Windows Media Player alternative for Windows 10

[2is]

Since WMP has been removed from Windows 10, I need to find a good alternative. I know VLC is among the most popular ones but I've found it's video quality to be significantly worse than WMP. It also didn't seem as capable when it came to hardware decoding as WMP. What other good alternatives are out there?

 

[OlyAR15]

WMP has not been removed from win 10.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Yes WMP is still a part of windows 10 so don't fret about not being able to play your videos.

 

[SimMike2]

He probably means Windows Media Center. So people who have upgraded, and used WMC in the machine before upgrading, is WMC completely gone in Windows 10?

 

[2is]

Ahh, I see my problem. I've upgraded two computers from Windows 8.1 to 10 but one of them was running Windows 8.1 Pro N which does not include the media player features, though I did have the media pack installed on it, which appears to not have made it's way to the Windows 10 install. My other Windows 10 install has WMP.

 

[nenforcer]

Media Player Classic is the best alternative to VLC out there

https://mpc-hc.org

support going all the way back to Windows XP SP3.

 

[Black Octagon]

VLC has bad image quality???

 

[Anubis]

MPCHC or PotPlayer

 

[2is]

VLC has bad image quality???

Compared to WMP the video is washed out. At least to my eyes it is.

 

[Black Octagon]

Compared to WMP the video is washed out. At least to my eyes it is.

Interesting

 

[TeknoBug]

VLC Or Potplayer

 

[JeffMD]

VLC is wierd, on the one hand it is based off FFMpeg libraries like everything else these days, but I too tend to find that there is a quality drop in video. On the other hand as a stand alone player it a) handles the most formats in a single install barnone, and b) handles severely broken and corrupt video and audio files. Back in the p2p download days like eMule, I ran into a number of files that were less than %100 complete and VLC is the only thing that will play them in that state.

VLC used to have crap dvd support but rescently I installed it or my parents when their dvd player crapped out and it performed wonderfully, so kudos to that.

With all that said, MY preference for quality video playback is MPC, or more specific the CCCP bundle that contains the additional software for full subtitle support and LAV configuration.

 

[cmdrdredd]

He probably means Windows Media Center. So people who have upgraded, and used WMC in the machine before upgrading, is WMC completely gone in Windows 10?

Yes Windows Media Center is removed. The installer warns you of this at the beginning.

 

[escrow4]

VLC is wierd, on the one hand it is based off FFMpeg libraries like everything else these days, but I too tend to find that there is a quality drop in video. On the other hand as a stand alone player it a) handles the most formats in a single install barnone, and b) handles severely broken and corrupt video and audio files. Back in the p2p download days like eMule, I ran into a number of files that were less than %100 complete and VLC is the only thing that will play them in that state.

VLC used to have crap dvd support but rescently I installed it or my parents when their dvd player crapped out and it performed wonderfully, so kudos to that.

With all that said, MY preference for quality video playback is MPC, or more specific the CCCP bundle that contains the additional software for full subtitle support and LAV configuration.

CCCP codecs packs (and all codec packs) are 2005 trash. Don't bother. MPC-HC has built in LAV decoder and can hardware accelerate via DXVA 2 and QuickSync including 4K/x265.

OP, Foobar2000 for audio, MPC-HC for video.

 

[biostud]

OP, Foobar2000 for audio, MPC-HC for video.

Same here.