14 DAY TRIAL // VideoLAN has rolled out the first release candidate of VLC 2.0, codenamed “Twoflower” - a completely revamped version of the popular media player. The Mac version in particular has received quite a few nifty enhancements, both inside and out.
The first thing VideoLAN documents is the changed license (on which the application is built), from GPLv2+ to LGPLv2+, which allows the software to be used in non-GPL applications.
The Mac version now requires computers with Quartz Extreme installed. There are two separate iterations for 32-bit and 64-bit systems, and a PowerPC build is also available.
The Windows version doesn’t feature too many aesthetic alterations. The Mac version, however, does.
On Mac OS X, VLC 2.0 has a brand new interface that uses a main window reminiscent of iTunes. It can be switched between black and grey and it has a two-pane view with multiple services on the left and their respective contents on the right.
A Mac-specific overlay is now used for for audio options, and you can seamlessly switch between video and playlist view with a click.
A full-screen button placed on the bottom right side of the main window now sends VLC into Full Screen Mode on OS X Lion.
Although there is still a lot of polishing up to be done before VLC 2.0 can be released as a finished product, the RC runs without a hiccup in most instances. Additional changes are documented in the full changelog here.
Some Mac-specific highlights can be found below, followed by a download link for all Mac versions of the player (including the most recent stable builds for Intel and PPC machines). * Qt: port to MacOS X platform * Mac OS X: re-written Main Window, which also includes the Video Windows. It is available in 2 looks, one grey (Lion style) and one black (QTX style) * Mac OS X: new Audio Effects panel adding Compressor and Spatializer filters * Mac OS X: new Track Synchronization panel * Mac OS X: new Video Effects panel for color and geometry adjustments * Mac OS X: re-written Open Disc functionality with automatic media detection * Mac OS X: support for the native fullscreen mode on OS X Lion * Mac OS X: enhanced AppleScript support * Mac OS X: support for lua extensions