Free Video Player

Windows comes equipped with the basic tools you need in order to perform a large variety of activities on a computer, such as multimedia playback, image and video processing, text editing and more. However, with the Internet at your fingertips, it's rather difficult not to go ahead and look for advanced alternatives, even for rudimentary tasks. For instance, you can go ahead and try out Free Video Player for an enhanced video and audio experience.

Right from the start, you're asked to perform a few basic configurations, such as picking one of the implemented language packs and themes. When you finally reach the main window, an abundance of details, both visual and technical, quickly convince you to spend a little time to get acquainted with what it has to offer.

Every menu element is wrapped in highly-detailed textures, tooltips fitted with both helpful descriptions and visual representations of buttons you can press for more options, intuitive button arrangement, and shape, even the progress slider fitted with time gradations, just like a ruler.

In terms of file support, there's hardly anything the application can't process. If you were skeptical in the initial setup screen in terms of association, you can pay a visit to the settings menu and pick what files to be automatically played. Choices are cleverly enlisted in categories for playlists, video and audio, with entries like ASX, BDMV, CUE, M3U, PLS, 3GP, MP4, FLV, BIK, AVI, MKV, MPEG, QT, RV, TS, VOB, MP3, APE, AIF, FLAC, WAV, OGG and many, many more.

In case you're still caught in the overwhelming settings menu, you might as well take the time to make future use a little more comfortable. Hotkey support lets you create shortcuts for all functions, interface elements can be managed for clearer view, formatting and positioning tools let you have subtitles displayed even at the top of the video, connection with remote controls or via WinLIRC is cleverly implemented, while advanced options put all codecs at your disposal for more configurations.

Playback quality only depends on the files you load, but the application does a pretty good job at displaying them. It can stay hidden in the system tray and simply play your favorite songs, videos can be switched to a full-screen view, or simply have all other interface elements hidden except for the preview area you can leave on top of other windows.

Adding files to the playlist has no restrictions in terms of type. It can either be done via the open dialog or by dragging them over the playlist, which pops up a few options as to where in the playlist to add the file and whether or not to remember your choice.

A rich music collection can be enhanced through several methods. Shuffle and repeat options are at your fingertips, but the equalizer is the center of attention. You can manually go through the ten frequency bands, with one custom preset slot, pick from the existing styles, adjust the balance or amplify sound with up to three decibels.

Bottom line is that Free Video Player is a fully-featured multimedia player that truly deserves a seat at the winner's table. An impressive amount of effort was put into development and if the visual side of things doesn't convince you, going under the hood is sure to change your mind. Customization is a key feature, with options to modify anything from playlist and hotkeys to audio devices and codecs used. It's a worthy competitor on the multimedia market that might just stick around longer than you expect once you give it a try.