262
Yet Another Video Player With Less Controls
(thelemmy.club)
I just use vlc
We are all brothers and sisters on this blessed day
If I had a complaint about VLC, it would be that it needs MORE settings. If a video is picking the wrong default language, there's no way to set a new default, you're just SOL and have to swap it every time. It's amazing that people looked at VLC and said "You know what this needs, less features", and then you spend forever looking up keyboard shortcuts you'll never remember.
A few years ago, I found Kaffeine and was so surprised that I never saw a video player before with controls in a collapsible sidebar.
Old screenshot, but this is what it looks like when a video is playing:
It seems like a rather obvious idea, but I guess, it doesn't get copied much, because most video players don't have a ton of controls to begin with...
i use mpv btw
So do all of them
Only one out of four. Showtime, Totem and Light Video all use GStreamer.
Hyperbole
mpv is cool because it can run shaders, which at some point I found someone made a shader & script to run FSR over the videos played on mpv lol.
Interesting, how did that turn out?
It does anti-alias a bit, but not very noticable for moving images/videos. I just think it's cool. I think it's also limited to FSR 2.
It's less noticable maybe because video doesn't have 3D data like realtime games that can be used by FSR like scene normal or depth buffer.
I don't really use my software. I just gawk and marvel at its beauty, its slick form factor, its beautiful rounded curves. /s
What are you, an Apple fan?!
They just said they only use GNU awk. π /j
VLC is the one and only.
I guess it's a weird thing to complain about, but I stopped using VLC because I couldn't find a way to change the icon theme. The monochrome dark ones it uses by default make all buttons completely blank with catppuccin...
mpv my beloved
For me, its ffplay
ffplay is nice, but mpv has yt-dlp integration, and supports addons (love me some nice sponsorblock integration)
I like how ffplay treats the entire video as a progress bar. I can right-click anywhere to do precision seeking.
It's also very extensible through bash and other ffmpeg tools. I have it set up as a script on my system that scans the video file first with ffprobe to get the mean audio level of the file, then adjust it based on the universal volume level I have set when it opens with the player, so nothing ends up too loud or too quiet.
Piping yt-dlp output into ffplay is pretty simple too, but I prefer caching downloads to my Video directory first rather than watching them directly from my RSS reader.
yt-dlp also has sponsorblock support, btw.
yt-dlp also has sponsorblock support, btw.
didn't know that, deff will check it out
My only problem it can't fully play high quality flacs, still using it tho
I guess these exist because GTK makes it easy to build sleek apps that do the basic function well, but the road to a more serious app with all the features people generally expect takes a thousand more issues.
Then they switch to Qt and realize that VLC and Haruna (a mpv frontend) already cover the bases.
When I switched from Windows the biggest problem by far was finding a good replacement for MPC-HC. VLC just feels clunky and mpv itself is just a cli app, not what a fresh Linux user is looking for. I did end up settling on Haruna since it has options that get me closer to MPC-HC than any other player.
Now that I am more familiar with Wine I am curious if MPC-HC would hold up.
VLC Criticism
have you tried mpc-qt? i heard it's pretty good. mpc-hc (the windows program) hasn't been developed for 9 years now, i don't think it's a good idea..
nice, i'm glad it's still being developed. it seems like there's also another fork named mpc-be.
You linked a fork.
Yes? That's open source for you.
I remember the days where mplayer was the only one that could get through semi corrupt 800MB DivX'es with only minor audio sync problems.
Today, I use MPV to handle the most screwed video files
vlc for the win
In all seriousness though, Cine is pretty nice.
*fewer
this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
262 points (97.8% liked)
linuxmemes
29751 readers
1939 users here now
Hint: :q!
Sister communities:
Community rules (click to expand)
1. Follow the site-wide rules
- Instance-wide TOS: https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
- Lemmy code of conduct: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/code_of_conduct.html
2. Be civil
- Understand the difference between a joke and an insult.
- Do not harrass or attack users for any reason. This includes using blanket terms, like "every user of thing".
- Don't get baited into back-and-forth insults. We are not animals.
- Leave remarks of "peasantry" to the PCMR community. If you dislike an OS/service/application, attack the thing you dislike, not the individuals who use it. Some people may not have a choice.
- Bigotry will not be tolerated.
3. Post Linux-related content
- Including Unix and BSD.
- Non-Linux content is acceptable as long as it makes a reference to Linux. For example, the poorly made mockery of
sudoin Windows. - No porn, no politics, no trolling or ragebaiting.
- Don't come looking for advice, this is not the right community.
4. No recent reposts
- Everybody uses Arch btw, can't quit Vim, <loves/tolerates/hates> systemd, and wants to interject for a moment. You can stop now.
5. π¬π§ Language/ΡΠ·ΡΠΊ/Sprache
- This is primarily an English-speaking community. π¬π§π¦πΊπΊπΈ
- Comments written in other languages are allowed.
- The substance of a post should be comprehensible for people who only speak English.
- Titles and post bodies written in other languages will be allowed, but only as long as the above rule is observed.
6. (NEW!) Regarding public figures
We all have our opinions, and certain public figures can be divisive. Keep in mind that this is a community for memes and light-hearted fun, not for airing grievances or leveling accusations. - Keep discussions polite and free of disparagement.
- We are never in possession of all of the facts. Defamatory comments will not be tolerated.
- Discussions that get too heated will be locked and offending comments removed. Β
Please report posts and comments that break these rules!
Important: never execute code or follow advice that you don't understand or can't verify, especially here. The word of the day is credibility. This is a meme community -- even the most helpful comments might just be shitposts that can damage your system. Be aware, be smart, don't remove France.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS