Improve video quality, record your Windows Desktop and use a smartphone or tablet as a remote control
Play or save online videos
VLC lets you download videos hosted by sites like YouTube. Simply copy the video’s web address, then go to VLC and choose ‘Convert/Save’ from the Media menu. Select the Network tab, click in the ‘Please enter a network URL’ field and press Ctrl+V to paste the video’s address. Click the down arrow on the button at the bottom and select ‘Convert/Save’, then click the button again. Click Convert and choose the desired video-file format from the Profile dropdown menu. Click Browse, select a destination, type a name for the saved video and click Start, and then wait for the video to download.
Use your phone and tablet as remote controls
You can control VLC’s playback using your smartphone or tablet and the device’s browser. First, you need to tweak a few settings in VLC on your PC. Click Tools, then Preferences, and then select the All button. Click ‘Main interfaces’ and tick Web, then expand ‘Main interfaces’ by double-clicking it, then click Lua. Type a password of your choice in the Password box, click Save and restart VLC.
If a firewall warning appears, grant permission. Type cmd into Start and press Enter. In the Command Prompt window that appears, type ipconfig and press Enter. Make a note of the IPv4 address (it'll be something like ‘192.168.1.4’) then close the Command Prompt window.
Finally, go to the browser on your phone or tablet and type the IPv4 address, adding :8080 to the end (so you type 192.168.1.4:8080, for example). When prompted to enter a username and password, leave the username field blank and type your password. Now you should be in remote control of VLC.
Screen-record your Desktop
VLC includes a tool for capturing whatever happens on your screen. This means you can record streaming video or make PC tutorials for friends.
Click Media followed by Convert/Save, then select the Capture Device tab. Leave ‘Capture mode’ and the Device Selections as they are. Next, click the Convert/Save button, choose the video type from the Profile dropdown menu, click Browse, choose a location, type the file name and then click Save. Now click Start to begin recording. To stop the recording, return to VLC and click the red cross to close it.
Use the keyboard to control playback
There are loads of handy keyboard shortcuts in VLC. For example, hitting the plus (+) or minus (-) keys speeds up or slows down playback. The left and right square brackets ([ and ]) do the same thing but in smaller increments (one-tenth). Press F for full screen, M to mute the audio, Ctrl+arrows (up or down) to change the volume, and the space bar to switch between pause and play. There’s a full list of shortcuts on the VLC wiki site (www.snipca.com/16682).
Improve video quality
VLC can work magic by smoothing out rough edges when you’re watching low-resolution videos. Play your video, then go to the Tools menu and click ‘Post processing’, then choose a level from 1 (least processing) to 6 (most). Depending on the power of your PC, more processing may result in jerkier video playback, so experiment with different levels to find the best balance.
Customise VLC using skins and extensions
VLC supports dozens of browser-style free extensions (VLC calls them ‘addons’) that add new functions to the program, as well as ‘skins’ that change how the player looks.
Explore extensions on the Addons section of VLC’s website (http://addons.videolan.org). Popular choices include VLSub (www.snipca.com/1694l), which makes it easy to add subtitles to your downloaded videos. You need to download subtitles separately using sites such as OpenSubtitles (www.opensubtitles.org).
You can also browse and download skins from VLC’s website (www.snipca.com/16630). You might find the WMP11 or WMP12 skins, which are useful if you often switch between VLC and Windows Media Player (WMP), because they make VLC look and work just like Microsoft’s player - but with VLC’s superior built-in tools.