UMPlayer - Cross-Platform Media Player
Free Media Players: An Overview
A wide array of high-quality, no-cost media players are readily available to provide both visual and auditory entertainment, irrespective of the computer or operating system being used.
Excellent, free options such as VLC – frequently regarded as the premier media player – and JetAudio, an alternative to iTunes, demonstrate that purchasing media player software is often unnecessary.
Introducing UMPlayer
Universal Media Player, commonly known as UMPlayer, represents another compelling entry into the media player landscape.
It leverages the MPlayer backend to handle virtually any media format you present to it. The application is designed to support all media types and consolidates several online services into a single desktop application.
Platform Availability
UMPlayer offers compatibility with various operating systems, including Windows (XP, Vista, and 7) and Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Debian, with binary packages available for each.
Currently, a version for Mac OS X is under development and anticipated to be released shortly.
The version utilized for this evaluation is 0.9, running on Ubuntu 10.10.
Features and Playback Capabilities
UMPlayer boasts extensive playback support due to its utilization of the powerful MPlayer backend. This allows the software to handle a wide array of digital formats natively, eliminating the necessity for installing additional codecs. It accommodates standard definition content, media from discs, and high-definition files.
Specifically, UMPlayer supports various containers, including Matroska video. As stated by the UMPlayer development team:
"It plays most MPEG/VOB, AVI, Ogg/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, RealMedia, Matroska, NUT, NuppelVideo, FLI, YUV4MPEG, FILM, RoQ, PVA files, supported by many native, XAnim, and Win32 DLL codecs. Users can enjoy VideoCD, SVCD, DVD, 3ivx, DivX 3/4/5, WMV and even H.264 movies."
The integration of MPlayer also provides a substantial number of output options. These include X11, OpenGL, and VESA, alongside numerous others. This broad compatibility extends to older graphics cards, making UMPlayer a viable option for older computer systems.
To enhance the viewing experience, MPlayer incorporates shadowed anti-aliased subtitles. It offers support for 12 distinct subtitle formats, including those found on DVDs, and a selection of fonts and scripts. This functionality mirrors that of VLC media player.
The program’s appearance is fully customizable through skinnable interfaces. Five skins are available immediately after installation. However, the official skins gallery offers limited choices, relying heavily on community-created skins for expanded options.
UMPlayer’s options menu provides extensive configuration possibilities. Users can adjust custom command line parameters and even force frame drops to maintain synchronization. However, most users will likely find the default settings sufficient for their needs.
Are you still undecided? Several additional features may convince you to switch from your current media player!
Integrated Online Features
A small search field located in the upper-right corner of the UMPlayer interface allows users to directly access content from both YouTube and the Winamp Shoutcast service. This facilitates the discovery of streaming videos and online radio broadcasts. While YouTube's performance can be inconsistent on certain systems, Shoutcast consistently functions without issue.
Search results from either platform are presented in a dedicated window. Selecting a result with a double-click instructs UMPlayer to initiate playback of the chosen video or radio stream. This provides a swift and convenient method for media discovery, and expanding the supported services to include platforms like Hulu and Vimeo would significantly enhance its utility.
Subtitle Support
UMPlayer offers the capability to automatically locate and download subtitles. To utilize this feature, open the desired media file, navigate to the Subtitles menu, and select Find Subtitles on OpenSubtitles.org.
A new window will then appear, listing all available subtitle files for the currently playing content. Selecting the Download option retrieves the subtitle file, eliminating the need for manual searching.
Final Assessment
Does UMPlayer represent a superior alternative to VLC media player? The answer is nuanced and contingent upon individual user needs. Specifically, its advantages become apparent for those who frequently utilize desktop YouTube playback, enjoy internet radio streaming, or consistently depend on subtitle support.
Beyond these specific functionalities, the core capabilities of both players remain remarkably similar.
Resource Efficiency and Compatibility
Both UMPlayer and VLC demonstrate minimal impact on system resources during operation.
Furthermore, each application exhibits broad compatibility, capable of handling almost any media format encountered.
Importantly, both are offered without cost to the user.
We encourage readers to personally evaluate UMPlayer and share their experiences in the comments section.
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