# Anybody know a good media player?



## Grimfang (Sep 7, 2007)

I need something that can play DVD's, do frame-by-frame skips, and frame captures. I've been having a hell of a time finding this and wondered if anyone knew a good player.

I used to use PowerDVD, but it didn't come with my new comp.. -_-

What do you use? ... if you do use anything..


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## yak (Sep 7, 2007)

My answer will always be - Light Alloy.
http://www.softella.com/la/index.en.htm

After trying out at least 70% of the player market, free and commercial, i came to a conclusion that what i had in the beginning is still the best one of them all. It's simple and does just what you need, skinnable and has an intuitive, bloat-free interface. It is very versatile too. Can play any media you have, provided your system has codecs for it. 

It says you download a trial version, but it's actually a full version where you have to answer a riddle in russian to activate it, otherwise it will bug you from time to time. I can help you with that, message me if you need.


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## Grimfang (Sep 7, 2007)

Lol. That is kind of random... I could scratch my head at that one.

Given my lack of Russian, I may ask for help. It's late, so I'll bug you tomorrow night :]

Thanks for the help


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## Magnus (Sep 7, 2007)

Just Download PowerDVD again ._."


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## Zero_Point (Sep 7, 2007)

I use Media Player Classic. It comes packaged with the Combined Community Codec Project, found here. It also does everything you requested and more, and supports a royal butt-ton of formats.


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## net-cat (Sep 7, 2007)

I was going to suggest VLC, as it comes with open source versions of just about every codec in existence.

But it doesn't seem to be able to do frame-by-frame, so never mind.


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## Grimfang (Sep 7, 2007)

Magnus said:
			
		

> Just Download PowerDVD again ._."



I was about to post this thread and then thought about PowerDVD. Went and looked at the ridiculous price... PowerDVD is good, but not good enough to pirate.

I'm gonna give Light Alloy a try.


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## Ron Overdrive (Sep 7, 2007)

Personally I use VLC.


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## Grimfang (Sep 8, 2007)

Well, I got Light Alloy running and registered it through alternative means... but I can't seem to get the screenshot function to work.


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## Janglur (Sep 8, 2007)

Winamp.

Plugins FTW.


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## Tiarhlu (Sep 8, 2007)

VLC seems buggy as hell to me. Also when you go to pause there's a delay so you have to time it perfectly to get the frame you want. It doesn't do frame by frame either.

I really like Chroma. It's the only thing I can find that'll play all AVIs and mpegs.


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## yak (Sep 9, 2007)

Grimfang said:
			
		

> Well, I got Light Alloy running and registered it through alternative means... but I can't seem to get the screenshot function to work.





Options --> Video --> Screen Shot folder

Then you just click the "Take screenshot" icon at the bottom of the, right off the volume controls. There's also a configurable keyboard shortcut for it.


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## Grimfang (Sep 9, 2007)

I set the save folder, but still no screenshots allowed.

meh.. I'll continue to mess with it, or maybe keep looking. I really like this player, but I can't get it all to work :


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## Zero_Point (Sep 9, 2007)

That's what I like about MPC. Simple interface, great functionality.


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## Grimfang (Sep 9, 2007)

Janglur said:
			
		

> Winamp.
> 
> Plugins FTW.



I wonder if there's a problem with my codecs. I download any that I need... but I can't get Winamp to go. I got the MPlayer plugin. But I still see no video :


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## Zero_Point (Sep 10, 2007)

If it's a problem with the codec, then get the CCCP I linked to earlier. TONS of formats supported in that.


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## Ron Overdrive (Sep 10, 2007)

Tiarhlu said:
			
		

> VLC seems buggy as hell to me. Also when you go to pause there's a delay so you have to time it perfectly to get the frame you want. It doesn't do frame by frame either.
> 
> I really like Chroma. It's the only thing I can find that'll play all AVIs and mpegs.



Thats odd, doesn't do that to me. Then again I tend to mess with the advanced settings and put it to the opengl video output.


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## Grimfang (Sep 10, 2007)

arg! This has never been difficult in the past.

I tried the CCCP. I'm sure it's awesome but it isn't doing anything for me...

I wonder if Vista has anything to do with it.. x_x


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## Kobaruto (Sep 10, 2007)

I use BSPlayer Pro, with the USave spyware hacked out of it. Works well enough for me.


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## Grimfang (Sep 10, 2007)

I think I'm gonna try something.

My lazy ass hasn't uninstalled anything before installing more crap. I should probably get rid of older codec versions before just throwing heaps more in...


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## darkdoomer (Sep 12, 2007)

try redownloading powerdvd. this, or vlc (my fav )


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## Grimfang (Sep 12, 2007)

I guess I'll give VLC a try. I removed everything and re-installed and still nothing.

I'm wondering if I'm experiencing Vista issues or what-not. I've never really had any problems with Vista at all to this point, but I can't get an image on certain players. I have DirectX 10 and some of these players show mentions of DX9, but nothing later than that.


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## Eevee (Sep 12, 2007)

Tiarhlu said:
			
		

> VLC seems buggy as hell to me. Also when you go to pause there's a delay so you have to time it perfectly to get the frame you want. It doesn't do frame by frame either.


This is because VLC streams.  It plays by packets, not frames.

I use VirtualDub for going through frame-by-frame and grabbing screenshots, anyway.  That's not really the sort of thing I'd expect/want from a player.


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## silvertwilight (Oct 16, 2007)

Ever try virtual dub?
Its kinda old but it works like magic


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## lance.f (Oct 17, 2007)

I say REALPLAYER, that what i use and its alright


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## silvertwilight (Oct 20, 2007)

eww real player
It destroyed all my anime ALL OF IT!!!


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## Eevee (Oct 20, 2007)

Real is still around?  Seriously?


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## RailRide (Oct 21, 2007)

Eevee said:
			
		

> Real is still around?  Seriously?



Apparently so. The version I have installed on my previous laptop (an old P-II that now just sits on my network to collect mail) still burps up messages from RealPlayer hawking new content on Real.com from time to time.

---PCJ


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## net-cat (Oct 21, 2007)

Eevee said:
			
		

> Real is still around?  Seriously?



Yeah. We see it come in on customer's systems, occasionally.


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## Leasara (Oct 21, 2007)

I'm a fan of VLC.  It's simple to install, I haven't had to download a codec since I started using it, it does the screen cap thing, and it very rarely crashes.  Plus, you can't beat the price.  I haven't tried to run frame-by-frame, so I don't know if it can do that, but I do know you can use + and - to speed up or slow down the playback.  It seemed to like my Mac better than it does my PC though.


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## tatiki (Nov 21, 2007)

Tiarhlu said:
			
		

> VLC seems buggy as hell to me. Also when you go to pause there's a delay so you have to time it perfectly to get the frame you want. It doesn't do frame by frame either.



I will agree that VLC has a few bugs. But its one of the better ones out there for doing everything. The only thing I had to fix with it is playing .ogg files. Quick ogg codex download and now it does everything.


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## Nightintodream (Nov 21, 2007)

besides VLC thers GOM which will play allmost every thing


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## yak (Nov 22, 2007)

Any player will play just about everything, if you have corresponding codecs installed on your system. It's not really an argument.
Some players just come bundeled with a codes cet which makes them seem "cool" because they play stuff right away, but it's useless if you update your codecs regularly.
I just use K-Lite codec pack. Yeah, it's a bloat, but it works.


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