Does Your Media Player Suck? Try A Unique Alternative: Daum PotPlayer [Windows]

Whenever we have written an article about great media players, people were quick to remind us of PotPlayer. Once we checked it out, we had to agree that it was indeed pretty awesome. So the tool silently made it to our famous list of Best Windows Software and finally the time has come for a proper review.

PotPlayer was developed by Daum and is based on the original KMPlayer, which has since been developed by another group. Much like VLC Media Player, Daum PotPlayer comes complete with codecs for most media file formats. This means it will natively play almost any audio or video file you throw at it, without the need to manually install codecs. If you now wonder whether PotPlayer is as neat and easy to use as it sounds, read on.

First Impressions

On a first impression, Daum PotPlayer looks like a mix of KMPlayer and Winamp. It has a modular setup, consisting of a playlist and a playback module. The latter changes depending on whether an audio or a video file is playing. Note that throughout the player, left- or right-click might trigger different actions or behaviors, also depending on your current view.

Adding Files & Managing Playlists

You can add files, an entire directory, or a URL by clicking the + sign in the bottom right of the playlist. Alternatively, you can right-click into the playlist and select Add & Edit or use the keyboard shortcut [CTRL] + [I]. You can also drag&drop files or directories from a Windows Explorer folder into the playlist.

Did you notice the playlist tabs above? You can create different albums, which per default are automatically saved as playlists. When you close and open PotPlayer, your previously opened tabs are re-loaded.

Unfortunately, you cannot change the order of opened albums, they are sorted alphabetically. It’s also not possible to drag & drop or easily move files from one album to another. However, when you select files and then click *New Album, the selected files will automatically be copied over to the new album (not moved).

Also, you can copy and paste files from one album to another via the Add & Edit menu shown above. To remove files, right-click them, open the Remove menu and select the desired action. Alternatively, you can use the indicated keyboard shortcuts.

The playlist supports drag&drop, both for files from another source and within the playlist. Hence it’s a surprise that drag&drop does not work between playlists. Files can be moved up and down within the playlist via the playlist menu. Little buttons next to the info window allow you to open the Playlist Settings [left-click S], sort the playlist [right-click S] or save the current playlist [left-click O].

Playing Audio Files

While playing audio files you can move around the playlist and pair it with the equalizer in various ways. Once the two are paired, dragging the playback module will move both elements like one unit, while dragging the playlist will separate them. Clicking the little icon in the top left triggers On Top Always behavior.

The playback module has some neat features for both audio and video. While playing audio files, you can use the A / B buttons to define a section of the file to be repeated. Clicking the arrows between A and B will reset the selection.

In the bottom right of the playback module are three buttons. Left-click the first button to open the Windows folder for the currently playing file, right-click it to get an extensive menu of anything the player can potentially open, including webcam, TV, or subtitles. The middle button launches or closes the control panel upon a left-click, while a right-click opens the skin menu. Finally, left-clicking the right-most button opens or closes the playlist.

The unsuspicious looking control panel lets you manage the audio equalizer, adjust video settings and take screen captures, control subtitles, play settings, video ratios and video frames.

Playing Video Files

The video frame is docked to the left of the playlist. You can close the playlist via the respective button in the bottom right of the video frame or by clicking the little arrowhead between the video and the playlist. To watch the video in fullscreen, double-click the video frame. You can return by double-clicking again or clicking [ESC].

While playing video you can hide the skin to only see the video frame by clicking the little icon in the top left. You can move the video frame around and as you hover over the top, bottom, or right-hand side, the respective menus or the playlist will show.

The video playback menu shown above is quite a handful. PCM lets you change audio channels, NV12 has all the controls for moving within the video, including frame by frame, within subtitles, or to a specific frame.

Left-clicking the [i] button turns on/off OSD, while a right-click opens a window with the file information. Left-clicking the [O] button captures the current frame and a right-click opens a screen capture menu. Also the next buttons in the row show different behaviors for left- vs. right-click. The first three control audio stream, subtitles, and video processing.

