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SPlayer is a lean, powerful video player for Windows
As far as video players go, I'm pretty much a VLC loyalist. (Maybe "hard-core fan" is a better title.) It seems as though VLC's simplicity is the gold standard for players, and its sensible keyboard shortcuts are embedded deep within my muscle memory.
That's why I initially regarded SPlayer with a measure of skepticism. I mean, I don't know this player. I've never heard of it before, and still, it claims to be "Neat! Safe! High Performance!" and boasts "1+ million users." As soon as I figured out it's Japanese, it all made much more sense; it's just a market that I'm not familiar with. And you gotta love the translated marketing copy -- which says, "SmartAmplify: Intelligent sound field balance of technology, sound is even more shocking." I love my videos with "shocking" sound!
Small parts of the program's UI are actually in Japanese (or is that Chinese? Tell me in the comments). But most of the interface is in English, and the player is surprisingly powerful. What you see in the screenshot was done right in the player; you can rotate and skew the video while it is playing, and it just keeps on playing with no noticeable stutter. Granted, that's a bit of a party trick, but it goes to show how powerful this thing is.
The key bindings are customizable, and there are a ton of functions available via keyboard shortcuts. There's a strip of controls both at the bottom and at the top of the window, and they're quite fetching.
I've installed this player on my "real" system (not in the VM that I use to test most of the software for DLS), and I intend to try it out instead of VLC for a while. Yup – it's that compelling!
Comments
26
Subscribe to commentsJason YanSep 10th 2010 12:07PM
Please, it's not Japanese, It's a nice software designed by Chinese.
Lee JonesSep 15th 2010 6:47PM
Yeah, Chinese.
Jason YanSep 15th 2010 8:43PM
Oh, American
megablueOct 29th 2010 6:08AM
Indeed, it is Chinese made not Japanese.
3tearSep 10th 2010 12:15PM
Lee, just as an aside to VLC, I recently found this cool VLC skin on deviantart: http://d1ckies.deviantart.com/art/SilentVLC-Updated-10-7-09-128246237
murphSep 10th 2010 12:28PM
I am a huge VLC fan too - but VLC doesn't support hardware acceleration on ATI video cards quite yet. So I have been using SPlayer to play 1080p MKV files on my Dell Zino HD HTPC...for now.
RichardSep 10th 2010 3:22PM
well actually, it does, but you just need the new drivers, and then activate it in the settings of vlc
AySep 10th 2010 12:25PM
GOM Player and KMPlayer are really much much better at virtually everything than VLC and even SPlayer. I have all four (VLC as a portable install) around.
dreedoneSep 10th 2010 1:03PM
I don't know how can you say that, they just aren't. I tried all of them for years, VLC the most, but in the end this is all I use.
Just some of the features that SPlayer domintes in front all 4 of them:
for quite some time, it has automatic subtitle downloader that works absolutely great, second thing its blazing fast compared (general ui resposivness, loading, playing videos) to them, its also open source, it can be modified a lot more than these without any extra effort, already mentioned hardware acceleration for long time working, simple options, a lot more user friendly but with great extra set of features.
BobbyDunSep 10th 2010 1:04PM
SPlayer is just a stripped down version of MPC-HC with a nicer UI,not a bad thing if you ask me but offers nothing new.
amenSep 15th 2010 5:05PM
Does VLC autofind subtitles?
RohitSep 10th 2010 1:13PM
Uninstallation leaves all the folders and the start menu shortcuts. Not clean enough for me. Pretty looking though.
TSep 10th 2010 1:16PM
Thanks for this post. I had been wanting something to replace MPC because of the wasteful bars at the bottom. I'm aware they can be removed but even so.. Anyway looks like this will be my new default player.
jkroederSep 10th 2010 2:35PM
I'll give SPlayer a try. I've been using Daum PotPlayer. It's not what it sounds like. It's developed by the same guy who coded KMPlayer before he sold it. You can find an English translated build off doom9.
And i wouldn't worry about whether the players have built in hard decoding and such. You're typically better off going with ffdshow tryouts or other filters anyway
T.SSep 8th 2011 9:59AM
Weeeeeell, let me just say that I have tried sPlayer,VLC,KMPlayer,GOMPlayer;MPC,WW Mplayer,TokPlayer..You name it, I have tried it. PotPlayer wipes out ALL competition. Get it here http://www.dvbsupport.net/download/index.php?act=category&id=16 and a bunch of great Aero-supported skins for it here http://laxorm.deviantart.com/gallery/#PotPlayer and here´s a great forum with lots of tips and more skins and portable versions etc etc http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=148745
I have been a diehard KMPlayer fan for years and PotPlayer just blew me away. It has all the codecs you need and is VERY light on resources. It gets updated very often too.
minimalSep 10th 2010 2:50PM
I agree, and I've tried them all as well. It's not even just the fact that it comes with everything you need. Like in KMPlayer, I love the filter manager for controlling which splitters and decoders are used. I need that kind of fine tuning. It's also all the little things like the OSD decoder info when hitting tab.
The only thing I miss though is being able to control gamma for video only. The only option is brightness, which isn't the same thing. Hopefully it returns.
3tearSep 10th 2010 9:00PM
Cheers, trying PotPlayer out now. Seems alright so far.
minimalSep 10th 2010 2:39PM
I never understood the love for VLC, maybe if your needs are very basic. I've been using a combination of both MPC-HC and KMPlayer for a awhile now and they have served me well. Splayer is just MPC with a better GUI. The GUI is irrelevant to me in full screen. Although just yesterday I discovered PotPlayer. It is by the original author of KMPlayer before he sold it. It's everything KMPlayer used to be plus much more. It's in constant development and I highly recommend it if you have advanced needs. It's now my main and only video media player. Stick to VLC if you don't know what you're doing.
Taylor. Yes, Taylor.Sep 10th 2010 2:58PM
I have to say, I'm not a big fan of VLC. It doesn't seem to render certain formats as well, so I get a lot of stuttering on movies that play fine on MPC, and the interface has two very annoying issues - you can't click on the frame to pause (soooo annoying on a media PC where the mouse is inconvenient to use), and the seek bar doesn't get bigger when you go fullscreen, so skipping back 1 minute in a 2 hour movie is not easy!
If the VLC people focused on improving the interface, I might like it more.
And I'm sure "you can change that by..." but MPC works out of the box so I just use that!
-Taylor
cyberguy91Sep 10th 2010 8:39PM
@dreedone: +1 on the automatic subtitle downloader. It usually finds the exact set of subtitles, and almost always syncs them perfectly.