Windows Help & Advice - UK (2020-04)

14 |^ |^ April 2020

Play any media on your PC

VLC MEDIA PLAYER: watch any video

• includingDVDs– onyourPCforfree

1

Chromecast

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menu,andif yourChromecastdevice

hasn’talreadybeendetected(inwhich

casesimplyselectit),clickScanto

searchforit onyourlocalnetwork.

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willremainblank,andthevideowill

appearthroughChromecast.

2

Watchwithsubtitles

If you’rewatchinga DVD,or

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termsif needed,thenclick‘Download

selection’nexttoa match.

3

Build a TV playlist

Selecting TV channels by

frequency isn’t elegant: stop playback

and return to the playlist where you can

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Playlist to File and to save your stored

channels as a playlist, easily accessible

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ideo comes in all shapes

and sizes these days,

and VLC Media Player

(www.videolan.org/vlc)

is the player that can

handle it all, whether

you’rewatching digital video files,

streamingover the internet or wanting

to enjoy a good old-fashioned DVD

through your PC. The program has been

designed to handle just about any

format you can throw at it – which

makes it the only video player you need.

You can open a wide variety of files

directly from the Media menu – choose

Disc and you’ll see options for both DVD

and Blu-ray. Note, however, that

encryptedBlu-raysaren’tsupported(we

recommendLEAWOBlu-rayPlayerfor

watchingBlu-raysonyourPC– see

http://www.leawo.org/blu-ray-player/).No

suchproblemwithDVDsthough– you

canbrowsemenusandpointandclick.

Onetip:choose‘Video>Deinterlace>

Automatic’toimprovethequalityof

DVDs(particularlyolderTVshows).

Onceyou’veopenedyourmedia,use

thecontrolsbeneaththemaindisplayto

controlplayback– anextendedbutton

revealsaudioandvideoeffects,plusa

handySynchronizationtabfor

correctinglip-syncproblemscausedby

mismatchedaudioandvideostreams.

WatchTVonVLC

TherearelotsofadvancedusesforVLC

too– youcanlinktoa USBTVtuner

connected to your PC, for example.

Select Media > Capture Device, then

choose TV – digital under Capture

mode, select DVB-T for Delivery system

and enter the frequency of the mux

(multiplex) containing your target TV

channel in the appropriate box, using

https://ukfree.tv/maps/freeview as a

guide and converting MHz to KHz by

multiplying it by 1,000.

Click Play, and after a short pause you

should hear a radio channel or see a TV

channel. Open the Playback >

Programme menu and you’ll have a list

of all available channels on that mux.

For more advanced uses, check out the

step-by-step guide.

ALSO CONSIDER: If you’re looking for

something to turn your PC into an

entertainment centre, complete with

media management tools (plus support

for both CD and DVD playback), then

install Kodi (www.kodi.tv). It’s perfect for

large screen displays and can play pretty

much anything VLC can.

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