PRODUCTS
DOWNLOADS
SUPPORT
ZOOM PLAYER GUIDE
CONTACT

Introduction to libVLC

Zoom Player has integrated libVLC, the media engine used by the VLC media player. This integration means that several new features that were unique to VLC are now available in Zoom Player, leveraging the reliability of VLC with Zoom Player's powerful and versatile user interface.

In theory, Zoom Player's default choice of Microsoft's DirectShow media engine is superior to libVLC in a lot of ways. DirectShow is a lower-level integration, allowing me to develop unique features that are impossible to do with libVLC. At the same time and due to its complexity, there may be cases where libVLC can be more reliable than DirectShow.

To use libVLC you must either install the latest version of the 32bit VLC player or install libVLC from the install center (it does not conflict with existing VLC installations).

Use libVLC Engine to stream IPTV

My recommendation on using the libVLC media engine for IPTV playback depends on your IPTV provider and stream-quality. Some ITPV sources play better through the libVLC engine while others play better through DirectShow. For example, using DirectShow some streams did not provide seeking information while the libVLC engine did. In other streams, libVLC did not show the correct video aspect ratio while in DirectShow it worked correctly.

Use libVLC Engine to play BluRay

Enabled by default, opening a drive, folder or the "index.bdmv" file begins BluRay playback. Menus are navigated using the standard navigation keys (up/down/left/right Arrows + Enter keys). The same limitation that apply to playing BluRay discs in VLC applies when using the libVLC media engine in Zoom Player, along with any glitches.

This means that you must have Java installed for the BluRay menus to work and that playing encrypted discs will not work by default. As for the glitches, I encountered cases where 4K BluRay videos can freeze and verified that the same issue happens in the original VLC player.

Use libVLC Engine to play SHOUTcast streams (not recommended)

While supported, using the DirectShow media engine provides a superior experience.

Use libVLC Engine to stream URLs

You can specify multiple entries separated by the ";" character to force Zoom Player to use the libVLC media engine to stream the content. For example, if the site you are streaming from is "www.mysite.com", you can just specify "mysite.com" and Zoom Player will use libVLC for any URL containing "mysite.com". Here is an example of how to specify multiple sites "mysite.com;myothersite.com".

Use libVLC Engine to play these file extensions

When Zoom Player opens a local media file, you can specify the file extensions that should play through the libVLC media engine. For example, specifying "mkv;mp4" would play any ".mp4" or ".mkv" file using the libVLC media engine.

Audio Rendering Framework and Output Device:

libVLC is pretty flexible in its audio device selection offering three different frameworks (MMDevice, DirectSound and WaveOut). Zoom Player makes it easy to choose the framework that works best for your PC. Usually the default option should work the best, but on some PCs with sub-par audio drivers, one of the other frameworks may work better.

Preferred audio device cycle list

Easily select and cycle between multiple pre-selected audio devices by pressing Shift+"A". Please note that the Shift+"A" keyboard shortcut should only be used while a media is playing with the libVLC media engine, otherwise this same keyboard shortcut is used to cycle between audio devices for the DirectShow media engine.

Video Rendering device (casting)

You can now use libVLC to cast the playing video to supported ChromeCast devices. All you need to do is scan for the ChromeCast device. Any content played through the libVLC engine will now display on the selected device. Please consider that it can take a few seconds longer to open media files for casting.

Some caveats

Other than the features listed above, due to limitations of the libVLC media engine, not all of Zoom Player's features are supported.

What works:
  • Aspect Ratio Controls.
  • Subtitles Display, Track Selection and Synchronization Adjustments.
  • Audio Track Selection and Synchronization Adjustments.
  • Equalizer & Pre-amp:
    Please note that the values work a bit differently when compared to the DirectShow Equalizer and the two don't sound the exactly same when switching media engines.
  • Virtual Video Editing.
  • Play History (position, audio track, subtitle track).
  • Play Rates (fast play, slow motion).
  • Embedded Chapters (Bookmarks).
  • External Audio Tracks.
  • Play Next Frame.
  • Screenshots (Alt+"F").