14 DAY TRIAL // The folks behind the VideoLAN project have rolled out VLC Player 2.0, the latest major release of the popular media player for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux users. The Mac version in particular features some nifty additions.
For all supported platforms, VLC 2 delivers faster decoding on multi-core, GPU, and mobile hardware. It has the ability to open more file formats, it is “notably professional,” and features HD and 10bits codecs, according to the VideoLAN team.
Codenamed Twoflower, VLC 2 has a new rendering pipeline for video. Users will get higher quality subtitles, and new video filters for enhancements. The release supports BluRay discs (experimental) and many new devices.
In announcing VLC 2.0 Final this past weekend, the developers said they had completely reworked the Mac and Web interfaces, and made improvements in the other interfaces (Windows and Linux).
The Mac version in particular features the most visible UI changes by far. The interface borrows key elements from iTunes. It uses a two-pane view with the services on the left and their contents on the right. It can be switched between black and grey.
Mac-specific overlay windows are now used for audio options, and you can seamlessly switch between video and playlist view with a click.
And there’s a full-screen button located at the bottom right side of the main window which allows you to send VLC into Full Screen Mode on OS X Lion. The Mac-only changelog can be found below:
For Mac Users
Completely new, single window interface: - Available in 2 colors: Lion grey and QTX black. - Extensions support and better Lion integration. Support for all QTKit devices through qtcapture and qtsound modules. Continued support for X 10.5 and PPC users (1080p and ProRes on Dual-G5!).
“Twoflower [also] fixes several hundreds of bugs, in more than 7000 commits from 160 volunteers,” according to VideoLAN.