4 ms·

Well there's a name I hadn't seen in awhile. This brings back memories of searching for the latest K-Lite Codec Pack and making sure I had all the latest-greate

Well there's a name I hadn't seen in awhile. This brings back memories of searching for the latest K-Lite Codec Pack and making sure I had all the latest-greatest plugins for watching anime. At some point I switched to VLC and was blown away by the fact that the standalone exe could play whatever I threw at it without having to grab additional plugins/codecs. But I still remember MPC. If memory serves, it was a bit speedier than VLC on some low-power Windows XP boxes I had been running it on.

JulianHC 4y ago
MPC alone isn't necessary better but with madvr LAVfilter... is still unbeatable.
Cyph0n 4y ago
Yes, back then, MPC was just much more efficient on lower spec machines.
babypuncher 4y ago
VLC wins ease-of-use but MPC-HC is still king of the roost when it comes to picture quality and customization.
- GOATS- 4y ago
  Have you tried mpv? https://mpv.io https://mpv.io
  - babypuncher 4y ago
    I use mpv on Linux and I find it a lot less pleasant to use than MPC-HC on Windows. I do not like how the UI elements hover over the content when playing in a window. I do not like how minimal the UI is, with most settings hidden in a configuration file. One example of a common interaction that bugs me is changing audio or subtitle tracks. With MPV, you can cycle through them by clicking somewhat ambiguous buttons that show the index of the selected track. With MPC-HC, the context menu has audio and subtitle track menus that list each track and present any available metadata on them (language, track title). Where MPC-HC shines though is in its configurability. It has a ton of options for using different decoders, renderers, and applying post process effects, all exposed through relatively easy to use menus and the settings dialog.
    - OmarAssadi 4y ago
      Totally agree. But while I know mpv’s default setup is not quite what most people would like, where it truly shines is also configurability. Out of the box, the picture quality is already better than basically any one-click install other than mpc + madVR, and the default subtitle rendering is great for anything that makes use of SSA subs, but if you’re the type that wants to customize everything and use custom shaders and stuff, you can tweak pretty much every little detail [1]. And you can write your own UI for it pretty easily with Lua or JavaScript. If you give “Custom mpv OSC” a search, you’ll probably be able to find something that suits you a bit more [2]. The scripting support in general is great too. There are loads of really useful third-party features that I wish things like Plex would support, like selecting subtitles based on filters [3]. Also worth looking into is “mpc-qt” if you’re a big fan of MPC and want something that feels a bit more like it out of the box. It’s a cross-platform mpv-based player that mimics a lot of the look and functionality of mpc [4]. The screenshots on the GitHub page are of the dark-mode feature, but it does have a near-on 1:1 replica of the classic mpc interface too. [1]: https://kokomins.wordpress.com/2019/10/14/mpv-config-guide/ https://kokomins.wordpress.com/2019/10/14/mpv-config-guide/ [2]: https://github.com/cyl0/MordenX https://github.com/cyl0/MordenX [3]: https://github.com/CogentRedTester/mpv-sub-select https://github.com/CogentRedTester/mpv-sub-select [4]: https://mpc-qt.github.io https://mpc-qt.github.io

JulianHC 4y ago

MPC alone isn't necessary better but with madvr LAVfilter... is still unbeatable.

Cyph0n 4y ago

Yes, back then, MPC was just much more efficient on lower spec machines.

babypuncher 4y ago

VLC wins ease-of-use but MPC-HC is still king of the roost when it comes to picture quality and customization.

GOATS- 4y ago
Have you tried mpv? https://mpv.io https://mpv.io
- babypuncher 4y ago
  I use mpv on Linux and I find it a lot less pleasant to use than MPC-HC on Windows. I do not like how the UI elements hover over the content when playing in a window. I do not like how minimal the UI is, with most settings hidden in a configuration file. One example of a common interaction that bugs me is changing audio or subtitle tracks. With MPV, you can cycle through them by clicking somewhat ambiguous buttons that show the index of the selected track. With MPC-HC, the context menu has audio and subtitle track menus that list each track and present any available metadata on them (language, track title). Where MPC-HC shines though is in its configurability. It has a ton of options for using different decoders, renderers, and applying post process effects, all exposed through relatively easy to use menus and the settings dialog.
  - OmarAssadi 4y ago
    Totally agree. But while I know mpv’s default setup is not quite what most people would like, where it truly shines is also configurability. Out of the box, the picture quality is already better than basically any one-click install other than mpc + madVR, and the default subtitle rendering is great for anything that makes use of SSA subs, but if you’re the type that wants to customize everything and use custom shaders and stuff, you can tweak pretty much every little detail [1]. And you can write your own UI for it pretty easily with Lua or JavaScript. If you give “Custom mpv OSC” a search, you’ll probably be able to find something that suits you a bit more [2]. The scripting support in general is great too. There are loads of really useful third-party features that I wish things like Plex would support, like selecting subtitles based on filters [3]. Also worth looking into is “mpc-qt” if you’re a big fan of MPC and want something that feels a bit more like it out of the box. It’s a cross-platform mpv-based player that mimics a lot of the look and functionality of mpc [4]. The screenshots on the GitHub page are of the dark-mode feature, but it does have a near-on 1:1 replica of the classic mpc interface too. [1]: https://kokomins.wordpress.com/2019/10/14/mpv-config-guide/ https://kokomins.wordpress.com/2019/10/14/mpv-config-guide/ [2]: https://github.com/cyl0/MordenX https://github.com/cyl0/MordenX [3]: https://github.com/CogentRedTester/mpv-sub-select https://github.com/CogentRedTester/mpv-sub-select [4]: https://mpc-qt.github.io https://mpc-qt.github.io