Multi file type media player?

[htid]

Are there any media players that are basically wmp/real player/quicktime in one?

A friend just wants to play the usual mp3 avi etc as well as ram and mov all in 1 media player. If not are there any plugins to allow wmp to play ram and mov?

Cheers.

[mike_w]

Vlc?

[directhex]

Are there any media players that are basically wmp/real player/quicktime in one?

A friend just wants to play the usual mp3 avi etc as well as ram and mov all in 1 media player. If not are there any plugins to allow wmp to play ram and mov?

Cheers.

by "multi file type", you mean "can play anything" or "can play anything and has a media library in it too"?

[htid]

Not sure, it's for a mate who just said she wants to be able to play avi/ram/mov files in a single media player.

I'll tell her to try vlc, cheers Mike

[this_is_gav]

Media Player Classic (MPC) will do it. It comes bundled with the full versions of Real Alternative and Quicktime Alternative - both of which are highly recommended instead of RealPlayer and Quicktime Player respectively even if you don't use MPC.

[Steve B]

media player classic winamp 5 and vlc are the 3 players that i use, which basically do me for everything

[directhex]

Not sure, it's for a mate who just said she wants to be able to play avi/ram/mov files in a single media player.

I'll tell her to try vlc, cheers Mike

you've reached the problem of containers versus codecs. windows media player only supports three major types of container - mpeg, asf (windows media) and avi.

what your friend wants is something that supports the avi, mov and ram container formats (presumably they want asf and mpeg, too). there are a number of players that can cope with the containers, but a lot of the codecs contained within are proprietary and as a result, there's some extra pain involved in installation

as suggested, media player classic can do all five containers i mentioned (plus ogg and matroska containers). getting the codecs into it requires you to either install quicktime and realplayer (ick) or use the slightly dodgy "alternative" packages.

the realalternative & quicktime alternative work fine, but they're on weak legal ground (they're unauthorized repackages of all the appropriate codecs without the shoddy players).

vlc is a cross-platform, entirely open-source package. it's very good at lots of things - but any support it has for a given file comes from reverse engineering efforts compiled into the program, not from codecs on your system. some codecs (such as the sorenson3 codec often found on older quicktime files) won't work with it, full stop.

[daniel_owen_uk]

VLC no question.

[Dorza]

VLC no question.

ditto this. VLC has played just about every video format I've thrown at it. I find winamp to be something of a problem when playing video from time to time. It either won't play it or it plays it and crashes at certain points in the video or the full screen interface screws up. Could be bad codecs or something but VLC doesn't do this.

[Funkstar]

Missed this thread yesterday. odd

With Real Alternative, QuiteTime Alternative and FFDshow installed, Windows Media Player and any other program that uses DirectShow filters for its video will be able to play just about anything you throw at it.

The only other things you might want to add is the Matroska, Ogg and FLAC filters.

I would go for MediaPlayer Classic every time though. Great little program, really fast to load and there are hundreds of settings you can play around with. The the pretties of media players, but very functional and easy to use...just like Media Player 6.4