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The best media player for performance 2011

I have mentioned 5 Best Free Media Players for Windows. I think QQ player is the best because it is light and complete player try this player. Reply. karan says.

Встроенное видео Five Best Desktop Video Players. Alan Henry. 1/19/14 am. Filed to: hive five. video players; video; MPC-HC Windows MPC-HC Media Player.

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Our best media player article has been fully updated for 2011.

Some media players are bloated monsters, packed with unnecessary features. You ve seen the results: open an HD video and they ll keep you waiting while your hard drive thrashes, your RAM is gobbled up and your CPU utilisation reaches new highs.

You don t have to put up with this, though. Other media players launch in a flash, and then make minimal demands on your system resources, allowing smooth HD video playback even on the most underpowered of PC hardware.

There s a problem, of course - you have to figure out which players fall into each category. And that s not easy, because everyone claims their own products are fast, efficient and great performers, whether they are, or they re really not.

The answer was obvious, then. We had to benchmark the players ourselves. So we took 16 of the top contenders from around the web, measured the time it took them to load and begin playing largely HD videos in 6 common formats MP4-based AVI, H264 MOV, MPEG-2, MP4, OGG and FLV, and monitored their average CPU utilisation and RAM requirements.

And it turned out there were major differences in launch time and resource use between some of the programs – so let s find out which is the best media player for 2011

The contenders

We selected the following 16 popular media players for the tests.

ALPlayer 2.0

DAPlayer 1.0.1.9

Daum PotPlayer 1.5.26392

DivX Plus Player 8.0

GOM Player 2.1.28.5039

jetAudio 8.0.11 Basic

Kantaris 0.6.9

KMPlayer 3.0.0.1439

Media Player Classic Home Cinema 1.5.0.2827

MPCSTAR 5.0

RealPlayer 14.0.2.633

SMPlayer 0.6.9

SnowPlayer 1.10

VLC Media Player 1.1.7

Windows Media Player 12

Zoom Player Home Premium 7.0

How we tested

The benchmark process started by selecting our test videos, and we opted for five versions of the Creative Commons-licensed animation, Big Buck Bunny.

These included an AVI movie with MP4 video and AC3 surround sound, a MOV file with H264 video and AAC surround sound, and an OGG Theora video with Vorbis stereo sound, all of which were full 1080p resolution.

For good measure we also grabbed a copy of the Flash video FLV and iPod 5G versions 320x180, before creating a PAL DVD-compliant version of the file to test MPEG-2 playback.

We chose a reasonably powerful test PC, equipped with Windows 7, 4GB of RAM and an Intel Core i7-2533 CPU. And a baseline hard drive image was taken, to ensure each program would start with the same filters, codecs and system configuration.

We then opened the test videos in each of our media players, noting the time it took for them to begin playback.

And as the players worked, we used Process Hacker to access the average CPU utilisation and RAM private working set and RAM they required. We didn t try to optimise the player s settings to improve results, so our figures relate to the default settings only: it s possible that some players may work faster or use less resources if you spend time working on their settings.

The best media player for performance is

As we took a closer look at the figures it was once again obvious just how important your choice of media player can be.

Opening our 1080p AVI file with the DivX Plus Player rather than VLC Media Player, for instance, would leave us waiting almost 13 times as long 11.6 seconds as opposed to 0.9, while also requiring more than three times the CPU utilisation, and 2.76x as much RAM.

And while that s an extreme example, there were many other situations where some players would take two or three times longer than the competition to play particular file types.

We re still only talking about a few seconds, of course, and so if you like a particular program for other reasons - its interface, range of features, whatever it might be - then you might simply decide to live with this. But if speed is your top priority, then where should you turn.

Surprisingly, Windows Media Player 12 delivered reasonable results, popping up quickly and not using too many resources. Of course its integration with Windows gives the program an advantage that other players don t have, though, and it also failed to play our OGG test video.

And so our winner, for the second year in a row, is VLC Media Player. Its mix of fast start times particularly for the two video formats we rated as the most important, AVI and MP4, generally low resource use, and ability to play a wide range of files meant it just kept its place.

The margin of victory was tiny, though, and several of the other programs actually beat VLC Media Player in some areas. In particular, Daum PotPlayer the latest project from the original creator of KMPlayer, Media Player Classic Home Cinema and SMPlayer did a great job by not only playing all our test videos, but doing so with the minimum use of resources: if VLC doesn t work for you then these are fast, lightweight alternatives, and well worth a closer look.

