Features

Version 2 ("Twoflower") brings a new interface, faster decoding, support for more formats and the ability to play HD and BluRay. It still remains however the most stable, flexible and lightweight audio and video player around today. While other media players will play unusual formats after downloading a codec, or simply refuse to play things,

VLC media player handles tons of formats, from MPEG to FLV and RMBV files. Version 2 has seen some important additions too such as support for 10 bit codes plus multi-threaded decoding for H.264, MPEG-4/Xvid and WebM.

Also useful is the fact that you can use VLC media player to preview files you are downloading since it plays incomplete parts of video files. VLC media player is not just for video playback however. It also offers superb integration with video channel streaming services such as Channels.com giving you access to channels such as ESPN, Reuters and National Geographic. Just right-click or CMD-click on the playlist, select Services Discovery and Channels.com.

Channels.com will then appear in your VLC media player playlist. Click on it to reveal the the different categories of channels available. Click on the category you want and a drop down list of all available channels appears in VLC media player. Just click on the channel you want to watch and streaming should begin almost immediately.

Usability

VLC media player also has great hotkey support and if you take the time to learn the shortcuts so it can be controlled without touching your mouse. If you're watching DVDs or video files through it, this is not an issue. For music, it plays more or less any file and features an equalizer and playlist creation. VLC media player isn't as intuitive as iTunes as a media manager, but it's a much more flexible player in terms of file formats. You can even use VLC to convert your files, and on top of all the formats and physical media it will play, many streaming protocols and TV capture cards are supported.

VLC media player makes it easy to add subtitles to your video files too - just add the SRT file to the folder where your video is kept, and it will automatically play with subtitles.

Finally, the interface in VLC media player has been somewhat improved in version 2 although it remains strictly functional. However, you can download skins to completely change VLC media player's appearance. The preferences menu is comprehensive without being overwhelming, and there is extensive documentation online.

Conclusion

VLC Media Player is quite simply the best multimedia application for Windows and Mac. It plays just about anything, hassle free - what more could you need?

What's new

Rework and fixes of the Mac OS X interface

Fix Pulseaudio initial synchronization

Fix MKV, SWF, AIFF and subtitles demuxer crashes

Translations updates and new Welsh translation

DVB-S delivery system detection

Fix audio and video track selection through libVLC

Fix system sleep issue on Mac OS X 10.5

Download VLC media player 2.0.7 in Softonic

The K-Lite Codec Pack Basic comes in three separate versions for different tiered users. From the simple basic pack, which includes the most common video and audio codecs and includes subtitle support, the K-Lite Codec Pack Basic version will allow the majority of users to watch and listen to their content with relative ease.

One main difference of K-Lite Codec Pack Basic is that it does not include Media Player Classic Home Cinema. This simple media player is the easiest to use, but not necessary in K-Lite Codec Pack Basic. Windows Media Player is more than enough for the small amount of codecs in this set.

K-Lite Codec Pack Basic’s functionality is also directly connected to the hardware specifications of the system it is running on, so do not expect to be able to easily play high definition content with smooth framerates even though K-Lite Codec Pack Basic is able to render the files.

The most common codecs like DirectShow, MKV decoders, and MP4 decoders are installed in K-Lite Codec Pack Basic so there is not much more needed for every day viewing. Even though K-Lite Codec Pack Basic supports audio, it is meant for video. With the numerous video codecs and encoders creating files that are high quality with smaller file sizes, native Windows support does not exist for all the variations.

The different tested content in K-Lite Codec Pack Basic included MP4, AVI, WMV, and MKV; all at different levels of quality and resolutions. The codec pack had no problem playing any of the files in Windows Media Player. K-Lite Codec Pack Basic also supports different subtitle formats like SRT, SUB, and IDX, but take a little customizing for the subtitles to display properly.

K-Lite Codec Pack Basic is the perfect set of third-party codecs that are not natively supported in Windows.

Download K-Lite Codec Pack Basic 9.9.5 in Softonic

DivX Plus for Windows is the official release from the DivX company, and offers everything you need to watch such films. The pack includes the all-important DivX Codec Pack, plus DivX Player, DivX Web Player and a free 15-day trial of DivX Plus Converter for those who plan to convert files to DivX.

