VLC's Windows 8 app is finally here, but in beta form

VLC for Windows 8 is finally here. After raising a whopping sum of around $78,136 USD through the Kickstarter campaign, the beta version of VLC is made available for Windows 8 devices. Users can now download it from the Windows Store. The Modern UI version of VLC is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows-powered PCs, laptops and tablets. The app is capable of playing a range of video and audio formats such as MKV, MOV, FLAC and MPC. It features all the codecs supported in the regular desktop app, including MPEG-1, H.265, WMV3 and VC-1. According to the Windows Experience blog, “VLC for Windows 8 Beta is a full-blown multimedia app that lets you manage and play your video files and your music files. You get dedicated “panels” in the app to see all the videos and songs on your device.” It works on Windows 8 and 8.1, however it currently doesn’t support Windows RT. The app supports multiple-audio tracks selection, embedded subtitles, Background Audio playback and support for Live Tiles as well as removable storage and DLNA servers. VLC for Windows 8 is in the beta stage so there may be a few bugs and glitches that need to be worked upon. One can expect the app to be slower than the older VLC desktop version. Some other current limitations include limited support for subtitles, restriction for playing audio in all configurations and lack of support for playlists and streams in the UI.