Following on from the “amBX with iTunes” page I thought I would also add this one showing how to use your amBX kit with VLC Media Player for watching movies. It is pretty straight forward and it is good to know that another media player works with the amBX speakers and lights but from trying a selection I still think Windows Media Player wins in terms of how dynamic the lights are. iTunes and VLC have long periods of the same colour due to the visualiser whilst WMP regularly changes.

Anyway…back to business and away from the mini-rant, how to use amBX with VLC…

1) Open VLC player and click on the menu Settings > Preferences.

2) The window that opens should have a navigation area on the left and information on the right. Find the navigation link for “Video” and extend it by clicking on the “+” next to the name. This will give you a selection of other options and you need to select the one named “Output Modules”.

3) Click on the name of this link and you should see a blank window area on the right except for a checkbox at the bottom for “Advanced Option”. Check this and you should then be presented with a dropdown menu.

4) From the dropdown menu select “DirectX 3D video output” or “OpenGL video output” and click save in the bottom left corner.

5) This closes the preferences window and takes you back to the main VLC area. Open a video / audio file and press stop before it starts playing.

6) From the “Audio” menu at the top select “Visualisations” and choose one of the options from the list. This should open a separate window for the VLC visualiser which will interact with your amBX kit.

7) Start playing the file and the amBX Application Manager should give the notification that a new application has been added (VLC). Go to the Application Manager, select VLC and change the option to Dynamic or whichever you think appropriate. Go back to VLC and start playing the file. You should now have amBX lighting effects through the visualiser whilst still being able to maximise the video window to watch the film.

As before I have included a video below from YouTube showing me using VLC player with my amBX kit.

Hope this helps!