Getting close to releasing v4.01, I'm sitting tight on any features that would require changing the user interface as I want v4.01 to be a bug fix release.

One feature that I did put in that isn't listed below and will only be accessible through the options dialog next version is the ability to disable VMR7 overlays. This can be done by setting the "OPVMR7Overlay" registry value to 0.

BTW, O.T.
My current monitor (IIYAMA VisionMaster PRO 450 - 19" AG CRT) is dying. I am looking to buy a new CRT Appature Grill monitor (Shadow Mask technology makes my eyes hurt), but it seems there are hardly any models for sale these days. Shops are either selling cheap ShadowMask displays, or pushing the more expensive (and very annoying) LCD displays. Can anyone recommend a good 19" Appature Grill CRT monitor? I would get another IIYAMA, but the local importer isn't bringing in their 19" CRT line anymore. Can anyone recommend others?

Changes from v4.01rc1:


Download Zoom Playter v4.01 rc2 here.

Just tested two dvd's with dutch subtitles, Auto-DVD Subtitle selection works fine now, thanks

whats wrong with an LCD Display?

gammaomega,
Compared to AG CRT:
1. Color changes if you change the viewing angle (as in your head).
2. Color representation is usually iffy.
3. Ghosting on fast movement.
4. Dead Pixels.
5. Miscolored Pixels (partially dead pixels).
6. Fixed resolution (and interpolating other resolution is not an option, massive quality loss).
7. Blacks are not blacks.
8. More expensive.

Even the most expensive LCDs don't hold a candle to the quality of my current CRT.

Blight, I also had the same type of monitor and it was great while it lasted.
Now I am going to order one of these, from local or on-line supplier:

Iiyama Vision Master Pro 514 (HM204DT, sound, USB, flatscreen) 22", 200 Hz, 142 kHz, 0,24 mm ~ EUR 669,00
or ...
Iiyama Vision Master Pro 513 (MA203DT, Diamondtron M2) 22", 180 Hz, 110 kHz, 0,24 mm ~ EUR 649,00

If you find anything better please let me know. TIA!

Thanks also for the updates.

Hey Blight,

can´t help you with the Monitor issue unfortunately, I use a TFT for work and control and a very good DLP frontprojector ( Sim2 HT300+) for enjoying movies ... almost as good contrast as your old CRT ! ( almost )


Thanks for adding the VMR7 without Overlay switch. Works fine here.

One suggestion for customized media playback:

It would actually be great if the settings ( which decoder uses which profile and which filter is added etc ) were saved in the registry together with all the other Zoomplayer settings so that after a complete reinstall one would only have to import the exported reg file into the registry and be back where one left off.

Wouldn´t that be possible ?

Also two small suggestions for making Zoomplayer association settings easier:

1. Clicking on "Select all" does what it says but the icons are not associated. So right now one has to manually associate the ZoomPlayer Icon for each format which is a drag !!

Wouldn´t it be possible to also add a "Associate all icons" button or do that automatically when clicking "select all" ?

2. I still very much would love to have a "audio" and "video" button in ZoomPlayer´s association page so I could use ZoomPlayer for all videoformats but no audio format with just one click. A very good thing in my opinion ...

Thanks !
Alex

I´m with atomix on those CRTs, since i´m using a (since about 1999):

Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 510 (A201HT) 22", 200Hz max., 130KHz, 0.22mm

I´ve been very pleased with this monitor, best purchase i ever made (along with a Geforce 1 DDR). The newer models also seem to be quite up to almost every task you throw at them.

Two very good CRTs you can also still pick up are:

Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB, 22", 140kHz
or
LaCie electron22blue IV, 200Hz max. , 140KHz, 0.24mm

Sharpness, clarity and colors are excellent on both.

I also don´t like LCDs at all, you already mentioned the disadvantages Blight, i can only agree.

Thanks for the new bugfix-release, btw.

I tried using VMR7 w/o overlay on a DVD, but the video crashed and only displayed the very first frame of the DVD (the FBI warning); the DVD was actually playing (ZP had a CPU usage of 60%), but it was only showing that first frame. This was with ffdshow outputting YV12, so I forced it to output YUY2, but that only displayed a garbled image. In fact, it only worked when I forced an output of RGB32, but that resulted in tearing. These problems occured with both PowerDVD and WinDVD decoders, with or without ffdshow (the colorspace is YUY2 without ffdshow). Do Radeon 9600s not have good VMR7 w/o overlay support?

P.S. VMR7 w/o overlay works perfectly in AVI and WMV files, even when they output YV12!

Flanger

flanger:
Overlay/NonOverlay is just a flag for me, not much I can do about how it reacts in DVD mode vs. Media mode. Also, remember that VMR7 is only supposed to work in WinXP.

sunrise:
I found the "Mitsubishi 19 Pro 930 SB/-BK", it looks to be their high-end 19" model. Might go for that.

