MPlayer Editor's Review

'MPlayer OSX' is the Mac OS X port of the MPlayer video player.

This player is popular among Linux users, and it started to gain popularity on the Windows platform too. It has the advantage of playing video files without having to install third party codecs. MPlayer has its own built-in decoding capabilities.

The MPlayer's interface is quite good. Compared to its Windows or Linux versions, it looks better and it has more usability.

The 'Preferences' panel has just a few items. The interesting part is that you can use several video modules: MPlayer OSX, CoreVideo (which is a beta module), and Quartz/QuickTime. Unfortunately, during the tests only the MPlayer OSX was stable. The Quartz/QuickTime module didn't work at all.

The only thing that lowers the usability quality for this player is the lack of contextual menu, when you click the playing area. For example, if you want to use the fullscreen mode, you have to know the following key combination: Command (Apple) +F.

Pluses: It has its own video decoding capabilities. It features a playlist for the videos. It's quite practical.

Drawbacks / flaws: Not all the included video modules work. I suggest you to use the MPlayer OSX module for maximum stability. It also supports anti-aliasing rendering and subtitles.

In conclusion: This is a pretty good video player, since it has its own decoding capabilities. It's a great program when you play video formats that aren't widely used and you don't need to install extra codec packs. Unlike QuickTime, MPlayer can play the video in fullscreen mode by default. You don't have to purchase a professional version to do this. In fact, you don't have to purchase anything, because MPlayer is a freeware distributed under an Open Source licensing.

version reviewed: 1.0 RC1