I've been using VLC for years and have generally been very satisfied. The design is simplistic, it hides its advanced options well, it's straight-forward to install, and it usually works. The apparent fact that it's rather inefficient -- playing stuff faster and introducing big subtitle delays both seem to bring it to its limits -- doesn't matter very often. But, well, in this case it does.
The problem with VLC has never been its design or installation process. The problem is that it has limited customization options, worse quality (especially with subtitles and upscaled video), worse compatibility, as well as the fact that it's rather inefficient.
It's been a while since I last did this comparison, so for the sake of science, here goes. I'm using the most recent version of VLC and the K-Lite Codec Pack and the [Fancutfags] v2 release of Madoka, which is a good test subject because it uses pretty advanced mkv features that VLC has traditionally struggled to support, it uses ASS subtitles, it comes in two different resolutions so I can test both upscaling and regular playback, and I know exactly what it's supposed to look like given that I made it.
Upscaling 720p -> 1080p:
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/jwlwlp4uqcsznv7/mpc-hc%20quality%20test.pnghttps://dl.dropbox.com/s/9r6dp5639ljz7al/vlc%20quality%20test.pngVLC is blurrier and displays the subtitles slightly incorrectly.
Playing 1080p:
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/mggy35z7m3fhr2g/mpc-hc%20quality%20test%202.pnghttps://dl.dropbox.com/s/sj7dy0cv9wib83q/vlc%20quality%20test%202.pngThe difference is smaller here, but it's still there. The subtitles are actually pretty good looking on VLC this time — as in, they're pretty much identical to how MPC/K-Lite displays them — which is an improvement over past versions.
Furthermore, MPC-HC is able to perform the chapter jumps
seamlessly, and VLC isn't (you get stuttering and it shows you a couple of frames you're not supposed to see) — although, it is noteworthy that VLC is able to perform them
at all without causing the subtitles to go out of sync for the rest of the video file, which is an improvement over past versions.
So TL;DR VLC is slowly catching up to how good MPC-HC has been for at least 5 years already but it isn't there yet.