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It's a bit funny and sad how VLC has touted new stuff "for anime fans" for a few releases, yet every time they've done it they still haven't managed to catch up

by Daiz 13y ago

It's a bit funny and sad how VLC has touted new stuff "for anime fans" for a few releases, yet every time they've done it they still haven't managed to catch up to the "standard" solutions in those circles. If you're on Windows (and a ton of people are - the lion's share of VLC users included), CCCP is an equally simple one installer solution that can be pushed even further with things like madVR and XySubFilter. For example, VLC's dithering of 10-bit content still seems to be worse than CCCP out of the box, leading to banding where there shouldn't be any, and it seems to be doing something weird to the colors in all the things I tested it with. I'm not exactly sure what it is, though, as it's not a color matrix or luma level issue - I'd post some screenshots but I'm at work now. Also, Nvidia users still seem to have luma level issues out of the box that requires a trip to GPU settings to fix. Congrats on the release anyway, VLC has come a long way from the 0.8.6 days as far as high-end media playback is concerned.

NovaS1X 13y ago
The Daiz summons works on HN too I see. I agree that 10-bit playback needs to be addressed. However it seems either CCCP or mplayer2 work great with no noticeable difference in quality. Only VLC seems to have an issue with decoding 10-bit video streams. Works fantastically well for everything else though.
jbk 13y ago
> It's a bit funny and sad how VLC has touted new stuff "for anime fans" for a few releases, yet every time they've done it they still haven't managed to catch up to the "standard" solutions in those circles. Our goal is not to match the crazy setup people do and spend hours to tweak. For the 10bits dithering, use the OpenGL output, and it is done.
- Daiz 13y ago
  >Our goal is not to match the crazy setup people do and spend hours to tweak. Installing CCCP is as easy as installing VLC and gives you better quality out of the box. Installing and configuring madVR is an extra five-ten minutes of effort. Hardly a "crazy setup" that would require "hours of tweaking". There's also KCP which comes with madVR preconfigured, though CCCP offers better compatibility with a wider range of setups (which is why I personally recommend CCCP with madVR as a separate optional component on top of it). Also, at least in the previous version, 10-bit dithering was still lacking even with OpenGL output, as demonstrated here: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/32677 http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/32677 I haven't been able to test if the situation has improved in the new version yet, though.
  - jbk 13y ago
    We will have to agree to disagree. CCCP and madVR configuration is not a five-ten minutes of effort. Especially for most people. Not to mention the non-free licences... Last version, the matrix colors were wrong, as clearly explained on the release page, so it's soooo great to compare with it. And maybe, if you were not an asshole to us, we might be interested in listening to what you have to say. Until then, not so much.
    - Daiz 13y ago
      >We will have to agree to disagree. CCCP and madVR configuration is not a five-ten minutes of effort. Especially for most people. CCCP requires no configuration. It just works. And I said that I recommend madVR as an optional component, since CCCP already provides high quality playback out of the box. I've been saying this for a good while now but you keep talking like I said madVR would be a must and use that as a basis to claim that VLC is "just simpler". Installation and basic configuration (the average user really doesn't need any more than that) madVR on top of that with a guide (and there are plenty) is five-ten minutes of effort, but as I said, it's not a necessity by any means. >Not to mention the non-free licences... All the playback components in CCCP are FOSS with the exception of Haali Media Splitter, which is more of a fallback at this point. I'm not really sure about the non-component parts (the installer and settings panel), though. madVR is proprietary, yes, but it also happens to be the most advanced video renderer in existence. Unless you subscribe to RMS' worldviews about proprietary software (in which case you wouldn't be using Windows to begin with), I don't see a reason not to use it if you have enough interest in high quality playback. >Last version, the matrix colors were wrong, as clearly explained on the release page, so it's soooo great to compare with it. We were talking about dithering though (which that comparison also demonstrates), so unless the matrix issue was directly linked to the dithering issues it's not really relevant (and I didn't mention it either). And as I already said, I haven't had the chance to compare the latest version properly yet. Also, chill down a bit, will you? While VLC likes to advertise itself to anime watchers, it's an audience that on average cares a lot more about high quality playback than many others. And if your "goal" is "not to match the crazy setup people do and spend hours to tweak", then why would you get upset when I point out that these "crazy" setups (that at their very basic level are as easy to install and use as VLC is) give better results?
TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago
Um, I don't know about you, but I like how VLC "just works", is extremely portable, and I'm very uncomfortable with codec packs, they have a tendency to screw up video and audio playback and are often quite bloated. (Plus I like free software) So I don't see a problem with VLC.

