Last september i wrote an article about VLC 4.0 in which it assured that it would be my default multimedia player for everything when I polished some things. The reason is that, although VLC is better known for being a video player, it also allows us to organize our music library, but this does not look very good in v3.x. It is spectacular in the fourth version, but that design change in which the music library wins so much will not be the only important novelty.
The truth is that this information has been circulating on the network for a few days, but personally I had not decided to publish it because there is still no release date in sight. Yes it is known that will arrive in 2021, later, but not when. In fact, if we go to Snapcraft, from where we can install the preliminary version, the "Edge" still appears as a newer version of VLC 4.0, that is, if nobody corrects me, it has not yet entered the beta phase.
VLC 4.0 with online content?
Because yes, the most outstanding novelty will be the change of design. It will be difficult to get used to it, but not so much for those of us who use a touch device, since it seems that they have been based on the iOS / Android version to design VLC 4.0. The new "suit" will be especially noticeable in the music library, where now it does look like a music app, with covers and everything, and I personally love it, but also the video player, and this is where we will have to get used to it, and a lot of.
But alongside the release of VLC 4.0, VideoLAN is also working on bring more online content to the player, with third-party extensions. Some compare it to what we can do with Plex, although there is no detailed information about it. In addition, the developer team is preparing a new version of the software that can be easily used within web pages, making use of Webassembly and JavaScript instead of the old browser component. When it is ready, they ensure that we can play any type of movie with the browser through the VLC software.
Another point that interests the community is what is known internally as Moviepedia Project, which appears to be a database of movies and documentaries like IMDb, which can be edited and maintained by the community. Probably, and this is a personal opinion, the possibility of creating and downloading subtitles is also included in this project.
other developments
So far we have talked about the news that attract the most attention, but VLC 4.0 will also come with these news:
- Input manager and clock. In part, this will replace the current version's playlist, which handled audio, video outputs and other tasks, somewhat confusing. In addition, the new clock will be included, one that uses the main clock that moves other clocks for audio, network, videos, etc.
- Video output and support for VR and 3D. The new version will add support for 360 video. Support will also be extended to 3D audio, and all of this will be installed by default.
- Support for UPnP rendering and AirPlay output.
- Dash / Webm, HEIF, TML image support.
- Support for AV1 and WebVTT will be included.
- Support for SMBv2 / v3 and the RIST protocol.
Right now, the best way to test VLC 4.0 is through your snap package, since it is easy to install it in the systems that support it and, in addition, it respects the player that we already have installed (there will be two). If you do, I am obliged to advise that performance may be bad at first, especially for those of us who have a music library of many gigabytes. If this is your case, it is recommended to install VLC 4.0, start it and leave it for a long time to finish indexing, a time that can be hours, or so it was the last time I tried it.
VLC 4.0 will arrive sometime in 2021 and the change, after two decades, is going to be spectacular.
What they have to do is finish things and not leave them halfway. They released support for Chromecast a long time ago but the subtitles do not work with the Chromecast and with plex and videostream they are going great, that is, it is a VLC problem. I find the music thing to be nonsense, whether we like it or not, we have always used video players for video, since that's what they are for and audio players for audio, that's why they are for that. A player that works cool for both, neither exists, nor will it exist, least of all VLC, since its virtue has always been video, you can use it for music from version 4, of course, but surely it will never be the same for music of good that an exclusively audio player, simple logic. A car is a car and a motorcycle is a motorcycle, they serve the same purpose, to move around, etc, but they are not the same and as far as I know, there are no car-motorcycles or motorcycles-cars, there are cars and there are motorcycles. Life is how it will be done ...
Good, we will see those improvements. I like to watch videos in all its forms and VLC together with SMplayer are the ones I use for that purpose.