When we are going to play a video in Windows, the most common is to resort to the native player that is included in Windows 10, or to opt for a more complete and well-known alternative, such as VLC. However, there are many other programs that allow us to reproduce, without problems, all kinds of videos on the computer. And one of the best alternatives to these two players that we can find is Media Player Classic . Unfortunately, this player has not received a single update since 2017.
MPC-HC is, or rather, it was a very simple and functional video player that allowed us to play all kinds of videos on the computer without problems. This player it is it was compatible with almost any video format, offered great flexibility, many configuration options (very simple, too) and offered excellent image quality with very low resource consumption. Unfortunately, its developers stopped supporting it in 2015 and, although it received some fixes until 2017, it has been out of service since then.
Obviously we do not recommend using a program like this without support, as we can have operational and security problems. However, if you miss this player, there are two versions derived from the original code, both with support, that we will be able to install and use without any problem.
Media Player Classic – Home Cinema by clsid2
When the original developers decided to discontinue MPC-HC , there were several developers who created a fork (a rough copy) of the GitHub code and began to continue support on their own. One of the copies that has advanced the most, and that is still under maintenance, is the one created by clsid2.
This fork is practically identical to the original program. Its development has been based exclusively on bug fixes, improved stability and improved performance. The components and codecs of the original player have also been updated, but it does not have many more significant changes that make a significant difference.
A great option for those who want to use the original player, which we can download for free from this link .
MPC-BE: the vitaminized version of Media Player Classic
If we are looking for a much more advanced and modernized version of this player, we can download Media Player Classic – BE . Its developers started the project by creating a fork of the original player, but little by little they decided to go further, adding all kinds of functions and features that would make it a modern player and much more complete than its predecessor.
Of course, the first thing its developers did was to debug the program, fix bugs, and improve its performance. But all kinds of functions and features have also been added to it. For example, it has a thumbnail in the play bar to quickly find the exact moment of the video. Furthermore, it can also automatically mount ISO images on the system, and its latest versions have added support for various formats that were not originally supported, such as MPNG, SpeedHQ, Apple ProRes, and AV1, as well as hardware acceleration for the latter using Direct3D 11.
Without a doubt, a much more complete version than MPC-HC, which we can download for free from here .