VLC Media Player 2.0.1 Released, Feature and Security Update

If you have been on the official VLC website in the past 12 hours or so, you may have noticed that an update was posted for the popular VLC media player. The update brings the version of the player to 2.0.1, and while it is already available for download at the official project website, it has not yet been picked up by the player's internal update checker. Update notifications are likely being rolled out gradually, which means that while VLC users may receive update notifications right now, others may have to wait a bit longer before they get them.
VLC 2.0.1 is a security and feature update, which makes it an important update for all VLC users. The version replaces VLC 2.0 which has been downloaded more than 15 million times since its release on February 18, 2012.
The VLC Security Advisory page lists two security fixes for March 2012 which both have been integrated into the update. The first resolves an issue in VLC's Real RTSP support, the second a stack overflow in VLC's MMS support.
The VLC development team has added several new features to VLC 2.0.1 that include support for MxPEG files and streams, limited support for Blu-Ray disc menus, and additional interface customization features for Mac OS X users.
About 120 bugs have been fixed in the new VLC version. The most prominent fixes include a fix for playback from splitted RAR archive files, MKV support fixes, and http live streaming support fixes.
VLC Media Player 2.0.1 is as usually available for all supported operating systems and as a source code download.
The developers are still working on improving Blu-Ray disc playback support in the media player, and limited support for menus is a step in the right direction.
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When I went to install, I noticed there is an EULA about OpenCandy, which I seem to remember Spybot rates as some sort of adware. There seems to be no option to avoid this, unlike the toolbar install options, which need to be kept an eye on if fully installing. Just Google it for more info.
Thanks for brining this to my attention. So Open Candy scans the PC for installed software to include an optional software offer during the installation? Do you know if the information are at any time transferred and recorded by the company?
Re. OpenCandy. I aborted the install when I saw this, so I’ve no idea how it works or what (if any) information is phoned home.
Further:
This article gives a bit more info:
http://cranialsoup.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/opencandy-new-kind-of-adwarespyware.html
Seems to be a bit more pervasive than I first thought. There is a list of applications that stand accused of installing it, including some well-known names such as WinAmp.
Also more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCandy
SpyBot found it on one of my three machines but I’ve never seen anything happen that could be attributed to it, so allowed it to be deleted. Also found two OpenCandy folders on one other PC. One was empty and one contained a text file entitled “Why is this here?”, which I deleted but gave, more-or-less the same explanation as seen in their blurb
Trying the cranialsoup link above gave me the following warning. It might be nothing but I thought I’d mention it. I didn’t proceed.
“cranialsoup.blogspot.co.uk contains content from outtolunchjazz.blogspot.com, a site known to distribute malware. Your computer might catch a virus if you visit this site.
Google has found that malicious software may be installed onto your computer if you proceed. If you’ve visited this site in the past or you trust this site, it’s possible that it has just recently been compromised by a hacker. You should not proceed. Why not try again tomorrow or go somewhere else?”
Martin thanks for bringing that to our attention. Could be a hacked site that is used for the purpose.
Note that .NET 4 is said to be required.
I used this for the past 7 months and it works great and gets the job done i love it’s interface and simplicity an it is surely powerful if you check out their homepage or their unique features which are an added bonus
How fast does it burn a dvd once you pay? It takes at least 40 minutes for a movie right now before payment.
For those of you who want to avoid spyware and have more control over the DVD — yet still convert video files easily, check out DVD Flick. An open source program I’ve been using for years, no problem:
http://www.dvdflick.net/
Hey Martin, Zeus is right, DVD Flick is a first class program, I’ve been using it for years also and it works perfectly, no ad-ware and its open source.
I have used DVD Flick for quite some time for that purpose. Recently though it would not start throwing an error message instead which I could not get resolved. That’s why I looked for alternatives and found this program to be quite good for the purpose.
yo Martin, for my day to day job I use convertxtodvd which is great. As free software, this one seems good for friends and relatives. Does it include subs too while converting to DVD?
Yes you can add subtitles for each video individually if you want.
I tried this program but it turned out that it messed up videos completely, like stretching or weird compression etc. The concept is great but above mentioned issues put me off.
I did exactly what you said but when I played the dvd it didn’t have any audio. I’ve tried many different things, but it still doesn’t come with audio. Do you have any idea how to fix this?
If you can find an older version of Freemake Video Converter (older than but including ver. 2.3.4), it won’t have the OpenCandy stuff or nag you to install toolbars. It works great, you’ll just be missing the bleeding edge updates.
If you want to install Freemake without the Candy ‘add-on’ then you need to install through command line using /nocandy extension. It will still show you the Eula for Candy but will not install it. If you dont know what i’m talking then probably best not do, but it does work, honest!
what does it mean if it says convert instead of burn
It means that the video format that you have needs to be converted before it can be burned.
The earliest version of Freemake Video Converter, I used was version 3.2.1.4 from January 2013.
Can any one please tell me about the Top Menu that was in use back then? Were there 3 options: Motion Menu; Text Only and No Menu ? Basically I am wanting to find out if Text Only Menu was possible back then?
I know that by March 2013 Freemake changed the style of their menu’s and Text Only was one option alongside coloured icon templates.
Nine times out of ten I can burn a full 5 hours of videos to the Freemake Video converter, and contrary to what others say, the finished results of copy quality are excellent!
However, I occasionally come across a movie with very fast, or ‘busy’ imagery which comes out with tiny Mosaic or pixilations. I am told this is a Bitrate problem(?)
Is there any way I can alter the Bitrate to improve matters, please? (It is important to have approx. 5 hours on the disc, so I do not want to miss anything out.)
Please tell me what to do and what kind of Bitrate figure I should need?
WHEN IT COMES TO BURNING THE VIDEOS TO A DVD, IT GOES THROUGH THE MOTIONS, BUT THE DVD NEVER GETS BURNT.