When it comes to media players that can play all kinds of multimedia files, very few programs enjoy the unconditional love from ordinary users like VLC Media player does (which is brought to you by the VideoLan developers). For many years, VLC has been “the application” that everyone uses for playing video and audio, without the typical problems that other players cause such as incompatibility or the need to install different codecs. It is available for practically every operating system that is used today, such as Mac, Windows, and Linux, but it has been found wanting on mobile devices, not to mention the small leak on iOS before the app was released officially just a few short months ago.
This is all about to change now with the public release of the VLC Media Player for Android beta version on the GooglePlay app store. Although it didn’t cause a big stir a few months ago when the project was announced, the VideoLan team of developers has been working slowly but surely, adding all kinds of features and improvements in compatibility.
Just like the desktop version, VLC for Android is an all-in-one multimedia file player that supports every common audio and video format. This is why you won’t need codecs or have issues with compatibility. If the file is on your device, chances are that VLC can play it.
You can also stream files directly from URLs, which you can type in directly or copy from other applications. This app also makes it possible to use hardware acceleration to play any file, which is what makes its performance much better in this area, especially when playing high resolution videos. However, this feature isn’t activated by default, but you can use it by simply turning it on in the preferences menu.
The first time you access the app, it will scan your phone for compatible files and will list them by category, in addition to their corresponding images.
An interesting feature is that it activates your phone’s screen rotation, regardless of how you had it configured previously. To keep the screen in a set position, you can choose to do so from the icon on the bottom left.
The video playback is a bit conservative, but loaded with options. Besides the typical menu bar that comes on these kinds of apps, you can use the fast forward/rewind controls to move quickly through the video or change the video proportions, such as from 4:3 to 16:9. You can also use the auto-adjust feature by clicking on the double arrow icon on the bottom left. Finally, by clicking on the number 1.0x that is located just above the controls, you can change the video speed, just like the desktop version.
The audio playback includes a search for images related to each song, as well as the classic play, repeat, and random playback controls. You can also control the playback speed just like with video–an exciting feature for those that listen to podcasts and want to skip some announcements or some undesirable content, which can be very long in some cases.
Even though the app looks very nice, the developers have already made it clear that the version on GooglePlay is only a beta. This is why you may find that load times can be somewhat long depending on the type of file, and it wouldn’t be weird to come across unexpected closures or other types of malfunctions until the final version is released.
It is still too early to tell if VLC Media Player will be as popular on Android and iOS as it has been on desktop platforms, or whether it will reach the level of other mobile media players such as MX Player. Nonetheless, we’re sure that the boys at VideoLan are going to surprise us in the next few months.
Download on Uptodown | http://vlc-beta-neon-version.en.uptodown.com/android
Official Website | http://www.videolan.org/vlc
