Software Update: VLC Media Player 0.8.4 Test 2

VLC Media Player is an open source, cross-platform media player that supports various formats of audio, video and streaming protocols. In addition, the software can be used to stream media in unicast or multicast on a local network. The developers have released version 0.8.4 test 2. Several users are already reporting that this version has problems playing mkv files properly. The included announcement looks like this:

The VideoLAN team is happy to announce the second beta version of VLC 0.8.4 (Note: 0.8.3 was skipped because its technical improvements were too little)

Highlights from improvements include:

• Mac OSX Interface:
  • new dialogs (wizard, extended controls, bookmarks)
  • drag and drop into playlist
• wxWidgets interface (default Windows / Linux interface):
  • renamed from wxWindows
  • VLC update checker (?)
• Skin interface:
  • Partial support for tree playlist
• HTTP interface:
  • CGI handling, you can now use external programs from VLC’s web server (like PHP for instance)
  • Much richer controls
• Linux binary codec loader. Now able to read WMV3 under Linux.
• UPnP service discovery
• Bonjour (Apple zeroconf protocol) service discovery
• Shoutcast output module to forward streams to icecast servers
• Internal string handling is now UTF-8 based
• ActiveX plugin should now work outside IE as well
• New script to delete the preferences on OSX automatically
• RTP packet reordering
• enhanced H.264 support
• New languages: Korean, Romanian and Simplified Chinese
• Loads of bug fixes

This new test version fixes various bugs reported over the last few weeks. most importantly:

• correct saving of certain preferences
• various ffmpeg related fixes (encoding, playback)
• x264 encoding on Win32
• ignored width and height settings of the video-output-windows
• DVD menus work again on Win32
• deinterlacing crashes
• various other stuff

Remember that this is a beta version. Please test it heavily and report bugs.[break]The following downloads are ready:
Max OS X
Windows
Source