Tweaking VLC Media Player.

VLC player is a convenient application for playing media files of any type and format. Speed ​​of operation, fully Russified menu, convenient location of the navigation bar and settings tabs - this is main advantages of the program. In addition to the standard playback option, the player can perform a huge number of interesting functions, which many users do not even know about.

Specifically, in VLC you can:

• Watch streaming videos or create your own broadcasts;
• Download files from the Internet;
• Record video from your computer screen;
• Trim videos or audio tracks;
• Apply visual effects to an image.

Let's look at how to use VLC media Player using the latest version of the application as an example.

Playing content

You can open a video or song in VLC by clicking on the desired file in the operating system explorer. On the menu " Open with» select the desired program and wait until playback starts. Also, files can be opened from the main Player window.

You can open a video in several ways:

1. Select in hard disk space;
2. Open folder. Thus, all audio and video that are in the directory will be played one by one;
3. Open URL to watch streaming video;
4. Play an optical disc or flash drive.

Setting up effects

To configure sound and visual effects in the Player, use the key shown in the figure below. Then adjust the necessary parameters in the window that opens:

Player appearance

To customize the interface, click on the “Tools” tab and select “ Change interface" In the window that opens, you can change the appearance of the buttons, their location and name.

"Hotkeys

If you want to learn how to use VLC at a more advanced level, take a look at the list of keyboard shortcuts. Using them will speed up your work in the Player. List of combinations " hotkeys" can be viewed in the window " Tools»-« Simple settings».

Thanks to the step-by-step instructions in this article, you can easily install VLC Media Player on any of your desktop or mobile devices, be it a computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet. To install the media player you need an installation file. You can download it for any modern operating system on the website of the developer - VideoLAN. Naturally, you can download it from other sources, but this is a bit risky.

How to install VLC on a Windows computer

1. Download the installation file from the official website using the " Download VLC».
   
2. Depending on your Internet browser settings, the file will either start downloading automatically or you will be prompted to select a location to save it and click on the “ Save».
   
3. Now find VLC exe file in the place where you saved it. Initiate launch by double-clicking the left mouse button or touchpad on it.
4. You will be prompted to select a language. If it is indicated correctly, then simply click “ OK».
5. The installer will open. Then you just need to follow his instructions, selecting the desired parameters and confirming your choice by clicking on the “ Further».
   
6. When you reach the section " Components of the installed program", make sure that in the paragraph " Binding to file types» are ticked. This will allow you to open all media files using this player, that is, make it the default video and audio player for these formats.
   
7. The installation will be completed in literally 1 minute. If you want to get started right away, do not uncheck the " Launch..." Just click " Ready».
   
8. The player will be open, and you can immediately start watching a movie or video, listening to music or Internet radio, or initiate your own video or audio broadcast.

If you still have any questions, take a look This Video.

Installing the player on an Android device

Installing VLC media Player on a gadget with Android OS is even easier, because you can install the player right away from the application store, rather than first downloading it and then starting the installation process.

• Click on the button that appears “ Open» on Google Play.
• Find the installed VLAN player in the application directory on your device and click on it.

Installing VLC on other platforms occurs in a standard way, that is, if you have experience installing a program for any purpose on a specific OS, then no problems should arise.

• DefinitionVLCplayer.
• Key FeaturesVLC media player.
• Where can I downloadVLC player?
• InstallationVLC player for viewingIPTV on the computer.
• SettingsVLC player for viewingIPTV on the computer.
• Conclusions about useVLC player.

Definition of VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is a multi-format video player that can confidently be called one of the best free solutions for watching TV and radio broadcasts and playing multimedia files. VLC player is open source. This makes it possible, if you have programming skills, to make changes, additions and improve an existing program.

Key FeaturesVLC media player

VLC player has a built-in set of codecs that allow it to play video files in all existing formats. It can also play damaged files - those not fully downloaded using uTorrent, recovered after deletion. It can be used to listen to audio CDs, watch DVD videos, play streaming videos and online radio. It is possible to record streaming audio and video on a computer. VLC Media Player can act as a media server and broadcast audio and or video streams within a local network.

Where can I download VLC Media Player?

VLC Media Player can be downloaded from the official website. You can select a VLC Media Player build suitable for your software (or by clicking on link).

To do this, enter http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ in the address bar.

Press the “Enter” key and we go to the official website of VLC media player. As you can see on the main page on the right there is a “Download VLC” button. By clicking on it you will download the 32-bit version for Windows.

