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Thursday, November 12, 2015

Best Free Media Player for Android

Introduction
Ever since it was possible to play videos on a computer, it seems like people have always been looking for an alternative to the built-in media player, and with reason. Often built-in video players will only provide basic functionality and often a limited codec support. That, well, let's call it "tradition", continues today on mobile form factors. Ever since the iPhone came out, people have been looking to be able to play files like flv files on it. Same with Android, and that's why we're here today. So, if you're looking for a fresh interface for enjoying your media, some broader codec support, or just something plain old new, keep reading.
 
Discussion
MX Video PlayerMX Video Player is mainly meant to play videos, and it does that very well. A small checkbox in the settings menu also lets it play music files. This app wins our award for the best freeware app in this category.
MX Video Player supports a wide array of codecs. And, they're not only supported as software codecs - there is the "H/W+" decoder. What that means is you can use hardware decoding on your videos, even if hardware decoding support isn't available for that format on your device. What it means (in plain English): you get the same performance and battery life here as when you use your default video player.
When you open the app, you will find a list of folders on your device that contain videos. Recently added videos have a "New" label on them, as well as on the folders they're in.
The interface you get while playing videos is great. Slide your finger up or down on the right half of the screen to adjust volume. Slide your finger up or down on the left half of the screen to adjust brightness. If you want, you can also use automatic brightness, but it took me a while to find that buried in the settings. Slide your finger left or right to seek. Use two fingers to zoom the video - and you can even set it so that you can pan around the video while it's zoomed in. A lock control prevents your device's home, back, and menu buttons from having any effect. There are position controls, to control if your video is played at 100% size, stretched, etc. There is also a control to let you choose between "H/W" decoding (the way the default video app works, but only for native video formats), "H/W+" (similar but for other video formats), and "S/W" (Software decoding, which means worse performance and worse battery life).
This app can also play audio files, however, it needs some extra configuration for this. Just go to the "Audio" section of the settings, and make sure "Audio Player" is checked.
There are many settings to let you adjust whatever you want, from change the default video decoder, to fine-tuning the interface, to playing a video in the background - just about everything you could imagine.
Overall, this app is an excellent media player, and I can really recommend it to everybody.
QQPlayerQQPlayer is another app that only plays videos, and that has external codecs. In other words, you can play videos with this player even if they aren't normally supported by your device.
When you start up QQPlayer, you already notice the first problem: the video scanning. In order to find your videos, it needs to scan your phone to find them. It takes quite a while, and worst of all, it won't do it in the background easily. As soon as you do something else that takes too much memory, QQPlayer is killed (which is normal), but the "refreshing" is cancelled in the process.
Then, you get to your list of videos, which is unacceptably laggy. My device isn't the newest, but I would be willing to bet that there is still a lag problem on new devices. And this is with the video preview disabled. Not to mention, it's just a list, no indication as to which folder the video is, only an indication of the length of the video.
Well, OK, now, enough complaining. One interesting feature is the "Private List". This is a password-protected list that you can move videos into. Once you put a video in this list, it's no longer in the main list - so that only people with the password can see the videos in that folder. It's probably useful for storing videos, of products, for... your... significant... other... never mind.
This app remembers the point where you left the video, so that you can continue playing from that point next time. There's also an option to continue playing what you were playing before - which can be handy if you have a huge list of videos - especially considering how laggy the video list is.
There are codecs for quite a few video formats, however, the codecs probably aren't as efficient as the codecs built in to your device - they definitely were not on my device.
The video playing interface is decent - you have the same kind of gesture controls, similarily to MX Video Player, and they work well. The only thing missing for me would be an option to be able to set the screen brightness to automatic.
QQPlayer has a decent amount of settings, so you'll be able to find most basic settings there. If you don't need any advanced settings, you'll be fine.
