Hands-On: VLC Media Player Finally Available For Android [Pre-Alpha Release]
VLC Player is a popular open-source, cross-platform media player that needs no long introduction. Whether you’re using Windows, MAC, Linux or any other supported operating system for that matter, you must have tried the media player at least once. Its universal support for virtually all known multimedia file formats make VLC Player a the default choice for many users. While the iOS variant of VLC Media Player is available on Cydia, it’s the Android users who’ve been eagerly waiting for the media player to be released to the Android Market. Well, that day might not be very far away as Android developer CVPC has just released a pre-alpha build of VLC Player.
It seems as if the developer, like most Android users (including me), thought it was about time the platform got its variant of the VLC Media Player and so decided to come up with a build of his own. The developer has created two variants of the app: NEON and NO-NEON for two types of processors.
Here’s how to find out your device’s processor type:
- Use any file manager with root access capability (Root Explorer, ES File Manager) to navigate to the /proc directory
- Locate and open file cpuinfo in HTML Viewer
- You should now be looking at detailed information about your processor. Try finding the word ‘neon’ in there
- If you find it, then you must download the NEON version of the player. If not, then continue with the NO-NEON variant (links at the end of the post)
In order to install the downloaded APK, you must have the Unknown Sources option checked (enabled) on the Menu > Settings > Applications screen.
VLC Media Player opens in video mode by default. There’s a button at the top-right corner to toggle between video and music mode. To start playing files, you must first specify directories on your device that contain media files. For this, tap Menu > Preferences > Directories and select the desired folder(s). Depending upon the selected player mode, you can view a list of all the music/video files on your screen.
We tested the player on a couple of our devices (Samsung Galaxy S and HTC Desire Z to be precise). While the APK was downloaded and installed successfully, the app itself – we must admit – did disappoint. When put to test with multiple video formats, the player seemed to take an eternity to list them all. Moreover, the quality of the video files that were played (eventually) wasn’t up to par as most of the files either did not run smoothly or were filled with playback glitches. Still, this is just a pre-alpha build and so it isn’t a big surprise that it isn’t ready to replace your default media player.
The video player offers you the option to switch between various screen aspect ratios and to lock the screen during playback to avoid pausing or skipping ahead by mistake.The music mode of the player played all tracks fed to it without any hiccups. When in music mode, you can see the various filters that can be used to categorize your music. Just swipe left/right on the screen to sort music by songs, artists, albums, genres and to view your playlists.
That’s about it. As mentioned earlier, the app is just a pre-alpha build so you might experience a few bugs and force-closes here and there or you might not be able to run it on your device at all. Still, if you like to get an early taste of what the final product might have to offer, you may download the APK for your device from the links provided below or head over to the app’s developer’s website (link provided at the end) for further information.
(https://dl.cvpcs.org/android/test/common/VLC-neon.apk) Download VLC Media Player (NEON) for Android
(https://dl.cvpcs.org/android/test/common/VLC-noneon.apk) Download VLC Media Player (NONEON) for Android
[via CVPCS]
i think it is awesome
is srt file supports in vlc andriod player for tablet?
why is it that there was an error of my galaxy w?Even if a en abled the unknown sources settings?
wait for result
thank u
Would like to know if VLC installed in android phones can be used to watch live streaming?
Never mind i got it but now wont play the file
This app is an awesome, I’ve been looking for a VLC player for a while now and this one works exceptionally well, thanks!
I have selected the directory that my movies are in but when in click on that last folder it says no subdirectory. How do i fix this? Also if i just go to my file app and the click on the movie i want to play the file the screen goes black and then it just goes back to the file. Why wont it play this avi file?
Thank You
Chand, you’re an asshole. vlc is a freebie thanks to the hard work of vlc guys. cant believe you are moaning. battery, length of time to bring the app out….. what do you do in YOUR spare time???? Create cool programs like this? I think not. maybe you could develope an asshole app tho. asshole.
Give the developers credit for their hard work. Android apps are typically developed in Java so porting the VLC is going to be more involved than developing for iOS which uses Objective C as its base language.
Moreover this pre alpha version drains a lot of battery. It drained 20% of my battery for playing 10 minutes of music. Sometimes goes upto 95% CPU usage. Highly unstable and not recommended for use at all! 🙁
True. But let’s be happy someone is going through the trouble of bringing the player to Android. The final build will hopefully be what we’re all hoping for.
But it’s a sad thing android had to wait this long! It has almost been a year after their iOS release! Hope that we don’t have to wait another year for the final release!