Features

These days, it's an app that attempts to be all things to all people - play DVDs, organize music, catalog photos, convert video, interact with social networking sites, browse internet multimedia....there's no end to what RealPlayer offers to its users. Even so, it's not an out-and-out success...

Usability

For a start, installation of RealPlayer is annoying - it takes a while, requires lots of "nexts" and tries to install and enable several features that users don't really need. Finally, when it starts, you're offered a chance to upgrade to paid versions of RealPlayer before you have to register yourself with Real Networks. If all this messing around doesn't appeal, check out a slimline app like UMPlayer.

When you're up and running, RealPlayer features a wide interface where you will notice ads and videos recommended by Real Networks. This looks cluttered and messy, and it's hard to know what the app actually offers. In reality, RealPlayer is ideal for playing and sharing video with your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter and it works easily with BlackBerry, iPod, iPhone and other game systems. The new video converter allows you to copy online video to your iPod, Xbox, PS3 and other devices. Unfortunately, you can't rip DVDs with RealPlayer, although this is available as a feature if you upgrade to RealPlayer Plus.

Most recently, RealPlayer has been updated with far better mobile and social networking integration. You can now copy your favorite videos to an iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and dozens of other popular devices automatically. Downloading internet videos is faster, and for those of you with something to hide, RealPlayer offers a new Private folder. Social media has also been bumped up, with direct access to Facebook videos and usefully, a built-in feature to transfer videos to your mobile devices.

Quality

That said, RealPlayer isn't bad at all. It's comparable to Windows Media Player 12 as they both have some impressive ways of organizing your music. For me, the best feature is the CD burner which is something I've used from the early days of RealPlayer. The sheer quality of some of the media only available in Real formats makes RealPlayer an essential item in the toolkit of any fan of internet video and audio.

Conclusion

There's no shortage of media players theses days, and RealPlayer is by no means a bad option. It offers lots of features, good options and is a high-quality player that will do justice to your media. The only problem is that despite its modern features, it feels like a bit of a dinosaur. It's heavy and slow, looks chunky and takes an age to respond to clicks, and for many people - especially those who have experience of lighter options - it's just not the most comfortable player.

RealPlayer is a media player that, although powerful, has suffered from serious feature-creep over the years.

Download RealPlayer 16.0.2.232 in Softonic

Overview

CyberLink PowerDVD has all the extra functionality you would expect from a high-quality player. It features a sleek interface you can customize with skins and includes direct access to MoovieLive, an online movie database that helps you categorize all the titles in your collection and access movie reviews online.

Features

CyberLink PowerDVD is generally very easy to use. Most of the program's functions can be performed with the mouse or their corresponding keyboard hotkey, and there's also a comprehensive context menu that gives you access to even more options by just right-clicking anywhere on the image.

Regarding playback, the movie flows very smoothly even when you move CyberLink PowerDVD's window around or play it in fullscreen mode. Image quality has been improved thanks to the special TrueTheater filters which provide pixel-perfect images and make the most out of your HD visual equipment. CyberLink PowerDVD includes the innovative TrueTheater 3D, a special filter that can transform your DVDs into 3D movies like the ones in cinemas everywhere. The 3D effect obviously only works if you have a 3D-capable display.

CyberLink PowerDVD also lets you change playing speed, take snapshots of your favorite scenes in the movie and have a particular scene or sentence repeated over and over again with the "Say it again" and the "AB Repeat" tools. This may be useful for foreign language students who watch movies to improve their listening skills. Other interesting features in CyberLink PowerDVD are the possibility to share video files on YouTube and support for video bookmarks.

Sound

Sound in CyberLink PowerDVD can be configured in different ways, depending on your hardware (from headphones to a full stereo surround system) in order to obtain the best possible sound quality. TrueTheater Noise Reduction also makes sure you get the clearest sound possible.

CyberLink PowerDVD is a perfect solution for your all DVD playing needs: a powerful video player with interesting features, yet easy enough for everyone to use.

