two players in one - a basic player that serves you well and an advanced player that offers a lot of options that you'll probably never need but will no doubt appeal to power users.

Download Zoom Player Professional 8.6.1 RC2 in Softonic

Download Quintessential Media Player 117 in Softonic