VLC 2.0 Announced: New UI and Blu-ray Support for OS X

by Kristian Vättö on 2/13/2012 4:00:00 PM
Posted in Software , Video , OS X , Windows , VLC

VideoLAN has announced VLC 2.0 and the first release candidate is available to the public today. The biggest changes are in the OS X version but there are a few interesting changes in the Windows version as well, such as a 64-bit version and support for multiple video files inside RAR archives. The OS X version has a totally new user interface (see pictures below) along with Blu-ray playback support. 

Lets talk briefly about Blu-ray playback in OS X. Apple does not officially support Blu-ray as they provide no option for Blu-ray drives and the software support is poor to say the least. Blu-ray discs are encrypted so not just any player can play them. Since Apple doesn't support Blu-ray, there hasn't been a player that would enable one-click Blu-ray playback. However, it's still been possible to rip and encode the video with the OS X version of MakeMKV, in which case the video will become a regular MKV file that is supported by various players. There is also a direct playback method but it's rather complicated and doesn't work with all discs. VideoLAN is promising that VLC 2.0 will sport experimental Blu-ray playback support, but unfortunately we don't know yet how functional it is. Another big improvement in the OS X version is support for Lua-based extensions. There are at least a dozen different extensions but the most notable are probably subtitle finder and movie information.

Update: The Blu-Ray support is limited decrypted media, which means commercial Blu-Rays with DRM won't work. Also, the OS X version doesn't support Blu-Ray at all yet, although VideoLAN is planning on porting it to the OS X version as well. 

The Windows version isn't getting any major new features; it's mainly under the hood changes but it already supports the features that are new in the OS X version. VideoLAN is apparently also working hard on porting VLC 2.0 for iOS, which is a bit of surprise given that the original VLC app was pulled from the App Store about a year ago.

The first release candidate can be downloaded here and the complete change log is available here. 

Source: 9to5Mac

Print This Article 21 Comments View All Comments Post a Comment VLC for iOS was useless by Guspaz on Monday, February 13, 2012 VLC for iOS was useless (for video at least), since it didn't support hardware acceleration. It did everything in software, which meant that it choked on pretty much any media.

My attempts to play a 720p video file (and this was a standard h.264/AAC file) on an iPhone 4S resulted in a handful of frames per second. The framerate would need to be ten times higher to be useful, and even then, doing it entirely in software would kill the battery.

If they added proper hardware acceleration support, it might be useful, but without it, it can't actually play anything worthwhile. Guspaz Reply RE: VLC for iOS was useless by lurker22 on Monday, February 13, 2012 Strange, VLC on iOS worked fine playing all the XVID videos. I never used it for AAC type file, what's the point when the native player was better integrated and easier to sync files to etc.

I recently bought GoodPlayer for xvid video playing on iOS as it's actually actively developed and supported and far less buggy than the original VLC release lurker22 Reply RE: VLC for iOS was useless by MySchizoBuddy on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 I can play 1080p on my 2006 iMac using VLC. You must have a pretty old mac. MySchizoBuddy Reply Good news for OS by blzd on Monday, February 13, 2012 VLC player on Mac has always seemed under featured, hopefuly with this version 2.0 I can full screen videos while in Mirroring mode to an external display. blzd Reply OSX to remain 32-bit? by mevans336 on Monday, February 13, 2012 There is both an Intel32 and an Intel64 version for OSX available at the download link ...

http://download.videolan.org/pub/testing/vlc-2.0.0...

I installed and opened it and Activity Monitor shows it an an Intel (64 bit) application. mevans336 Reply RE: OSX to remain 32-bit? by Kristian Vättö on Monday, February 13, 2012 Good point, thanks, updated the article. I even downloaded the 64-bit version but apparently my brain was sleeping and didn't see the connection. Kristian Vättö Reply RE: OSX to remain 32-bit? by mevans336 on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 No worries Kristian. Cheers. mevans336 Reply Pirated content in article? by gramboh on Monday, February 13, 2012 I'm not sure it's a good idea to post an example of the new UI with a pirated (scene group) filename. Did this come from VLC?

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/5534/VLCplay.jpg gramboh Reply RE: Pirated content in article? by rrohbeck on Monday, February 13, 2012 Ah so you recognized the file name? :) rrohbeck Reply RE: Pirated content in article? by Ethaniel on Monday, February 13, 2012 If he owns the movie, I really don't see the problem. Ethaniel Reply Subject Comment Post Comment Please login or register to post a comment.
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Foursquare updated with NFC support for Android 4.0 devices

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It looks like the Near Field Communications revolution is finally getting underway. After over a year of NFC chips being available in several different models of Android devices, major third-party developers are finally starting to incorporate the technology into their apps. Scanning tags is fun and all, but using NFC to share information in popular apps between devices is where NFC really shines. An update to the Foursquare app allows you to do just that.

By using Android Beam, Google’s fancy name for peer-to-peer NFC communications, Foursquare users can now bump phones and transfer information like lists and places visited, along with initiating friend requests and checking in wherever NFC tags have been made available. Venues can now use NFC enabled tags, posters or other similar media that when tapped with an NFC equipped device running Android 4.0, will automatically prompt users to check in.

Foursquare’s Vice President of Mobile International Holger Luedorf recently sat down with Untether.tv and shared his feelings on NFC, and tools provided to Android developers to utilize the technology.

The user experience is great. You just hold your phone against the tap (point). The check-in screen automatically pops up with the right venue. You’re basically shaving very valuable seconds off the check-in process. We try to leverage the native experiences and APIs that are available through the platform as those usually drive the best user experience. We’re trying to leverage this because we feel that pinpointing someone down to a location through an NFC chip definitely has some value.Holger LuedorfFoursquare

Luedorf also mentioned that going forward, Android won’t be the only platform using NFC. When that day comes, the adoption rate for NFC should shoot through the roof.

If you have an Android 4.0 device with NFC (either a Galaxy Nexus or Nexus S), you can try Foursquare’s NFC features with the latest version of the app available in the Android Market.

FoursquarefoursquareMARKETQRPOWERED BY APPAWARE Via: TechCrunch

Source: NFC World

Dustin Earley: Tech enthusiast; avid gamer; all around jolly guy. Tagged#Android 4.0#Android Beam#Applications#apps#foursquare#Ice Cream Sandwich#Near Field Communications#NFC .nrelate .nr_sponsored{ left:0px !important; }.nrelate .nr_sponsored{ left:0px !important; } 5 Comments Join the discussion!Sort by DateRating 92spazby 1 day ago Thumb upThumb down +4

Nfc everywhere please

Reply 71greeny42 1 day ago Thumb upThumb down +1

I know that in today’s world I basically no longer have any expectation of privacy, but foursquare still weirds me out.

Reply 89R.S 1 day ago Thumb upThumb down +1

I checked out the app in the market and it didn’t seem like something that would interest me.

I’m sure I’m in the minority here but I don’t get the obsession with letting everyone know where I’m at and what I’m up to. To those who are, have fun!

Reply 3ewalker41 1 day ago Thumb upThumb down +1

I wonder if this will help with adoption of Foursquare/Check-in deals. My friends own a restaurant but don’t want to run deals as they fear that people will game the system. I wonder if a NFC-initiated checkin would be considered more authentic than a GPS/search one.

Reply 73Javier Bastardo 8 hours ago Thumb upThumb down 0

NFC all the tings

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