Download VLC Media Player 0.8.5 test1 beta

On the forum of VLC, the developers released the first beta version of the 0.85 branch of VLC Media Player in development released. The new version is out this location downloadable for Mac OS X and Windows. VLC Media Player is an open source media player that can be used on various platforms. The player is capable of playing a large number of media formats without additional codecs to play, including MPEG1, MPEG2, VCD and various streaming protocols. The following changes have been made in version 0.8.5-test1 beta:

core support:

• Statistics collection (bit rates, packets, connections, …)
• Support for downloading updates

Input:

• Initial support for RTSP over HTTP (to allow NAT traversal)
• Linux DV (Digital Video – Firewire) input
• Improvements to the Audio CD input
  • Separate playlist entries for the tracks
  • Support for CDDB
• Support for more DVB (satellite) encryption modules
• Improved subtitle encoding support
• Improved support for playing MP4 files from the Web

decoders:

• Cook (Real audio) support

Playlist / Services discovery:

• XSPF playlist support [ not included in 0.8.5-test1 ]
• podcast support

audio output:

• New JACK audio output

Video output:

• New video filters:
  • magnify: allows you to zoom on part of the image
  • gradient and edge detection: “cartoon-like” effect
  • bluescreen: overlay parts of a video transparently on another one
  • Logo video filter: can now loop through multiple images
  • RSS video filter: display feed images. Support for Atom feeds.
  • Improvements to the subtitles rendering

streaming output:

• Initial support for throttling users on VOD streams

Interfaces:

• System to inform the user and request information
  • HTTP authentication
  • fatal errors
  • …
• wxWidgets
  • VLM (VideoLAN Media Manager) control panel
  • Improved media information panel (shows statistics, metadata, …)
  • Drag & Drop support in the playlist
• Skins2
  • Support for Winamp 2 skins
  • Improved playlist handling
  • Support for popup menus, animated bitmaps, equalizer, …
• OS X
  • Embedded Video output
  • new Go-To-Specific-Time feature
  • Improved media information panel (shows statistics, metadata, …)
  • support for processing multiple items with the wizard in a single run
  • option to save selections in the wizard for a session (default enabled)
• HTTP
  • New default interface pages for VLC and VLM
  • A bunch of new RPN functions

Windows Port:

• MSN messenger “Now playing” support

OS X Port:

• Mac Intel compatibility
• Enhanced support of various audio output devices
• Growl “Now playing” support

*Nix port:

• Ability to log to syslog
• Root wrapper to avoid running VLC as root

Developers:

• New libvlc API (not finished yet)
• Java bindings
• A bit more automatic testing

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