Less than 24 hours after it was announced that the Media Player Classic project was shutting down, well natured developers have put their hand up to keep the project alive.
In a post on the DVD conversion forum Doom9, one of the remaining developers revealed that “several people” had reached out to offer support to maintain Media Player Classic. “So the project is still alive,” the post says.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/07/the-battle-between-vlc-and-media-player-classic-is-over/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/07/mpc-hc.dvb_.74b978af1-410×231.png” title=”Media Player Classic Is Dead” excerpt=”Ever find yourself wondering whether you should use VLC media player or Media Player Classic? Going forward, the answer is easy – because the MPC-HC project has officially carked it.”]
“Basic maintenance tasks (like updating external components such as LAV Filters) are covered. Ideally we would like to get some actual real development action going too. So we need new and more developers.”
The news is a blessing for those (myself included) who used Media Player Classic as their go-to player. While VLC Player and a variety of alternatives like Potplayer exist, MPC’s popularity has persisted for a variety of reasons: its support for 4K HDR content, Blu-Ray formats, frame by frame seeking, codecs for Dolby/DTS surround sound, performance and support playing x265 content (particularly 4K or 8K video), its interface, inbuilt LAV filters, and the program’s low overhead.
As before, you can download the latest version of MPC-HC (v.1.7.13) here. Those interested in MPC might also want to look at MPC-BE, a project based on Media Player Classic that supports HDR content out of the box.
Comments
8 responses to “Devs Step Up To Keep Media Player Classic Alive”
That fat Hodor rabbit. I see him popping up as a placeholder on screens a fair bit. What is he even from?
The window title says he’s from Big Buck Bunny.
Didn’t notice that first time round. Never heard of him.
It’s a Blender animation that was used to show off VLC and other media players for ages, probably because it’s easy to license.
It is one of the short films funded by the Blender Foundation (the non-profit responsible for the Blender 3D software).
You see it used in many screen shots and demos because it is available in high quality, and licensed fairly permissively. You won’t get a Hollywood studio breathing down your neck for reproducing a still or using footage from one of their films.
Righto, fair enough.
Shows how stupid copyright laws are though. A single image which is a fraction of a second from a multi hour movie should be fine to use.
I’ve also seen it used in test suites: checking that a codec will produce the desired output. With something like Big Buck Bunny, you can include the footage plus screen shots directly without having to worry about limiting access to the test suite or requiring the tester to find the footage themselves.
Don’t build up your hopes too high for this. Just because someone has the motivation to continue a project doesn’t necessarily mean they have the skill to move the project forward.
One of my Open Source work projects was cancelled, and a couple of community groups decided to try and continue it. One of those groups managed to make a partially working build once, and seemed more interested in coming up with new logos and brands. The other seems more competent but has had to spend a lot of time moving things to their own infrastructure.
This project continuation might work out great, but it is probably a bit too early to say how things will go.
Ah thats great news, MPC-HC ftw!