Since the rise of domestic video websites, more and more people have chosen to play online videos directly, which is indeed convenient and fast. But for movie lovers and users who bring their own NAS, a local player that can parse Blu-ray and even 4K-level high-definition videos is still essential. There are many video players on the Windows platform, including PotPlayer, VLC, MPC-HCh, 5K Player, and other foreign players that are worth mentioning include PotPlayer, VLC, MPC-HCh, 5K Player, and domestically, QQ audio and video, shooter players, etc. These free and ad-free players have their own characteristics. Some choose to be simple and pure, some choose to be plug-in support, and some choose to be exclusive... And the one that combines these characteristics, in my mind, only PotPlayer is the only one.
provides local decoder support
We all hope to solve all problems with one player, and do not have to be forced to switch to other tools because they do not support specific formats. Therefore, for a player, whether it can support many video formats, audio formats, and subtitle formats is the basis of the basics and is a function that must be met.
PotPlayer Main interface
shortcut
video audio format support, PotPlayer is not much different from other players, so we will not make a detailed list here. But its advantage is that it supports multiple decoders in built-in and can play almost all non-encrypted video formats without additional installation. In terms of
subtitle format, PotPlayer supports subtitle formats such as SMI, SRT, Vobsub, Blu-ray SUP, etc., and supports special effects subtitles such as ASS/SSA, and can automatically load local subtitle files.
PotPlayer also avoids excessive bloatiness. When the local decoder is included, the installation package is only 27 MB. Among the players mentioned at the beginning of the article, this score is only ranked behind Shooter Player (Classic Edition) and MPC-HC, and is even smaller than the main lightweight QQ Audio and Video.
Installation package size comparison of several players
supports speed regulation and rotation playback (X, C and Alt K)
In addition to being able to play videos, a player should also adjust the proportion, stretch, crop the video, and other operations. PotPlayer can not only do this, but also adjust the screen during playback, such as speed regulation, cycle, and rotation, and other players support incomplete functions.
Take "speed regulation" as an example. PotPlayer can achieve speed regulation without frequency regulation . No matter how many times the speed is adjusted (up to 12 times the speed), the sound will not become a minor. By default, two shortcuts, X and C, are provided to slow down and accelerate videos, which also allows those lengthy teaching videos to play at exponential speeds. When watching videos taken by your phone, the "rotation" function is also very useful, and it can lie down some vertical videos. There are also some settings for specific videos in
PotPlayer, such as sharpening , noise reduction, color cancellation, soft blur, etc. There are not many usage scenarios for these functions, but among all the video players I have come into contact with, PotPlayer has undoubtedly the richest functions.
supports image processing, speed regulation, rotation
⚙️ Function settings without adjustment
PotPlayer has a rich setting menu, from playback settings to filter settings, there are many options for modification.
The rich settings bring rich functions. If you want to make any adjustments to PotPlayer, it can help you. There are more or less missing features in other players, the most representative of which are "Touch Control" and "XInput Settings", which can give you the best experience on a Windows tablet or using an XBox controller, respectively.
Although the settings are rich, most of these options do not require adjustment to get a very high-quality experience.The only thing that needs to be adjusted is the mouse settings. In the default mouse settings of PotPlayer, there is no corresponding action for "left click" and "left double click" corresponding to "pause playback", which is very different from other players. If you are not used to it, you can adjust it to "click to play" and "double-click to full screen". Of course, this is also an adjustment based on different personal habits.
At this point, I want to use QQ audio and video as the object of comparison. Because the main reason why QQ Video is recommended is "no need to set it up, it is ready to use". As a lightweight player, it does meet the needs of most people well, and it is more than enough to watch videos on a daily basis. However, once advanced functions such as speed regulation are involved, they will inevitably be stretched. PotPlayer can meet the needs of users in more dimensions. It is precisely because of the lack of these key functions that have opened the gap between QQ Audio and Video and PotPlayer.
PotPlayer and QQ Video settings richness
supports exporting configuration files
Since there are too many PotPlayer settings, some players who pursue the ultimate picture quality will make drastic changes to many settings. Therefore, PotPlayer also provides the function of exporting configurations. The configuration files will be exported to the reg format. After reinstalling the system, the settings can be added to the registry with one click for restoration.
I thought this function was a basic function, but I didn’t expect that among the players mentioned at the beginning, only PotPlayer and MPC-HC provide the function of configuration export. So this can also be considered an advantage.
Only PotPlayer and MPC-HC provide export settings
Compared with VLC, the rich configuration and open source features make VLC very popular, largely because it also supports plug-ins, extensions, and themes, allowing players who are good at configuration to adjust according to their preferences. However, the overall design of VLC is retro, and the experience under the default configuration is relatively average. The playlist will occupy the entire player window, and there is no sidebar after the full screen. It is not pleasing to design such as the inability to export the configuration (the configuration file may be copied manually). Therefore, PotPlayer wins a good experience under the default scheme.
▍Advanced functions: Exclusive features
PotPlayer has advantages in basic functions, but can also be seen in other players, so these are not exclusive functions of PotPlayer. What really attracted me were the "unique secrets" that only existed in PotPlayer.
Remote Play NAS Video
In fact, PotPlayer initially attracted me was its online playlist function. In addition to "Current Playlist" and "My Computer", it also allows you to add local folders as playlists. But the most valuable thing is to support adding lists through FTP, WebDAV, and HTTP to play remote videos. This allows you to directly play videos in NAS on your computer. After configuration, this "album" will be saved in PotPlayer and the opened folder location is retained to facilitate the next time you continue watching.
