New to OSX, have a question about video players.

I was wondering if there was a player out there that could play all video formats, when loaded from a web browsers.

In windows I had media player set up to play any video link I clicked on in Firefox. In OSX I have downloaded a few players but none of them seem to play all the video formats like DivX, WMV ect ect. They like some of them, but not all of them.

So, is there one player out there that can do everything that media player did (without having to download a million codecs like media player heh)?

 

VLC will do it.

 

yeah, VLC is TEH player

 

Like the others mentioned, VLC is the best as it is used in Mac OS X and Windows and plays all codecs. The only thing not great is that VLC is a stand alone player and doesn't play inside web browsers.

Flip4Mac will play WMV and many other codecs. Not sure about DivX. Flip4Mac will play inside web browsers using the Quicktime UI.
http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv_download.htm

 

VLC will play justa bout anything, it but as mentioned it doesn't play inside web browsers and doesn't support softsubs.

You might try Perian. It works with Quicktime and Niceplayer (and of course QT plays inside web browsers. Perian essentially allows Quicktime to play nearly all the video containers and encoding formats out there (although not WMV I don't think). Since QT works inside web browsers, that combo should allow you to play anything inside the browser.

Another possibility is MPlayer. Like VLC, it won't play inside web browsers, but it too can play just about anything (depending on how it's built). Nonezumi and Andy have compiled some really nice versions - and it'll even play softsubs, which VLC won't do.

 

I guess I didn't word that right. Not looking for it to play inside the browser, just want the player to auto-play the video after the link is clicked. I will have to play around with VLC a little more to get it to work. It didn't seem to want to play DivX when I first installed it

 

I know there is realone player for windows which can play all kinds of files format. I know that there is realone player for mac version too. I do not know whether this mac verson can play any format, but you can try it.

 

Well, auto-play a video from a link is a combination of your browser settings and your file association settings within the OS (i.e. basically you're telling the browser how you want to handle those types of links (i.e. run them when clicked), and then telling your OS what program you want to open those file associations by default (i.e. run .xxx file with this program). You can set those in your web browser preferences and in OSX by clicking on the file type, going into "more info" and set the "open with" option to some program, and check 'use this program for all files of this type"
(okay i may have gotten the wording wrong - too lazy to check it out, but it's something like that).

In addition to VLC, check out the QT add-ons mentioned above (Perian) and Mplayer. The latest version of mplayer requires some minor work setting it up (i.e. you have to create some files and add a few parameters), but it works like a charm.

http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=1043650&postcount=366

I actually hate RealPlayer and all its associate file types and whatnot. Yes I know a huge percentage of people (i.e. most of Asia) use it and whatnot, but it's a horrible horrible player and a horrible horrible file container. Maybe I'm just prejudiced because the Windows version is a bloated piece of malware-ridden junk..but..uh..anyway

 

from using mplayer and vlc, I have to say I like mplayer better, it seems more robust. I have always had little problems with vlc, things like having to reinstall it every now and then to it just acting buggy for a week then working fine.

mplayer, I run it and never mess with it again. never had any issues with it cept for the very random crash which you will get with any video player out there.

but... this is coming from windows, not osx. so I dont know the quility of it in osx to well.

anyways just my 2 cents

 

My Mac didn't arrive yet, but from what I heard PERIAN is the way to go, it plays DivX, XviD and etc... and works integrated with Quicktime and frontrow.

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to be the best way to play videos. Are there any formats that Perian wouldn't be able to play?

 

I'm not sure it can read asf or wmv or any of the Microsoft proprietary container formats. The same applies for Real formats. Of course, I don't have any files in those formats (who would? ) so I've no clue if it actually does or not.

The main limitations to Perian are its video players - i.e. Quicktime, Niceplayer and QTAmateur. You can only really use Perian with those 3:

QT:
1. Needs to load the entire file first if it's a mkv file. This means that you could be sitting there for near 10 minutes if it's a large file just waiting for it to load. You can begin watching, but you won't be able to see any subs or skip to any frames until it's finished loading completely.

2. Lack of options. Basically it plays the movie and you can't change much - from how it loads it, to the tracks it uses, to anything else. The latest update to QT 7.2 added full-screen support and made it so screensavers wouldn't interrupt while playing, but there are still shortcomings (such as a lack of a built-in "Always on Top" feature.). There are also a few zoom issues with the video window here.

Niceplayer: Tends to crash a lot depending on the video and what you're doing. I didn't play around with this too much, but some may have better luck than me. The interface was a little unstable for me. On the other hand, it allows a lot of options and combinations for different subtitle, audio, and video tracks - and you can even play them all concurrently. However, not all of the tracks work that are supposed to, so it's often a moot point.

QTAmateur - haven't used this, but development stopped on it over a year ago...


Of course, it's still definitely a must-have. QT is an integral part of OSX. Sometimes you'll find files that work with QT and not VLC or Mplayer, and sometimes it's the other way around, so it's good to have all 3.

While QT is the only one that's by default in Front Row, VLC actually has better support for the Apple Remote than QT.
By default, in QT, the volume buttons only change your laptop's native volume. However, in VLC, it adjusts the volume within VLC.
Also, QT isn't quite as good for frame skipping with the forward and rewind buttons, and that applies to the Remote as well, so you'll have a harder time navigating with just the Remote.

The Remote does not work with MPlayer yet.

In any case, there's always Mira.