You can choose a VLC player that suits your operating system. Personally, I will search for “Windows 7 x64”. To do this, on the first page of the site I find a section called Official Downloads of VLC media player. In it I select the “Windows” subsection and click “Download VLC for Windows” (English Get VLC for Windows).

A new page opens in front of me, on which I find “Download VLC for Windows x64”. Next, select “VLC 64 bits for Windows 64 bits”.

And again a new page opens in which you need to select the appropriate file type. The type of file extension that I will download, so as not to miscalculate, is with the EXE extension. Namely vlc-2.1.5-win64.exe.

Installing VLC Media Player to watch IPTV on your computer

After downloading, I run the file vlc-2.1.5-win64.exe.

We select the language in which the interface of the installed VLC program will be. For me, the most convenient language is Russian (English Russian) and click “OK”.

This will launch the VLC Media Player installation wizard.

To continue the installation, click the “Next” button. After which the VLC Media Player installation wizard informs me of the terms of use of this product.

Having read everything, I once again click “Next”. And in the next installer menu I select the components that will be installed on my computer. For myself, I choose everything that the installer offered me. The program does not take up much space and let it be as functional as possible from the initial installation.

The next thing I do is select the folder in which VLC Media Player will be installed. When all the preparatory steps have been completed, I click the “Install” button.

After the installation wizard has completed its work. Click the “Finish” button, after which VLC player is installed and ready for use.

Setting up VLC Media Player to watch IPTV on your computer

VLC Media Player has a simple and intuitive interface. It has many custom settings, so you can easily make it comfortable and attractive for yourself.

The main functions that we will need at this stage of getting to know VLC Media Player:

1.Opening a list of TV channels, a file with the extension “.m3u”. The list of TV channels, also known as playlist, must first be downloaded from the official resource of your Internet provider. In order to open the playlist, you need to click on the “Media” button in the running VLC Media Player. It's the find button in the top left corner.

Then everything proceeds as if opening a regular multimedia file. We find on our computer the folder in which we saved the playlist and open it. There is a playlist.m3u file there. select it and click open.

After a few seconds, a picture of one of the TV channels should appear on your screen.

2.The second way to watch TV shows through VLC Media Player is to enter the playlist address. The playlist address, as well as the playlist itself, must be provided by the Internet provider. In order to add the address (URL) of the playlist, we open “Media”. In it we find a line called “Open URL...”

Then we register it manually, or copy it from the Internet provider’s resource and paste the playlist address.

You just need to wait a little and a picture of one of the playlist channels will appear on the screen.

Conclusions about using VLC Media Player

With VLC Media Player you can view - well, just anything - on your personal computer. It allows you to upload several playlists to create a list from them, this also applies to the URL. You can configure the sound to be stereo or surround and so on. It is possible to change the aspect ratio of video images 3 by 4, 16 by 10, 16 by 9 and many more options. You can also use teletext. You can record TV shows. Take instant pictures of the broadcast. And this is only a small percentage of all the functions of this wonderful player. In general, I wish you pleasant viewing.

Interest in the VLC player, developed by enthusiasts since 1996 as part of the VideoLAN project, is due to several reasons. Firstly, the mentioned product is extremely popular among free software supporters (the number of downloads exceeds 485 million!) and is available for all kinds of operating systems, including mobile ones. Secondly, not long ago there was a major release of a new build of the program, which has matured to version 2.0.x and received a lot of interesting functions. Finally, thirdly, for many users, VLC is still associated exclusively with a tool for watching video and listening to audio, the powerful filling of which allows you to solve much more interesting problems in practical terms. Today’s publication is devoted to a brief summary of them, equipped with an abundance of screenshots for greater clarity.

⇡ Using videos as a background for your work environment

One of the interesting features of the VLC player is the ability to output video directly to the desktop of the operating system. To activate multimedia wallpaper, the role of which can be played by your favorite movie, you should go to the advanced settings of the program and in the “Video” field, check the box next to the “Video on the desktop” item. After this, all that remains is to select a similar menu item in the main application window and make sure that the operations performed were beneficial to the cause.

⇡ Watching YouTube videos

It is well known that in order to view the content presented on the YouTube server, you need a browser with the Adobe Flash plugin installed or HTML5 support. If you don’t have an appropriate web browser at hand, the notorious VLC player can resolve the deadlock. The technique is simple: press Ctrl+N, copy the URL of the online video you like into the form for entering and click on the “Play” button. If you have a mediocre Internet channel, it would be a good idea to open a tab with additional parameters and adjust the amount of cache memory used when playing YouTube content. This kind of foresight will help you avoid annoying pauses during video playback.

