Who is going to use the VLC Media Player app for Windows 8?

Martin Brinkmann
Jan 25, 2014
Windows, Windows 8
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14

vlc-media-player-windows-8 VLC Media Player is without doubt one of the most popular media players out there right now. It offers incredible out-of-the box support for the majority of audio and video formats that you will come across on the Internet or locally, and an impressive set of other features that let you tweak, change and modify how video or audio is played on your system.

You may have also heard that the VLC guys are working on a Windows 8 application port of VLC, which they decided to do after they ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for it.

The project was funded successfully on December 29, 2012, and VLC has been working on the implementation ever since.

A first partially-working version of the VLC Media Player app for Windows 8 was submitted by the team to Microsoft which got rejected because of audio related issue that crashed the app.

The team has been working on that bug ever since, while work continued on revamping the interface of the player.

While the team continues its work on fixing the audio bug, new screenshots of the user interface of the app have been published by it as well.

Who is going to use it?

Whenever I see a new project to bring desktop software to Windows 8's "Modern UI", I wonder who is this done for. Mozilla has been working on a Firefox port for Windows 8 for example for some time, and I cannot come up with reasons to use it when it is done.

The situation is slightly different in regards to VLC Media Player. VLC, unlike Mozilla, intends to bring the player to PCs running Intel or AMD chipsets first, and then in a second step, to Windows RT as well.

I can see the use of a new media player that is compatible with the Windows RT platform. Since you cannot install desktop programs on it, you are limited to apps offered in Windows Store, and the programs that Microsoft integrated into the system.

For desktop systems on the other hand, I cannot really see any use. The core reason here is that the desktop version of VLC Media Player is available as well, and judging from experience, will be way more powerful than the apps version.

I'm talking about functionality here mainly, but also usability unless you happen to use a touch interface.

You can run videos in full screen using the desktop app, just like the app-version of VLC Media Player will run in full screen.

What you cannot do with the app right now is change the video player size. Sure, you can snap it to one side of the screen, and maybe it will come with presets to change the player size, but a window gives you way more control over it than an app can.

This may change in the future, if Microsoft allows Windows Store apps to be run on the desktop in windows. For now, it is a serious limitation.

I can see its uses in the future, once it got ported so that it runs on ARM devices as well. It may also be an option for touch-screen users, or users who prefer to run the Modern UI app for whatever reason.

Closing Words

Don't get me wrong. I think it is a good thing that VLC is porting the media player to Windows 8. I also think that Mozilla should do it. Giving users choice is always a good thing, and bringing something to the platform does not take away anything from users who do not like it or do not want to use it.

I'm pretty certain that I won't be using those apps though, apart from testing them for reviews. What about you? Are there situations where you prefer to run an app on Windows 8?

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Comments

  1. Dan Donx said on January 15, 2023 at 10:29 am
    Reply

    What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?

    Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.

    If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.

  2. Dexter said on January 15, 2023 at 11:14 am
    Reply

    5. Rufus
    6. Ventoy

    PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.

    1. cdr said on January 15, 2023 at 3:32 pm
      Reply

      I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.

  3. sv said on January 15, 2023 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.

    ps…. time travelling?
    written. Jan 15, 2023
    Updated • Jan 13, 2023

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 16, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.

  4. Anonymous said on January 16, 2023 at 8:24 am
    Reply

    Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.

  5. basingstoke said on January 16, 2023 at 11:18 am
    Reply

    I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:

    1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)

    2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)

    3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””

    4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows

    5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss

    Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:

    6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now

    Have I missed any group off this list?

    1. Heinz Strunk said on September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm
      Reply

      You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.

      Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.

  6. ilev said on August 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update

    1. EP said on August 24, 2023 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      only from windows update though
      KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site

  7. Anonymous said on August 24, 2023 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.

    2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.

    3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.

    This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
    Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.

    Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.

  8. john said on August 24, 2023 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.

    1. John G. said on August 25, 2023 at 12:08 pm
      Reply

      Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.

  9. EP said on August 25, 2023 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215

  10. EP said on August 29, 2023 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    check out the following recent articles:

    Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
    https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/

    BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/

  11. Leonard Britvolli said on August 30, 2023 at 10:33 pm
    Reply

    While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.

  12. sembrador said on September 5, 2023 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.

  13. EP said on September 6, 2023 at 11:55 am
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):

    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277

  14. Raphael Benzo said on September 24, 2023 at 9:52 pm
    Reply

    I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
    Tank you for your help

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