BSPlayer

There are two reasons a media player can not run a certain file format. You might be missing the right codecs or the media player is not compatible with that format at all. There are many media players which are known to behave better under these circumstances and BSPlayer is one of them. It has been on the market for some time, during which it has been kept up to date and now it offers a broad range of controls for various media types and formats.

The player requires a few codecs, but you will not have to find and install them manually. BSPlayer will detect if you have all the codecs installed or if you are missing a few. If you need additional codecs, the software will install them automatically.

At a first glance, BSPlayer features a small interface with playback controls and other options. A loaded video will be played in a separate window, making it possible to move the playback area and the controls separately. If you watch the video in full screen mode, the controls window will be hidden and you can bring it back by clicking once, anywhere on the screen. It may not seem like much, but you can avoid bringing up the controls accidentally. With other video players, the controls will pop up, ruining your experience, if nudge the mouse only a little bit.

You can find a series of options, for loading files, folders or subtitles, opening recent media and more, found in a menu and its sub-menus, after clicking a button, next to the interface's minimize option. BSPlayer can play online videos as well. Clicking the Open URL option, in the same menu, will display a small window, where you need to paste the URL. The software has a high buffering speed, so you can watch the video, right after pasting the URL.

Another advantage you are provided with, when loading online videos, is the fact that you can access an audio equalizer, color controls, change the aspect ratio and perform many other similar tasks, which you can not do on YouTube. Of course, this can be done with the videos from your hard drive as well. The video options and other controls can be found in the aforementioned menu.

The audio equalizer can be accessed faster, by clicking a small button, on the right side of the interface. You can also access a playlist and a media library with other buttons, in the same area. Videos, DVDs, audio files, online TV and radio stations and podcasts are displayed separately in the playlist and you can access a particular set of media with the options on the top edge of the playlist.

The interface can be expanded by clicking the buttons placed on its right edge, thus revealing additional options. Most of them can be found in the options menu as well, but you can use them, one after another, without needing to bring up a menu each time. The Video button will display options for loading subtitles, switching to full screen mode, loading a subtitle and changing its font settings, bringing up the color controls and more.

A set of useful options can be found after clicking the DVD button. While watching a DVD movie, you can use these options to jump to the title, chapter, subtitle or audio menu. It is a well known and irritating fact that some DVDs will make you watch a whole scene when accessing one of its menus, but with BSPlayer's controls, you can skip them. The Audio button will display options for repeating, shuffling or changing the playback rate when listening to music and the last two buttons (Radio and TV) will take you to different sections in the media library.