VideoLan's VLC Media Player

I used to utilize different media players for different media files. Quicktime for 3gp files, Media player for mp4 and mp3 files, and many more. But that was all before I encountered VLC Media Player. It basically meets all my media player needs. It plays just about all the media files in my computer, does not take up much data space and basically operates as good in Windows as in Linux or Mac. I recently encountered an article introducing VLC and featuring some features that even those VLC users like me don't appreciate much.


For those who are not familiar with VLC, I highly recommend it and would advise you to give it a try and I think you will not regret it. For those who use the media player already, you may be interested with these other features that you have not noticed before.



Streaming Capabilities


Yes it can be a network streaming workhorse. This works great specially if you have several PCs and operating systems in your household. The following diagram shows how VLC gives you one of the best cross-compatible media sharing setups around:

You can also stream video from your home PC while you're away by setting VLC to stream to the internet. You have to sort out your DNS settings beforehand for a pain-free connection.

Rip and Transcode Videos

Typically it's your good old free video converter. Other than converting video from one format to another, you can also use it to rip disc-based media (video or music) , live streams (TV, satellite or cable) or network streams to file.

To do this, open VLC then click Media then Convert/Save. A dialogue will appear that allows you to choose between converting, saving and ripping to file.When you've added source media (to record from) click Convert/Save.

The next window will let you choose encoding settings like codecs and output location. Be patient! It will be resource-intensive and can take a while.

Internet Radio and Podcast Management

Proving its flexibility as a multi-use media player, it also has a built-in Internet Radio listings and a Podcast aid. Just open your Playlist and select Internet on the left. You will then see a number of services pop-up including Icecast Radio and Jamendo Selections. It's all free  and there are also full albums.

If you want to keep a track of your podcasts then select Podcasts in the Playlist and click on the plus symbol "+" that will appear. Enter the URL of the podcast and it will add up to your database.

Video Effects

Bored of your videos? You can do something with your VLC to spice things up. While playing a video, click Tools then Effects and Filters to open the adjustments window.

Select the Video Effects from the first tab and play around a bit. You can adjust settings like gamma, brightness, and hue if ever you have poor quality video file (too dark). Other effects can be fun too like water effects, video rotation and text and logo overlay options.

Snapshots

Have you ever tried to have a still image of the video you are viewing using "Print Screen" and end up disappointed? Well then, VLC can help you with that with a final output of an image in .PNG format.

First find the exact scene you want by clicking Pause, jogging or using Playback. While viewing a video, click Video then Snapshot or you can right click on the video and browse through the context menu. A brief overlay of the snapshot will then appear in the top left and the snapshot will be saved to the location defined in Preferences then Video under Snapshot.

Play Video as ASCII Output

This feature is actually not really useful but worth a try if you're interested. In VLC, click Tools then Preferences then click Video. Under Output, click ASCII-art video output and click Save.

Well that's just about it. Try it out yourselves!