The new version 3.0 (codename "WeatherWax") of the popular VLC-Mediaplayer can already be tested as Release Candidate 5. The most important new functionality is probably the hardware acceleration on all platforms for H. 264 and H. 265 in 8 and 10 bit, which allows the decoding of 4K with 60 fps and 8K video without large CPU load and the support of HDR and HDR tone-mapping. We are working on VR support - for the time being 360° video and 3D audio is already implemented.
New codecs like CineForm (enabled by the 
Open Sourcing of the Cine-Form source code by GoPro in October), WebVTT, AV1, TTML, HQX and 708 are now supported. Local network drives can be accessed from the VLC media player via SMB, FTP, SFTP and NFS and their passwords are stored securely. Other new features include an updated and tidy interface under OS X; a new subtitle rendering engine and support for HiDPI for high-resolution displays under Windows.
Confusingly enough, version 4.0 ("Rincewind") is also being developed at the same time, which is already available as a (still relatively unstable) preview version and is due to be released in the summer of 2018 - a new design for the desktop version as well as improvements to Direct3D and the new media library will be at the centre of development.
If you want to try out the new version 3.0 (Release Candidate 5) or 4.0 (Beta) (currently 2.2.8), you will find the newest ones here for nightlies.videolan.org/build/win64/ Build (Windows), OS X and Linux - if you encounter errors during testing: Bug reports are welcome to the developers.
And whoever appreciates the VLC Player can also support it via donation - the main developer of VLC, Jean-Baptiste Kempf, has recently refused www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/7hqusx/this_is_jeanbaptiste_kempf_the_creator_of_the_vlc/? st=jbw7s6a4&sh=2223e575 (several million dollars) to keep the VLC Player free from advertising. After all, the EU is funding a Bug Bounty Program for the VLC Player. And another good news: VideoLAN Movie Creato is undergoing further development.