Download CyberLink PowerDVD 13 CyberLink PowerDVD 13 in Softonic

This ideal if you are a gamer or if you have problems with your DVD or CD drive. This latest version of Alcohol 52% features a revamped interface with Unicode support a New Folder Management feature and enhanced Reading engines. There's even a plug-in now available that will automatically convert your disks to MP3. There are no limitations on this version although you can only create 6 virtual drives. If that's not enough, you can upgrade and find support for 31 virtual drives.

The main benefit of software such as Alcohol 52% is that it allows you to play CDs and DVDs without the need for the physical disc which is particularly useful for notebook users and PC Gamers. The reading speed of Alcohol 52% is 200X, which supports most normal CD DVD and CD RAW sub-channel reading methods and should be enough to keep-up with the demands of most game players.

Alcohol 52% supports a huge range of formats including CD-DA, CD+G, CD-ROM, CD-XA, Video CD, Photo CD, Mixed Mode, Multi-session CD DVD formats supported: DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio Support for all current (ATAPI SCSI) drives: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW. There's also full support for IEEE-1394 (Firewire) and USB protocols. The only slight drawback is that you can't burn CDs or DVDs with Alcohol 52% but you can with Alcohol 120%.

Alcohol 52% is a powerful virtual cloning tool which creates instant copies of CDs and DVDs.

Download Alcohol 52% 2.0.2.4713 in Softonic

High Definition Supports converting HD videos (H.264/AVC, TS, AVCHD, MKV). Save time by converting in batches. Multi-core support means faster conversion. Convert Videos for Various Devices Supports numerous devices such as iPod, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, PS3, Xbox,

Support videos shot by iPhone 4/iPhone 4S, other smart phones and DVs Convert HD and SD video formats Convert between audio formats: MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC and so on Convert video to iPod, iPhone, PSP, PS3, Xbox, mobile phone, MP4 players

Download DVDVideoMedia Free Video Converter 2.3 in Softonic

VMware Player can be used by anyone to run virtual machines on a Windows computer, in a completely closed, safe environment. It’s a great way to test new software – like we do here at Softonic every day – provide customer support or run a series of tests on your computer without damaging the “real” system.

The "virtual machines" you use with VMware Player can be created with the program itself, as long as you have the original DVD or ISO file. You only need to configure the system’s settings (hard drive size, RAM memory, etc.) in a few easy steps and you’re ready to go.

VMware Player lets you browse the web, access any USB devices you connect to the computer, share folders with the host computer and even drag and drop files between them. The only thing VMware Player requires is a relatively powerful system, in order to meet the demands of two operating systems running at the same time.

A simple and secure way of testing software on your PC, VMware Player offers peace of mind and a straightforward way of running multiple operating systems.

Download VMware Player 5.0.2.1031769 in Softonic

Copying DVDs (for your own use, of course) is becoming increasingly difficult as manufacturers improve the security encoding on DVDs. AnyDVD HD however claims to be able to crack any DVD encryption code and judging by the number of downloads, Softonic users are certainly endorsing it too.

The beauty of AnyDVD HD is that it simply works in the background to automatically remove the copy protection of a DVD movie as soon as it's inserted into the drive. In this way, it can decrypt data without actually saving it to your hard-disk. You can watch the DVD at the same time or just insert a disk and let AnyDVD HD do its stuff. When you insert a disk, you are automatically prompted whether you want to decrypt it. When it has finished inspecting the disk, AnyDVD HD prompts you to backup the DVD using your preferred backup tool such as CloneDVD or Power DVD Copy.

AnyDVD HD goes much further than this though. A handy bonus is that you can also remove the RPC region code, thereby making the movie region free and viewable on any DVD player. This is especially useful for those who buy many of their disks abroad or travel a lot. If you want to create a stripped-down version of a DVD, iAnyDVD HD can also remove unwanted movie features, including subtitles and extras for example. AnyDVD HD also moves beyond decryption and allows you to control the speed of your DVD drive. This is useful if you’re having trouble playing a DVD properly or if the noise of your drive is causing annoyance. Finally, there’s also an option in AnyDVD HD to display the frequency of your monitor for both NTSC and PAL displays although you probably won’t use this unless you’re having serious display issues.