⇡ Transcription of audio recordings

The issue of converting voice recordings into text format often baffles even experienced computer users: the corresponding software tools that simplify the solution of the problem are a big deal, and often they are of no use at all. In such cases, it is much more effective to use VLC with the “Step back”, “Step forward” and “Cycle A → B” keys placed on the toolbar through the interface settings. Using the mentioned controls, you can instantly rewind the recording ten seconds forward and backward and activate cyclic scrolling of selected sections of the audio file, which is useful when transcribing lectures, interviews, dictations of translators and other audio data.

Users with good memory can, instead of customizing the program interface, resort to the practical use of the player’s hot key system, which allows performing various actions, including rewinding the content being played on the computer. It should be noted that almost all VLC controls are duplicated by corresponding keyboard shortcuts, configurable depending on the user’s preferences.

⇡ Organization of streaming audio/video broadcasting

And this task can be handled using VLC. In order to use the player as a server for streaming multimedia content, you need to make a number of program settings, guided by this (in English) or this (in Russian) instructions. In particular, you will need to decide on the broadcast source, select the network protocol that will be used for online broadcasting, set the settings for transcoding data into a suitable format, and activate the transmission of the media stream to client machines. Since multimedia broadcasts impose very strict requirements on the bandwidth of communication channels, before deploying a video server, it would be correct to make sure that the Internet connection you are using is capable of withstanding a powerful flow of outgoing traffic.

⇡ Saving streaming content to a file

Since we are talking about organizing online broadcasting using VLC, it would be logical to mention the player’s ability to not only distribute content over the network, but also save streaming content broadcast by someone to disk, automatically converting it to the most preferred format. This operation is carried out by analogy with the method described above for viewing YouTube videos, with the only exception that after entering the URL you need to click not “Play”, but “Convert”. A window will open with settings for saving the input stream and parameters of the codecs that will be used to convert the data. After cleaning them up, you can, keeping in mind copyrights and copyrights, begin to “rob” the audio/video stream.

⇡ Taking screenshots from a video stream

Unlike a number of alternative media players, VLC includes special tools for creating snapshots of movies being played. There is no need to mess around with the Print Screen key, the operating system clipboard and graphic editors - just press Shift+S and the program will automatically write the selected frame to the computer disk in the specified directory. By default, images are saved in PNG format, which can be changed to JPG if desired.

⇡ Remote player control

Another documented but rarely used feature of VLC is the ability to remotely manipulate the program via the web interface. The beauty of it is that any computing device connected to a local network with an Internet browser on board, be it a smartphone or tablet, can act as a remote control. Those interested can personally see the flexibility of this tool by activating the remote control interface in the player settings and connecting to it through a browser. “Over the air” you can control almost all the main functions of the application: adjust the volume, control file playback and playlist, manipulate equalizer settings and other VLC parameters.

⇡ Assembling video puzzles

For those who like to while away their free time solving various kinds of puzzles and logic puzzles, VLC can also serve them well. No tricks or shamanic dances with a tambourine - just open a window with graphic effects, check the box next to the “Puzzle” item and get from the playing video a mosaic broken into many fragments, which must be assembled into a single whole. The difficulty of the game can be adjusted by increasing the rows and columns that make up the puzzle. Control is carried out by deftly moving elements with the mouse.

⇡ View photos

While designed for working with multimedia data, VLC copes well with other tasks. Thanks to built-in support for JPG, PNG, XCF, GIF, TIFF, LBM, PCX and Targa (TGA) graphic formats, the player can be used as a simple image viewer that perfectly complements the program's capabilities listed above.

It is hoped that the note we published will serve as good food for thought for all VLC users and, perhaps, will force someone to radically reconsider their attitude towards opensource solutions, which are often head and shoulders above commercial products. Both in terms of the quality of implementation, and in terms of the functionality carefully laid out by the developers.

To watch Internet television on Windows devices, a special player is often used IPTV Player . Its main alternative is its progenitor - the popular media player VideoLAN VLC , on the basis of which it was created IPTV Player, but with a different shell, functionally and organizationally adapted specifically for viewing IPTV. The latter, being, in fact, tailored to work with IPTV product "from the box", at the player VLC will win on many counts.

But these will be possibilities purely within the function IPTV. U VLC before IPTV Player there are only two advantages, but these are two serious advantages - cross-platform And versatility. Free VideoLAN VLC is a media player with a built-in set of codecs that can play almost any video and audio file format. This is a powerful, functional combine with a lot of settings and tools for working with media content, including setting up streaming. In this article we will look at the possibilities VideoLAN VLC in terms of viewing IPTV.

