VideoLAN on Saturday posted one of its largest updates yet in the finished version of VLC 2.0. The new media player sees the most interface changes on the Mac, where it now has a single-window interface as well as tighter visual and technical integration with Lion. It now supports any QTKit device capture and sound, and both PowerPC and Leopard-era users can still expect support, even at higher video resolutions.
Pros get some of the broadest additions, including the addition of Apple's ProRes 4:2:2 format as well as 4:4:4:4 encoding and AVC/Intra clips. Imagery in JPEG-2000 and DNxHD/VC-3 can now play in 10-bit mode, where OpenGL shader support also works. Both regular and HD SDI cards can now work as input for pro video editors using Linux, and a faster Dirac/VC-2 encoder improves capture time.
Preliminary support now exists for Blu-ray playback, although it doesn't yet include menus and doesn't include the full encryption content for AACS and BD+. New video and audio outputs exist for Android, iOS, Windows 7, and even OS/2. Frequent viewers of anime and other subtitled video have better support for MKV (Matroska) processing, linked chapters, and the subtitles themselves.
Performance gets a boost through multi-core decoding of H.264, MPEG-4, WebM, and XviD, as well as hardware decoding for CrystalHD cards on the desktop and OpenMAX in Android. Many of the filters have been improved to correct artifacts and audio.
Both Mac (in separate Intel and PowerPC versions) and Windows editions are available now. Linux users have to wait for a packager to make it available, and Android isn't yet known to be available.
