36 replies to this topic

[bLight]

Unlike version 8.0 that took 18 month to complete, Version 8.1 final is ready in under two months.

If you have been following Zoom Player development on Facebook, Twitter or this very forum, you would have noticed that over 20 public preview builds were released.

The new release schedule ensures faster bug fixes, polished features and new customization options in a shorter time span.

Highlights from v8.1 :
. The default Onyx skin has been refreshed with new widgets and power features.
. A much more powerful audio track and subtitle stream selection interface.
. LIRC Remote Control support.
. Enhanced TCP/IP remote control.
. More powerful skinning engine logistics.

Download :
Click here for the Zoom Player v8.1 download mirror list.

Zoom Player Premium users :
Owners of 'Zoom Player Premium' can download v8.1 here (md5: FBAC2AF0657A062826FA3B7EBC9EB08B).

Here's what's new in v8.1 :

 New :

  * The default Onyx skin has been enhanced:
    1. Contrast, Brightness and Saturation are now adjustable through the
       expandable toolbar.
    2. The expandable toolbar is now accessible through a button
       on the user interface instead of pressing F5 or F9 using the keyboard.
    3. The volume, balance, play rate and equalizer bars have been redesigned.
    4. Less framing around buttons.

  * The F4-F9 skin modes used by the Default Onyx skin have changed,
    the new modes are:
    F4 : Default mode.
    F5 : Smaller user interface.
    F6 : Minimal user interface.
    F7 : No user interface.
    F8 : Show/Hide Top Bar.
    F9 : Show/Hide Bottom Bar.

  * The Audio and Subtitle stream selection interface has been rewritten.
    The new 'Stream Selection' right-click sub-menu groups all streams into
    clearly labeled 'Audio' and 'Subtitle' groups.

  * The back-end for the Audio track cycle function (Ctrl+"A") used to
    switch between multiple audio tracks has been rewritten.  Audio tracks
    from internal and external sources are now switched seamlessly.  

  * The back-end for the Subtitle stream cycle function (Ctrl+"B") used to
    switch between multiple subtitle steams has been rewritten.  Subtitle
    streams from embedded and external sources are now switched seamlessly.  

  * Zoom Player now has integrated LIRC support. LIRC transmits and receives
    remote control signals.  This allows computer control using almost any
    remote control.

    See:
    http://winlirc.sf.net for the Windows port by Jim Paris & Ian Curtis.
    http://www.lirc.org for the original project.

    Using the LIRC section of the options dialog, you can directly assign
    remote control buttons to Zoom Player Standard, Extended and Navigation
    functions.

  * New Setting (Adv. Options / Interface), that controls how to display the
    right-click "Stream Selection" sub-menu.  With "Show all filters in Stream
    Selection sub-menu" enabled, all filters exposing a stream select interface
    are displayed in a sub-menu, cleaning up the dialog.  With this setting
    disabled, only detected Subtitle, Audio and Video streams from known
    sources are listed.

  * New Setting (Adv. Options / Interface / Control Bar), that prevents the
    Control Bar and Timeline context menu from opening.  Useful if you have
    kids and you don't want a control bar setting changed by accident.

  * Two new "On Playlist Complete" modes (Adv. Options / Playback) :
    1. Random play a media file from the playing directory.
    2. Random play a file with the same extension from the playing directory.

  * New Setting (Adv. Options / Playback / Video / Subtitles), that resets
    the Subtitle Renderer's filter subtitle synchronization value, ensuring
    that the default value is restored when opening a new media after manually
    adjusting subtitle synchronization.  Enabled by default.

  * New Setting (Adv. Options / Playback / Video / Subtitles), that forces
    automatic stream selection to work only with external subtitle files.

  * New Setting (Adv. Options / Playback / Video / Subtitles), that specifies
    whether to enable the first embedded or external subtitle stream if
    no automatic stream selection match is found (or if the auto stream
    selection is disabled).

  * New "/CONNECTTCP:[address or IP]:[port]" command line parameter.

    By default, The TCP/IP interface works as a server by waiting for 3rd party
    applications to connect to Zoom Player.

