The other day I was going through a box of old technology. Behind the CD-ROM copy of the Sierra Entertainment classic, the Incredible Machine, and a series of floppy disks for long forgotten version of Microsoft Word, I found a dusty CD-R simply labeled “videos.” After a double glance over my shoulders, I loaded the disc and delved into its contents.
Like the forgotten mediums of floppy disks and CD-ROMS I had uncovered that day, this disc was rife with video formats of the past: The Simpsons for QuickTime, my cousin’s wedding as a .wvm…far, far too many videos for RealPlayer. How, exactly, am I going to watch all of these?
Format wars aren’t new to the scene (VHS vs. Beta-Max is a classic example). Finding a technology that can handle multiple formats, however, is not so common. Luckily for us, a 1996 student project at a Parisian engineering school birthed what we know today as VLC media player. Version 1.0.0 of this packet based media player was released in 2009 and watching videos has never been so easy. Forget about formats and codecs — this application has handled any video or audio track that I’ve ever thrown at it.
It can stream half-downloaded files from P2P networks, bypass DVD region coding, play video from disc image files, track subtitles forwards and backwards by the millisecond, amplify audio past operating system limits; the list goes on and on to offer features for the most hardcore of users. VLC media is available for free at www.videolan.org.