The only drawback of AnyDVD HD is the number of daily updates that are released. Whilst this is obviously a good thing in terms of keeping it up-to-date with the latest encryption methods, the update alerts can be rather annoying and are prone to slowing your computer down.

However, this is a small price to pay for a program that seems able to crack all but the toughest disks and for anyone who likes to create backups of their favorite DVDs, AnyDVD HD is an essential addition to your software collection.

Download AnyDVD HD 7.1.6.0 in Softonic

FSS Video Converter has several advantages: - Fast video conversion - Ready-to-use video presets - Advanced video settings - Intuitive interface - Completely free

Advanced End Users, End Users/Desktop, People who do video editing, People who filmed

Download FSS Video Converter 1.0.1.2 in Softonic

Easy to use - Just two clicks, everyone can become the master of VOB to WAV Converter; Automatically shutdown the computer after conversion; High speed - A two hours long movie can be convert into a WAV file with high quality within one hours; Many settings are adjustable, such as audio size, bit rate, frame rate, so that the output WAV audio will match most portable CD player.

Suitable for home users and company users to convert VOB video format to WAV audio format.

Download VOB to WAV Converter 1.0.2 in Softonic

Easy to use - Just two clicks, everyone can become the master of VOB to WAV Converter; Automatically shutdown the computer after conversion; High speed - A two hours long movie can be convert into a WAV file with high quality within one hours.

Suitable for home users and company users to convert VOB video format to wma audio format.

Download VOB to WMA Converter 1.0.1 in Softonic

On the surface, iMesh looks polished and easy to use. The program features a tab bar that gives you access to different areas: Library, with all the media stored on your computer; Home, which is the main screen on iMesh; Search, where you can find, download and buy music and video; Discover, a tool do find new artists and music genres; and finally DJ, which plays music you may like based on a song or band of your choice.

The iMesh community is a great place to make friends, exchange messages and also share media libraries. You can also upload photos to your profile, and send songs over to friends. On the downside, we missed a bit more integration with other social services such as Twitter or Facebook.

iMesh also includes a powerful built-in player for audio and video – featuring a 10-band equalizer – plus a built-in CD burner to create custom media CD and DVD on the spot.

iMesh is a complete P2P client with which you can discover new bands, buy the music you like and make new friends.

Download iMesh 12 in Softonic

File system:FAT, NTFS, exFAT, ext2/ext3/ext4 file system, HFS +. File Format:Support most file formats contains more than 400 kinds of file extensions (about 225 files family). Multimedia: video / audio / picture formats, file extensions over 150! Office software: Microsoft / Adobe / OpenOffice, etc. more than 40 file extensions! Others: support ordinary files, file extensions more than 200 file extensions!

Device Support : CF card Memory Stick Secure Digital Smart Media Card Micro drive MMC USB memory drive Hard disk CD-ROM, DVD, Blu-Ray Digital camera / video camera Memory card USB drive PC/Laptop: Dell, IBM, HP, Toshiba, Sony… Android tablet computer Windows Tablet iPad Mobile Phone: iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia, Android phone. MP4 Player: iPod touch, iPod (Nano, Classic & Shuffle) Music player Pen drive Zip disks Game console

If user disk has damaged, The first to repair the disk partition, then it can recover data and files in the disk.

Download BYclouder Partition Recovery Pro 6.8.0.0 in Softonic

Because it's open source, XBMC has been modified by some users to create Plex although XBMC is the original base on which Plex is built. Which one you prefer will depend on what you want in a media center but XBMC is a pretty good contender being easy to use, slick, and supported by a large community of enthusiastic users.

XBMC has a highly “skinnable” interface meaning that it can look radically different based on which skin is used. Confluence is used by default, so this is what will greet you upon install but you may wish to change it to something else using some of the free skins here. Some of them are absolutely stunning.

XBMC functions very well as a standard media player although it's far better if you use as a complete home hub for your entertainment needs. XBMC supports a huge range of remote controls and keyboard shortcuts, and it feels like a real entertainment center. XBMC can be used as a standalone player or to stream videos over a network. You can stream your multimedia from anywhere in the house or directly from the internet using practically any protocol available. For example, XBMC can play CDs and DVDs directly from the disk or image file, most popular video formats on your hard drive, and even files inside ZIP and RAR archives.

If you want it to detect what you have, XBMC will scan all of your media and automatically create a personalized library complete with box covers, descriptions, and fanart. Finally, there are playlist and slideshow functions, a weather forecast feature and many audio visualizations.

XBMC is a fantastic media center although if you don't want to go to the hard work of customizing it, Plex may offer you a better alternative.

Download XBMC 12.0 Frodo in Softonic

Besides, this DVD Creator can help users create personalized DVD with multiple editing functions. Firstly, users can click Edit Menu button to open the Edit Menu window, and then choose desired menu templates from the Menu drop-down list; choose ideal menu Frame, Button; and edit video title as you like. Then, this DVD Maker software enables users to add background music, background picture and make an opening film for the DVD. In addition, it allows users to add/edit DVD subtitle and audio track, like adjusting the Audio Volume, Latency, Encoder, Bitrate and Channels when adding audio track; or adjusting font, size, color, display position for each subtitle.

With this versatile DVD Burner software, users are allowed to customize video to be perfect. Specifically speaking, users can adjust the video effect like Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Hue and Volume; trim video length to cut off the unwanted part; crop video frame to remove the black edges; and add text/image watermark to the video, etc. Also users can capture the favorite image when previewing video in the built-in player.

All multi-media users, DVD zealots, and the users who prefer to burn and create DIY DVD with videos can use this DVD Creator software.

Download AnyMP4 DVD Creator 6.0.20 in Softonic

Features: - Integrates all your media and makes it easy to browse. - Hardware acceleration. - Cross-platform multimedia player: Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Unix, Android... - Supports most of video and audio formats: DVD, Blu-Ray, HD, VCD, CD, WMV, MPEG, AVI, MOV, Real, MP4, DivX, Xvid, DV, MP3, WMA, 3GP, DTS, AAC, MIDI.... No codec packs needed! - Displays and edits subtitles. Podcast feed support.

- Powerful Volume Amplifier: 1MediaPlayer can amplify volume up to ten times. This is great for notebook users who have become frustrated with their barely audible notebook speakers. - Image capturer. - Available in 13 languages. - 100% free!

Download 1MediaPlayer 1.0.21 in Softonic

1. Rip VOB, MPEG-2, ISO to almost all video formats 2. Convert DVD for taking fun with you 3. Serve as DVD audio software 4. Rip VOB movie parts you want 5. Trim and crop video 6. Take DVD pictures 7. Easy to use 8. Support multiple skins 9. Support multiple languages 10. Compatible with Windows 8.

Bigasoft VOB Converter is a good tool to rip VOB files to watch anywhere and save DVD discs. It is wonderful software. Get the good software to start enjoying now.

Download Bigasoft VOB Converter 3.2.3.4772 in Softonic

Apart from the powerful converting function, AnyMP4 MP4 Converter has multiple editing functions to customize the video. For instance, users can adjust the video effect like brightness, saturation, contrast, hue and volume; trim the video length to cut off the unwanted part of the video; crop the video frame to remove the black edges or other unwanted edges; add text/image watermark to the video; and merge various video clips into a new single file. In addition, this Video Converter allows users to define the output settings like video resolution, video bitrate, frame rate, video encoder, aspect ratio, and audio channels, sample rate, audio encoder, audio bitrate.

AnyMP4 MP4 Converter can convert DVD and HD/SD video to MP4, which supports multiple input video/audio formats and compatible with any mainstream player device. It owns the intuitive and user-friendly interface, which can help users easily load, edit and convert all video files. Besides, it highly supports the batch conversion and output various videos/audios at one time with super high converting speed and quality. What’s more, users can capture the favorite image when previewing the video.

All multi-media users, video/audio zealots, and the users who have the compatibility problem in playing the video on portable device and player device can use this Video Converter software.