    With the "/CONNECTTCP" parameter, Zoom Player initiates the connection
    itself with a local or remote server right as it launches.  A server must be
    listening on the specified address and port for a connection from Zoom Player.

    Example:
    "c:\program files\zplayer\zplayer.exe" /CONNECTTCP:127.0.0.1:4770

  * New extended function "exSkinMode", which activates the F4-F9 skin modes.

  * Five new functions "fnResetBright", "fnResetContrast", "fnResetGamma",
    "fnResetHue" and "fnResetSatur" that reset the Brightness, Contrast, Gamma
    Hue and Saturation to their default values.

  * The skin script code has been extended with "StartAndGroup" and "EndAndGroup"
    blocks that allow skin script authors to limit sections of the script to
    specific combination of active groups.

  * When connecting to the TCP/IP control interface, Zoom Player automatically
    issues a "3000" notification message if an error dialog was visible prior
    to establishing the TCP/IP connection.

  * Zoom Player now notifies you of known buggy filters when running a new
    version of Zoom Player for the first time.

  * New Smart Play profile for embedded Apple Lossless Audio (ALAC).

  * New Comm API message #1090, used to get the current timeline text,
    including the current position and any other value specified in
    the options dialog under "Adv. Options / Interface / Control Bar /
    Timeline Area".



 Changes :

  + The F4-F9 keys no longer modify skin groups, but rather activate Skin
    modes which are programmable directly from the skin script, providing
    greater flexibility and control to skin designers.

  + When using the default onyx skin in F6 or F7 mode, a smaller control bar
    is now used.

  + The Zoom Player Install Center now notifies to close any active media
    playback software.



 Fixes :

  - Dynamic aspect ratio changes are now supported when using EVR as the
    video renderer.

  - Running on Windows 7 with the windows shell set to an application other
    than "explorer.exe" would cause Zoom Player to crash.

  - With "Aggressively Hide Mouse Cursor" (Adv. Options / Interface / Mouse /
    Settings) enabled, the mouse cursor no longer re-appears when opening
    a fullscreen navigation interface.

  - The "/SKINDVD" command line parameter used to set the DVD skin actually
    set the audio mode skin by accident.

  - The Video icon was being shown for Blu-Ray movie index files instead of
    the Blu-Ray icon.

  - ID3v2 unicode tags are now supported automatically without specifying
    a country code.

  - Fixed ID3v2 URL tags that are marked as Unicode but in actuality are ASCII.    

  - Auto-Save media chapters (".ZPCHP" files) was automatically creating
    chapter files when playing media files with embedded chapters (such as
    matroska ".MKV" files).  Now, the chapter files are created only if
    you edit the chapters.

  - The option to disable natural language sorting is fixed.

  - Maintaining fast-play between playlist items is fixed.

  - Fixed a few small cosmetic glitches.

  - Pop-up OSD messages are now truncated to fit the video display area.

  - Pressing F11 to reset color control values while the color control
    fullscreen navigation interface was visible, did not update the
    color control navigation interface.

  - Selecting the Microsoft image source no longer notifies you that the
    filter is unregistered.  Note that the microsoft image source filter
    is limited to 2000x2000 resolution, so it's not recommended for anything
    other than animated GIF files.

[Hikaru Shindou]

tick tock, tick tock. Time is flying.

[bLight]

The clock has ticked it's final tock, v8.1 is out, first post updated with details.

Enjoy!

[TheShadowRunner]

Awesome release, excellent work as usual bLight!

[ehathgepiurhe]

Awesome release, excellent work as usual bLight!

Seconded!

I will suggest that anyone planning on updating from a previous version of Zoom should uninstall their current version of Zoom first - this will remove your current Zoom settings as well as the application itself. Yes, Zoom will happily update over the top of a current installation if you really want, but a new stable version is a chance to start fresh - which lessens the chance of you having a problem in the new version. Plus, if you do have a problem with the new version, you will know that it isn't due to a setting carried over from the last version or some other corruption from the previous version.