To view IPTV In addition to the player, you also need playlists IPTV– selections TV-channels that exist either as a web address or in a file format ".m3u". This is content that can be played at least VLC, at least with any other player that supports playback IPTV. Playlists with list TV-channels can be downloaded on the website of your provider, if he is a supplier IPTV, or on the Internet.

How to play a playlist IPTV by using VLC? VLC player allows you to do this in several ways.

1. Launch associated IPTV playlist files from Explorer

One way to open playlists IPTV by using VLC can be configured directly during installation of the player. At the stage of setting up associations VLC with specific file types you can specify the file format ".m3u", which will allow you to launch playlists IPTV in the player window directly from Windows Explorer or file manager by double clicking. To do this, you need to check the box in the column "Other", expand it, if necessary, uncheck other file formats, but be sure to check the format ".m3u". By the way, at this stage of installation VLC You can remove the preset checkboxes that associate this player with audio and video file formats. This is advice for those who already have everything configured in the system, and the interference of a new program in the current associations of media formats is undesirable.

If VLC already installed in the system, we use the usual method of assigning default programs. We do the same if the version Windows 10 will not want to recognize the right to open files of the format ".m3u" not with a standard audio player, but with a third-party program. On any of the files ".m3u" call context menu, select and in the graph "Application" via button "Change" We change the program to open files from Explorer by double clicking.

If files ".m3u" are already associated with another program and will more often open it and launch playlists IPTV from Windows Explorer using the context menu. VLC by default it is configured to integrate into the Windows Explorer context menu. If this setting is checked during installation VLC didn't clean, open playlists IPTV possible using direct player commands. Which is a couple of clicks faster than using the standard Windows command "To open with…".

2. Opening playlists inside VLC

Alternative ways to open playlist files IPTV– options inside the player VLC. Files ".m3u" You can drag and drop into the player window directly from Windows Explorer or a file manager.

You can also use the file opening function, launched by the Ctrl + O hotkeys or the menu item "Media - Open file".

3. Open the playlist web address

If the playlist IPTV exists in the form web-address, to open it, either press the hot keys Ctrl + N, or select the item in the menu.

In the window that opens, select a source in the column "Enter network address" paste the copied web-playlist address IPTV. Click.

In the future, you can open this playlist, without bothering with copying and pasting the web address, from the list of sources remembered by the VLC player. Select the item from the menu "Open from last" and indicate web-playlist address IPTV. Another way to simplify working with a playlist is in the form web-addresses – save it to one of the playlist formats supported by the player VLC. To do this, select the item in the menu "Save playlist as".

To ensure compatibility with others IPTV-players, the playlist can be saved in the same format ".m3u" .

4. List of TV channels

After opening the playlist file IPTV in any of the ways in the window VLC we'll see a broadcast of one of TV-channels – usually the first one on the list. Switch between TV-channels can be opened by displaying the contents of the playlist using a special button on the player toolbar at the bottom of the window.

For ease of switching between TV-channels in the full-screen mode of the player, the playlist display button that is initially absent from the toolbar in this mode can be organized using interface settings. Select from the menu.

In the window that appears, switch to the tab "Panel for full screen mode" and drag the playlist button to the other toolbar buttons.

When using other shells (skins) for player VLC access to the playlist display will be different accordingly.

5. Aspect Ratio and Cropping

Settings for the video being played are available in the player menu. Let's note a couple of them that will be useful in case of broadcasting TV-channel IPTV with a skewed image or mourning stripes on the sides - this is a change in aspect ratio (hotkey A) and framing (C key).

6. Set IPTV channel as default stream

VLC can be configured so that a specific thread IPTV turned on automatically when the player started. How to do it? Select from the menu "Settings" (or press hot keys Ctrl + P) . At the bottom of the settings window that opens, we need a column "Show settings", in it we select "All". Next, on the panel on the left, look for the settings section, switch to the panel on the right and paste the copied file into the field. web-playlist address IPTV. Save changes.

You can also configure a separate thread as the default TV-playlist channel IPTV by inserting it into the above field web-address. To do this, you first need to open the playlist file in a text editor, for example, in notepad Windows. But it's better to use a third-party editor like Notepad++ or AkelPad with syntax highlighting HTML . In a playlist file opened in this way, you can copy web-stream address of any of TV- list of channels.