The final three are similar but different to the menus seen at the bottom of the audio playback window. Right-clicking the control panel button will open an advanced control menu bar (see screenshot below). Right-clicking the playlist button merges and separates the playlist from the video frame.

Note that while a video is playing, right-clicking the playlist albums will show another extensive menu, but only when the playlist is merged with the video frame. This is the same menu that opens when you right-click the display that indicates the file format [AVI in screenshot above].

Verdict

Daum PotPlayer is a versatile and comprehensive media player, much like its big brother KMPlayer. Some of its features are not immediately intuitive, for example differing behavior of buttons upon left- or right-click. However, this also highlights the depth of the player. While the interface makes the player appear simplistic at first, the many menus hidden behind a few carefully placed buttons, reveal advanced features that leave few requests open. So taken together, PotPlayer is a media player for people who expect full control, enjoy unique interfaces, and don’t mind exploring.

What is your experience with media players? Which one is your favorite and how does PotPlayer compare?

The post Does Your Media Player Suck? Try A Unique Alternative: Daum PotPlayer [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

A Disrupting Google Easter Egg

You might remember the [do a barrel roll] Easter Egg which rotates Google's search results page. The query is so popular that it's the first suggestion when you type "do a" and Google Instant automatically shows the results for [do a barrel roll] and triggers the Easter Egg.



"The issue is, if you search for just [do a] in Google with Google Instant on, it will show you the search results for [do a barrel roll] and just spin the screen before you can complete your query. So if you meant to search for [do a hop skip and a jump], good luck because before you know it, the search results will take an unexpected turn," reports Search Engine Roundtable.

Actually, you can continue entering the query and the Easter Egg will disappear, but few people will do that. This is an example of Easter Egg that disrupts the user experience and makes Google Search more difficult to use.



Google could trigger the Easter Egg only if you type the entire query or if you select the first suggestion. Another option is to delay the Easter Egg animation.

Download IE10 Final For Windows 7

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Good news to all PC users who have been using the Release Preview version of Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7. Microsoft has just released the final version of Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and is now ready for download. Users who would like to upgrade to Internet Explorer [...]

Hide Google's Navigation Bar

If you don't like Google's black navigation bar or you don't use, there's a simple way you to hide it: just bookmark this URL https://www.google.com/webhp?esrch=Agad::Public. It's used by the A Google a Day site, which shows daily puzzles you can solve using Google search. Unfortunately, this interface doesn't show very recent results (from the past week), so you can solve the puzzles on your own, without spoilers.

You can right-click the search box in Chrome and Firefox, select "Add as search engine" or "Add a keyword for this search" and create a new search engine you can trigger using a keyword.

Tecno-Net reports that Google tests a new interface that hides the navigation bar on search results pages and only shows it when you visit the homepage.

1TB of Google Storage? Buy a Chromebook Pixel Instead

If you've ever wanted to buy 1TB of Google storage to upload all your documents, videos, photos and audio files to Google Drive and Google+ Photos, now it's cheaper to buy Google's Chromebook Pixel. When you pay $1300 for the ultrabook, Google also offers 1TB of storage for 3 years.



The regular price for 1TB of Google Drive storage is $50/month, so Google offers $1800 of storage for only $1300 and the hardware is "free". Obviously, there's a big difference between monthly payments and an upfront payment, not to mention that you may not need 1TB of storage right now and you can always upgrade later.

Google only offers 100GB of storage for 2 years when you buy any other current-generation Chromebook (Samsung Series 3, Samsung 550, Acer C7, HP Pavilion 14), so you only get $120 worth of storage. Chromebook Pixel users get 10 times more storage and an additional year for using it. And that's not the only "goody": "your Chromebook comes with 12 free [Gogo in-air internet] passes that you can use over 2 years on domestic US flights."

Image Resizer: Resize Images From Context Menu

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Microsoft’s built-in Paint application in Windows operating system is a basic image processing tool with limited functionalities. Paint program hasn’t been updated in over four years and lacks many features that you find in free third-party programs. Because of this, PC users who are in need of a better image processing tool have to install [...]