Empowering WinAmp

Hi, I'm looking get rid of some bloat. I have WinAmp and I am pretty happy with it for the time being. Since QuickTime has yet another vulnerability, I'm dumping it. I want to give WinAmp it's features. While I'm here, I may as well find a way to get rid of Real Player. I see they both have alternatives, but I'm not sure of the options I may need when installing. I'm also confused about whether or not a codec pack would achieve the same thing only easier.

I see k-lite has different codec packs available. Would one of them solve my problem or do I need QT and RP lite alternatives? If you can provide any help or advice, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
innerpeace

 

The k-lite mega codec pack used to include both realplayer and quicktime alternatives. However, for some reason quicktime alternative has now been removed.

Personally i use irfanview with plugins to play my media. Its pretty basic but its nice and small and does everything i need.

 

winamp has a mplayer plugin so it can play videos too and maybe more audio formats

you need maplyer for that of course! i think mplayer can play most things, i use it a lot on linux, but it doesn't look very good.

 

I use Vista Codec Pack. It already includes Real and QT codecs but you can choose to not install them if you like.

And if you need Real and QT codecs depends if you plan on viewing RealMedia or QT movies.

 

Thank you all very much for your replies. I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. WinAmp is usually fine for most things, I just want it to play what QT or RP can with them uninstalled. I tried looking for the mplayer plugin at the WinAmp site and can't find it. I know my WinAmp plays some movies, but I only have what is installed by default. http://www.winamp.com/player/features#filetype_anchor

WSFuser, If I install the Vista Codec Pac, will it work for what I'm wanting? At Softpedia, it says it's compatible with both xp and vista. I have xp and was wanting verification that it will work fine. Will it allow me to play QT and RP proprietary files in WinAmp, Firefox and IE?

Here is a link from over a year ago where someone was attempting the same thing. https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=147415. Is this the correct way to approach the problem or will the Vista Codec Pac do the same thing. I'm willing to do this slowly by starting with QT if necessary. It's already uninstalled.

innerpeace

 

Havent tried Winamp but it will work for Firefox and IE.

 

Thanks, I will give it a try then.

 

I've always used winamp for music, but never tried it for video files (using VLC instead), is it anygood ?

 

here's a thread about the mplayer plugin, below. i didn't realise it looks like it's been abandoned and is still alpa software. i just noticed it the other day when i was looking for a similar plugin for xmms, a linux winamp clone.
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?s&threadid=185703

at the top of the thread it points to this post with a newer version
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?postid=2031722#post2031722

 

I wouldn't use Winamp to play movies.
Install the Vista Codec Pack and a good media player, such as Media Player Classic - Home Cinema or Zoom Player

 

If you're concerned about security, QT Alternative and Real Alternative are no safer than the original installers. The only advantage QT Alternative has is that it doesn't install all of the language files (*.lproj) like the Apple installer.

I don't recommend codec packs. You're better off installing just the codecs you need or using something like MPUI, GOMPlayer or KM Player to play your video files.

 

I don't recommend them also, but I've found that both Vista Codec Package and CCCP are two fine pieces of software. Clean install/uninstall, basic codecs for almost any format, almost zero bloat, good support.
If you have the time (and the interest) the best results are obtained with manual installing of the codecs/parsers/filters.

 

I am running Vista and have the K-lite mega codec pack w/Media Player Classic installed. I am not really having any problems but I hardly ever use Windows Media Player or the Windows Media Center. Will the Vista Codec Package make much difference to what I already have? Both WMP and WMC seems very limited in functionality.

 

You can use any player with Vista Codec Package.

 

Thanks again to all those replying. I tried to post last night, but my connection kept dropping . After reading the recent posts, I'm going to tackle this differently. I'm not going to play movies (dvd's) unless they are the occasional online streaming movies. My graphics card isn't up to making my machine a movie player. So, I guess I will use WinAmp for music and now I need a easy to use video player. Which one of the ones posted here would be the easiest with better video playback than WinAmp?

After I install your suggested player, will installing Vista Codec Pack take care of everything like QT and RP playback in the player? Also, which one should I install first?

Thanks again for your patience and the links .

 

If you plan on using Vista Codec Pack might as well get the Media Player Classic installer from the VCP homepage. It has been tweaked to worrk with VCP btw.

And to your questions: yes and install VCP first.

 

Thanks for the speedy reply! I will get VCP and then install MPC.

Cheers

 

Future releases of VCP will no longer include QuickTime. QT will be offered in its own package.
Vista Codec Package 4.5.3 BETA 1

 

Thanks Lucas, I just downloaded version 4.5.2. I noticed the newer beta was 12.2 MB rather than the 21.6 MB. Now I think I know why .

 

The separated QT will only be required for streaming content (I guess), but .MOV files saved locally will be played without it.

 

I have problems with Media Player stuttering in my browser, so one thing that is important for me is a good browser plug-in, which the reason why I use VLC over Media Player Classic.
Well worth trying out a few and picking which one you prefer.

 

Thanks Nick, I will definitely try out a few players when I get a chance. I installed VCP and MPC last night in shadow mode and video clip playback looked about the same as WinAmp. I didn't tweak anything.

I'm having some instability issues and I'm not sure if it is connection related and or DEP related. I know WinAmp doesn't like DEP even when it's checked to opt out. I still get warning pop-ups . Today, I switched DEP to only protect Windows, but I'm still having internet problems so I can't pinpoint my problem yet.

 

I watch movies in Winamp and this is what I use:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multim...Video-Codecs/FFDShow-MPEG-Video-Decoder.shtml

 

Thanks Mele, I think I remember either the vista codec pack or media player classic installed ffdshow when I tried it last night. I'm not sure whether it is the same version in your link.