I've used VLC forever and I had no idea there is anything more to it than playing media. It always seems to have the most recent codecs, so it doesn't seem crusty to me.
I've used VLC for a long time as well, and while I wouldn't call it crusty, I would call it odd. Powerful, super capable, but doesn't seem to follow standard conventions. Honestly, it's odd but I would rather they don't do some overhaul to standardize or modernize it. Software, hardware, etc. don't have to be homogenous or turn into bland corporate-ware.
Even when just opening a single video file it tries to do way too much at once.
Why is there a playlist by default? What are these dozens of obscure options at the first level under every main dropdown in the title/menu bar?
I vaguely remember recently trying mpv and being pleasantly surprised, but I mostly use QuickTime or IINA on macOS. mpv seems to be available cross-platform though; maybe the Windows port is usable?
Yeah mpv is great on win; I switched from VLC because VLC had trouble with playback combined with large subtitle offsets. mpv just works and the couple things I need for UI were easily configured as hotkeys