The player in DivX Plus is sleek and easy to use. It’s got all the standard functions of a DVD player. If you want to create your own DivX content, the DivX Plus Converter allows the creation of video resolutions up to and including 1920 x 1080 High Definition in either interlaced or progressive-scan.

DivX Plus Player also supports advanced DVD features such as scene selection menus, subtitles and alternate audio tracks. It includes a download manager that allows you to download several videos at once, and also a tool to transfer your videos to other devices such as a DVD player, a Blu-ray player and and a PS3.

There’s little to criticise in DivX Plus for Windows except for the converter. It can be particularly useful if you are trying to burn a downloaded DivX film onto a DVD to play on a standalone DVD player. Watching DivX files on your PC is usually not a problem but some people have issues when watching them on a standalone DVD Player. DivX Plus Converter solves this by taking any video file and producing a perfectly clean DivX film at the end of it.

However, this feature is painfully slow and DivX Plus Converter takes hours to complete just one film. Bearing in mind that you also have to pay for it after the 15-day trial period has expired, you’ll soon be looking for other converters to use such as BPS Video Converter or VSO ConvertXtoDVD.

Overall, DivX Plus for Windows is an excellent DivX player and since it’s released by the official DivX company, you’ll have no worries about dodgy codecs ruining playback on your PC.

Download DivX Plus for Windows 9.0 in Softonic

VideoMach features:

* Suports popular video and image formats (mpeg, avi, divx, flc, jpeg, png, tif, gif, bmp and more)
* Reads and writes standard Linux and UN*X image formats (xpm, pnm, sgi, ras and more)
* Supports most popular audio formats (mp3, mp2, ogg, wav, ac3)
* Imports the output of high-speed imagers and time-lapse cameras (bayer, cine)
* World's fastest image sequence detection, more than 50,000 images per second
* Professional-quality MPEG, AVI and Bayer readers, video is decoded at highest quality unlike in most media players
* Fastest software MPEG encoder, more then 120 frames per second
* Can read or write very large MPEG files, up to million terabytes
* Creates industry standard VideoCD MPEGs by NTSC and PAL / SECAM video specs
* Connects to both Video For Windows (VFW) and DirectShow (DS) interfaces ensuring support for vaste number of AVI codecs / subformats
* Easy to navigate but powerful AVI output video / audio codecs selection dialog
* Integrated media player
* Fast, compact and reliable installer with built-in anti-virus check

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FFDshow is a collection of video and audio codecs, allowing you to run almost all types of video and audio files, from DivX and XviD to MPEG 2 files.

As well as the various codecs, there are also playback filters to alter the quality of your files. If you are lookking for a collection of these codecs, FFDShow is a great place to look.

For the regular PC user, it's very unlikely you'll need to use such an application, as video and audio files are becoming more standardized. However, FFDShow is a pretty deep program, and if you're comfortable changing the playback settings for your media player, this gives you a lot of power.

What it doesn't do is explain how it should be used - there is no help at all, and apparently no undo button, which makes changing settings if you're not comfortable quite nerve wracking.

As many media players are now very flexible when it comes to accepting different file types, these codec packs are becoming somewhat obsolete. However, if you are a fan of Media Player classic, and confident messing around with your system's settings, FFDShow will be perfect for you.

Download ffdshow 20041012 MMX in Softonic

There's nothing more annoying than downloading or ripping a film and then reaslising you don't have th right codecs to play it.

Or worse, the codecs that you have are corrupt and don't playback properly. If you've found yourself in this situation then m5Studio Codec is a neat little package which brings together most of the most important codecs you'll need. m5Studio Codec includes all the major codecs you'll need to make sure that you'll never have problems playing a film again.

Among the codecs included in m5Studio Codec are DivX or XviD, Ogg Vorbis or Cinepak or AC3 plus some some lesser known ones such as CoreAVC and Fraunhoffer IIS. Installation is simply a matter of double clicking EXE file and you've got a few configuration controls to control exactly how you want the codecs to perform.

m5Studio Codec is a useful codec package that will be able to playback most of the major formats that you can download or rip films to.

Download m5Studio Codec 8.3a in Softonic