Since this connection method does not require transcoding through the server, there will be no lag in tools such as Plex and Emby. As long as the internet speed is fast enough, you can play high-definition videos with original quality locally, and you can be said to be the best companion for NAS. And this feature does not appear in other players.
Add remote folder
Fitting frames improves smoothness (Table view effect) and plays frame by frame (D and F)
When we see some videos with extremely low frame rate or stuttering, we often joke about "blinking frames". In reality, the frame rate of most movies and TV shows is generally 24 frames or 30 frames, while PotPlayer provides a video complement function that can fill one frame between two frames. You can turn on the fill-frame function for lower frame rates to get a smoother viewing.
Open the double frame (create intermediate frame) function
In the "Options - Video - Image Processing" of PotPlayer, enable the "Double Frame (create intermediate frame)" option. After enabled, press Tab to check whether the frame rate has been improved successfully. The 24-frame video in the figure has been increased to 48 frames.
Enable "Double Frame"
▍Advanced Functions: Plugin supports
In addition to basic functions, the plug-in supports that can greatly improve the player function. PotPlayer can improve the experience through multiple means such as plug-ins, themes, filters, external files, etc.
theme support: highly customized
PotPlayer Another highlight of it is its customization level, which can make all-round adjustments to the player theme, color scheme, font, icon, etc., and can also distinguish between ordinary skins and touch skins. Because PotPlayer is very well-known at home and abroad, the number of themes is relatively rich. If you like, you can even use skins that mimic other players. However, the official only has a Skins discussion area, which is not a dedicated theme sharing and download area. Many times you need to find the theme yourself.
Each skin can have two styles: border and borderless. In the borderless state, all menu bars can be hidden by default.
Various PotPlayer skins
The most special thing is that the "association icon" can also be customized. When we want to watch local videos, we often do not open the player first, but open the video file directly. The file icon allows us to intuitively see what format this video file is. Most players do not provide options in this regard, and PotPlayer even allows us to customize the icons of each extension, and provides three icon solutions by default, which facilitates us to set them up. The icon associated with
can also be set
plug-in support: real-time translation of subtitles
Although PotPlayer does not support automatic matching and automatic download of subtitles, it provides another solution to the problem. As long as the current video has English subtitles, it can be automatically translated into Chinese subtitles through the built-in Google translation or Bing translation through PotPlayer's real-time subtitle translation function. This method is very suitable for unpopular foreign movies. If you can't get rid of only foreign subtitles, you can use PotPlayer to achieve painless viewing.
Real-time translation of English subtitles
If you cannot connect due to network problems, you want to use domestic translation tools as your preferred translation. You can also use some plug-ins to make PotPlayer support Baidu translation. Refer to this article "PotPlayer Online Subtitle Real-Time Translation - Baidu Translation Plugin" to operate. You need to register a developer account for Baidu Translation.
External files: Support live streaming sources, including Douyin Bili Huya and other
If you don’t have a NAS, you can use another method to watch online videos using PotPlayer. By searching for "PotPlayer Live Source", you can find many DPL format files. The method is to drag them to the playback interface. The
DPL file is actually a text file containing a large number of live links. With such a file, you can add a large number of live links to the playlist at once, turning PotPlayer into a live broadcast player. You can also use F12 to crawl live links from specific live broadcast rooms in the browser and add them to the player, thereby avoiding installing the live broadcast website's own client.
filter support: Optimizing video viewing
Basic functions mentioned that PotPlayer can stretch, crop, reduce noise and sharpen the video picture. In fact, PotPlayer also has a filter optimization function, which can achieve better results with various video filters.
Here is a method that allows PotPlayer to work with mdaVR renderer to realize HDR video playback (the full name of madVR is madshi Video Renderer, which is the strongest video renderer on Windows).
Specific operation:
- Check whether the computer hardware can support HEVC 10bit hard solution. DXVA Checker is required to be downloaded for detection.
- Download madVR, place it in a non-Chinese directory, open install.bat as an administrator for installation.
- open madHcCtrl.exe to set the monitor. Set to PC Levels or TV Levels in "devices - monitor name - properties" respectively (depending on the monitor or TV). Then select "this display is already calibrated" in "calibration" and select "BT.709" below to indicate that the display color has been calibrated to BT.709.
Set in madVR
- Open "Options - Filters - Video Decoder - Filters / Decoder Management - Add System Filters" in PotPlayer, select madVR and add.
- Open "Options - Filters - Global Filter Priority - Add System Filters" in PotPlayer, select madVR and add.
Enable madVR
- Open "Options - Video - Video Rendering Method" in PotPlayer, change it to "Madshi Video Rendering", and enable the "Usage (Extreme Speed)" option in "Full Screen Exclusive Mode".
PotPlayer uses Windows' Enhanced Video Renderer by default, and the whole picture looks gray. After turning on madVR, the color and expressiveness of the entire screen have reached a higher level, which can better show the charm of HDR video.
some comparison samples (I)
some comparison samples (II)
some comparison samples (II)
some comparison samples (II)
some comparison samples (IV)
You can download this 2K HDR video sample on YouTube and then in PotPlayer Play in the middle and feel the difference between turning on the HDR filter.
Adding filters in this way will take up more GPU performance and bring some burden to the computer. If the computer configuration does not meet the requirements, you can also choose to turn on the HDR mode that comes with PotPlayer, which will at least be much better than when it is not turned on. If you want higher-definition image quality, you can also choose to install the LAV Video Decoder decoder to obtain higher image quality. The steps are similar, so I won't go into details here.
