I am looking for some feedback on the oepn source media player called Kantaris I would like to you guys to try this player out and tell me if it good or not and also i would like to know what it would take for it to become the perfect media player for you or what it would take for the player to become you default media player and here the link to it http://www.kantaris.org/ and thanks alot for your guys help and all if info you post im going to send to media player dev so he can improve the player

The first thing I noticed was that it uses some silly, nonstandard, skinned UI, which immediately knocks it out of my list of good media players.

what do you mean buy nonstandard , skinned ui,

Doesn't look like the rest of Windows

Please re-read the Terms of Service, paying special attention to #14.

If you don't know what a skinned UI is, maybe you aren't the right person to be acting as a liaison.

i now what a skinned ui is but im not sure if mean it not using the native windows theme but im really looking for other stuff do certain kinds of subtitles not work or any files types not play stuff along that lines but anyting that you would need to have change for this to become you defult media play also is what im looking for

so why would i use it instead of vlc?

I'll stick with MPC not only because MPC is better, but because MPC's developers don't troll over to my favorite boards trying to hawk their goods in this manner. Pretty insulting to the intelligence of others.

How about some syntax… that's unreadable.

AFAIK, it's just a "shiny" version of vlc.

kinda a shiny version of vlc this kinda intend to be a fork of the vlc project but with out the streaming stuff if that streaming dose get added this it would be for a very long time

So, it does less than vlc (but with a shiny GUI)? Why would anyone want to use it on that basis?

murdock doesn't look like he actually represents this project because he's the their forum king for questions.

http://www.kantaris.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2

a. i think a nice fork of VLC with improved UI is not a bad thing
b. portable solutions are good (there is portable version of VLC i belive), this wins over a. , so why not make it portable at the start? (nuke the installer)
c. it calls out (for subtitles?) on first playback, stopped by firewall, but enough to click unistall.

I consider VLC to be bloated so anything that packs less whilst still being able to play major formats I believe is a good thing. Although I don't expect to switch from mplayer anytime soon.

i do actally the dev is on my IM buddy list and also im working with him to start a pr / fedback team with the other guy that allready started helping him before I did I just post stuff on the forum so the suggestion so that some stuff you wont forget

vlc bloated? lol?

i dont thnk it is

Bloated or not, VLC isn't exactly a decent music player.

I use GOM Player, KMPlayer is good also but too cluttered with options for me. VLC has an interface worthy of the 80s.

just one question
i havent checked its features and i didnt downloaded it and use it but does it loads cue files?

i dont thnkk it dose but i can ask him add the support for cue files




we did not say music play we said media player

They probably think interface is not worth the attention. The preferences window looks like a INI file divided into separate pages. Or maybe it's intended as kinda Linux-ish feel.

And music isn't media? What is this, hydrogenvideo.org?


Linux developers wouldn't bother to write a GUI for configuration if it was going to be crappy. A good plain-text configuration file with informative comments is better than any bad GUI.

Linux developers wouldn't bother to write a GUI for linux as well.

Jesus, why are all people here in such a bad mood? It's just a 'new' player and they want some feedback. I don't see anyting bad here...

@skamp: hydrogenaudio also has a 'Digital Audio/Video'-forum, so...

@DGMurdockIII: I'd go to http://forum.doom9.org . They are more specialized on video so I think it's a better place to get some feedback.

Does this always apply? Surprisingly foobar2000 folks defeat the binary style of the config file. Because of the lose of trust in their users.

just open your damn eyes

viktor, you need to relax. Go take a walk in the park and admire the trees and the flowers and the bees.

As for the skins: that wasn't the main issues. What bothers me about VLC is stuff like limited support for keyboard and mouse (and the commands than can be assigned). For example Left And Right key don't work at all on their own. I need to use alt or ctrl with them. Also, the Subtitles options are...let's say: esoteric. Pan & Scan options are also rather minimal, just some zoom options. And nothing beats the annoying bug of the maximize/restore button on playback stop which always pissed me off.

