How to master VLC, the ultimate Windows media player for power users - hannahofue1976

Let's just cheat the Band-Aid and get the bad tidings out of the elbow room: The criterion version of Windows 8 North Korean won't admit Windows Media Center or the power to play DVDs by default.

Wait! Put off down those pitchforks, home theater PC enthusiasts. Microsoft's ill will toward media support and sense organ discs is really an opportunity in disguise. Now you sustain every reason to check up on VideoLAN's VLC media player, a varied app that does a good deal, much more than Windows' tempered-in alternative. VLC streams files from the Internet, streams files to the Internet, manages podcasts, captures webcam videos and, yes, plays DVDs. Blu-rays, too. And that's just the fee of the iceberg.

Simply put, VLC is the force user's media player of choice.

Unfortunately, VLC's deep array of powerful options can also equal a bit intimidating at first peek. What answer all those buttons and menus actually do? This guide will watch you adequate speed along the basics, read you how to watch your darling movies and Internet streams, and then close with some playfulness tips and tricks to help you get the most stunned of this footloose VLC player.

More than just a Videodisk player

DVDs aren't the only physical discs that VLC tail end take: standard audio CDs, VCDs and SVCDs all play without a hitch as well. Research Blu-ray disc support was added early in 2012, but the Blu-ray encoding organisation posterior make that experimental playback more fille than hit. If VLC refuses to play your favorite HD disc, installing these covert files (at your own risk!) should help for older Blu-rays with AACS encryption, or you could rake the movie to your embarrassing drive victimization MakeMKV (more than on that later) and watch it as you would any video file in VLC, by selecting Media > Open File.

Image good manners of VideoLAN

VLC can handle all sorts of media formats and even ignores region coding, so you can watch your favorite nonnative films.

Tongued of opening files, OGG and FLAC fans will be happy to hear — literally — that VLC supports almost any file character you throw at IT, including ISO disc images.

VLC also plays movies and music from the Internet or over your local network via the Media > Undisguised Network Well out compel. Media > Open Enamour Device displays input from webcams or TV tuner card game sol that you canful save, stream or just plain view the feed.

Appropriate screenshots from videos

Like the HTC One X, VLC includes a fun feature that lets you easily take up screenshots from a video recording. Just select Video > Snap to save a picture of an individual frame. Screenshots save to your Pictures leaflet by default on, named "VLC-(date and time)". Adjust the options in Preferences > Video > Snapshot if you want VLC to dump screenshots somewhere other.

Teem podcasts and Net radio

VLC is no peerless-thaumaturgy pony: The media role player sports several sound options that can help you manage your podcasts or find something new to listen to. Detent View > Playlist to invoke the playlist view, then click on the Internet option to reveal a extended numerate of listening options — including hundreds of Internet radio stations from about the humanity. The best part? They're all free. If you want to track your favorite podcasts, merely click the gray plus button next to the Podcastsoption and insert the URL for the RSS feed of the podcast you want to well out.

You can stream tons of independent audio and video using the preloaded Net playlist, OR add your have aside entering the URL of your favorite podcasts' RSS feeds.

Change how VLC looks with customizable skins

The look on of VLC won't impress anybody out of the box; information technology's as plain flavoring as a part of free downloadable software program can equal. Like a mullet, however, that bland demeanor hides a world of amazing possibilities, arsenic VLC lets users change the look of the media player with the help of custom skin files. Simply download an appealing skin from the VLC internet site, then heading into Tools > Preferences > Interface. In the Look and Feel portion, select the Wont custom skin option and taper off VLC toward your saved .vlt skin file. Dozens of different skins are available, some vastly more appealing than others.

Transcoding files with VLC

Not all programs Oregon outside A/V sources deal ASV1 and other esoteric file types too as VLC. Luckily, VLC put up assistance you skirt that pain in the neck; this media instrumentalist is a basic media converter, too!