Couldn t play all our test files. Included for reference only.

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Top 5 Best Media Players for Windows 8 PC. So here I would like to discuss about the best media player for windows 8 OS. Well in the beginning of the release of.

Notable titles include Windows Media Player, Foobar 2000, and Winamp. download Youtube video. Read full review. Windows Version 8.1.4.3 Added: 11/10/15.

Best free media player, multimedia player, Best Free Windows Desktop Software Top Rated. Forgot Your WiFi.

The best free PC media players VLC Media Player is available on Windows XP or better, OS X, Android, iOS, Linux and Windows Phone.

The Top 5 Free Media Players For Windows. Written by Will Mueller October 25, 2008. I think KMPlayer and QQ player are the best players ever. Reply. BiscuitEdi.

Встроенное видео Import libraries from iTunes and Windows Media Player; This Is the Best of Lifehacker 2015. 12/31/15 from winning our hearts for the best music player on Windows.

Introduction

Note: Our best free PC media players round-up has been fully updated. This feature was first published in September 2009.

Media playback today may be largely about streaming from the cloud, listening and watching on a mobile device, but don t give up on the PC media player just yet – it still has its advantages.

Using a local player is a faster, more convenient way to manage local media, for example. You ll get wider file format support, a host of audio and video tweaks for the best quality playback, and – in many cases – hugely configurable interfaces to ensure everything looks and works exactly as you d like.

Best of all, there s plenty of choice. Whether you re looking for a tiny audio player you can run from a USB stick, or a full-strength media player which can handle anything, keep reading – we have a freebie that s right for you.Best free video editing software: Top applications for making moviesVLC Media Player 2.2.1

VLC Media Player is a great open source product which succeeds on just about every level.

Don t care about the technicalities. No problem, the program plays just about everything you might throw at it, and the straightforward interface means everything you ll want to do is just a click or two away.

More demanding users will appreciate the tools to enhance their audio, optimise video, add or enable/disable subtitles, synchronise audio, and crop, zoom or change the aspect ratio of videos.

Useful bonus extras include the ability to set custom bookmarks to defined positions in your media files, so it s easy to return to those points later. We particularly like the tool for quickly converting a batch of audio or video files from one format to another – and there s plenty more to enthuse about, but we re out of space. Just go download this program immediately.

VLC Media Player is available on Windows XP or better, OS X, Android, iOS, Linux and Windows Phone.

SMPlayer 15.9

SMPlayer is an open source package which uses MPlayer as its playing engine, but extends it with a stack of extras you won t often find elsewhere.

The program doesn t just play audio and video files, CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, internet radio and media streams, for instance. Add a free plugin and you can browse, search and play YouTube videos, too.

In a neat usability touch, SMPlayer remembers the key settings for everything you play position, volume, audio track and more. Close the program, come back later, and everything is just as you left it.

The option to find and download subtitles is another plus, and of course there s a host of ways to fine-tune every aspect of your audio and video playback, but all this functionality is never overwhelming. The well-designed interface ensures it s always easy to use.

SMPlayer 15.9 is available on Windows XP or better and Linux.

KMPlayer 4.0.3.1

While it s free to use, KMPlayer has more of a commercial flavour than some of the competition. The setup routine will by default install various extra programs, for instance though we found they can be avoided if you re careful, and the player area displays ads when it s first loaded.

Still, if you can live with that, KMPlayer is a solid tool which can handle a vast range of media types probably thanks to its use of the FFMPEG engine, and provides enormous control over every aspect of your playback.

Add its excellent subtitles support, capture tools and 3D playback and there s a lot to like here. Just watch closely for the adware during installation.

KMPlayer 4.0.3.1 is available on Windows XP or better, Android and iOS.

Foobar2000 1.3.9

Foobar2000 s default interface is plain and a little dull, but functional enough. Drag and drop in your audio files there s support for just about every format, maybe browse your library, import some playlists, then sit back and listen.

The program gets much more interesting when you start to explore. The interface is completely customisable, there are lots of advanced tagging tools, flexible conversion options once you ve installed a few free extras, some interesting plugins, and an expert-level scripting system which gives you low-level control over almost everything.

As you ve probably guessed, foobar2000 isn t for novices, but if you want an audio player that works just as you d like, it s hard to beat.

Foobar2000 1.3.9 is available on Windows XP or better.

