Splash Lite

Splash Lite may be the runt of the family, but that does not mean it’s not worthy of your attention. Developer Mirillis has three Splash editions to offer, with two more on their way. The three editions in question are Splash Lite, Splash Pro, and Splash Pro EX. Splash Lite, a media player optimized for HD, is the only one that’s offered free of charge. For no money whatsoever you have access to stunning video quality, ultra fast audio and video decoders, and even an intelligent power management function.

To get started with Splash Lite you will first have to download a very lightweight 154Kb executable. Run the exe file once the download completes for a setup wizard to show up and guide you through the installation process. Please note that during said installation process you will be asked to install the Incredibar toolbar, change your homepage, and change your default search. You can opt out if you don’t want to make any changes.

Splash Lite features a quite good looking dark interface that is typical of what you would expect from a media player. At the top there’s the window in which the video will be played, at the bottom you will find the volume controls. A nice surprise was to see the current time in the bottom right hand corner. Another one was to see that the Open File, Settings, and other buttons are on a bar that only appears when you hover the mouse in the upper part of the interface.

A variety of video files can be played with Splash Lite: MPEG, DivX, WMV, SMPTE VC-1, DV, AC-3, Vorbis, Flac WMA, AAC, HE-AAC, LPCM. You can open a video file from the “Open File” menu that shows up when you put the cursor in the upper part of the interface, from the Open option in the right click context menu, by dragging and dropping the video onto Splash Lite, or by simply double clicking the video file (if Splash Lite is set as the default media player). If you want to open more than one video file, you can create a playlist.

If your PC has a TV tuner card, Splash Lite will detect it. You will be able to watch TV on your PC using the Splash Lite application.

As mentioned above, Splash Lite features an intelligent power management function. Called EcoMode, this feature is meant to reduce power consumption, something that’s quite useful on mobile devices.

With its beautiful dark interface, support for a variety of formats, and optimization for HD, Splash Lite is well worth a look.