"Best" media player for Windows?

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zCypher

Diamond Member
Aug 18, 2002
6,115
171
116
Never found a reason to use anything other than Media Player Classic. It's awesome. Super light weight, snappy, plays everything and works beautifully on pretty much any system.

Codec packs are still around. Look up the Windows 7 Codec Pack.

Here's what I do:

- Install Quicktime Alternative
- Install Real Alternative
- Install Media Player Classic
- Install Windows 7 Codec Pack
- Profit?

I've never been unable to play any file type so far, and I HATE being required to install Quicktime or Real players if I ever run across such a format - so the above solves that problem.

I checked out this "Foobar", what's so good about it? I haven't found a reason to stop using Winamp yet. lol
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,947
8,201
126
I checked out this "Foobar", what's so good about it? I haven't found a reason to stop using Winamp yet. lol

It's highly customizable, and highly extensible. It sounds great, and has a clean interface. Importantly to me, it easily organizes by folder. I organize my music solely by file name/folder, and Foobar2000 accommodates that, and doesn't dick up my system.
 

zCypher

Diamond Member
Aug 18, 2002
6,115
171
116
It's highly customizable, and highly extensible. It sounds great, and has a clean interface. Importantly to me, it easily organizes by folder. I organize my music solely by file name/folder, and Foobar2000 accommodates that, and doesn't dick up my system.

Can you just hit the letter "V" on your keyboard to stop whatever's playing when the Foobar window has focus? Can you just press "J" and start typing a search into your playlist?
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,947
8,201
126
Can you just hit the letter "V" on your keyboard to stop whatever's playing when the Foobar window has focus? Can you just press "J" and start typing a search into your playlist?

Yea, you can set them, as well as almost any other actions to the keys of your choosing.
 

jpiniero

Lifer
Oct 1, 2010
15,120
5,669
136
I must be the only person still using Winamp for music. Had to upgrade to 5.5 when I went to Windows 7, but it's pretty much the same as 2.7 was.
 

Berryracer

Platinum Member
Oct 4, 2006
2,779
1
81
PotPlayer has much better video quality than VLC Media Player and when you move through different portions of xVid or MP4 videos, there is no delay, you can navigate to any part of the movie instantly whereas in VLC sometimes (depending on the video encoding), it can take 1 - 2 seconds till you actually navigate to the other part of the film (seek bar)

Download (32-Bit Version)

Download (64-Bit Version)
 

epilf

Junior Member
Jan 23, 2012
24
0
0
Am I the only one who uses Splash Pro Ex? It plays my most watched format, .mkv's beautifully.
 

repoman0

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
4,698
3,711
136
Yea, you can set them, as well as almost any other actions to the keys of your choosing.

Yep, although I prefer to set global hot keys so they work even when foobar2k doesn't have focus (in game, etc). Ctrl+alt+left/right for prev/next, and ctrl+alt+up/down for pause and stop. Good idea to set a key for search too.

Moved from Winamp years ago, foobar is so much quicker, cleaner and functional than anything.
 

Dude111

Golden Member
Jan 19, 2010
1,495
5
81
I have 4 players

VLC (Excellent)
REALPLAYER (Version 8 (LAST GOOD VERSION)) - Very good
WMP9 - Best of the WMP series (Very good)
SCREAMER-RADIO - SUPERB!!!!!


I would say SCREAMER-RADIO is probably THE BEST player i have ever had!


With VLC in #2 spot!
 

Berryracer

Platinum Member
Oct 4, 2006
2,779
1
81
I have 4 players

VLC (Excellent)
REALPLAYER (Version 8 (LAST GOOD VERSION)) - Very good
WMP9 - Best of the WMP series (Very good)
SCREAMER-RADIO - SUPERB!!!!!


I would say SCREAMER-RADIO is probably THE BEST player i have ever had!


With VLC in #2 spot!

Wow how smart! you have VLC + WMP + REALPlayer when VLC is all you need and will play any file out of the box (even the REAL Player files)
 

Berryracer

Platinum Member
Oct 4, 2006
2,779
1
81
i used VLC for a long time. Now i Use PotPlayer by Daum. techsupportalert suggested it. I don't really see the difference between the 2 so i kept Potplayer.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-windows-media-player-replacement.htm

You don't see the difference between the 2? I did today yet again.

I decided to install VLC 2.0 to see what it's all about and maybe they have improved the performance but again...I was watching a pr0n movie, and you know in pr0n you tend to like to move between diff. sections of the movie quickly....everytime I chose a diff. part of the movie via the seekbar...the movie would pause for 3 seconds then resume from the new part....

but in PotPlayer, the movie plays smoother, at higher quality, and moves between various sections smooth as silk.

This offcourse doesn't happen with all kinds of movies or Pr0n, it depends on the encoding, but still, if PotPlayer does it properly, and actually has a better interface than VLC with nice built in skins, then PotPlayer it is!
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
I must be the only person still using Winamp for music. Had to upgrade to 5.5 when I went to Windows 7, but it's pretty much the same as 2.7 was.

you are not. its all ill most likely ever use, yet to see a reason to stop using it, i used in when v3 came out and everyone hated it as well, its skinability and small visual footprint simply work amazingly well

i use VLC for vids but im giving potplayer a go now to see how i like it
 

atrus.eoa

Junior Member
May 4, 2010
16
0
0
Yeah try moving between different parts of a movie and see how laggy MPC is! Time to ditch that ancient player

Don't watch "pr0n" so I don't need to be able to rewatch the "good" bits over and over. If I turn on a movie I'll watch it start to finish. I hadn't heard of potplayer until I ran across this thread...I'll have to check it out. I'm by no means an "MPC-HC" evangelist...it's just what I use because it works for what I need, and I love that it can play everything I throw at it, and as someone else said, with better quality than VLC.
 
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