Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Posted: 01 Jan 2011 03:28 AM PST

If you’ve recently switched to OS X from Windows, or if you use both platforms regularly, you will notice that a lot of the video you played with ease on Windows does not play on OS X.

Apple includes QuickTime as the default video viewer on OS X, but it cannot handle a wide variety of video codecs, so you will inevitably need to find an additional video player. There are two video players on OS X that rival QuickTime, and seem to play any video you throw at them. They are VLC and Movist.

VLC

VLC has been around for a while and is well known. Many people have replaced both Windows Media Player and QuickTime on OS X and Windows with VLC. It is a mature Open Source application, and is very stable.

We have yet to come across a video file that was not damaged which VLC could not play. You don’t have to seek external codec packs for VLC to play specific types of video like you would with Windows Media Player or QuickTime. You get everything in a well-designed, portable application.

Movist

Movist is a very new application, and has been billed as a replacement for VLC, which is in danger due to a lack of volunteer developers. The Movist UI is more Mac-like than VLC interface. Any difference in the playback quality between Movist and VLC is indistinguishable. The video is clear and smooth, and the sound is no better or worse than the sound on VLC.

Both applications have essentially the same controls, but Movist allows you to play video as the Desktop Background (Command+B). If you have to play a demo video, you can have it play in the background while people continue to use the computer in the foreground.

Movist is more advanced than VLC in terms of playback. You have a lot more options for moving the video forward and back, and you can play the video frame by frame, or play it slower or faster than normal without jumping into a fast-forward speed. These granular controls will allow you to see more detail in the videos you watch.

Movist is surprisingly stable and well-outfitted for such a new application, and it does have the promise of continued future development. Since both of these applications are free and don’t take up much space, we recommend that you try both of them out.

Copyright © 2007
Online Tech Tips.
Aseem Kishore (digitalfingerprint: a59a56dce36427d83e23b501579944fcakmk1980 (209.85.224.89) )

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Alternatives to QuickTime on OS X