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While Windows Media Player has raised its game in recent years, it’s still not able to play some popular kinds of music and video files. This is especially true for those still happily using Windows XP, where even watching a DVD can prove troublesome if you don’t have the necessary add-ons installed.
While some home PCs come with software that handles this particular problem, that’s barely the start of Windows’ dislike of media formats other than those made by Microsoft. However, there is an alternative. A free media player program called VLC will play nearly any type of music, audio and video file. In this Workshop we’ll explain how to download and install VLC and walk you through some of its best features.
Here’s a familiar sight for users of Windows XP. Windows Media Player has recognised that we’ve put a shop-bought DVD movie into the drive and has duly displayed the title and chapter headings down the side of the screen but refuses to play it. Why? Because it’s missing a DVD ‘decoder’, some software that works behind the scenes to play back DVDs. Click Web Help to find out more, buy a decoder from Microsoft, or run the company’s Decoder Checkup Utility. Alternatively, follow us to next Step.
Go to www.snipca.com/x344 to download this software. When the website loads, click the Windows link in the Download VLC section. At the next page, click one of the Download links (the faster ones are at the top) and then follow the instructions to get the program, ignoring any Windows security warnings along the way. When the program downloads, double-click the icon to install it; use the defaults and leave other settings as they are.
When the setup wizard completes, click the Finish button and then accept VLC’s privacy and networking policy by clicking the OK button. We’ll try again to watch that same DVD. This time, instead of loading and then refusing to play the film, Windows displays its Play dialogue box and there’s VLC, the program we just installed offering to play the DVD movie. Click on the entry once to select it and then click the OK button to play the movie.
VLC doesn’t look as flashy as Windows Media Player but as the screen shows, it has at least one clear advantage; it plays DVDs without you having to download, or buy, any additional software. Use the mouse to select any of the on-screen menu items, or use the controls along the bottom of the VLC window to play, pause, stop or otherwise navigate around the DVD; there’s a volume slider on the right that can be dragged left or right to alter the soundtrack level.
The VLC window can be resized, and using the menus it’s easy to navigate between chapters, set subtitles, return to the main chapter menu and so on. Alternatively, go to the video menu and choose Fullscreen. Afterwards, roll the mouse pointer to the middle of the screen and the player controls will disappear, leaving just the movie. While we’re about it, here’s something else Windows Media Player can’t do. Right-click anywhere on the screen and choose Video, and then when an attractive scene appears on screen, click Snapshot.
This copies a snapshot of whatever is on the screen to Windows’ My Pictures folder, which you can then use as wallpaper. In XP, right-click the desktop and select Properties before clicking the Display tab. Click Browse to locate the image. In Vista and Windows 7, you can just right-click the image, found in your My Pictures folder, and choose ‘Set as desktop background’. If you want to change the background colour of the desktop, you can do so from the Display tab (in Vista and Windows 7, right-click the desktop and choose Personalise to access these options). Here we’ve simply changed the colour of the Windows Desktop background to black to accommodate our fancy new wallpaper. Click OK to confirm any changes.
When it comes to video that Windows Media Player doesn’t fancy, it’s not just DVDs that VLC can play. Here, for example, we’ve started VLC a couple of times by clicking the shortcut on the Desktop and then opened an MPEG4 video of a TV show, as well as a video from the internet that’s been saved in the increasingly popular open-source OGG format. VLC player happily runs both kinds of video files and can also be used for MP3 songs and most other popular music formats.
Next, to the most popular video site on the internet Youtube (www.youtube.com). Windows Media Player can’t handle the Youtube video format. Try to play one and it’ll just display an error message. Fortunately, VLC can play them, so find one to watch and then, click once in the Address or Location line (where all the http stuff is) and then right-click on it and choose Copy from the pop-up menu to put the address on the Windows Clipboard.
