OK, whats the deal with VLC in Windows 7?!

I've been looking for solutions to this problem and lurking these, and other, forums for a while hoping for a magic bullet but VLC still has worse playback than WMP12. I don't mind for most things but some files are stubborn or need to be played in VLC, when this happens I lose out on quality. Has anyone got a concrete answer for why this is happening and a solution now or on the horizon?

Picture is usually slightly pixellated, washed out and sometimes even choppy in VLC but plays fine in WMP12. I thought it would be best to visually represent the problem so here you go:



Has anyone got any ideas how I can fix this problem or should I find another player for those files which WMP can't handle?

Cheers,
Rhys

hi RhysG, and welcome to sevenforums, you'll like it here...

i used to use vlc for years and years, until i discovered kmplayer.

so far it's played everything i've thrown at it, including files that vlc baulked at.

you don't need to install any codecs, but can use external ones if you want.

give it a try!

ok, try right-clicking in the main video window, options >> preferences >> video processing

i don't know how yours is set, but try either vmr9 renderless or enhanced video renderer

also have you got the latest drivers for your video card?

good luck!

When I used Windows XP SP2, VLC did that for me as well. I did a comparison with VLC vs MPC and i got results the same as in your screenshots. So I'm thinking it's just a problem with VLC.

Both samples don't look so great to me. It looks like a 1cd XviD rip. (Am I right?) The only reason you're complaining about VLC is because it is brighter, possibly sharper in the comparison and it's showing you the defects in the encode easier.

In the samples, VLC's brightness seems closer to what it should be than WMP.

Get a good rip or source material to justify comparison.

Try PowerDVD. You'll enjoy it. Or if you're looking to employ filtering (shaders) to lessen the block noise, try Media Player Home Cinema.

I have the same problem with my new system (video card is ATI 4770) windows 7 Final OEM and I noticed that VLC is very pixelated and I try changing the Rendering output and it works with DirectX but I loose the AERO theme while the video is playing..

I read so many different opinion about this problem. Video driver (I have the latest one) software version (I have the latest one) windows 7 bug.. etc.. I have no clue.. so far i'm using the directX output rendering and it works but I still find the quality in XP better ! hopfully a true fix soon...

Sp3kt3r said:

I have the same problem with my new system (video card is ATI 4770) windows 7 Final OEM and I noticed that VLC is very pixelated and I try changing the Rendering output and it works with DirectX but I loose the AERO theme while the video is playing..

I read so many different opinion about this problem. Video driver (I have the latest one) software version (I have the latest one) windows 7 bug.. etc.. I have no clue.. so far i'm using the directX output rendering and it works but I still find the quality in XP better ! hopfully a true fix soon...

hi Sp3kt3r, and welcome to sevenforums,

try opengl output with vlc - you won't lose your aero....

Thx for the welcome :)

You are right.. OpenGL doesn't turn off Aero but with OpenGL my standard resolution DivX movie are worst than DirectX out. The best rendering it's with WMP12. I don't know which rendering output he use but for regular divX he beats everything.