Important note for anyone using a custom keyfile: There have been changes to the Zoom installed "default.key" with this release. If you want the new skinning features to work properly, and your custom keyfile has been based off a copy of default.key (I don't know how you could generate one other than basing it off default.key so this should in fact include everyone who uses a custom keyfile), you will need to regenerate your keyfile (so just copy the new default.key file to some place as a copy, point Zoom to it and then make your changes to this copy).

ehat

Edited by ehathgepiurhe, 06 January 2012 - 08:52 AM.
Added note about keyfile

[Hawke]

Cheers bLight, Zoom Player just keeps on getting even better.

[bkm]

Just curious, is the setting under Interface > "Playing new content moves the window player to the top" a new setting for version 8.10? Cuz when I installed ZP 8.10 Max I had all kinds of problems getting ZP to come out of it's minimized state and play new files properly. But then I found this setting and checked it and now it works. I don't remember ever having this setting checked before. Thanks. Just want to make sure I'm not losing my mind hehe

[ehathgepiurhe]

Just curious, is the setting under Interface > "Playing new content moves the window player to the top" a new setting for version 8.10?

No - it was in v8.00 as well. I don't know how far back it goes pre-v8.00 though (I haven't got v7 installed to check).

ehat

[zpusr95]

Thanks to all involved for releasing the new version!

I'll have a go at the new LIRC stuff later - when I find a step by step guide (Currently using ZP with LM Remote KeyMap and a MCE controller on my HTPC and it's working great. I'd love even better/easier action/sendmessage configuration though).

[bkm]

Hi, this goes along what I wrote in Topic #7 above about the Interface > "Playing new content moves the window player to the top" setting. I am having problems with new v8.10 Max. I think it's a bug which I will try to explain below.

Win7 SP1 32-Bit, ZP 8.10 Max

Okay, how do I explain this. With v8.10 and the setting "Playing new content moves the window player to the top" unchecked, v8.10 does not exhibit the same behavior as all previous versions of ZP (8.00 and older). By this I mean if I minimize or hide ZP behind another window and then click on a vid to play, ZP does not come to forefront and play. All previous ZP versions would.

So this led me to enable for the first time ever the setting "Playing new content moves the window player to the top". This solves the ZP coming to the forefront problem but now I have discovered a new problem while using mVR (tried .79 and .80) as the renderer with it's fullscreen exclusive mode enabled. With ZP in fullscreen mode (thus mVR exclusive mode comes into play) and you pause a file, after you unpause that same file the whole screen flashes and does something funky before it starts to play again. Using Haali renderer or VMR/EVR this problem did not occur which leads me to believe it's a mVR with fullscreen exclusive mode enabled problem. The flashing screen problem as described only occurs when the setting under Interface > "Playing new content moves the window player to the top" is checked. It's the same video that I am pausing/unpausing (I am not playing new content) so why should the whole screen flash and seem to come out of exclusive fullscreen mode and then go back into it? It should unpause and continue to play normally, not flash the whole display. This is new behavior in v8.10.

I'm sure this will be easily duplicated by the Zoom Player powers that be. I just installed v8.10 a few hours ago and the problem(s) became noticeable almost instantly. So in the meantime I have to use ZP with mVR exclusive mode unchecked. So in my eyes, the bug is either 1) ZP v8.10 is not coming to the forefront properly like all prior versions before v8.10 would or 2) there is a bug in v8.10 with mVR exclusive mode enabled not allowing a file to unpause properly while in fullscreen mode. But maybe both bugs exist. Hope this can be solved...

[Jacques]

I'm not the real expert here, but it seems to me that what's happening is this:

The "move to top" logic might be designed to work when coming out of pause, as well as when starting new content. (I'm 99% sure that the act of bringing ZP to the top would cause madVR to pop out of Exclusive.)

This might be useful in some cases, e.g. pause ZP, work on something else that covers ZP, then unpause and ZP appears. I would think that this only makes sense if a method other than the keyboard is used to control ZP, since the keyboard would not work unless ZP is already on top.