Switch back to VLC. The next step is to tell the program where the Youtube video is stored by giving it the web address just copied into the Clipboard, so click on the Media menu and then choose Open Network from the menu. When the dialogue box opens, click the Network tab and then right-click in the empty address box and choose Paste to add the address. Finish up by clicking the Play button at the bottom of the dialogue.
And here’s the Youtube video playing back on the Windows Desktop, inside a VLC program window. All the usual playback controls are available too here we’re pausing the video and the window can be resized easily by dragging on the corners with the mouse and the Youtube address added to the playlist so that it’s easy to watch again whenever you like. Of course, Youtube videos can get taken down at any time, so wouldn’t it be good if we could save it as well?
Although VLC doesn’t literally have a Save button, there is a way to use it to capture Youtube clips. With the Youtube video still loaded, go to the Tools menu and choose Media Information. When the dialogue box opens, make sure the General tab is selected and find the Location field at the bottom (if there’s nothing in this field, close the dialogue, run the Youtube video again for a moment, then stop it and come back). Double-click on the address that’s in the Location field and then right-click on it. Then choose Copy from the pop-up menu.
Next, open the Media menu again and choose Convert/Save. When the dialogue box opens, click the Network tab. Then highlight what’s in the Address field and hold down the Ctrl key and press V to paste in the address just copied from the Media Information dialogue (this contains additional info that VLC needs to save the Youtube video properly). Then click the Convert/Save button. This opens the Stream Output dialogue box. Put a tick next to Play locally and File, then click the Browse button. Give the file a name and click Save.
Back at the Stream Output dialogue box, open the dropdown menu next to Profile and choose a video format from the list of presets. Most popular ones are shown here and in this example we’ve chosen Windows’ own WMV format. (Alternatively, anyone who knows what they’re doing can use the tabs and controls underneath to specify particular audio and video settings to suit). Now VLC knows what to play as well as where to save it and in what format, click the Save button to begin.
Play the video all the way through to save it, then use VLC to open the newly created file. This time it’s not being streamed from the Youtube site in its original format but instead, it’s stored on the PC and is playing back in WMV video format. Although a little long-winded, playing and saving Youtube videos in this way works really well and you can use the program’s playlist features to organise libraries of video clips.
While some home PCs come with software that handles this particular problem, that’s barely the start of Windows’ dislike of media formats other than those made by Microsoft. However, there is an alternative. A free media player program called VLC will play nearly any type of music, audio and video file. In this Workshop we’ll explain how to download and install VLC and walk you through some of its best features.
Here’s a familiar sight for users of Windows XP. Windows Media Player has recognised that we’ve put a shop-bought DVD movie into the drive and has duly displayed the title and chapter headings down the side of the screen but refuses to play it. Why? Because it’s missing a DVD ‘decoder’, some software that works behind the scenes to play back DVDs. Click Web Help to find out more, buy a decoder from Microsoft, or run the company’s Decoder Checkup Utility. Alternatively, follow us to next Step.
Go to www.snipca.com/x344 to download this software. When the website loads, click the Windows link in the Download VLC section. At the next page, click one of the Download links (the faster ones are at the top) and then follow the instructions to get the program, ignoring any Windows security warnings along the way. When the program downloads, double-click the icon to install it; use the defaults and leave other settings as they are.
When the setup wizard completes, click the Finish button and then accept VLC’s privacy and networking policy by clicking the OK button. We’ll try again to watch that same DVD. This time, instead of loading and then refusing to play the film, Windows displays its Play dialogue box and there’s VLC, the program we just installed offering to play the DVD movie. Click on the entry once to select it and then click the OK button to play the movie.
VLC doesn’t look as flashy as Windows Media Player but as the screen shows, it has at least one clear advantage; it plays DVDs without you having to download, or buy, any additional software. Use the mouse to select any of the on-screen menu items, or use the controls along the bottom of the VLC window to play, pause, stop or otherwise navigate around the DVD; there’s a volume slider on the right that can be dragged left or right to alter the soundtrack level.