GOM Media Player 2.2.74

The good news: GOM Media Player s engine handles most media types, offers plenty of playback control, can open YouTube URLs, and can be controlled by gestures on touchscreen systems. Picture and sound quality are great, too.

The not-so-good news – the ads. The large one disappears when you open something, but there s also a text link on the playback bar, and if you ever click it, a browser window opens to push the latest GOM project.

This isn t as bad as some of the competition – there s no adware in the installer, for instance – and there s enough power here to make GOM Media Player interesting. But we d recommend you try an ad-free competitor like VLC Media Player, first off.

GOM Media Player 2.2.74 is available on Windows XP-8.1, Android and iOS.

Media Player Classic - Home Cinema 1.7.10

The core of Media Player Classic – Home Cinema has been around for more than 10 years, but regular updates mean it still opens audio and video files in all the main formats and a codec pack or two will set you up for everything else.

The program still doesn t have anything like the extras you ll often find elsewhere. There s no YouTube browser here, no lengthy list of special effects to apply – it s mostly about delivering simple, hassle-free playback whenever you need it.

Media Player Classic – Home Cinema does stand out in some areas, though, particularly for its customisations. Would you like the program to remember its last window position, snap to your desktop edges, maybe use some different hotkeys for primary tasks. Open the Options dialog and tweak away.

It may not be for the most demanding of users, but Media Player Classic – Home Cinema is also lightweight, easy to use and entirely ad-free, and that s more than good enough for us.

Media Player Classic – Home Cinema 1.7.10 is available on Windows XP or better.

XMPlay 3.8.2

XMPlay may be a tiny sub-400KB download, but 18 years of development have given it plenty of audio playing power: automatic gain control, reverb, 9-band equaliser, web streaming, simple library management with directory monitoring, Explorer integration and a lot of customisations and tweaks.

Native format support is weaker than the best of the rest, but free plugins fill many of the gaps FLAC, AAC, AC3, Opus, and more.

There are also lots of varied skins, and a kit to make your own, as well as the ability to use Winamp visual plugins with XMPlay if you install another free plugin.

Other audio players still have more power, but XMPlay is a likeable, lightweight package which just might do everything you ll ever need.

XMPlay 3.8.2 is available on Windows.

PotPlayer 1.6.57875

It s not easy to produce a media player that appeals to everyone – but PotPlayer does better than most.

Installation is quick and easy, with no annoying adware. Getting started is as simple as dragging and dropping your media. PotPlayer will handle pretty much anything, almost whatever the format, with the minimum of impact on your system resources.

A control panel with audio, video, subtitles and playback settings gives you more scope for fine-tuning. It s nicely designed, with plenty of power, but easier to use than the VLC version.

Bonus features include Dailymotion and Viki integration, and geeks will appreciate the low-level control over every aspect of playback and PotPlayer s operations.

Put it all together and this is one impressive package. Give it a try.

PotPlayer 1.6.57875 is available on Windows XP or better.

5KPlayer 3.3

5KPlayer is probably the simplest media player here, with support for discs and the main audio and video file types only.

This does mean that it s very easy to use. There s no ploughing through nested menus of 50 filters to find the effects you need, for example, because 5KPlayer s Video Tuner has only four: contrast, brightness, gamma and saturation.

The value here is really in the surprise extras, including a video downloader, which can grab and convert clips from 300 video sharing sites. And the built-in AirPlay sender/ receiver to stream and mirror audio and video from iPhones, iPads, and others, to Apple TV, AirPlay speakers and more. Big catch with the latter – it doesn t work with iOS 9 yet.

The core player is a little too weak for us, but if you can use the downloader and AirPlay support then 5KPlayer may be worth a look.

5KPlayer 3.3 is available on Windows XP or better and OS X.

AIMP 4.0

AIMP is a comprehensive audio player which crams in just about every function and feature you ll need: wide file format support, an 18-band equaliser, lots of audio effects, a capable library manager, tag editing, audio conversion, and even a scheduler to use the program as an alarm clock.

If that s not enough, you can extend the program with new icons, wallpapers and skins, while plugins add all kinds of extras including new visualisations, more import options, remote control tools, even YouTube and SoundCloud support.

AIMP s interface isn t always clear and it takes a while to discover how everything works, but if you re willing to invest some time and effort then you ll find plenty here to enjoy.

AIMP 4.0 is available on Windows XP or better.Also check out: 7 of the best free video converters.

SOME OF THE BEST WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYERS. Lists abound on the Internet for opinions on the best free media player or best paid media player software.