Overall, QQPlayer is a decent video player. It has some issues, but some interesting features that I haven't seen in other places.
After this we have MoboPlayer. This app is similar to MX Video Player in many ways, starting with that it only plays videos.MoboPlayer Video Player
Again, this media player supports a wide variety of file formats, although here, it's not as simple and straightforward as with MX Video Player. It doesn't just play the video, but goes through a few different screens. This is a fairly minor complaint, but you see this trend throughout Mobo Video Player - everything seems to be more complicated than it needs to be. Other than that, though, the video plays fine.
Finding your videos is odd - it displays a list of folders that you chose perfectly normally. But, when you go into one of those folders, it shows all of the videos, without actually showing you which video is in which subfolder. It makes for a confusing mess if you've got a lot of videos organized in folders - Mobo won't recognize that they're in subfolders. When it comes to the way the videos are presented, you can either have them in a list or in a grid, but the grid seems to be pretty laggy. You can also get an interface similar to Cover flow on Apple devices, but then, this is a pain to us - too bad, really, because otherwise, the interface actually looks nicer than Apple's, in my opinion, and is very smooth.
The buttons let you switch views, choose the folders that have videos and choose how to sort the videos (here my complaint about the subfolders is partially answered - you can sort them by directory). It has something to do with thumbnails, but which ones, I have no idea. You can also resume play from whatever video you last watched, without needing to know which one it was. That is pretty handy, except for the fact that it looks like something else, leaving me surprised to find a video of a subway when I thought I chose a video about a cloud service.
The video player's interface has the same concept as MX's interface. But, again, the controls don't work the way they should. For example, the volume control has some sort of momentum system or something similar. Whatever it is, it sometimes leaves you dragging your finger down while the volume is going up, or moving your finger slowly and the volume moving up quickly, or the other way around. Same thing with the brightness. When it comes to the seek function, again, it is complicated. While advanced users might appreciate the way it works, it's just too complicated for the average user.
The controls you get when you tap on the screen are also similar to those found in MX video player. The buttons thankfully work as expected. In the advanced menu, you can find some information on the video, such as resolution, size and decoder, but you can't change the decoder you're using. So, if a video won't play using hardware decoding and Mobo doesn't recognize it, you're stuck.
Some people might have a special feature that they're looking for in this app, but otherwise this app isn't all that great. It is way too confusing, and doesn't really offer much that other players don't. If Mobo seems down your alley, I would definitely recommend a download for MX first.
RealPlayer has always been a well-known but controversial media player on desktops. Now, it has been developed for Android.RealPlayer
The experience starts with a very nicely designed home screen, which slightly reminds me of Windows Media Center.  RealPlayer finds your music, videos and photos very well, but it might take a little time at first. It will find your media without any progress indicator, so you might be wondering what is going on.
The app has three parts - music, videos and photos. Here, we will be going over the videos and photos.
The main problem is the format support - this player will basically only support what your device already supports.
The photos section is the one area this app is lagging behind. It only shows the pictures you took with your phone's camera. You can do the typical thing - look at them individually, or play a slideshow.
If you're aren't looking for something that gives you extra codecs, then this will do. However, I would still recommend using another media player instead.
mVideoPlayer is an interesting app that isn't quite like the other media players here. Like some of the other apps reviewed here, it is mainly meant to work with videos, however, instead of providing extra codecs, it organizes your videos into movies and TV shows automatically. You can then use it in combination with the default video player or any of the media players mentioned above. Unfortunately, it didn't identify too much of my content - and I don't know why. It wouldn't even identify something as popular as a Family Guy episode (although it did recognize a Robin Williams stand up movie). A recent update was supposed to fix this - but it didn't, at least not for me. The problem is that there are no indications anywhere as to how the videos are recognized by the app, and no way to categorize them manually. I really wish it worked better, because the idea is great...

