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Issues with VLC Media Player
Hi;
I [finally] migrated from Windows 7 (ultimate) to Windows 10 (pro) on Jan 1. So far, I am pretty happy with the OS; much more so than when I first installed 10 as a 2nd OS in a multiple boot system (sharing with Win 7 & Ubuntu). That was back in 2016.
It appears that Windows 10 has 'matured', and Microsoft has been listening to what users are saying.
But there is one thing I really miss in Windows 10; Windows Media Player. While it does appear that there is a version available in the Microsoft store, I read that it is not so great.
So, I downloaded and installed the free VLC media player. I used it on Ubuntu, and was fairly satisfied with it, so I figured it would be a good choice for Windows 10. After all, it's the most popular free media player out there.
Unfortunately, my experience with VLC on Windows 10 is not so great.
For one thing, I find its UI kind of clunky. I could never get the transport controls to show while in full-screen mode. I could hit the spacebar to pause, but could not advance or rewind, or see how much of the video was remaining.
I played with all of the settings, but could not get that bar to appear as it should have (when the mouse cursor is near the bottom of the screen).
I could have lived without the transport controls, but I began to notice that the video quality for (commercially produced) DVD's was not as good as it was with Media Player. The picture wasn't as sharp, and there appeared to be constant 'micro-stutter'. I guess it was the micro-stutter that was causing the drop in picture clarity.
I did a lot of Googling, and found that setting output to DirectX might help. I did that, but for some reason, there came a point where I could no longer play a DVD in VLC. It simply would not open when I inserted a disk, and when I selected the disk from the Media menu within VLC, the disk would not play.
I was pulling my hair out, and ready to pull my computer's DVD player out, but I have a 2nd DVD player in the machine, and it produced the same non-result with VLC.
I even tried booting into Ubuntu 18.04.3, but no luck there either. That had me thinking it was really a hardware problem.
Then I searched for 'best DVD player for Windows 10', and the one which received the most hits was DVDFab player. So I downloaded and installed their free trial.
Wow! What a difference. Not only do DVD's play in DVDFab, the clarity (sharpness and overall brilliance) is far superior to what I was seeing with VLC, and perhaps even better than the old Windows Media Player in Windows 7.
I balked at purchasing DVDFab (on sale for 25% off the normal $59.95 price) because it somehow didn't seem right that I should have to pay for a DVD player, when for so many years Windows Media Player was included with Windows, and free - and it worked great.
But, after going back to VLC several times during my brief trial of DVDFab, and becoming increasingly frustrated, I finally did purchase a license for DVDFab 6.
I am very happy with my choice, and do not regret having spent $45 on what I believe is the best DVD (and Blue-Ray) player for Windows 10. But I am still perplexed as to why I was having so much trouble with VLC, when it appears that it works just fine for others.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Ultrarunner
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