I'll give one credit to VLC: the excelent image quality when playing DVDs, even tho it can't IVTC hard-telecine discs.


And it often shows me two windows instead of one when playing DVDs.

viktor: the ability to skin something does not change 'some player name here' horrible logistic.

well i dont know what bad logistic a media player could have (maybe the play button is in wrong place? ) , i usually use it for playing my files, not for gaming

Haha, there's lots of negative vibes swingin in this thread, not to mention "interesting" syntaxing... . In any case, kudos to KANTARIS for being an open source project - something I wish FOOBAR would be... .

If you want to win over the audio crowd, you need to offer CUE support, transcoding support as well as media library options. That's just my two cents after not having actually used the tool but followed the thread a bit... .

we will get feedback there

Kantaris 0.3.8a finally released - http://www.kantaris.org/

Development of this version took much longer time than he originally expected. The reason for this is that he started working on several new features at ones. Not all of these features are in version 0.3.8a because then he would have needed another month before he could do a release. The main new features in 0.3.8a are a multi-language GUI and a video library browser. Kantaris 0.3.8a has support for English, Swedish and Russian and I’m hoping that you will help to translate it to other languages as well. The video library feature is made using DirectX and looks like a 3d wall made up of movie posters (see picture). Lastly, 0.3.8a also of course contains some other smaller improvements and bug-fixes compared to 0.3.7. If you wonder why the version is named 0.3.8a instead of 0.3.8 it’s because he forgot to fix one thing before uploading 0.3.8.

changelog?

Also note that VLC has got a new Qt based GUI coming up in VLC 0.9. You can have a look at it by testing the VLC Nightlies.

I'm a VLC user. I currently only use vlc for playing video, but would very much appreciate an alternative that could also manage a music library and had a better UI.


Your claim seems to totally contradict the website's. As far as I know, WMP puts as much focus on audio as on video.


A "features" page on the web site would be nice. I'm not persuaded enough by the little info I could find to actually install and try it out. From the screenshots I can guess that it might have better usability. Hard to tell though if I have more to gain than just eye candy. (...not being interested in visualizations, last.fm, or Apple movies trailers)


Also, my interest fades a bit when a PR person can not communicate clearly. The broken english and "IM chat" style of speaking is a major turn-off. I would not want you as my product representative. I understand that english might not be your first language, and that you're trying to be helpful. But I really think more effort should be given...

Um.. I personally would really like a consistent look with the rest of the windows. Generally the media player looks unpolished and rough. The main playback interface, for example: i really hate the "3d" buttons. Reminds me of an old cassette player . And the playback controls bar is too big.
I know the UI might not be the most important thing for you guys but I just can't help but notice it. I'd prefer a clean, simple and smooth design over the current one.

I do like the location and the look of the playlist, but since everything else looks too big, the general appearance looks kind of rough and bloated .
Stick with a consistent design and don't make too much new bars for new buttons. I would even like the design if everything looks similar to the playlist (buttons and frames etc.)

Also, a media library would be a good thing to have: If I really would want to use it as a primary media player, I couldn't live without the library management system. Make it simple, yet functional enough for most users.

When i start up the player, the title bar shows: 23:59:59 - 23:59:59
It takes a while to open a video file, more than on most players.
There's a minor UI glitch when hovering the "save playlist" button in the playlist window.
When last.fm track changes (I haven't tried local files yet), the visualization stops and resets and the album art and title window looks laggy for a while. I'd like it to fade in/out smoothly.
Filetype icons are ugly but that can be ćhanged in the future

Last.fm playback is nice. especially the fact that you can see tracks in the playlist. Plus seeking (wtf). You could do the last.fm search bar a little smaller and stick it to a corner. And display album art and artist description in the center, like in the default last.fm player.

I really like the visualizations but I don't really use them usually.
But i might cause they are AWESOME. all that lines and stuff... You could take some ideas for the UI from there, although I'm not sure that everybody would like it. But it would give your player some character