Quick Selection Guide

MX Video Player


Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Plays a large variety of different file formats Great interface while playing videos Great crop/resize controls
Video resizes when controls come up (slightly irritating)
1.6e
5.4MB
Unrestricted freeware
There is no portable version of this product available.

QQPlayer

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
"Resume playing" feature, Private list of password-protected videos, Good playback controls, good format support
Unacceptably laggy video list, "refreshing" takes long and can't easily run in the background
2.1.428
6.7MB
Unrestricted freeware
There is no portable version of this product available.

MoboPlayer

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Good Codec support; gesture-based video control
Confusing interface; finding your videos is confusing; some interfaces are unuseably slow on anything under a dual core device; the gesture video control doesn't work properly; confusing video resize controls; no option to manually switch between hardware and software decoder
1.2.200
3.3MB
Unrestricted freeware

RealPlayer® Beta

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Ease of use Nice look
No external codecs - only videos that can already be played on the phone can be played here No gesture support
0.0.0.61
2.6 MB
Unrestricted freeware

Best Free CD-DVD Burning Software

Introduction
When looking for the best free software program for either CD (Compact Disc) or DVD (Digitally Versatile Disc) I think it is worth the effort to consider your exact requirements.
Keep in mind that CD & DVD burning programs are designed for you to author CDs and DVDs for: music, photos, movies, games, data, or other digital files that will hopefully stimulate your creativity. As well as CD and DVD burning software, this category also includes Light-scribe software which enables you to produce laser-etched labels with text or graphics, as opposed to stick-on labels and printable discs.
With new software (particularly new free software) don't be afraid to experiment and try a few different options before you decide on the right one for you.
 
Discussion
ImgBurnImgBurn is the product I decided is the most powerful free burning tool, as no other software comes close to its advanced features and options.
ImgBurn includes support for:
  • every modern optical disc from CD to Blu-Ray
  • more than 10 image formats
  • authoring rewritable discs
  • producing images from file compilations or discs
  • building audio CDs from a variety of file types
  • creating video discs on DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD
  • enabling access to drives for restricted users
  • endless tweaking of all aspects of the burn process.
ImgBurn has several 'Modes', each one for performing a different task:
Read - Read a disc to an image file.
Build - Create an image file from files on your computer or network or you can write the files directly to a disc
Write - Write an image file to a disc
Verify - Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct
Discovery - Put your drive/media to the test! Used in combination with DVDInfoPro, you can check the quality of the burns your drive is producing.
ImgBurn's advanced features may confuse you if you just want to do a basic burn. The welcome menu provides quick access to some common tasks, but other basic features such as erasing a re-writable disc are not immediately visible. Try playing around with ImgBurn for a while. Exploring the menus will certainly reveal most of what you need. However, if you simply aren’t interested in advanced functionality  you may wish to check out my other recommendations. Although ImgBurn is primarily aimed at advanced users, I still feel that it deserves top spot in this category. Caution: ImgBurn is now bundled with the Open Candy wrapped installer.

BurnAware FreeBurnAware Free is probably the prettiest in the interface department for this collection and offers a step-by-step procedure for your burning projects. It is now probably one of the most popular free CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc burning software available for Windows. Using BurnAware Free Edition you can easily create and burn Audio and MP3 CD, Data and DVD-Video disc, ISO and Cue Image, erase or format rewritable disc, copy your CD or DVD to ISO image. This software is for personal home use only.
A launch window lets you choose the type of project you want and leads you through the process to completion. Navigating your directories is easy with BurnAware's file management system and adding files is as simple as highlighting them and hitting a button. BurnAware offers enough features for most burning projects including burn data, bootable and multi-session discs, burn audio, video and MP3 discs, create and burn ISO/CUE/BIN images, copy discs to ISO images and erase rewritable discs. Sometimes you just need a simple program for your burning needs and don't need all the extra features of a paid application. Caution: BurnAware Free is now bundled with the OpenCandy installer.
Supports:
  • All media types (CD/DVD/Blu-ray Disc) including Double Layer
  • All current hardware interfaces (IDE/SCSI/USB/1394/SATA) including AHCI
  • UDF/ISO9660/Joliet file systems (any combination)
  • On-the-fly writing (no staging to hard drive first)
  • Verification of written files
  • Multi-session DVD-RW/DVD+RW
  • Unicode CD-Text (tracks and disc)
  • Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 (32 and 64 Bit), .Net framework is NOT required.

CDBurnerXPCDBurnerXP is a another wonderful free tool. It is especially brilliant if you are accustomed to using Nero.