Download AnyMP4 MP4 Converter 6.0.26 in Softonic

If you want to play video or music files and not worry about format, Portable VLC media player is the best application for the job. With this portable app, you can have the powerful media player with you anywhere.

Like its big desktop brother, Portable VLC media player is simply 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, Portable VLC media player will never complain. In addition to this, you can also use it to preview files you are downloading, because it will play parts of files. It takes no time to start up either, so opening it up to preview something is no trouble at all.

Portable VLC media player has great hotkey support - if you take the time to learn the shortcuts - so can be controlled without touching your mouse. The interface is functional, but by no means attractive. If you're watching DVDs or video files through it, this is not an issue.

Regarding music, Portable VLC media player plays more or less any file and features an equalizer and playlist creation. It isn't as intuitive as iTunes as a media manager, but it's a much more flexible player in terms of file formats.

For video, Portable VLC media player is the best application you will find. Its minimal interface is great for viewing, it's got excellent tools for effects, and doing things like adding subtitles is easy.

Download Portable VLC media player 2.0.5 in Softonic

This slick-looking app performs two main functions – it allows you to copy DRM-protected files so that you can use them on any device, while also allowing you to convert the format of any files you own. Audials Tunebite also offers a built-in player, ringtone creator, CD and DVD burner and the ability to record music and videos while surfing the web.

Removing DRM-protection is probably Audials Tunebite’s main selling point...but it's also packed full of other features and will allow you to get really creative with your media. The interface is attractive, and there is a good selection of configuration options to make using the program very easy. Audials Tunebite also offers adequate user help.

Nobody would call Audials Tunebite a low-resource program, however, so bear this in mind if you are thinking of running it on a less powerful system. Another issue that irritates from the get-go is the need to install lots of extra components in order to use the basic features. Why all that couldn’t have been included in the original installation is a mystery, and irritates users who want to get started quickly.

Remove DRM and much more with Audials Tunebite

Download Audials Tunebite Platinum 10 in Softonic

What can UMPlayer do?

UMPlayer boasts a wide array of options to create an excellent user experience when watching videos or listening to music. Besides the basic tools to play local files, VCD and DVD, UMPlayer can also play online TV and radio stations, and features built-in search for videos in YouTube and streaming music in Shoutcast.

Other interesting features are the screenshot tool – to capture any given frame – and the support for skins, with which you can customize the interface.

Seamless user experience

The program boasts a simple, almost minimalist interface that makes accessing all the various options and settings a real dream. There's almost learning curve and you should find UMPlayer easy to work with from the off.

UMPlayer can handles almost anything

UMPlayer already includes more than 200 codecs, which means you’ll hardly have problems to play any media file. The program can also download subtitles automatically for your foreign-language videos.

On the downside, UMPlayer doesn’t include any preloaded stations on its radio and TV lists, so unless you already know some of them this feature is pretty useless.

Conclusion

UMPlayer is a stylish, powerful media player with support for many formats and a small footprint on system resources.

Download UMPlayer 0.98 in Softonic

In the world of software sometimes simple is better, and SPlayer is a good example of it.

SPlayer is a really lightweight audio and video player that joins the media player category ready to compete against big shots such as Winamp, AIMP, BS.Player and iTunes with its most outstanding features: simplicity of use and economy of system resources.

SPlayer lets you enjoy your favorite music and movies on the computer. It supports an almost endless list of formats, including DVD and streaming media, and features a minimalist interface - almost too minimalist! - that doesn’t interfere with whatever you're playing.

But that's not all: SPlayer also includes some interesting extra characteristics, like support for subtitles, audio and video equalizer, a screenshot tool to capture individual frames and three types of interface – minimal, compact and standard.

In short, SPlayer may not be as full-featured as the other apps I mentioned at the beginning, but it's undoubtedly an excellent choice for those who value efficiency and simplicity.

SPlayer is a lightweight media player with simple design that supports a great variety of formats and includes surprisingly powerful features.

Download SPlayer 3.7.2437 in Softonic