Of course, this would not make sense at all if full screen exclusive mode is in use, since the window can never be covered. So, I would think that it should be disabled if Exclusive Mode is in use (if that is possible). Otherwise, there should be a separate option to disable the function when in the Pause state (or just disable that part of the function completely since it's of questionable value anyway).

[Shadrach]

Nice. The new Stream Selection menus are a really great feature.

[ehathgepiurhe]

bkm: I don't have any problem like you describe, Zoom without that setting enabled works exactly the same as the previous Zoom version so you should not have to enable it. Can I suggest you uninstall Zoom (to wipe out all your settings) and reinstall 8.10 from scratch? I think something has gone wrong on your system.

ehat

[bkm]

bkm: I don't have any problem like you describe, Zoom without that setting enabled works exactly the same as the previous Zoom version so you should not have to enable it. Can I suggest you uninstall Zoom (to wipe out all your settings) and reinstall 8.10 from scratch? I think something has gone wrong on your system.

ehat

ehat, thanks for taking the time to try and duplicate the problem. Well, I went and uninstalled v8.10 Max and cleaned out the registry and installed v8.00 Max. v8.00 works great regarding the coming to the forefront problem. So uninstalled v8.00 and cleaned out the registry as before and installed v8.10 Max again. Same problem as written; ZP v8.10 won't come to the forefront when playing a file. Went and downloaded fresh copies of v8.10 Max and Pro from Inmatrix website and tried again. Both v8.10 Max and Pro have the ZP window not coming to the forefront problem. Perhaps your version of ZP 8.10 Max is different than mine? (can your perhaps please upload yours to a filehoster so I can try yours out?) By the way, I am on Win7, 32-bit (I don't know if you are perhaps on 64-bit and the problem only lies in the 32-bit versions for Win7). I'm at a loss on what to try next

Edit: Just noticed on your sig that you are indeed running 64-bit. Hmmm.... I guess it's the 32-bit that has the problem.

[ehathgepiurhe]

I've since done some more testing. I should make sure I am testing the correct thing - so if you could just check my steps are correct, that would be good.

Test #1:
1. I open Zoom Player.
2. I open another program window and just make sure that it is in front of the Zoom window.
3. I open my file manager, find a video and double click it.
4. As it is associated with Zoom, the video opens in Zoom.
Now, on my system, that brings Zoom to the front of the other program window - but it doesn't on yours?

Test #2:
1. I open Zoom Player.
2. I minimise Zoom to the Taskbar.
3. I open my file manager, find a video and double click it.
4. As it is associated with Zoom, the video opens in Zoom.
In this case, Zoom stays minimised - and it does on yours? Testing v8.00 again, it seems to un-minimise in this situation - and I think I know why (not the actual code reason for it, but the change bLight made that may have caused the behaviour to change).

I did find a minor issue with Zoom when minimised - the Win 7 Aero preview will not show the video playing until you un-minimise Zoom (you can then minimise it again). In case this is a Zoom bug and not a Windows one, I will log a report for it.

We would also have the same version - I just checked the Max download again, and it is binary the same as the original Max version I downloaded (I just selected the ZoomPlayer.com mirror from the download page).

ehat

Edit: #229 in the tracker refers for the Aero preview issue.

Edit: #230 refers for the minimise issue. bLight may have actually intended this behaviour to change, but I've logged it as a bug all the same.

Development has started on v8.2 as well

Edited by ehathgepiurhe, 07 January 2012 - 09:06 AM.
Added Tracker Number

[bkm]

I've since done some more testing. I should make sure I am testing the correct thing - so if you could just check my steps are correct, that would be good.

Test #1:
1. I open Zoom Player.
2. I open another program window and just make sure that it is in front of the Zoom window.
3. I open my file manager, find a video and double click it.
4. As it is associated with Zoom, the video opens in Zoom.
Now, on my system, that brings Zoom to the front of the other program window - but it doesn't on yours?

