no more multiple instances possible ?

[Thunderbolt]

since the installation of 0.8.6, I cant have more than 1 (video) file opened with vlc. in previous versions, clicking on another one, while 1 file was already playing, let a 2nd vlc window appear so that I cold for example compare 2 almost identical videos via alt tabbing. but now the 2nd video would just override the 1st one that was opened before. since I regularly encode videos I really need that ability to have mutliple instances/videos being able to open at the same time with vlc. what to do now ? :/

btw. another problem, sometimes when playing videos with 0.8.6 the decoding speed somehow varies a lot. I could for example watch a dvd5 size h264 video file with dts sound without any stuttering when jumping back and forth, while encoding h264 files in background (core 2 duo @3,2ghz). but sometimes I cant even watch a 700mb h264 file (let alone that dvd5 size h264 fiel with dts) with ac3 (even with no other cpu load) without stuttering=loosing the picture and/or audio stream when jumping back and forth. even if the video comes back then, the audio wont sync in again. how is this big gap of performance possible ??

edit: found the option to solve my 1st problem. now only the 2nd case remains :S