- home
- reviews
- news
- downloads
- cnet tv
On TV.com: TOP 10 Shows CANCELED Too Soon
- log in
- join CNET
- welcome,
- my profile
- log out

VLC Media Player 1.0.5

Quick specs
Price: Free
Operating system: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
Date added: January 31, 2010
Total Downloads: 19,870,260
Downloads last week: 181,373
See full specifications

Add to my list Add to my Watch List

Download Now (17.64MB)

Tested spyware free

CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars
Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 2075 votes
See all user reviews

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on July 09, 2009

VLC Media Player is a long-time open-source favorite, and the latest version is also the first to be out of beta development. It's not the only option for free video playback, but it's one of the best, and the feature updates in version 1 make it well worth the upgrade.

Users can now get frame-by-frame advancement, granular speed controls allowing for on-the-fly slower or faster playback, and live recording of streaming video. The toolbars are fully customizable, so you can have only the buttons you need in the interface, there's AirTunes streaming, and there's better integration in Gtk environments. Along with the improvements, VLC continues to offer robust support for a wide range of video and audio formats, including OGG, MP2, MP3, MP4, DivX, HD codecs like AES3, Raw Dirac, and even support for playing back zipped files.

The default interface is still a stripped down player that belies VLC's functionality and features. Skinning can fix that quickly, but behavior can still be a bit unpredictable depending on the quality of the skin. VLC's open-source foundation and community ensures that it evolves quickly and often, with new features and fixes released frequently. Overall, VLC Media Player is a must-have application for its ability to open just about any type of video file you throw at it.

Watch the CNET video review of VLC Media Player:

Publisher's description

From VideoLAN Project :

VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, MP3, and OGG, as well as for DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It also can be used as a server for unicast or multicast streams in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

What's new in this version:

Version 1.0.5 include various fixes, speed improvements, and translations updates. It also benefits speed-ups from both an updated compiler (gcc 4.4.2) and codecs updates.

Microsoft My Phone

Connect your phone to the Web to back up the phone, share photos, or access contacts or text messages

Download Now

User reviews

Average user rating: 4.2 stars out of 2075 votes
My rating: 0 stars Write review

Showing 5 of 20 user reviewsSee all 20 user reviews
This software version | All versions
4 stars

Version: VLC Media Player 1.0.5

"good utility for HiDef videos"

by jablake on February 9, 2010

Pros: easy to use, has skins

Cons: doesn't play Blu-Ray discs

Summary: useful for viewing my camera HiDef videos and edits

Was this review helpful? YES | NO

Report this post Email this post Permalink to this post

Reply to this review
4 stars

Version: VLC Media Player 1.0.5

"Got to love the "snapshot" factor..."

by AAAAYES on February 9, 2010

Pros: Plays just about anything.

Cons: I really wished it had a slow motion or frame by frame function.

Summary: Im in favor of this product.

It's just one of those freebies that is worth keeping.

Was this review helpful? YES | NO

Report this post Email this post Permalink to this post

Reply to this review
4 stars

Version: VLC Media Player 1.0.5

"This software is a good software."

by rnasir on February 9, 2010

Pros: I like this product from last two years.

Cons: Some times some videos don't show time.

Summary: I am using this software from last two years I have found it as a good software because many videos can operate which other software do not operate.

Was this review helpful? YES | NO

Report this post Email this post Permalink to this post

Reply to this review
4 stars

Version: VLC Media Player 1.0.5

"Highly recommended by knowledgeable computer users."

by 46OldGoat51 on February 9, 2010

Pros: Great audio sounds.

Cons: I've had a bit of a problem learning to operate the VLC Media Player.

Summary: As a new beginner working with the media player has been a challenge.

Was this review helpful? YES | NO

Report this post Email this post Permalink to this post

Reply to this review
5 stars

Version: VLC Media Player 1.0.5

"Easy, fast, FREE! What more could you want?"

by stuaman on February 9, 2010

Pros: Makes playing a file simpler. Plays everything I have and does it well. Seems like a one-stop-does-it-all kind of program. And it's free.

Cons: Not many skins available, yet.

Summary: Easy to use, looks OK, plays a large variety of media files. And oh yeah it's FREE.

Was this review helpful? YES | NO

Report this post Email this post Permalink to this post

Reply to this review
See all 20 user reviews Write review

Submit your review

VLC Media Player 1.0.5

ORLog in with your Facebook account

1. Rate this product:: (Mouse over the stars to rate this product and click to set your rating.)
2. One-line summary:(Summarize your review in one line. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 55 characters
3. Pros:(Tell us what you like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 250 characters
4. Cons:(Tell us what you don't like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 250 characters
Bottom-line summary:(Explain to us in detail why you like or dislike the product, focusing your comments on the product's features and functionality, and your experience using the product. This field is optional.): 0 of 5000 characters; Submit