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Anything popular can be defined as anything that is seen, heard or a way of thinking which is emulated and/or used most often. Although there are many media players available, the media players reviewed here can be considered as the most used. Here is a review of which media player has the best hardware video color and usability using Color Me Video techniques.
The follow popular players reviewed here are:
- Real Player 11
- Winamp 5.5
- Windows Media Player 11
- VideoLan v0.8.6d
While there are many media players out there, some are free others aren't. Some are compatible with Color Me Video Techniques, while others aren't. Find your favorite player and go nuts! If you want to check out what's available, you can start at page and to download some popular players, visit afreeCodec.com. To view a detailed comparsion list of media players visit the comparison of media players at Wikipedia.org.
Color Me Video Ratings
Color Me Video ratings depend solely on the player's video overlay color with the player's usability.
The The Color of Video Rating results were determined by :
- Color: Best theatre view
- Usability: minimized window supported
The ratings are:
Best
Better
Good
Low
Windows Media Player
Download
DVD
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Video file
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: no
Streaming video
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: no
Star Rating
WMP's video color is a dark purple or plum color, and it seems as though WMP has set the standard for video overlay colors for most media players reviewed also have the same video overlay color. WMP is a very advanced media player with features that some of the players reviewed lack such as the mini player mode or toolbar feature. The mini player mode allows you to play and control music and videos from the toolbar. Although WMP plays both DVD movies and video files, it does not support video file play back while the player is minimized or in mini player mode. Also, some video file formats are not supported for older WMPlayers. WMP does however, supports DVD playback using the Color Me Video techniques where the DVD movie can be viewed as desktop wallpaper when the player is minimized.
VideoLAN Player
Download
DVD
Color
- Hexadecimal: #000001
- RGB: (0,0,1)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Video file
Color
- Hexadecimal: #000001
- RGB: (0,0,1)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Streaming video
Color
- Hexadecimal: #000001
- RGB: (0,0,1)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Star Rating
VideoLan (VLC) has the best theatre like video overlay color reviewed because it uses very dark blue. Although not as sophisticated as Windows Media Player, it is a far more versatile media player especially when using its video overlay color. The VideoLan media player also has system tray or taskbar feature that is similiar to the WMP toolbar, yet less obstrusive. VLC can play both DVD movies and just about every video file available. Color Me Video Techniques can be used whether you are watching a DVD video, a video file, or streaming video. All three ways to play are supported when the player is minimized or using the VLC system tray feature so that it supports video desktop wallpaper viewing. You can even use this when playing audio files with the VLC Visualizations. The VideoLan media player is very immature as far as usability is concerned and it takes some intermediate navigation to get used to the player controls and preferences.
Real Player 11
Download
DVD
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Video file
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Streaming video
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: no
Star Rating
Real Player 11 is the latest version of the classic Real Player. It shares the same video overlay color as the Windows Media Player and has recently added support for minimzation when using Color Me Video Techniques. Real Player have many incentives such as a large database of videos and music to download. Like most players it has it's own browser you can upload music and videos to various portable multimedia devices. It lacks a toolbar and taskbar feature that makes using video controls seamless with Color Me Video techniques. Real Player 11 is slower when navigating than it's counterparts. Also, there have been recent reports where Real Player installs badware so install this media player with care.
Winamp 5.5
Download
DVD
- Winamp does not support DVD playback.
Video file
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Streaming video
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: not tested
Star Rating
Winamp comes packed with features including it's own browser. It also shares the same video overlay color as Windows Media Player and Real Player. Users can rent videos from Winamp using the player.Even though Winamp has taskbar feature, it player controls cannot be accessed using it. What Winamp does have is the default media player skin that can be minimized into a compact mode so that it is almost unnoticeable and it's controls easily accessed. Winamp can display videos using Color Me Video Techniques while the player is in compact mode and/or minimized. A critical feature that WInamp is missing is that when using Color Me Video techinques is that it does not support DVD playback at all.
Windows Media Player
Download
DVD
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Video file
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: no
Streaming video
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: no
Star Rating
WMP's video color is a dark purple or plum color, and it seems as though WMP has set the standard for video overlay colors for most media players reviewed. WMP is a very advanced media player with features that some of the players reviewed lack such as the mini player mode or toolbar feature. The mini player mode allows you to play and control music and videos from the toolbar. Although WMP plays both DVD movies and video files, it does not support video file play back while the player in minimized or in mini player mode. Also, some video file formats are not supported for older WMPlayers. WMP does however, supports DVD playback using the Color Me Video techniques where the DVD movie can be viewed as desktop wallpaper when the player is minimized.
VideoLAN Player
Download
DVD
Color
- Hexadecimal: #000001
- RGB: (0,0,1)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Video file
Color
- Hexadecimal: #000001
- RGB: (0,0,1)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Streaming video
Color
- Hexadecimal: #000001
- RGB: (0,0,1)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Star Rating
VideoLan (VLC) has the best theatre like video overlay color reviewed because it uses very dark blue. Although not as sophisticated as Windows Media Player, it is a far more versatile media player especially when using its video overlay color. The VideoLan media player also has system tray or taskbar feature that is similiar to the WMP toolbar, yet less obstrusive. VLC can play both DVD movies and just about every video file available. Color Me Video Techniques can be used whether you are watching a DVD video, a video file, or streaming video. All three ways to play are supported when the player is minimized or using the VLC system tray feature so that it supports video desktop wallpaper viewing. You can even use this when playing audio files with the VLC Visualizations. The VideoLan media player is very immature as far as usability is concerned and it takes some intermediate navigation to get used to the player controls and preferences.
Real Player 11
Download
DVD
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Video file
Color
- Hexadecimal: #0f000f
- RGB: (15,0,15)
Usability
- minimize supported: no
Streaming video
Color
- Hexadecimal: #0f000f
- RGB: (15,0,15)
Usability
- minimize supported: no
Star Rating
Real Player 11 is the latest version of the classic Real Player. It shares the same video overlay color as the Windows Media Player and has recently added support for minimzation when using Color Me Video Techniques. Real Player have many incentives such as a large database of videos and music to download. Like most players it has it's own browser you can upload music and videos to various portable multimedia devices. It lacks a toolbar and taskbar feature that makes using video controls seamless with Color Me Video techniques. Real Player 11 is slower when navigating than it's counterparts. Also, there have been recent reports where Real Player installs badware so install this media player with care.
Winamp 5.5
Download
DVD
- Winamp does not support DVD playback.
Video file
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: yes
Streaming video
Color
- Hexadecimal: #100010
- RGB: (16,0,16)
Usability
- minimize supported: not tested
Star Rating
Winamp comes packed with features including it's own browser. It also shares the same video overlay color as Windows Media Player and Real Player. Users can rent videos from Winamp using the player.Even though Winamp has taskbar feature, it player controls cannot be accessed using it. What Winamp does have is the default media player skin that can be minimized into a compact mode so that it is almost unnoticeable and it's controls easily accessed. Winamp can display videos using Color Me Video Techniques while the player is in compact mode and/or minimized. A critical feature that WInamp is missing is that when using Color Me Video techinques is that it does not support DVD playback at all.
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