VLC 2.0 Released - Features Improved Codec, Mac & Anime Support

[Rob Williams]

VLC, perhaps the most popular cross-platform media player, has just reached the big 2.0 (err, 2.0.0). With an interface that will look little different for regular users, most of what's new has been tackled on the back-end. Expect improved media support (as if it was poor to begin with), experimental support for Blu-ray discs (requires decryption keys that are not included) and improved aesthetics and support for OS X.

Read the rest of our post and then discuss it here!

 

[Kougar]

About time they add blu-ray support! Will have to give this new version a try and see what they fixed... hopefully it will at least be able to remember the zoom, volume, and aspect ratio config presets...

 

[Rob Williams]

There's one thing that bugs me about VLC, and perhaps someone knows what the deal is. For some reason, VLC brightens up the video needlessly. Blacks are not perfectly black, but lightened just a bit, and even a 100% "black" background can light up the room (when it shouldn't).

In PowerDVD and MPC-HC, that issue doesn't exist. This has been my longest-running complaint with VLC, and it's the reason I just stick to MPC-HC (luckily, it's awesome). I could show examples of what I am talking about if needed.

 

[Kougar]

Rob, that may be due to the default output renderer. VLC will by default use OpenGL as it's output engine, but if I changed it to Direct3D (or DirectX, I am not sure which option it was) I would see correct blacks / brightness. I remember OpenGL used to have lower quality image output due to some driver glitch, but it's been awhile since I've tested any of this. I'll have to try it out again and see.

I can already say they didn't fix the volume issue. I set in the preferences that it should always default to 75% volume, but it instead sets the volume based on the previous video watched... annoying.