The VLC window can be resized, and using the menus it’s easy to navigate between chapters, set subtitles, return to the main chapter menu and so on. Alternatively, go to the video menu and choose Fullscreen. Afterwards, roll the mouse pointer to the middle of the screen and the player controls will disappear, leaving just the movie. While we’re about it, here’s something else Windows Media Player can’t do. Right-click anywhere on the screen and choose Video, and then when an attractive scene appears on screen, click Snapshot.
This copies a snapshot of whatever is on the screen to Windows’ My Pictures folder, which you can then use as wallpaper. In XP, right-click the desktop and select Properties before clicking the Display tab. Click Browse to locate the image. In Vista and Windows 7, you can just right-click the image, found in your My Pictures folder, and choose ‘Set as desktop background’. If you want to change the background colour of the desktop, you can do so from the Display tab (in Vista and Windows 7, right-click the desktop and choose Personalise to access these options). Here we’ve simply changed the colour of the Windows Desktop background to black to accommodate our fancy new wallpaper. Click OK to confirm any changes.
When it comes to video that Windows Media Player doesn’t fancy, it’s not just DVDs that VLC can play. Here, for example, we’ve started VLC a couple of times by clicking the shortcut on the Desktop and then opened an MPEG4 video of a TV show, as well as a video from the internet that’s been saved in the increasingly popular open-source OGG format. VLC player happily runs both kinds of video files and can also be used for MP3 songs and most other popular music formats.
Next, to the most popular video site on the internet Youtube (www.youtube.com). Windows Media Player can’t handle the Youtube video format. Try to play one and it’ll just display an error message. Fortunately, VLC can play them, so find one to watch and then, click once in the Address or Location line (where all the http stuff is) and then right-click on it and choose Copy from the pop-up menu to put the address on the Windows Clipboard.
Switch back to VLC. The next step is to tell the program where the Youtube video is stored by giving it the web address just copied into the Clipboard, so click on the Media menu and then choose Open Network from the menu. When the dialogue box opens, click the Network tab and then right-click in the empty address box and choose Paste to add the address. Finish up by clicking the Play button at the bottom of the dialogue.
And here’s the Youtube video playing back on the Windows Desktop, inside a VLC program window. All the usual playback controls are available too here we’re pausing the video and the window can be resized easily by dragging on the corners with the mouse and the Youtube address added to the playlist so that it’s easy to watch again whenever you like. Of course, Youtube videos can get taken down at any time, so wouldn’t it be good if we could save it as well?
Although VLC doesn’t literally have a Save button, there is a way to use it to capture Youtube clips. With the Youtube video still loaded, go to the Tools menu and choose Media Information. When the dialogue box opens, make sure the General tab is selected and find the Location field at the bottom (if there’s nothing in this field, close the dialogue, run the Youtube video again for a moment, then stop it and come back). Double-click on the address that’s in the Location field and then right-click on it. Then choose Copy from the pop-up menu.
Next, open the Media menu again and choose Convert/Save. When the dialogue box opens, click the Network tab. Then highlight what’s in the Address field and hold down the Ctrl key and press V to paste in the address just copied from the Media Information dialogue (this contains additional info that VLC needs to save the Youtube video properly). Then click the Convert/Save button. This opens the Stream Output dialogue box. Put a tick next to Play locally and File, then click the Browse button. Give the file a name and click Save.
Back at the Stream Output dialogue box, open the dropdown menu next to Profile and choose a video format from the list of presets. Most popular ones are shown here and in this example we’ve chosen Windows’ own WMV format. (Alternatively, anyone who knows what they’re doing can use the tabs and controls underneath to specify particular audio and video settings to suit). Now VLC knows what to play as well as where to save it and in what format, click the Save button to begin.
Play the video all the way through to save it, then use VLC to open the newly created file. This time it’s not being streamed from the Youtube site in its original format but instead, it’s stored on the PC and is playing back in WMV video format. Although a little long-winded, playing and saving Youtube videos in this way works really well and you can use the program’s playlist features to organise libraries of video clips.
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