What is everyone using to play movies with (for those using the PC based player approach)?

I dont really stick with one, but if someone said you can only have one, I would pick media player classic. Its free, it has a good group of people behind it and it it can use just about any plug in or post processing scheme you want. Plays very well with FDshow if thats your game too.

I know this a brainless feature...but the family loves the idea that once you go Fullscreen all you have to do is hit the spacebar and the movie pauses. Hit it again and it continues...
Easy and painless. Makes for good popcorn breaks.

Some of the choices you will see are going to be based on simple "Cool factor and interface preferences"...In the end, as long as you are happy with it, life is good.

for me VLC is by far the most reliable. i have an old slow laptop with only 512mb RAM but it never hickups when playing, even if i'm watching and surfing at the same time. realplayer and quicktime have problems all the time, even quicktime pro

Right now I am using PowerDvd because of the Hd-Dvd and Blu-Ray capability.

But I am thinking of using Arcsoft Total Media and see if it has better "fill screen" options.

Windows Media Player can decode surround sound. Otherwise I would use Apple's DVD Player... or Winamp if I could get a DVD decoder to work.

I signed up with a free graboid account. It has movies that are still in the theaters that I watch with my projector. Anyway it uses the vlc player and it always does a good job with movies. It loads fast even on my slow laptop and hasn't let me down yet. (It is also free)

Another thing that bears mentioning about the Classic is that its a self contained EXE. So even if you dont have install rights, you can still use it.

VLC has served me well in the past and nothing quites beats the cool factor of streaming a vid to your kids computer..

I really like MPC with the K-lite pack but my codecs keep getting fubar'ed so I end up using VLC (on my main comp) and I get an error like "cannot gererate pin graph" . MPC works great on the Projector because of it's limited programs (I assume)
Does anyone else have this problem with MPC?

I try never to use Codec paks. Too much chance of someone putting in something you dont want or need. I stick with the basics and install only the Codecs I need. I had an error like that once but it was related to AviSynth and processing using the CCE.

Direct show uses a "filter chain" linking each one up in a series. They all do different things, but they are connected by "pins". Chances are the codec pack replaced a file with an older or unsupported one breaking your "pin" on your chain. "Cant generate pin graph" means that a link or pin is broken because its expecting a certain entry point on one of the filters but cant find it.

Codek Paks....WAY too risky to even consider for me. I have seen them reduce a machine to totally crippled.

I use VLC regularly for video/audio.Winamp when strictly listening to audio.Both have served me well with no issues.

I have been using geexbox on an old PC (800mhz p3) with a windows mediacenter remote for a while.
I have it hooked up to an old 15" LCD panel.
It lets me do Post Processing.
I have a cheap software tuner card installed & feed my media extender into that from my server.
I can browse my media server also or play videos from a DVD. (using a different remote)

It's installed on an old laptop HD but I can put it on a CF card or boot it live from a DVD containing the movies.


Otherwise I use media player classic on my windows system

I love Itunes! It works with everything I use: Music, podcasts , tv shows and movies!

I have been using "The Core Media Player", I watch mostly anime on the computer,
shame the "The Core Media Player" has not been updated since 2006

For DVDs I use "Media Player Classic" the rest of the DVD players out there don't
seam to like dual monitor setups, second monitor is my projector,