Big picture - CDBurnerXP is a quick and easy solution for creating audio CDs, video discs (DVD and Blu-Ray) and has extra features for ripping your audio CDs and finding track info on the Web.
It adds sessions to multi-session discs; burns on-the-fly and verifies burns; erases rewritable media; creates audio discs and video DVDs; command line version; LightScribe cover printing support with very basic designer supporting custom background images; enables access to drives for restricted users; multilingual; some advanced features and options.

I like CDBurnerXP's clean user interface. The four-paned interface makes it easy to find what you are looking for. You can then drop-and-drag files to your chosen media. Also, the audio player, which is included, helps you ensure you have captured the tracks you want. You may find the dropbox window handy as it allows you to browse your files using Windows Explorer and then quickly drop-and-drag files to your burn list as you go. Judging from other user reviews, some people had trouble with CDBurnerXP when burning data DVDs although I did find I was able to use this function without too many hassles.

Once again, CDBurnerXP supports common types of optical discs like CD, DVD, and Blue-Ray including double layer mediums. You will find creating Audio CDs, Video Discs, DVD or Blue-Ray, very easy. I found dealing with re-writable media is also very comfortable with this program. ISO files can be created and burned as well with support of converting BIN/NRG file formats into ISO.
CDBurnerXP is multilingual and natively supports 32 and 64 bits version of Windows 7.
Editor's Advisory Note: CDBurnerXP is now bundled with OpenCandy. 

InfraRecorderI consider a review of free burning software must include InfraRecorder so I am listing it as my fourth choice. InfraRecorder is a stable project that has been popular for quite a long time. It supports all of the common features that a good burning application should have, and it works with all types of CDs and DVDs including dual layer discs. It even includes full command line support like CDBurnerXP. With InfraRecorder, you can burn and create images with support for bootable discs, author rewritable discs, and create audio CDs and video DVDs. The interface is clean and simple without a lot of extras to make things confused.
InfraRecorder is a respectable burning program, but it has a few disadvantages as well. It does not support Blu-Ray discs or HD-DVDs. It also does not include many advanced options for tweaking the burn process to perfection like ImgBurn. Its interface isn’t as nice as that of BurnAware Free, and it doesn’t have any extra features like CDBurnerXP. Aside from these possible downsides, it feels like a solid program that definitely deserves a chance at becoming a part of your favored software collection.
Quick Selection Guide

ImgBurn

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
A free tool that enables you to burn CD/DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-Ray images with ease. Very flexible application with several advanced features not available in other tools.
Bundled with OpenCandy - see information link in review text. Probably more suited to advanced users who will appreciate the extent of its configurability.
2.5.8.0
3.39 MB
32 bit only
Unrestricted freeware
A portable version of this product is available but not from the developer.
Although no official portable version exists, Googling "ImgBurn portable" returns several results showing how to run it from a flash drive.
Win 9x/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3/Vista/7. If you use Wine, it should also run on Linux and other x86-based Unixes.

BurnAware Free

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
BurnAware Free is a free CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc burning software
Doesn't have the option of a floating window that features in programs such as CDBurnerXP. Installer bundled with OpenCandy (see information link in review text).
8.3.0
8 MB
32 bit but 64 bit compatible
Free for private use only
A portable version of this product is available but not from the developer.
Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7

InfraRecorder

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
supports CD-R/CD-RW/DVD+R/DVD-R/DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM (double layer mediums included); burns discs from images or files, creates bootable discs, creates images from files or discs, copies discs to discs (does not seem to bypass copyright protection), adds sessions to multisession discs, fixates discs, burns on-the-fly, verifies burns, erases rewritable media; creates audio discs, creates video DVDs; command line version; multilingual; simple, easily accessible interface
does not support HD-DVD, Blu-Ray; lacks advanced features
0.53
3.96 MB
32 and 64 bit versions available
Open source freeware
A portable version of this product is available from the developer.
Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/ 7

CDBurnerXP

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Clean user friendly interface. Multi-session functionality.
Requires Microsoft .NET Framework.
4.5.5.5767
5.39 MB
Unrestricted freeware
A portable version of this product is available from the developer.
Caution: Now bundled with OpenCandy - see note above. An OpenCandy free version is available by clicking the "More download options" link on the downloads page. Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft Windows Media Format 9.0 Update are required
Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003/Vista/7