Media player classic home cinema 321 update#
Media player classic home cinema 321 windows#

MPC-HC was derived from the older Media Player Classic, whose interface is based on the Windows 95/XP Media Player. Neither VLC or MPC-HC are much to look at. MPC-HC’s logically laid out options dialog makes it far easier to access large feature set than VLC’s preferences. MPC-HC played both Apple Lossless and Windows Lossless just fine, and the program was more responsive when switching tracks.

Media player classic home cinema 321 update#

but it’s not unusual for a VLC update to break something else. The small difference was that VLC also misfired on Windows Lossless, starting but continuously glitching. VQF files (a very old codec), but so does everything else. Both programs played WAV files up to 96kHz/32-bits, and all the standard compressed formats, including MP3, M4A, FLAC, APE, and even Opus. MPC-HC doesn’t even try to do this.Ī squeaker for MPC-HC. Just paste a URL into the “Open Media Stream” dialog and if access is allowed, you’re streaming YouTube and what have you. It’s broad support for less-common file types is legendary. VLC’s claim to fame is the ability to play streaming media across the network and Web. LAV is based on the popular GNU-licensed FFmpeg. The release notes for version 1.7 actually stress the increased stability. MPC-HC’s new-found stability with video seems due to replacing its old internal DirectShow filters with Nevcairiel’s excellent LAV filters. It might be nice if it displayed a frown clown instead of just sitting there, but that’s being picayune. MPC-HC simply doesn’t play a file it doesn’t understand. Sometimes killing the VLC process tree using task manager is the only solution. When VLC runs into a problem, it often goes into a loop that requires several attempts to break out of. There was another factor: The stark difference between the way the two programs react to a file they don’t understand. Both programs played VCDs and DVDs (even commercial ones), nicely handling the menus and other elements, and both played non-protected Blu-ray movies, too. On the other hand, MPC-HC did play another older MPEG-1 that choked VLC. Both also had a hard time seeking in certain WMV files, though VLC was quicker on long jumps. There was one exception: an old MPEG-1 file that VLC won’t handle either. What’s more, MPC-HC played nearly everything else I threw at it.

Using the LAV filter pack, the program is more stable with bad files than VLC. The list of internal video and audio codecs employed by MPC-HC is vast. This won’t affect many users now, but it may soon. VLC skipped frames like they were going out of style. I’d expected this from VLC, whose authors are almost fetish-like in supporting everything, but VLC didn’t play the 4K files as smoothly. I’m not sure why it surprised me, but MPC-HC played HEVC (x.265) files flawlessly, including 4K with decently high bit rates.