Giving Microsoft the Finger

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-01-14 08:06pm

Okay, so I've finally done it. In my quest to destroy everything Microsoft on my machine (except for Windows XP, which I must use for the time being) I finally broke down, did a clean XP install, and set myself on going as non-Microsoft as I could.

Mozilla Firebird was an easy choice for my browser (been using it for awhile) and I also picked up the delightful companion Thunderbird for email. Trillian being used for IM, Open Office 1.1 for all the Office tasks and even Sun's JVM instead of Microsofts.

I have one problem however. I can't seem to find a decent media player to replace WM9. The thing is, I'm extremely fickle about my media players; I like big buttons and a non-cluttered interface with a single window. Can anyone make any suggestions? I've been slicing my eyes out trying to come up with a reasonable alternative. Please help in my neverending quest to give Microsoft the finger!

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-01-14 08:50pm

There's ZoomPlayer, BSPlayer and Media Player Classic, to give some examples.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2004-01-14 09:34pm

What about mplayer (never used it- dialup sucks for movies).

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2004-01-14 09:58pm

I use Winamp for everything except .mov and .ogm videos

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-01-14 10:28pm

Pu-239 wrote:What about mplayer (never used it- dialup sucks for movies).

AFAIK, mplayer does not run under Windows.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2004-01-15 01:08am

- thought he was dual booting.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2004-01-15 01:15am

Have any developers managed to whack Microsoft's streaming protocols yet? The one thing that bugs me a little while running Linux is that I can never watch streaming videos on major websites, because invariably they're in WMP9 or RealMedia...

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2004-01-15 03:47am

phongn wrote:
Pu-239 wrote:What about mplayer (never used it- dialup sucks for movies).
AFAIK, mplayer does not run under Windows.

There's a few unofficial ports of MPlayer for Windows. I haven't tried any of them myself, though.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-01-15 04:59am

I'm trying out Winamp 5.01 for the time being to see how it is. I don't like the multiple windows thingie, but at least they seem to behave themselves.

I really like the iTunes for Windows thing, but it doesn't seem to play video, so that's out. Damn Apple not wanting to consolodate and replace the aging Quicktime player...

Hethrir · Post by **Hethrir** » 2004-01-15 08:22am

Hamel wrote:I use Winamp for everything except .mov and .ogm videos

Same, but I use the real alternative to RP...classic MP with the real codecs.

The Kernel wrote:I'm trying out Winamp 5.01 for the time being to see how it is. I don't like the multiple windows thingie, but at least they seem to behave themselves.

I use the classic look in wa5, and it fixes all that crap up.

CorSec · Post by **CorSec** » 2004-01-16 08:37am

phongn wrote:Media Player Classic

Excellent. For no apparent reason my MP 9.x wouldn't stream anything except .wmv files. With MPC, I'm back to watching all the porn. Sweet.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2004-01-16 01:04pm

I use Media PLayer Classic for video, and Winamp 5 for Audio

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-01-16 05:23pm

Try VideoLAN, it plays MPG2 and I think even Quicktime (there's also a "Quicktime Alternative" around) but that's not what you're looking for...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-01-16 08:27pm

Slartibartfast wrote:Try VideoLAN, it plays MPG2 and I think even Quicktime (there's also a "Quicktime Alternative" around) but that's not what you're looking for...

VLC is kinda rough around the edges, though, even if it is a servicable free DVD player. IIRC, it's mostly based around ffmpeg, which is implemented on Windows as ffdshow and ffvfw.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-01-24 01:38am

Crayz9000 wrote:Have any developers managed to whack Microsoft's streaming protocols yet? The one thing that bugs me a little while running Linux is that I can never watch streaming videos on major websites, because invariably they're in WMP9 or RealMedia...

There's a RealPlayer port for Linux, and the last time I installed mplayer it was almost capable of playing WMP9 files. I tried the Halo E3 movie in WMP9 format and it played but it was really jerky and the audio was not synchronized to the video. Maybe the current version is better; I should download it and try again. Too bad the installation procedure is such a PITA.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-01-24 02:09am

phongn wrote:
Slartibartfast wrote:Try VideoLAN, it plays MPG2 and I think even Quicktime (there's also a "Quicktime Alternative" around) but that's not what you're looking for...
VLC is kinda rough around the edges, though, even if it is a servicable free DVD player. IIRC, it's mostly based around ffmpeg, which is implemented on Windows as ffdshow and ffvfw.

0.7 is a very nice release, if I do say so. They finally cleaned up that shitty interface for OS X.