Free Video Player

Up With A Bang!

I didn't write this software but I use it to view all video types. Here is a list of reasons:

Free
Plays nearly all video types
As simple or as complex as the videophile in me
No ads, or corporate junk
Lots of functionality
Large public domain support (skins etc)

The program is:

MPlayer

Download it here

Go to the "Download" link on the menu and download the appropriate binary. I don't use it with the GUI (Graphic User Interface) because it doesn't have easy functionality I like. The GUI is a window with the standard set of button for movie viewing. I use it without that control window. In fact, I put a link to MPlayer.exe in my quick launch bar and drag movies onto the icon. The movie then starts playing. I use my mouse to pause, rewind, advance or resize the show. So, below are details on how to have a much easier time watching your po...movies.

Download the software. Probably Windows with the GUI but you can do just as well without it
After downloading the main software, scroll down the same page and download the "Binary Codec Packages". These will allow you to view more movie formats.
Now you should have 2 zip files. One is for MPlayer itself and one for the codecs. Create or choose an installation folder on your computer. Unzip MPlayer first. Then unzip the codecs into a "codecs" folder under the MPlayer folder. Here's a pic:
Create a short-cut to the mplayer.exe file. Do this by clicking on the mplayer.exe file in Explorer while holding down the Shift and Ctrl keys. Then drag the short cut and drop it on the quick launch bar. from......to
To view a movie, simple click on its title in explorer and drop it onto of the icon your just created in the quick launch bar (don't push any keys when doing this)
This is a very quick method to show a movie. No junk on the screen, no ads, no registration screens, no delays, no frames.
MPlayer is also useful for hiding movies from other users on a shared computer. Read here to learn how.
Go to the bottom of this page to see how MPlayer looks when playing. The example is of a cellphone video. The screen capture doesn't capture the image but you can see 2 windows open, one is the command line window and the other is a movie window. Not junk no fluff. Control easily with either the keyboard or mouse.