3 ms·

And for Linux, we need the robustness and functionality of VLC with the interface and integration of Totem.

by yason 15y ago

jbk 15y ago
What integration is missing?
- yason 15y ago
  The VLC GUI is sort of a mess. I think it's QT but many QT applications look just fine in Gnome. VLC doesn't. The keyboard shortcuts sometimes work, sometimes they don't: obviously a focus thing or something. The looks is different and somehow old. Various widgets aren't standard and don't always work in a standard way. For some damn reason, VLC toggles the state of the super key which I use for many keyboard shortcuts, and this means typing text doesn't work if VLC is running. Moving back and forth is cumbersome: you just can't use the arrow keys but you have to use shift and or ctrl/alt. Those can theoretically be configured but my VLC hasn't believed my new keybindings for years. The popup menus flicker when opened during a movie and they can go really deep. Changing some settings in mid-play causes restarting the movie from beginning while some settings are lost after switching DVD titles/chapters. There's undoubtedly a lot of functionality in VLC but I kind of prefer the way of the Gnome school: things should be simple by default, and advanced configuration can be arranged in some advanced way, if needed. For example, transcoding into a file could be just a "Save as..." with a simple selection of formats. Now it opens a complex dialog with several tabs all over. Using that monster I don't always manage to reliably produce transcoded video files with VLC that generally open in any other player, and at least I know something about video encoding and container formats. Even opening a DVD disk requires clicking through a dialog whereas Totem just... well, starts playing whatever disk happens to be in the drive. On the other hand, the quality and robustness of VLC is outstanding. A simple, Gnome compliant GUI plugin for vlc would make it a true pleasure.
  - jbk 15y ago
    > The keyboard shortcuts sometimes work, sometimes they don't This is fixed in latest versions of VLC. > Various widgets aren't standard Which one ? All of them are standard but the volume slider and you can change it. > The popup menus flicker when opened during a movie and they can go really deep. I do not understand what you say. > Changing some settings in mid-play causes restarting the movie from beginning while some settings are lost after switching DVD titles/chapters. This is fixed since a long time. > For example, transcoding into a file could be just a "Save as..." with a simple selection of formats. Good idea.
    - yason 15y ago
      I'm at 1.1.12 that came with Ubuntu. These problems have been around for years: I'm glad they're fixed now (obviously in 1.1.13?) but I must say they apparently weren't a priority for the VLC developers. I'm glad to hear that the keyboard shortcuts have been fixed, too. The super/Windows key problem was particularly nasty: you couldn't leave VLC running on the background if you wanted to use other programs. This apparently means that as of 1.1.13, I can configure away the braindead movement keybindings. By default, I have to keep shift and/or ctrl pressed to jump around the movie. Plain left/right do what? Go to a mysterious Next/Prev or something? What's that and who uses that? Totem got the keyboard controls right here, unfortunately. Totem doesn't even need the modifier keys because right is a bigger jump forward than left is backward, so you can just use two keys to jiggle yourself to the right position. The flickering popup menus can be reproed like this: play a movie (a dvd preferably), go fullscreen, right-click on the screen and try to navigate to some other DVD title or chapter. This involves a lot deep submenus and they flicker frantically while the movie is playing. Not a biggie but this has been there forever, too, and gives a shoddy impression of the user interface that adds up.

And for Linux, we need the robustness and functionality of VLC with the interface and integration of Totem.

by yason 15y ago

And for Linux, we need the robustness and functionality of VLC with the interface and integration of Totem.

jbk 15y ago

What integration is missing?

yason 15y ago
The VLC GUI is sort of a mess. I think it's QT but many QT applications look just fine in Gnome. VLC doesn't. The keyboard shortcuts sometimes work, sometimes they don't: obviously a focus thing or something. The looks is different and somehow old. Various widgets aren't standard and don't always work in a standard way. For some damn reason, VLC toggles the state of the super key which I use for many keyboard shortcuts, and this means typing text doesn't work if VLC is running. Moving back and forth is cumbersome: you just can't use the arrow keys but you have to use shift and or ctrl/alt. Those can theoretically be configured but my VLC hasn't believed my new keybindings for years. The popup menus flicker when opened during a movie and they can go really deep. Changing some settings in mid-play causes restarting the movie from beginning while some settings are lost after switching DVD titles/chapters. There's undoubtedly a lot of functionality in VLC but I kind of prefer the way of the Gnome school: things should be simple by default, and advanced configuration can be arranged in some advanced way, if needed. For example, transcoding into a file could be just a "Save as..." with a simple selection of formats. Now it opens a complex dialog with several tabs all over. Using that monster I don't always manage to reliably produce transcoded video files with VLC that generally open in any other player, and at least I know something about video encoding and container formats. Even opening a DVD disk requires clicking through a dialog whereas Totem just... well, starts playing whatever disk happens to be in the drive. On the other hand, the quality and robustness of VLC is outstanding. A simple, Gnome compliant GUI plugin for vlc would make it a true pleasure.
- jbk 15y ago
  > The keyboard shortcuts sometimes work, sometimes they don't This is fixed in latest versions of VLC. > Various widgets aren't standard Which one ? All of them are standard but the volume slider and you can change it. > The popup menus flicker when opened during a movie and they can go really deep. I do not understand what you say. > Changing some settings in mid-play causes restarting the movie from beginning while some settings are lost after switching DVD titles/chapters. This is fixed since a long time. > For example, transcoding into a file could be just a "Save as..." with a simple selection of formats. Good idea.
  - yason 15y ago
    I'm at 1.1.12 that came with Ubuntu. These problems have been around for years: I'm glad they're fixed now (obviously in 1.1.13?) but I must say they apparently weren't a priority for the VLC developers. I'm glad to hear that the keyboard shortcuts have been fixed, too. The super/Windows key problem was particularly nasty: you couldn't leave VLC running on the background if you wanted to use other programs. This apparently means that as of 1.1.13, I can configure away the braindead movement keybindings. By default, I have to keep shift and/or ctrl pressed to jump around the movie. Plain left/right do what? Go to a mysterious Next/Prev or something? What's that and who uses that? Totem got the keyboard controls right here, unfortunately. Totem doesn't even need the modifier keys because right is a bigger jump forward than left is backward, so you can just use two keys to jiggle yourself to the right position. The flickering popup menus can be reproed like this: play a movie (a dvd preferably), go fullscreen, right-click on the screen and try to navigate to some other DVD title or chapter. This involves a lot deep submenus and they flicker frantically while the movie is playing. Not a biggie but this has been there forever, too, and gives a shoddy impression of the user interface that adds up.