Why do aspiring developers always want to create an app that already has a plethora of free and excellent alternatives? In this case VLC is an excellent version of open source software and to keep it updated on a regular basis I would recommend using ninite.com using their K-LITE Codec installer will keep all of the codec's automatically updated and installed.

Seems a great player by those who have used it before. I will give it a try since I have never considered leaving dear old VCL. Wishing all GAOTD worldwide the "Christ" of the mass His best in etrenity

Hi there ,,
We can see more than 200 negative votes !! the question is: if they doing that based on expertise or bad experience with this software why they don't let us know the reason behind that (we need explanation)so we can learn from those heroes ! but to me and to what we can see here from the people who tried it We can discover that they are a bunch of people that don't know what they are talking about. The whole idea here is to exchange knowledge and experience . Thanks GAOTD and keep up the good work and thanks for all the guys who are sharing and spreading their experiences .

Downloaded and installed an a windows 8.1 64 bit machine. I had no idea that zoom player did this much stuff. I used it mostly to watch videos on my previous laptop. I downloaded all the options just in case. There is a youtube channel with several good tutorials on how to use the video editing options if you're like me and too lazy to read a help file. Not sure why anyone would give this a thumbs down it's a great program.

Zoom Player Install Center appears to have a bug in that you can't unselect everything.
You can uncheck everything, but as soon as you click 'Download and Continue' the installer automatically checks whichever selection is highlighted and attempts to install it anyway.

Confused...Have Windows 7 Pro...which one am I to install...STANDARD OR lEGACY...??? Also someone mentioned if you don't turn off updates you start getting ads...true or not? If so how do I turn updates off? Are these added programs necessary (already have 7 zip). I know nothing about codexes etc so should I install everything? Thanks for any help in advance....Cindi

I've been using GOM Player for many years, and have found it exceptional !!
Configuration options, quality and easy use makes the GOM player better than most players out there..
as well.. The GOM player is free and has played everything I've thrown into it to play. Movies Music, DVD's CD's
I appreciate the ZOOM player, and this giveawayoftheday.com offer, but see ZOOM isnt as nice or easy to work as GOM player is..
I'm staying with GOM, because I've not seen a full ZOOM quality, as good as GOM player quality

This is a VERY solid media player. As someone mentioned, it pulls in and presents you with all the latest codecs, so you will be able to play most anything you run across. Several years ago, I actually upgraded to their "Max" version and have been using it ever since. It is now my "go to" player. I don't even use windows media player or VLC anymore. I'd encourage everyone to grab this while it is free.

I downloaded this before form GAotD. It's terrible because it lacks GPU acceleration (DXVA, CUVID, or QuickSync). This helps the processor be used less heavily and puts that strain on a more powerful GPU instead. Without it, the processor needs to both grab and decode the same data and that can cause laggy playback. With it, the CPU only needs to grab the data and then send that data to the GPU for decoding, resulting in playback to be much better.

I've used Zoom Player for years, it is my default. Small, easy on resources, opens quickly, plays anything, has never crashed or locked up on my Vista or XP systems. I definitely recommend it.

I have used Media Player Classic Home Cinema from CCCP (combined community codec pack) for years now and can play everything I throw at it
When playing press o (options) then Keys then you are able to set any shortcut keys you want.
http://www.cccp-project.net/
Russian flag is a little joke on their part playing on the cccp bit,it's from U.S.A.

I'm wondering how one gets the radio stations to play on this. When I click on any of the choices in the "Stations" folder, I get a red box stating "unable to play..."
I wonder if it is because I used the "Legacy" installation as it just sounded cleaner to me.
Thanks in advance.

Can Zoom play and record internet radio like StreamWriter?

This is simply the best video player out there. Their Install Center eliminates all the old codec issues. I have been using the free one for years. I've never had a problem playing anything since I installed Zoom Player. In the "old days" you would be fine until a new codec or update came out, then you'd have no sound or crashes. You can re-run the install center anytime to upgrade all the codecs.

