it butchers the quality
how so
Well, first of all, if your hardware isn't very powerful, the difference between MPC-HC and VLC is enormous, since MPC-HC is very likely to run smoothly even on an older system. I simulated having an older system by running a Symphobia with hundreds of simultaneous voices through a guitar amp sim and a Vocodex with a high unison voice number in FL Studio with my 4-year-old gaming desktop while making the comparison. I used the newest version of VLC and whatever version of K-Lite Codec Pack/MPC I happen to have (I think I updated these in May or June this year) and the video used for this comparison was the Kurumi Lamb MMD video by ShadowDevi (60 FPS, 1080p). The Wave Candy which is visible in the bottom right corner is obviously not a part of the video.
So, yeah. In this screenshot, it still looks pretty shitty on MPC, but that's just because compressed 60 FPS videos have a tendency to look like that in screenshots it looks completely fine when the picture is moving. Meanwhile, VLC is adding its own shittiness on top of everything which makes it completely unwatchable, even when the picture is moving. VLC also lags a ton, while MPC-HC still runs very smoothly.
Now, this is not really an issue for you if you are using more or less modern hardware and you don't need to watch full-HD 60 FPS videos while vocoding an amp-simulated Symphobia. So, let's see what happens when I'm not using CPU-intensive VST plugins while watching videos. Here's a comparison from the first episode of Girls und Panzer by AK:
VLC has actually gotten better since the last time I made this comparison. The colors used to look awful in the older versions of VLC, now the difference is rather minor. It is still noticeable though, and it's definitely MPC's favor. However, there's still a pretty clear difference if you look at the subtitles: in VLC, they look pretty unpleasant and obtrusive. In MPC, they fit in a lot better.