I just bought the viewsonic 22" P225f, seems like their higher-end model, bit pricey, but hopefully it'll be ok.

Hi Blight,

you didn´t respond to my comments above. Too busy with your new monitor ?

I am gonna be a pain and post them again now:



And I have to add the following:

I just reinstalled Windows a few minutes ago so I have to go through the usual routine of recreating all the settings. It would really help if you could add the above "features". It is just very time consuming otherwise. But I have found a few other small "quirks":

1. Association Page:

Currently one has to first choose the association, then click apply and only then will the icon for that format be changeable to the Zoom icon. It does not work if one chooses the association, then immediately changes the icon and then clicks apply. So this is even more time consuming. First, set all associations, then click apply and then go through the whole list again to set the icons. Not only that. For each icon one has to agree to an uppopping dialog window to agree to set this icon to the Zoom icon.

Come on ... this is really awkward ...

2. Customized media playback. You wrote that in this new release Zoom checks for installed codecs and chooses those instead of the default ones. This seemed to work for the MPEG2 splitter where it automatically chose the installed Elecard splitter instead of the default Open Source one but it did not work for the MPEG2 decoder and MPEG2 transport decoder where it still defaulted to the Intervideo decoders although they are not installed. ( and Elecard is )

Of course it would still be cool if those settings were saved in the registry and exported so that setup would be even quicker after a new installation !

As always, thanks for listening !
Alex

Midi:
Ask me again after v4.01 is final, I can't change anything in the GUI till it is.

Double check that the intervideo filters aren't registered, only registered profiles are selected unless none are registered and then the current setting is left untouched.

I will !



I have not installed WinDVD yet. The only MPEG2 filters on my system right now are the ones coming with the Elecard Player 2.2.2.

Bye,
Alex

Try Mitsubishi 19" DiamondPro 930SB {19" 0.24 мм, DiamondTron M2 Super Bright;1920x1440@73 Hz;1024x768@136 Hz;30-110 KHz;50-160 Гц;bandwidth 290 МГц;}.

But do it faster, i heard that Mitsubishi stops CRT production.

9. 60hz framerate (All of them?? I'm not certain, but the ones we have at work are all 60hz.).

For video playback at 48, 50, 72, 75Hz a LCD monitor is going to judder. You need a true multisync device - a CRT. Same goes for projectors (Flamesuit on...)



Back to Zoom..

Does anybody have an info on the differences between VMR7/9 and overlay?

I've read the microsoft pages. Anything else around in laymens terms?

I've heard that Overlay and VRM7 are the same thing sort off (from Blight on AVS actually), but Overlay and VRM7 behave very differently on my system - even without the new reg setting to turn off overlay with VMR7.

VMR7 never tears. VMR7 will play WMV HD, while overlay is a slideshow, VMR9 tears.
I'm using VMR7 and I like it.

Mark

PS. I had to reregister. My old login name was gone - was there a cull of (semi) inactive members?

LCDs don't have a refresh rate, their update is dependant on the reaction time of the crystals.

Midi:
And unchecking/rechecking the "enable customized media mode" doesn't select the elecard filters? If you select them manually (from the profile list, do they have a profile?), does it say they are registered properly?

Oh ok ... I did not uncheck and recheck the customized media mode. It was enabled because I had loaded my Zoom settings and had customized media mode enabled before. So I guess this only works if one checks customized media mode for the first time, not when loading previous settings?



Yep !

ZP 4.01RC2 has a small interface problem.

When the right-click context menu comes up (from right-clicking on the video window), some sub-menu choices are designed to be displayed to the right.

However, due to the width of the context menu, and the position of the window, if the context menu is already mostly are all the way to the right of the screen, then the choices instead end up on the left, and then the mouse cannot choose any of them.

midi:
By default ZP comes with CM disabled, this new feature is just to help new users have a good basic installation when they enable it for the first time... If I were to run it every time, it'd slow ZP start-up by 1-2 seconds and we don't want that.

TheDude:
This is actually a windows thing, ZP doesn't control how the context sub-menus are popped. However, you can set ZP to use only one column (Options / Settings / Toggles).

If anyone is interested, I got VMR7 w/o overlay to work on DVDs on my Radeon 9600. Apparently if you force anti-ailising, anisotropic filtering, OR v-sync in the direct3d section of the Catalyst control panel, it won't work. Regardless, VMR7 w/o overlay is even worse than VMR9 for me with DVDs (not only tearing, but massive stutters and frame drops, too). The funny thing is, none of those settings affect playback of mpeg-4 files (xvid / divx) under VMR7, and as I've said, I don't have any tearing problems with those. I'm beginning to get the impression that VMR support just isn't quite ready for prime time in the Catalyst drivers...

Flanger