GOM Player

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GOM Player

GOM Player (Korean version)
Developed by Gretech Corporation
Initial release January 7, 2003
Stable release 2.1.9.3754  (March 28, 2008 (2008-03-28); 77 days ago) [+/−]
Preview release none  (none) [+/−]
OS Win 98se/ME/2K/XP/Vista
Available in English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified)
Genre Media player
License Proprietary freeware
Website GOM Player

GOM Player (Gretech Online Movie Player) is a freeware media player for Microsoft Windows. Key strengths are the ability to play the majority of media files without the need to obtain a codec, and the ability to play some broken media files, both advantages over traditional players, like Windows Media Player. GOM player can also play .flv files. It was created by the Gretech Corporation of South Korea.

Contents

[edit] Supported Files or Devices

[edit] Covered Codec/Filters

Video codecs
DivX, XviD, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, H263(+), H.264(AVC1), MSVIDC, MS MPEG4 V1/2/3, FLV1, MJPEG
Audio Codecs
Vorbis, AMR, QCELP, EVRC

[edit] Subtitles

[edit] Codec Finder

For audio/video files that GOM Player can not play due to a missing codec, GOM Player will try to find one using GUID. Once it finds a match, it will direct you to a webpage where you can download and install additional codecs.

[edit] Broken or Incomplete Files

GOM Player can play AVI files that are being downloaded or have a broken index using its patented technology. (Patent number 10-0440495-0000, granted on July 5, 2004 in Republic of Korea)

[edit] GOM TV

GOM TV is a popular streaming service in South Korea, and as the most attractive feature in GOM Player, it is chiefly responsible for GOM Player's overwhelming popularity in South Korea. The GOM TV service offers users various video contents ranging from National Geographic documentaries and television dramas, to major motion pictures and adult videos.

The service mixes both ad-supported and pay-per-view content. Prices range from 500 won and up, with most movies available for 2,000 won. (1,000 won is approximately US$1.08.)[1]

While functionality is very similar in the English and Korean versions of GOM Player, GOM TV is absent in the English version.

The latest release of GOM Player (V 2.1.9) allows American users to connect to the GOMTV StarLeague (a channel of GOMTV) to watch the latest matches of StarCraft leagues played in South Korea. This new addition to the American release was tested during the GOMTV Star Invitational which was aired in the month of February. Despite this new addition, the GOMTV service still remains absent from the American release (and those who watch StarCraft matches must use the website to connect to the streaming servers).

[edit] Popularity in South Korea

GOM Player is South Korea's most popular media player; as of July 2007, it had 8.4 million users, compared to 5.4 million of Microsoft's Windows Media Player. A survey of usage over a single week by Metrix, an internet survey company, found that 69.8% of users watched pornography, as compared to 43.2% who watched cinematic movies, 29.6% who watched television dramas, 21.8% who watched variety shows, 11% who watched cartoons, and 7% who watched music videos.[2] Gretech disputes the credibility of this report. Metrix obtained the survey data from 12,000 internet users who agreed to install a monitoring tool and only file names were used to categorize media files. Gretech also noted that the media files played by GOM Player are not monitored.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ finance.yahoo.com
  2. ^ "Two in Three GOM Player Users Watch Porn", The Chosun Ilbo, 2007-07-20. Retrieved on 2007-07-20. 
  3. ^ "GOM Player doesn't monitor played files!", inews24, 2007-07-22. Retrieved on 2007-10-31. 

[edit] External links