Simply the best. It's on all my machines.

Thanks for this!

Merry Christmas!

I have been a GAOTD fan for decades(?)
The comments are most valuable.
I have followed and installed each of the players mentioned above.
Finally decided to install Zoom.
VERY disappointed. It appears to install software informer which I immediately uninstalled as it has been the source of major issues in the past.
As a result I was unable to install zoom.
No comment except requiring software informer, was not a good start.
Did I miss something?

This is not a toy, and is worth a serious trial!
Didn't like the "install centre" thou, it downloaded 3rd party software to folders not of my choosing as well as the program 7-Zip which I'm not sure is actually needed. I recommend you don't select "silent install" which may give you more control. I suspect the "install centre" is a work around to use 3rd part software with a GNU licence!

I gave up VLC years ago because it just kinda started seeming lame. I went through and checked out many of the bigs ones mentioned here- zoom, pot, maybe a couple others (I don't remember about km, maybe I'll try that out as well.)

But then I discovered GOM, and it was love at first site. Many of the others came close, but GOM was overall my fav for the configuration options, the ease of play, and the playback options. I've never looked back (especially not to VLC).

But Zoom was in the group I tried that came close, and it was the free version. I'm actually excited about this goatd and look forward to trying it out!

Any people who are representing VLC here- more power to you, it's an ok player, but if you're still thinking that it's the 'best out there', well, I'd say you're a little out of date.


-J

please add graphics card support- NVIDIA, AMD and AMD APU dual graphics support. please add power saving mode and high performance mode for laptops.

My favorite!!!
http://mpc-hc.org/

Just downloaded and installed. Everything went well. Decided to try it and explore some of the buttons on the main screen - they are all in English (which is good for me). But once I got past the initial player EVERYTHING else is in Spanish. I can figure out some of the words but on others it's hit and miss. I've looked in several places trying to find where I can change the language. I may have come across it but I wouldn't know it.

What did I do wrong during the installation and can anybody help me. I'd like everything to be in English. Nothing against Spanish I just can't read it.

Program was given away on May 12th 2014 nd was version 9.0.2 have been using this since then and it works. Installed on Windows 10 Tech preview and had no problems wth install. Tested it on several files on my hard drive such as mkv, mp4 and avi, played with no problems. Tested it on several dvd's I have and it played them with no problems. When it came to testing music files such as mp3, and wav files same results no problems. The program even found the mp3 tag info with little effort. I recomend this for thoes who want something different than vlc or mpc or who are just starting out. And ITS FREE for today.

Looks like a lot of trolling here, on both sides of the aisle. I generally don't like providing information about myself over an "unsecured connection" https:// et al. is a must for me, but I have here and do on a few other selected sites. I will try this program on my "test PC" but would like to use it on my newer machines as well. If the installation of other programs enhances the usability of this product I am all for it, if it requires the .Net framework that should be listed first and foremost, and a heads up given before installation. As it is listed on majorgeeks and gets high user ratings there as well, my confidence remains high. After checking out company info I believe they are a trusted and well intentioned software developer. Haven't seen any complaints about registration, and hope I can turn off automatic check for updates. Karl, XP Man, Giovanni, you folks on Holiday?
Peace on Earth, goodwill to all.

This sounds a little iffy to me

"The Install Center
To maintain your privacy, the Install Center does not transmit any information.
Instead, the Install Center works by downloading an index file containing an up-to-date component catalog.
Once downloaded, the Install Center checks the catalog to determine which catalog component entries are currently missing or outdated on your computer. Next, the Install Center prompts you to select which components or language pack to install, with the missing or outdated components clearly marked in bold text.
For a video tutorial detailing how to use the Install Center, click here.
With Zoom Player's Install Center, your computer is always securely updated with the latest verified media playback technologies. "

Big thanks to GAOTD for this fabulous X-mas gift. I'm completely fed up the VLC player errors. Once again thanks a lot for Zoom Player..

