Kantaris Media Player

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Last updated by George.J on 14. February 2017 - 07:52

Kantaris Media Player

An intuitive all-in-one polished media player designed with style.
3.5

Our rating: 

3.5
Get It: Windows (Desktop)
License: Free (Open source)
Website: https://sourceforge.net/projects/kantaris/
Review & Alternatives: Best Free Media Player
Categories: Video & Movies, Video Player
Tags: video-player, media-player, multimedia-player

Pros & Cons:

Awesome interface, Colourful visualization effects, Plays video files inside RAR archives, Online subtitle matching, Organise video library in 3D, watch and play latest movies and songs from Apple movie trailers and Last.fm.
Not as configurable as some other players for those requiring advanced features, Shortcut keys incomplete.

Our Review:

When an open source media player offers you the video playback based on one of the most popular media players around, VLC and Bass audio library with a touch of extravagance and a super slick interfacereminiscent of Windows Media Player or should I say, more so like the modern skins of a music player you get the all new Kantaris Media Player.

Installation

Kantaris SetupI’m using Kantaris Media Player lite provided by codecpack.co which is exactly similar to the original Kantaris in its features and appearance but without OpenCandy Adware bundled. The software is distributed under the lesser GNU General Public License. After accepting the agreement, select the folder that you need to install and specify whether you need to create a start menu folder and desktop icon and now you’re ready to go.

Interface

The first thing you’ll notice in Kantaris is its recherché interface. Activating the full screen mode gives a movie theatre like experience while playing videos.Controls are visible only when you move the mouse in full screen mode. At the top there are 2 tabs, one for Playback and the other Plugin Manager which gives you access to recommended plugins. Not many complex configuration options are available which makes it extremely simple to use.Menu options are available at the top and on right click. Playback buttons are available at the centre bottom. I really miss seek by 5sec here as seeking can be done only by fast-forward 30sec. The elapsed and remaining time along with the file name is displayed to the bottom left. To the right we have buttons to access the Settings, MediaInfo that shows NowPlaying info and ratings from IMDB and Playlist with Repeat, Shuffle buttons.

Features

Codecs: The player written in C# plays practically any multimedia format without having to install any extra codecs.
 
Subtitles: The media player connects to OpenSubtitles.org and finds the subtitle that is perfectly synced with the video being played. No more searching subtitles manually! Subtitles can also be synced with the playing audio. 
 
Skins: It has a cool and modern default skin that stands out(sleekest interface I have seen in a media player). The development team is planning to implement a new feature to design skins rather easily so that users don’t have to code anything at all and skins can be made using just Photoshop.
 
Visualizations: This is one area of Kantaris that demands a special mention. It offers 4 super cool and extremely colourful visualizations (Acidspunk, Cosmic Belt, Rabitt Hole, Xoo) that adds a touch of exquisiteness to your music.
 
Add-On’s: Users with programming skills can easily add new features to Kantaris in the upcoming version. There are talks about adding bittorrent and different web services in the near future.The plugin manager gives access to different useful plugins:
 
Movie Trailers: Get information and watch videos of all the latest movies. Cool 3D effect
 
Goear Music: Search and play music directly from the web. Goear has a huge library of artists and tracks to choose from.
 
Video Library: Organise all your local movies and tv-shows in cool library with 3D effects
 
Playlist.com: Search and play music directly user created playlists. Has a large collection of playlists.
 
Podcasts:Both audio casts and video casts. Listen to radio talk shows and watch video clips
 
Kantaris can also play RAR archives without first extracting the media as well as multisection DVD’s and audio CD’s and stream online videos. Audio equilizers with 10 bands and custom presets are available but there are not many configuration options for video. You have colorful options to adjust the brightness, hue, saturation and contrast of the video.

Verdict

Though bundled with OpenCandy (not applicable for Lite version provided in "Get It" link above) and limited in features, Kantaris Media Player aims to be an intuitive all-in-one polished media player designed with style that meets all your needs for a great media experience and one that promises a great future.

Installation: Rating 6 of 10

Interface:Rating 10 of 10

Features:Rating 6 of 10

Usability:Rating 8 of 10

Support:Rating 5 of 10

Updates:Rating 8 of 10

Kantaris Media Player was reviewed by on based on version 0.7.9.