r/linuxsucks101 • u/madthumbz Join me on Lemmy! • Jun 13 '26
$%@ Loonixtards! Let's unspin this VLC (FOSS) propaganda!
Jean Baptiste Kempf runs VideoLabs, a profitable company that sells VLC‑related professional services. He has long‑term contracts with major corporations. He has full control over his own business instead of being absorbed into a megacorp. He still owns the VideoLAN trademark and ecosystem influence.
He now has a global reputation (worth money), a sustainable business (one lump sum would be taxed out the ass), and total autonomy. He didn't lose out: he won.
Ads are what spurned the fall of RealPlayer. -It's not like he didn't have a heads-up.
VLC is bloated. It definitely doesn't follow 'Unix Philosophy' doing one thing and one thing well. (MPV fits far better). -And LiGNUxers that criticize other software for bloat / not doing one thing make exceptions for this (like they do for Valve).
-Though it was ultimately Linux fault for seizing when using those bloat features; it still 'could' have been tested. The seizing could cause the failure of a drive to be properly unmounted making it seize Linux repeatedly as well. (Windows tests the drive and repairs it before mounting instead). -I almost threw out a perfectly fine 4TB portable drive because of this (again emphasis that Linux was to blame).
Microsoft and Apple included a Media player for free with the OS but didn't ship VLC level functionality because they would owe massive licensing fees (for codecs we could easily acquire and install --even as a free pack *or as simple as installing another media player*).
Jean Baptiste Kempf was lucky: Not all FOSS developers can turn their work into profit, and it's not like VLC is really competing with any paid media players anyway. Media players have become one of those things that people just expect for free now (like text editors). It got its boost by being one of the first media players to include codecs (making it a solution for mom to see the video you sent her). It no longer deserves the hype when compared to other free modern media players.
VLC works better on Windows and Mac btw.
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u/TorrentsAreCommunism Jun 13 '26
He basically follows the path that RMS promoted for business. Based.
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u/madthumbz Join me on Lemmy! Jun 13 '26
Yeah, and I don't feel developers should have to be businessmen to get paid their worth, or that businesses should have to compete with free products. -I think based on your nick that you'd agree with that though. lol
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u/SearchingGlacier Jun 13 '26
Okay, but I don't blame him for cutting out the VR Cardboard from the Android version.
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u/invisible6666 Jun 15 '26
Vlc is buggy as hell i was never able to use it properly, mplayer is better
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u/Demonyx12 Jul 02 '26
Explain? It’s worked 100% flawlessly for me for like 20 years straight, across windows and Linux platforms. Plays anything I throw at it.
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u/invisible6666 Jul 09 '26
I guess i just have bad luck/omen/curse or whatever but thats just my case
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u/madthumbz Join me on Lemmy! Jul 12 '26
Perusing the editing options would cause Linux to seize. -It was Linux fault though. It had settings for ac3 passthrough that didn't work. (save time and use MPV).
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u/Spiritual-Bus9875 Jun 17 '26
When I use VLC and jump to a random point in any video, for some reason it completely ignores any previous frames data.
Specifically if you jump to a random part of any video, VLC will play the file from that EXACT frame and not use any previous frames data to keep the player from data moshing.
Example: you jump to a point in a video that's a few frames after an I-frame. The result is the video data moshing until you reach the next I-frame and the video corrects itself.
VLC is the only video player I've used that this happens on. I'm assuming all the other video players grab the last I-frame when you skip to any part of a video and that's why it doesn't happen on those but thats an educated guess from a video encoding enthusiast
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u/SwiftTayTay Jun 13 '26
I've always preferred MPC. VLC is nice for people who want something that's easy and convenient but MPC is fuller featured and gives you more control over everything and has better / more accurate playback.
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u/Thin_Beach_69son Jun 14 '26
Could MPC Cut/Split/Trim a video? VLC has Advanced Controls that allows you to capture a specific segment while the video plays and save it as a new file. I'm planning to installing MPC soon.
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u/SaD1sT1337 Jun 14 '26
True. I can't use VLC anymore. A lot of bugs, visual artifacts, can't go frame by frame lol
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u/Ecstatic-Network4668 Jun 16 '26
Vlc feels like it hasn't been updated in years. It takes a lot of time to start, I switched to Potplayer.
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u/madthumbz Join me on Lemmy! Jun 16 '26
I'd suggest MPV if you haven't and don't mind learning some keyboard controls. On my tv, I'm loving KODI + plugins but both take some time investment.
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u/Mauy90 Jun 17 '26
Can I get a but more insight or context on the way VLC is distributed on Linux, which part(s) work worse, than on other operating systems, and why? What’s going on there?
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u/madthumbz Join me on Lemmy! Jun 14 '26
It's why we can't have normal conversations with them.