I have been using a paid version of Zoom/Max for almost three years , like all of us I tried many other multimedia programs before , during and after using just for testing etc... , I stick to this and SMplayer as there is no better so far at least . Second after that is the free SMplayer which has the youtube search which Zoom doesn't . I give those two programs 5 stars . Using any of them will never regret it .

Good software - still use the last GOTD ZoomPlayer Pro 9.02 from a while back. Like the feature that it picks up from when you left off when watching video in over a period of time.

#13 - Will play subtitles if .srt file is in the same folder and identically named as video file.

Installed it on a Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit machine. Norton antivirus didn't like this program. Stopped me installing it twice (Heuristic scan detected highly suspicious activity). I had to install as administrator, and tell Norton to ignore the warning, in order to stop the antivirus from quarantining the program. It also tried to sneak install a couple of unnecessary programs (don't remember which... 7zip, and yet another PC tool set program?).

Once the basic program is installed, and you try to run Zoom for the first time, it prompts you to install codecs which it sees as missing from your system. This is when it tries to sneak 7zip past you, which is fine if you don't already have an archiving program installed. If you don't need it, just uncheck its box.

I haven't given the program a good workout yet, but I tested it with various video formats (MP4, FLV, MPG, WMV, AVI), and it seems to do its thing well. I'll leave the in-depth analysis to those more qualified than myself, but I gave it a passing grade... and hope Norton was just being paranoid, as it often is.

Since so many have installed the Zoom Player Pro, tested it and left comments. Some were very happy with it.

Please let me know whether simultaneously with the installation of Zoom Player Pro, the following programs are also installed automatically in C: drive without your fore-knowledge and without notice to you beforehand:

7-Zip, DCoder Image Source, FFMPEG Core Files, CD Audio Reader Filter, Open Source DTSAC3DD+ Source Filter, Open Source AVI Splitter, Gabfest MPEG Splitter, RealMedia, DScaler5, AC3Filter, Open Source Flash Video Splitter, LAV Filters, DirectVobSub, Bass Audio Decoder, and ffdshow.

Thanks for letting me know.

WoW!!!..Many ThKs!!!!! Inmatrix/GAOTD/Team for this Ultimate Gift 'Zoom Player Pro 9.5' that any computer user could have ever wish for this Christmas.

As many experienced ZoomPlayer users have appeared here, I have one question: does this version allow to make chapters in a movie and save them on a disk as a separate file that is automatically read when the movie is replayed? I have an old ZoomPlayer Max version and such feature is in it, and I would like to upgrade, but the chapter-marking feature is essential for me.

Sorry guys, if you commenting on vlc playing slow on old computers you should not upgrade it on that. stick to old stuff then. As for Zoomplayer , nope, whats all the downloading for? cancelled and uninstalled. LONG LIVE VLC , THE BEST.

How does it handle subtitles? Looks like DirectVobSub has to be installed first. The latest version is 2.41 and is supported only by up to Windows 7. Why can't Zoom Player with all it's so many features support subtitles in the box like many other players?

Looks good. Will test it later.

Used VLC for years but, got Mac Blu ray Player & Daum Pot Player and neither had never let me doon.
Waiting for Giovanni's comms.

Merry Christmas & a Happy New year whereever ye are in the world

Thanks to GOTD and Zoom Player. I started years ago with Media Player Classic moving on to VLC Player. VLC started getting bloated and slowed down loading videos. I had this program ver. 9.0 and never used it until about 4 or 5 months ago. Boy was I stupid, for not using it sooner. You can throw anything at it and Zoom Player plays it. To be fair, there is a learning curve for using all the features Zoom Player has. Out of the box, it works fine. If you dig deeper, you'll find a lot more to this player. I went to the website to find out about more. I recommend you do the same. Great player!

