you do realize you are replying to a 2014 question..

We are over that issue at this point of time..

:blink:

Handbrake does not have the world friendliest UI, but it can do a pretty passable job of transcoding a file from some other format into MP4.  I have had to use it to transcode my 1080p video's from men.com to play on my TV or PS3.  It seems to properly support multi-core CPUs also, so it can be faster on a machine with more cores.  Handbreak can also resize and or limit the bitrate of files for other devices… such as for cellphones and portable gaming devices (PSP/Vita) as well.

On a vaguely related note, I am anxious for support for H.265 to grow... I believe it will allow better quality at the same bitrate, or smaller files with lower bitrate for same quality.  I won't consider H.265 to be a success until its the default output format for tools like Handbrake... which won't happen until most devices can successfully play it.

I have used handbrake in the past but if it's a mkv H.264 container I use a program called rebox.net now, it basically just changes the audio and makes the file an mp4 so I can watch stuff on my PS3.

However it doesn't work with the H.265 format. I've used Handbrake with H.265 but audio always has like a slight echo/weird background sound.

better quality than VLC (I'm told)

No you cant really compare because they are quite different. I use both. MPC is good because it uses not much cpu/ram and therefore no lag or very few on bad configuration (old computer)  BUT it relies on external codecs like most player . VLC use no codec ( or open source codec built in)  and you can tweak it big time even compile it the way you want and of course use it inside your own program ( I used it to create a program  for the Vorze "masturbator" in visual studio, you cant do that with MPC). VLC can do many things regarding streaming and is portable to any OS , MPC works on Windows.

Media Player Classic - Home Cinema. Simple UI, better quality than VLC (I'm told) and a huge amount of plugins available, if that's your thing.

Install and watch. It also has a rather unique advantage of having 100% support for .ass subtitles, including advanced visual effects, as well as full support for 10-bit encodes.

I guess my tastes are not as kinky as you, apparently, as I don't think I've ever run into a video the VLC didn't play just fine for me.  Actually now that I think of it, I did once have a hard time playing a blueray file of some sort (equivalent to the VOB files for DVD).. but it was just a matter of not playing the whole directory but selecting the specific file I wanted to play.

Related to VLC is Handbrake… they are related in that they use some of the same ffmpeg code in the back end (or at least that is my understanding, I have never delved into the code for either.)

Handbrake does not have the world friendliest UI, but it can do a pretty passable job of transcoding a file from some other format into MP4.  I have had to use it to transcode my 1080p video's from men.com to play on my TV or PS3.  It seems to properly support multi-core CPUs also, so it can be faster on a machine with more cores.  Handbreak can also resize and or limit the bitrate of files for other devices... such as for cellphones and portable gaming devices (PSP/Vita) as well.

On a vaguely related note, I am anxious for support for H.265 to grow... I believe it will allow better quality at the same bitrate, or smaller files with lower bitrate for same quality.  I won't consider H.265 to be a success until its the default output format for tools like Handbrake... which won't happen until most devices can successfully play it.

+1 for Handbrake and their "decombing".

Related to VLC is Handbrake… they are related in that they use some of the same ffmpeg code in the back end (or at least that is my understanding, I have never delved into the code for either.)

Handbrake does not have the world friendliest UI, but it can do a pretty passable job of transcoding a file from some other format into MP4.  I have had to use it to transcode my 1080p video's from men.com to play on my TV or PS3.  It seems to properly support multi-core CPUs also, so it can be faster on a machine with more cores.  Handbreak can also resize and or limit the bitrate of files for other devices... such as for cellphones and portable gaming devices (PSP/Vita) as well.

On a vaguely related note, I am anxious for support for H.265 to grow... I believe it will allow better quality at the same bitrate, or smaller files with lower bitrate for same quality.  I won't consider H.265 to be a success until its the default output format for tools like Handbrake... which won't happen until most devices can successfully play it.

My two progs to fiddle with the format are TMPGEnc Video Mastering and VideoConverter Pro - neither is free (although I didn't pay for my copies)