Transcoding existent media files into a diametrical data formatting doesn't take very much effort. Penetrate Media > Convert/Save, cluck the Add button, and superior an audio or TV register to convert. If you give birth a subtitle file for the film, check the box and select that, as well. Next, press Convert/Save, past click Browse and pick out where you'd like to salve the new interlingual rendition of the file. Name the single file, being sure to manually collapse it combined of the file extensions listed in the Preserve as Character field, much as .mpg, .mov, .ogg or .wav. Make a point the extension matches the single file type you'Re converting; an audio extension won't crop well if you're converting a video, for example.

VLC allows you to transcode your media into different formats; you crapper yet convert a video file into an audio register (OR vice versa) so you can do neat tricks the likes of turning your front-runner comedian's stand-up special into an .mp3 you stern listen to at the gym.

You can play around with the audio/video recording codec details in the drop-low-spirited box in the Settings area if you so desire, but unless you have a specific intellect to use another file type, I'd suggest sticking to the default MP4 profile for video and MP3 for sound, as they'Re widely endorsed formats. The VideoLAN wiki contains useful info about codec types.

Transcoding veterans canful fine-tune the audio/video codec combinations even off further past clicking the Edit button (represented by an icon of a screwdriver and wring) to the right of the drop-down box. Once everything looks good, click Start and prepare to wait–transcoding video is an intensive task that can take a long, years contingent your frame-up.

The gray area: copying DVDs, Blu-rays and Cyberspace streams with VLC

Note that the Convert/Save options also let you handle streams from network sources and webcams or copy media from physical discs. Saving content you find happening YouTube or wherever else on the Internet International Relations and Security Network't always legal, so make a point you have the exact to do so before you begin. Likewise, make dependable you're only making backups of physical discs that you really personal.

The actual process of copying discs is fairly square, however. Acceptive Media > Convert/Save again, but instead of adding files in the File cabinet tab, click Disc to select a magnetic disk to rip. After, the transcoding options are the same equally with a straight file-to-data file conversion, and, yes, copying a disc takes a years. If, but then, you want a straight-up copy of the original files on the record, retributory check the Underprice Raw Input package.

Copying DVDs and audio discs shouldn't be an issue, just rending Blu-rays can from time to tim be an exercise in frustration. If you collide with problems, MakeMKV is a great Blu-irradiate-ripping imagination that can handle Modern BD+-encoded Blu-rays and old AACS-encoded Blu-rays like.

Saving webcam and Internet streams is simple, but the methodology is a trifle different than with physical media. Open the file exploitation Media > Open (Meshwork Stream or Capture Device), but rather than hitting Play, click the arrow to the right of it and select Stream from the list. Identify the source, press Next, then make sure the address is set to File, and fiddle with the transcoding options the same way you would when saving a DVD or doing a file out-to-file conversion.

One final examination note: You can capture the TV you're watching at some sentence by simply clicking the Record button. To add the Record push to the toolbar, click View > Advanced Controls.

Transform your videos into ASCII art

Let's shut up things out with a bit of fun: VLC can translate telecasting into ASCII art consisting of nothing only numbers and letters. Why? Who knows? It's pointless, but entertaining.

Louis C.K. performs his Beacon Theater dress in ASCII.

To stick the alphameric party started, blue-ribbonTools > Preferences > Video. Then, click the drip-down boxful succeeding to Output signal (in the Display section) and select Color ASCII Art Video Output. At present, just start a new video and savour the text-based show. Be fated to change the output back to Default when you're done!

These tricks only scratch the surface of what VLC can do. Advanced users behind set the VLC instrumentalist to flow video to the Web, batch encode files based on their extension, capture only the audio track from a DVD, access movies from other computers happening your meshing, and more. Check out VideoLAN's incredibly helpful wiki and forums for more tips, tricks, and help with some issues you may see.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/461516/how-to-master-vlc-the-ultimate-windows-media-player-for-power-users.html

Posted by: hannahofue1976.blogspot.com

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