Seeking OS X media player with specific features

May 20, 2008 1:26 PM

What video/media player do you use in OS X? Can you recommend one that has some specific features (listed inside)?

I've asked basically this same question before, but that was a few years ago and I'm hoping something has changed since then.

I really, really want a Leopard-compatible player with ALL of these features:

-"Always on Top" playing
-Variable-speed playback, preferably with automatic audio pitch-shifting, preferably with a control that shows precisely what % of normal speed is being played.
-Frame-by-frame playback.

I currently have the following installed:

VLC 0.8.6f - No variable-speed playback, no frame-by-frame.
Mplayer 1.0 rc2 - No VSP, no frame-by-frame, no "on top"
Quicktime 7.2.1 - VSP is via an imprecise slider and pitch-shift is not automatic.

MPlayer is actually my favourite, despite having none of my desired features. I like the way it looks. Quicktime is my least-favourite, despite having nearly all the features. It's better now than it ever was, so I'm really just clinging to a bias. The VSP system is shoddy, however.

I'm open to any suggestions you can make, or corrections of my above impressions. I know MPlayer is open-source as has been released in multiple flavours, but I haven't found one with variable-speed playback yet.

Thanks in advance!

posted by chudmonkey to computers & internet (6 comments total)

I'm not sure if the OS X fork of XBMC has VSP, but I think the xbox version does, so you could explore that.
posted by sharkfu at 2:01 PM on May 20, 2008

Mplayer supports variable playback speed (in 10% increments), and also frame stepping. At least in linux and in windows.
posted by wongcorgi at 2:15 PM on May 20, 2008

Here is the OSX version of XBMC. Unfortunately, I'm not at my Mac and I can't confirm VSP.

Personally, I use Final Cut Pro for that sort of thing, it certainly has all the features you want, but I'd say it's more than a bit of overkill considering you are just looking for a player.
posted by quin at 3:49 PM on May 20, 2008

Thanks to everyone who replied! It looks like I'm still in the lurch re: Variable-Speed Playback with pitch-shifting, but it turns out MPlayer OSX enters "always-on-top" mode via SHIFT-T.
posted by chudmonkey at 11:22 AM on May 22, 2008

so you want the audio to go out of pitch when you speed or slow it down? QuickTime keep the pitch the same for me, but there is a pitch shift slider you can adjust, no it's not auto like you request though. (I also use final cut for this if i need it)
Are you familiar with QuickTime's J-K-L key sequence? hit L to speed up, K to stop/play, J to play backwards.
you can also access the same functionality like you stated earlier by brining up the A/V control box by hitting Command - J.
The Inspector box has the FPS of your video, and the Playing FPS. it doesn't say it in percentage no, but you can always figure that out.
posted by safepants at 12:09 PM on May 28, 2008

oh and frame by frame playback, you can do by using the arrow keys to step through each frame.

Hold the right arrow and it will play each frame in slow mo.
posted by safepants at 12:10 PM on May 28, 2008