Get started with VLC media player
INSTALL VLC
Go to www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html and click Download, then Run to initiate. The Setup Wizard will walk you through installation. Choose your language and click OK. Click ‘Next’ on the license agreement. Next, confirm which components you wish to have installed, such as shortcuts for your desktop and Start menu. Confirm your program location. Click ‘Install’.
PLAY DISCS
Launch VLC. Click ‘Media’> Open Disc. Select the radio button next to your chosen format – DVD, for example. If you have more than one disc drive you can switch between these using the dropdown menu under Device, then click Play. Alternatively, insert a disc and click the Discs icon on the left of the screen. From here, double-click the disc drive to play a disc.
SET VLC AS DEFAULT MEDIA PLAYER
Open the Start menu and type default into the search bar. Choose ‘Default app settings’. This will open a new window. Under ‘Music player’ click your audio player – for example, Groove Music. Under ‘Choose an application’, click ‘VLC media player’ to switch apps. Do the same for ‘Video player’. If the change is successful the VLC Media Player icon will appear beside video and audio files.
MANAGE PLAYLISTS
Choose your music files and drag them into VLC. Select ‘Toggle Playlist’ at the bottom of the screen to view them. Rightclick a playlist to re-order the tracks or move them with your mouse. VLC will download the metadata for each file. These can be viewed on the bottom left of the window. Click ‘Media’ to ‘Save Playlist to File’. This lets you open playlists in File Explorer.
PLAY INTERNET RADIO
You can use VLC to listen to radio stations. To get started, move your mouse to the left-hand pane in VLC and scroll down to Internet. Choose ‘Icecast Radio Directory’. Double-click on a listed station to start streaming. If your favourite station isn’t listed, click Media > Open Network Stream. Paste the link to your station in the box marked ‘Please enter a network URL’, then click Play.
SUBSCRIBE TO PODCASTS
VLC also supports podcast subscriptions. Move your mouse to the left-hand pane and click the ‘+’ button next to Internet > Podcasts. VLC will now ask you to enter the podcast subscription. Paste this into the link box and click OK. You can re-order podcast episodes in the same way as playlist tracks. Simply right-click on a list and choose to ‘Sort by’ title, URL, track, and so on.
INSTALL SKINS
Head to www.videolan.org/vlc/skins.html. Choose a theme and then select Downloads. In VLC, click Tools> Preferences. Under ‘Interface’, select Custom Skin. Click the Choose button and navigate to your downloaded skin. Click ‘Save’, then close VLC. Once you re-launch VLC, your chosen skin will load. Right-click anywhere on the screen to Open Skin or Select Skin.
TAKE VIDEO SNAPSHOTS
VLC also gives you the ability to take screenshots of video files. Open your chosen video and pause it at the point where you want to take a still. Right-click to open VLC’s context menu and then choose Video>’Take a snapshot’. (Alternatively, you can take a screenshot by using Shift-S]. Snapshots are saved to your Pictures folder in PNG format.
CONVERT VIDEOS
Open ‘Media’. Go to Convert/Save. Click ‘Add’. Choose the file you want to convert. Next, click Profile. This is where you choose the converted video format – AVI, for example. Select ‘Start’. If you only checked the Deinterlace box then conversion takes a matter of minutes. However, if you chose ‘Display the output’, conversion will take the same length of time as the video duration.
RECORD YOUR DESKTOP
VLC can record your desktop. First, open Media. Select ‘Open Capture Device.’ Switch ‘Capture Mode’ to Desktop. Next, choose the ‘Desired frame rate for the capture’. Press ‘Play’ to start recording, and press the Stop button to end it. Right-click the video file in the Playlist section and choose to save. From here you can set a filename and video format for your recording.