Since the fee VLC seems to be the standard of reference, Zoom Player would do well to include a comparison with it in its home page to convince users to choose it, let alone pay for it.

I further comment that the Installation Center procedure could be made more user friendly. At present, after the installation the user has to make some manual adjustments which, though described in the video, are not intuitive and should be done automatically during installation, not necessitating user intervention.

In its favor, I’d say that in a previous free version I used, it could play midi files, something that VLC couldn't do out of the box.

I'd add that VLC got heavy over time, not playing smoothly on old computers. I hope Zoom Player is lighter.

Good program. I prefer KM Player most of the times, but it is good to have an alternative for some special format videos, when your favourite player fails. I will keep this one, too.

I really like Zoom and have been using their free program for quite awhile, so this is nice to be able to upgrade (just to get rid of the pesky popup to buy it is a good enough reason). I prefer this over the other free programs, I find it more user friendly and it hasn't failed to play a video yet.

I tried this player on my system and it tried to download separate codecs onto my pc! Ok done, moving onto the player , the interface is nice and tidy but opens a bit too slow in my experience,the indexed radio stations are a plus.No problems with the playback as you would expect from a paid piece. It's ok but didn't warm up my eyes as I had expected it to. I was until recently a huge fan of the KMplayer( due respect to the PotPlayer/VLC) until the update and media centre nag screens got better of me. Then I found this portable, constantly updated, gem of a player and I just could not let go.

Light Alloy ====>Portable, Highly customizable,skinable,all-in-one Player with constant updates
Besides the support for all popular multimedia formats it also has its own advanced settings such as: fast video rewind, load subtitles, bookmarks in the list or timeline, preview window on timeline, selection of audio tracks and subtitles in multilingual films, minimize to tray, infrared remote control, adjust the brightness/contrast/saturation of the image, supports multimedia keyboards and has full support for DVD/Blu-ray (except for BD menus) and MKV/OGM/MP4 formats. It has a long list of features, those are just a few of them:Built in Radio, built-in video/audio codecs (although you can choose to use other system codecs and you can configure audio and video filters), custom codecs, full support for subtitles, WinLIRC support (remote control), configurable playback speed, aspect ratio alignment, make and save screenshots, live net streaming and phew what not!!!!

http://www.light-alloy.ru/

I am simply over the moon with this one, I don't need another.
Thanks GAOTD

I've found Zoom player plays certain videos more smoothly and glitch-free compared to Vlc player, which somewhat surprises me. Zoomplayer's interface makes access to simple adjustments of brightness, contrast, saturation easy. It also offers a minimal GUI when playing audio- smaller than Winamp's, a little smaller than Vlc's.

I note that if you open a video file when in audio mode (minimal GUI) it does not switch to a video display- it stays in audio mode, whereas Winamp and Vlc player do.

First time I had used the Version 8.1.1 Pro


I was so much impressed that I immediately recommended to some of my friends . It's an awesome media player with rich features and excellent output. Even It's FREE Version is also powerful.
I kept aside VLC Player , WinAMP, GOM Player, Pot Player and just used this all the times with no hassles. It had been serving my purposes very decently for more than 2 years until I had faced a problem with this in May 2014. Unfortunately I could not sort out the problem of display being turned off during playback of video files. I tried a lot to fix that but nothing worked . So then I had to switch to
KM PLAYER , a versatile and popular media player requiring no separte codecs, It is also as excellent as Zoom Player .

Those who are not familiar with Zoom Player , I would like to request them to give it a try and explore the available features.

 Thanks 

Freeware alternative is Daum Potplayer, that supports alot of music and movie formats: https://potplayer.daum.net/

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ That's all I have to say about that.

ZoomPlayer is an awesome player. Every video file I've thrown at it has not failed to play yet. I have purchased the Zoom Player Max version of this software. But if you want free, then this pro version will serve you well.