VLC 2.0.2 out now

About a month after passing the 1,000,000,000th download, we released VLC 2.0.2 last nights. It’s now available on videolan.org.

It includes the following security content:

  • Fixed Ogg Heap buffer overflow
  • Updated taglib (CVE-2012-2396)

VLC 2.0.2 adds further refinements to the new Mac interface. We improved the video playback experience by enhancing the crop features and restoring the highly desired “go automatically to fullscreen” feature. Additionally, the aspect ratio is respected like in the 1.1.x releases. The Retina Display (HiDPI) on the new MacBook Pro is natively supported, too.

Furthermore, you can drag & drop items between the playlist, services and media library. Growl 1.3 is supported for notifications as well (disabled by default). Playing a video in a window without any further UI elements is supported again, too.

Finally, we removed the font cache. VLC for Mac will never ask you to wait for it, but it will still find all your fonts!

This update also includes video output improvements for a vast number of PowerPC-based Macs equipped with an ATI Radeon 7500, an ATI Radeon 9200 or a NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 Ultra [1] as well as Intel-based Macs with an Intel GMA 950 [2].

Here’s the full list of changes:

  • Enabled drag and drop of playlist items between the temporary playlist and the persistent media library
  • Various video output improvements, notably for crop, zoom, osd and menu support
  • Enabled import of playlist items taken from the service discovery modules to the media library or the temporary playlist
  • Added media key support for keyboards by other manufacturers than Apple. This fix was facilitated through a hardware donation by ZF Friedrichshafen AG manufacturing keyboards under the brand “Cherry”.
  • Added HiDPI / Retina Display save UI artwork
  • Restored the preferences’ fullscreen options, which allows the user to start videos directly in fullscreen mode
  • Keep Aspect Ratio when resizing is back
  • Added controls to manipulate the Subtitles Duration to the Track Synchronization panel
  • Hidden items in the sidebar are being retained for the next launch now
  • Fixed crash when trying to open an Audio CD by drag & drop
  • Improve reliability when opening DVDs or BDs by drag & drop
  • Fixed a crash when attaching harddrives with multiple partitions while VLC is running
  • Improved OSD rendering in fullscreen mode
  • Improved fullscreen behavior when using a smartphone remote based upon VLC’s http interface
  • The selected audio device is retained throughout multiple VLC sessions now
  • Since running the Mac OS X interface as an Extra Interface or Control Interface can lead to undefined results, the respective options will be automatically reset on the first launch, if needed.
    • This fixes issues with unresponsive playback controls and crashes on quit.
  • Updated Growl plugin supporting Growl 1.3.
  • Improved reliablity in detecting VIDEO_TS folders when opened through the “Open Disc” panel.
  • Re-implemented the “Window Decorations” option, which, if disabled, hides all the UI elements from the video output window to give you the cleanest experience possible.
  • Improved the window title behavior when using the dark interface mode. It correctly responds to right and double-click events now.
  • Miscellaneous minor interface improvements

VLC 2.0.2 includes these cross-platform improvements:

Video Output

  • PCs running Windows XP will use the DirectX mode by default now, like in VLC’s 1.1.x release due to a fast number of broken drivers
  • More accurate colorspace conversions for YUV->RGB in OpenGL
  • Misc fixes in the OpenGL module, on all platforms
  • Fixed video output on PowerPC-based Macs equipped with an ATI Radeon 7500, an ATI Radeon 9200 or a NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 Ultra.[1]
  • Fixed video output of 10bit encoded contents on Intel-based Macs equipped with an Intel GMA 950 chipset running OS X 10.6 or later.[2]

Access

  • Reworked Digital TV module for Windows. DVB-T and DVB-C work again
  • Fixes for RAR compressed files
  • Fixed DirectShow crashes on exit
  • Improved PulseAudio input latency
  • Fixes for HTTP access through a proxy
  • v4l2 webcam outputting H264 can now be used directly (use –v4l2-chroma=h264)
  • Fixed Subtitle auto-detection in subfolders
  • IE http proxy is no longer used by VLC on Windows
  • Accepts more extensions for DVD images
  • Fixed crash in VC1 packetizer

Codecs

  • Fixed crashes in AAC decoder on channels changes, notably in ISDB streams
  • Fixed compilation with multiple FFmpeg and libav versions
  • Fixed G726 support

Demuxers

  • Fixes for MKV segments and MKV title display
  • Fixed some mp4, voc, midi and au crashes
  • Fixed Real .ram and .ra files support
  • Fixed DVB channel file support
  • Fixes for alac, vorbis, DTS, VC-1 and Dirac in mp4

Encoders

  • Fix for MPEG audio encoding. Use Layer2 for the FOURCCs “mp2 ” and “mp2a”
  • Fixed JPEG generation when doing snapshots

Audio filters and output

  • Limitation of the Spatializer output volume
  • Fixed DirectSound device selection
  • Correct PulseAudio volume control
  • Fixed Directsound volume initialization
  • Volume level is no longer applied to the file output
  • Fixed sampling rate for the JACK output

Lua Scripts

  • Fixes for stdin/stdout and for different locale issues

Qt interface

  • Fixed preferences for audio devices on Windows
  • Fixed various crashes
  • Fixed multiple issues in the Open Disc dialog
  • Fixed playlist search and selector behavior
  • Miscellaneous fixes in preferences, buttons, EPG, playlist and customize dialog
  • Fixed tags and file names display

Skins2

  • Fixed mousewheel on Windows
  • Fixes for key events and focus loss

Web interface

  • Fixed display of some buttons
  • Fixed listing of files in the Open interface

[1] 1st and 2nd generation iBook G4 (PowerBook6,5), a significant number of G4 and G5-based iMacs (PowerMac6,1, PowerMac6,3, PowerMac8,1), an uncertain number of eMac generations (at least the PowerMac4,4 and the PowerMac6,4), some configurations of the 1st generation PowerMac G5 (PowerMac7,2), a single configuration of the PowerMac G4 Quicksilver (PowerMac3,5), the 1st/2nd generation Mac mini (PowerMac10,1 and PowerMac10,2) and the 2nd generation PowerBook G4 (PowerBook3,4)

[2] 1st and 2nd generation MacBook (MacBook1,1 and MacBook2,1), the Mid and Late 2006 iMacs (iMac4,2 and iMac5,2) and Mac minis sold between February 2006 and March 2009 (Macmini1,1 and Macmini2,1).

Retina Display support

VLC’s next release, version 2.0.2, will include HiDPI / Retina Display support for its video output. This way, both video and subtitles or other overlays will be rendered at the display’s native resolution leading to a greatly improved viewing experience.

If you’re one of the lucky guys to have a MacBook Pro with Retina Display already, you’re welcome to check out tomorrow night’s nightly builds (CEST).

Click on the screenshots to see the differences more in detail.