VLC gets a new look on Windows and Linux

After two years in development, VLC, the universal media player, has moved from the 0.8.x versions to version 0.9.2. The release, named "Grishenko", is available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and other operating systems, is available to download from the Videolan web site. The most visible new feature in the Windows and Linux versions is a new user interface. The new interface uses Qt4, replacing the previous wxWidgets-based interface as the default interface and allowing for better internationalisation and a richer set of graphical controls.

Most of the improvements are to be in VLC's support for different file formats. Media support, with the help of FFMpeg, has been extended to include variants of Flash video codes, the BBC's DIRAC, Real Video, H.264 PAFF (Picture-Adaptive Frame/Field), VC-3, Fraps and M2TS camcorder formats. Audio support has also been extended, with the inclusion of support for Atrac 3 and lossless APE audio, and better support for media metadata. The playlist management has been enhanced, with support for album artwork, live searching and submission support for Last.fm. The playlist is also scriptable, allowing video from YouTube, DailyMotion and Google video to be displayed under script control.

New audio filtering allows for playback at different speeds while maintaining the pitch, while Replay Gain support allows more consistent loudness and a spatializer allows audio to be made more three dimensional. New video filters support colour extraction, sharpening, logo erasing and blue-screen effects. While previous versions of VLC have supported analogue TV devices, now it supports digital TV formats with the addition of DVB support for recievers with BDA drivers on Linux and Windows. Mac users will also find support for the iSight camera as a capture device.

Developers will find the core of the player, libVLC, has been rewritten and modularised to support external plugins. On Mac OS X, VLCkit has been added to allow developers to integrate VLC with other applications. Full details on the changes can be found on the VideoLan wiki.

(djwm)