Test #2:
1. I open Zoom Player.
2. I minimise Zoom to the Taskbar.
3. I open my file manager, find a video and double click it.
4. As it is associated with Zoom, the video opens in Zoom.
In this case, Zoom stays minimised - and it does on yours? Testing v8.00 again, it seems to un-minimise in this situation - and I think I know why (not the actual code reason for it, but the change bLight made that may have caused the behaviour to change).

I did find a minor issue with Zoom when minimised - the Win 7 Aero preview will not show the video playing until you un-minimise Zoom (you can then minimise it again). In case this is a Zoom bug and not a Windows one, I will log a report for it.

We would also have the same version - I just checked the Max download again, and it is binary the same as the original Max version I downloaded (I just selected the ZoomPlayer.com mirror from the download page).

ehat

Edit: #229 in the tracker refers for the Aero preview issue.

Edit: #230 refers for the minimise issue. bLight may have actually intended this behaviour to change, but I've logged it as a bug all the same.

Development has started on v8.2 as well

Test 1 : Yes, I have same results. ZP pops to the front as long as I don't actually minimize it

Test 2 : Correct again. Minimizing ZP causes me problems. If I then try to play a file the audio doesn't work and ZP stays minimized (doesn't pop up to the front like v8.00 and previous versions did)

As far as your bug #230 : If Blight intended this behavior to change well I have no problems with that as long as checking the "Playing new content moves the window player to the top" option doesn't cause additional problems. But right now it does with mVR's exclusive fullscreen mode enabled as described in post #10 in this thread. So perhaps that can be another bug report. If you need any additional info please let me know...

[DamirGBR]

Some errors in language files processing (even English):

1. To fix first bug I had change section "OP:CMControl|004; Information; Settings && Black List; Source Filters && Splitters; Audio && Video Decoders;" to "OP:CMControl|004; Settings && Black List; Source Filters && Splitters; Audio && Video Decoders; Information;"

2. On LIRC options page in 'LIRCFuncType' ComboBox by default selected an empty string.
 Screenshot.jpg   1.6KB   4 downloads

[boogafreak]

@Ehat - Thanks for following bkm reports

@DamirGBR - Thank you for reporting - I've opened bug #231 on these 2 issues.

@Shadrach - bLight tore his behinds for the new stream selection I'm glad it's both working and appreciated

Booooooga. Civ4 MapFinder !

[ehathgepiurhe]

Test 1 : Yes, I have same results. ZP pops to the front as long as I don't actually minimize it

Test 2 : Correct again. Minimizing ZP causes me problems. If I then try to play a file the audio doesn't work and ZP stays minimized (doesn't pop up to the front like v8.00 and previous versions did)

I'm glad I have tested the right things It is a bit odd your audio does not play either - mine certainly does here, even when Zoom stays minimised (that's with a video file that has audio - is it the same with you, or did you mean just an audio file?). I can't think of anything that would cause a video player like Zoom to only play audio when it is in focus!

As far as your bug #230 : If Blight intended this behavior to change well I have no problems with that as long as checking the "Playing new content moves the window player to the top" option doesn't cause additional problems. But right now it does with mVR's exclusive fullscreen mode enabled as described in post #10 in this thread. So perhaps that can be another bug report. If you need any additional info please let me know...

Yes - we'll soon find out if it was intended or not (I hope it wasn't, I hope it was just an unintended side effect of another fix). Either way, I think the issues with the 'playing new content' option should be looked at, so I've logged #232 for it. There may not be much that Zoom can do for this - madVR's FSE mode is a very jealous creature, and it doesn't like anything trying to interfere with it...we will have our fingers crossed though that it can be solved in Zoom though

@Ehat - Thanks for following bkm reports

Booooooga. Civ4 MapFinder !

No worries

I think our benevolent admin overlord really likes Civ 4

[ehathgepiurhe]

I would think that this only makes sense if a method other than the keyboard is used to control ZP, since the keyboard would not work unless ZP is already on top.

Just to note - Zoom actually supports Global hotkeys like other media players do (so Zoom does not need to be focussed/on top for them to work). You just need to set 'global hotkey' in the Zoom keyboard editor for the relevant hotkey.

ehat