by Daiz 13y ago

NovaS1X 13y ago

The Daiz summons works on HN too I see. I agree that 10-bit playback needs to be addressed. However it seems either CCCP or mplayer2 work great with no noticeable difference in quality. Only VLC seems to have an issue with decoding 10-bit video streams. Works fantastically well for everything else though.

jbk 13y ago

> It's a bit funny and sad how VLC has touted new stuff "for anime fans" for a few releases, yet every time they've done it they still haven't managed to catch up to the "standard" solutions in those circles. Our goal is not to match the crazy setup people do and spend hours to tweak. For the 10bits dithering, use the OpenGL output, and it is done.

Daiz 13y ago
>Our goal is not to match the crazy setup people do and spend hours to tweak. Installing CCCP is as easy as installing VLC and gives you better quality out of the box. Installing and configuring madVR is an extra five-ten minutes of effort. Hardly a "crazy setup" that would require "hours of tweaking". There's also KCP which comes with madVR preconfigured, though CCCP offers better compatibility with a wider range of setups (which is why I personally recommend CCCP with madVR as a separate optional component on top of it). Also, at least in the previous version, 10-bit dithering was still lacking even with OpenGL output, as demonstrated here: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/32677 http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/32677 I haven't been able to test if the situation has improved in the new version yet, though.
- jbk 13y ago
  We will have to agree to disagree. CCCP and madVR configuration is not a five-ten minutes of effort. Especially for most people. Not to mention the non-free licences... Last version, the matrix colors were wrong, as clearly explained on the release page, so it's soooo great to compare with it. And maybe, if you were not an asshole to us, we might be interested in listening to what you have to say. Until then, not so much.
  - Daiz 13y ago
    >We will have to agree to disagree. CCCP and madVR configuration is not a five-ten minutes of effort. Especially for most people. CCCP requires no configuration. It just works. And I said that I recommend madVR as an optional component, since CCCP already provides high quality playback out of the box. I've been saying this for a good while now but you keep talking like I said madVR would be a must and use that as a basis to claim that VLC is "just simpler". Installation and basic configuration (the average user really doesn't need any more than that) madVR on top of that with a guide (and there are plenty) is five-ten minutes of effort, but as I said, it's not a necessity by any means. >Not to mention the non-free licences... All the playback components in CCCP are FOSS with the exception of Haali Media Splitter, which is more of a fallback at this point. I'm not really sure about the non-component parts (the installer and settings panel), though. madVR is proprietary, yes, but it also happens to be the most advanced video renderer in existence. Unless you subscribe to RMS' worldviews about proprietary software (in which case you wouldn't be using Windows to begin with), I don't see a reason not to use it if you have enough interest in high quality playback. >Last version, the matrix colors were wrong, as clearly explained on the release page, so it's soooo great to compare with it. We were talking about dithering though (which that comparison also demonstrates), so unless the matrix issue was directly linked to the dithering issues it's not really relevant (and I didn't mention it either). And as I already said, I haven't had the chance to compare the latest version properly yet. Also, chill down a bit, will you? While VLC likes to advertise itself to anime watchers, it's an audience that on average cares a lot more about high quality playback than many others. And if your "goal" is "not to match the crazy setup people do and spend hours to tweak", then why would you get upset when I point out that these "crazy" setups (that at their very basic level are as easy to install and use as VLC is) give better results?

TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago

Um, I don't know about you, but I like how VLC "just works", is extremely portable, and I'm very uncomfortable with codec packs, they have a tendency to screw up video and audio playback and are often quite bloated. (Plus I like free software) So I don't see a problem with VLC.