VLC update adds new audio core, hardware decoding and more

[Jos]

The VideoLan Organization has released a major update to its popular open-source, cross-platform VLC media player software. Among the highlights in version 2.1.0 are a new audio core, hardware decoding and encoding, initial support for Ultra-HD video formats, advanced subtitles and improved efficiency.

The mentioned audio core rewrite makes it possible to support higher sample rates, introduces better volume management, new channel layouts and new outputs. Hardware assisted encoding and decoding makes its debut on OS X 10.6+, Android Jelly Bean and GNU/Linux platforms, while on Windows support is expanded to include Intel QuickSyncVideo, which is built-into 4th generation “Haswell” Intel Core processors.

The update adds support for more than a dozen video codecs and improves the current ones, further building upon its reputation of being able to play anything you throw at it. VideoLAN has also updated its Android and iOS ports of VLC, now offering support for far more devices than in the past, releasing new "partial ports" of VLC for Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT as well. And that’s just scratching the surface. VLC 2.1.0 offers dozens more new features in all areas including input and devices, mobile and for developers.

To top it all off the company says more than 1,000 bugs were also fixed. You can check out the rest of the highlights here, the full change log on Video LAN’s site, or just pick your platform below to get the latest version.

Download: VLC 2.1.0 for Windows | Mac OS X | iOS | Android

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https://www.techspot.com/news/54144-vlc-update-adds-new-audio-core-hardware-decoding-and-more.html

 

[t3chn0vamp]

It just keeps getting better and better...

 

[jephthah]

Its good but not suprise >>for .... such to happen//.eh..

 

[captainawesome]

As if we didn't love them enough already

 

[Jad Chaar]

Best Open Source software IMO.

 

[EEatGDL]

Yep, I can't complain a bit about it. Better than a lot of free or paid media players out there both in support and stability.

 

[Arris]

Hopefully this stops crashing my PC when using a USB sound card. Although I primarily blame Windows 8 or Asus, no one wants to address it. Have to start a video and then plug in the sound card to stop it happening. VLC has been my go to video player for years though Love it.

 

[Guest]

Full outdated, buggy project, eating CPU like a shark, ugly quality

 

[Guest]

I had APU E-350 laptop... 8-bit video decode just fine with GPU support, even for 1080p

but... can it decode 10-bit .mkv format ? I mean DXVA for 10-bit...

 

[PC EliTiST]

Full outdated, buggy project, eating CPU like a shark, ugly quality

Seriously, that's the case... Both, MPC-HC and especially Potplayer are miles better in terms of efficiency and stability.

 

[Guest]

Full outdated, buggy project, eating CPU like a shark, ugly quality

Seriously, that's the case... Both, MPC-HC and especially Potplayer are miles better in terms of efficiency and stability.

Agreed. I had issues playing broken video files in VLC. This is surprising considering that VLC's main strengths is to play files that are corrupted or incomplete. PotPlayer, on the other hand, handles those videos effortlessly. Not to mention it handles GPU acceleration as well unlike VLC's GPU acceleration which is broken despite the fact I've submitted this bug request countless of times since VLC incorporated this feature.

 

[LNCPapa]

I had APU E-350 laptop... 8-bit video decode just fine with GPU support, even for 1080p

but... can it decode 10-bit .mkv format ? I mean DXVA for 10-bit...

It definitely can. I just tested a 1080p 10-bit mkv and it played back flawlessly. 13% CPU and 11% on one GPU. The other GPU stayed at 1%. I stopped the video and everything dropped to 1%

 

[ET3D]

Thanks. I didn't realise VLC 2.1 was out. Checked a short while ago. The thing which bothers me the most is the way interlaced DVD's look. I'll see if 2.1 fixes that.