116 replies to this topic

[bLight]

As you can see, the version numbering has changed to reflect the great number of changes since the last final release. v4.50 was deemed more acceptable. The beta count shall remain the same.

Several important changes in this version I would like to highlight. The first is that Zoom Player should now be able to play WMV DRM Level 2000 content, yay!

The second is the new Advanced Play List Control interface which allows you to greater manipulate the Play List. Similar to WinAmp's jump dialog, but with a more advanced search dialog and the ability to manipulate the play list according to the search results (read more below).

The third is the new Magnetic Hard Docking. This is sort of the return of the previous function that let you perma-dock the play list to the sides of the main user interface, except that this new setting appears on the play list editor itself as a "magnet" button on the bottom-left section of the editor and also on the Equalizer dialog. When enabled, Zoom Player tries it's best to auto-arrange the dialogs. Different arrangement schemes are used for media and audio modes, try it out (read more below)...

Lastly, renderless mode should now work better on multi-monitors. You should only start playback when ZP is already on that monitor... Dragging the interface across monitors with video playing won't work well... There is also a new checkbox on the options dialog (see below) to enable Exclusive Fullscreen renderless mode... use at your own peril.

Download Zoom Player v4.50 beta 4

Changes from v4.10 beta 3:

* Zoom Player can now play WMV (Windows Media Video)
   DRM level 2000 content!

 * New Advanced Play List Control Interface.  Can be opened by
   pressing "J" (Or the "Wand" button on the Play List Editor).
   This new interface opens up advanced search and management
   controls to the play list.  Similar to WinAmp's jump dialog,
   but allowing multiple search queries, moving selected items
   to the top/bottom of the list, removing selected items from
   the list, etc...

 * New Magnetic Hard Docking functions (fnPLMagToggle,
   fnEQMagToggle) and Buttons on the Equalizer and Play List Editor.
   When activated, Zoom Player will try to make these interfaces
   always-docked onto the main user interface and auto-adjusting
   to remain on screen and retain position as the user interface
   is moved and resized.

   When either interface is magnetized, the standard snap-docking
   is disabled for that interface.

 * 12 new Dynamic Skinning Variables allowing you to display TAG
   Information (ID3/APE/WMV/OGM/etc...) on the skin.
   The new constants are:
   <trackname>, <genre>, <track>, <language>, <artistname>, 
   <albumname>, <year>, <authorname>, <encoder>, <comment>,
   <urllink>, <copyright>.

 * New Setting (Advanced Options / Filter Control / Settings)
   allowing you to have VMR9 Renderless mode work in exclusive
   fullscreen mode.  When this mode is enabled, certain ZP
   features will get broken.  Basically any OSD and Navigation
   interface, including the context-menu.

 * New Setting (Advanced Options / Values / Play List) allowing
   the Play List Editor display to follow the currently playing
   track.

 * New Comm API Messages 1401,1501,1601,1602,1701,1702,1750,1751,
   1940,1941,3200.

 * New Button on the "Advanced Options / Association" page allowing you
   to remove all selected extensions.

 * New profiles to support the Haali Media Splitter under Customized
   Media Mode.

 + Auto Stream Selection should now work with the Haali Media Splitter.

 + Zoom Player now supports stream switching with the Haali Media
   Splitter filter (which can be used to split Matroska and MP4 files).

 + Extended the "exInterface" function to support more interfaces.

 + The Play List Skin command can now specify the Left-Offset in which
   to display the search text.

 + You can now set a Hint value for the Volume, Play Rate and
   Audio Balance Controls.

 - Running a new installation under Windows NT/2000/XP with a limited
   access account would cause Zoom Player to freeze.

 - When using renderless mode on a non-primary monitor, CPU usage
   should no longer jump to 100%.

 - When using renderless mode with DVDs, fixed a semi-random freeze.

 - Inserting a CD/DVD with no content should no longer close the
   playing media and clear the play list.

 - Zoom Player now Intercepts when applications try to artificially
   maximize its window when loading and will go to Zoom Mode instead.

 - Zoom Player show now be able to go fullscreen on Windows NT4.

 - Zoom Player no longer checks if a file exists before adding it
   to the play list when the file is in fact a URL address.

 - Trailer files can now contain unicode paths.

 - Fixed a problem where the "Length" value in TAG Display would not
   show a valid value under some conditions.

 - Fixed a bug where enabling auto-size window to fit source size
   could cause the image to appear in the wrong position and possibly
   corrupt the skin.

 - Girder Command Export got broken in a recent beta of Zoom Player.

 - Specifying an RGB NoTint value didn't always work properly.

 - The DVD Control Bar buttons for Next/Previous chapter got accidently
   changed to Next/Previous bookmark in v4.10 Beta 3.

 - The Scene Cut feature was not saving MS values properly.

 - Erasing files from the file and media library navigators was broken.

 - DVD Auto-Execute values were not being saved properly.

 - Timeline Seek-Hint could show negative values.

 - Switching skins while in fullscreen would not show proper active
   value for certain buttons.

Latest Communication Protocol:

When the SendMessage interface is used, the message number is returned
 on the "WParam" value and the message content is returned on the "LParam"
 value.  If the LParam contain a string, it is stored as an ATOM String.

 When the TCP interface is used, the message number is always returned/sent
 as a 4-digit code. The message content is seperated by a space character
 following the message number.  All content is string based and UTF-8
 encoded to preserve country specific text codes.

 When sending Zoom Player TCP commands, make sure to terminate each
 command with CRLF (Ascii #13#10)..

 The default TCP/IP port is 4769, but a user can change it under
 Advanced Options / Values / Interface.

 External Messages (ZP -> Program, TCP/IP or SendMessage):

 [WParam]                             | [LParam]
 -------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------
 0000 - Application Name              | String describing the Application
 0001 - Application Version           | String with the version text
 1000 - State Change                  | 0  - Closed
                                        1  - Stopped (doesn't apply to DVD,
                                                      DVD Stop = Closed)
                                        2  - Paused
                                        3  - Playing
 1100 - TimeLine update               | String containing timeline data
 1110 - Current Duration              | Current Duration in milliseconds
 1120 - Current Position              | Current Position in milliseconds
 1200 - OSD Message                   | String containing the OSD message
 1201 - OSD Message Off               | No value, message just tells that the OSD
                                        has disappeared
 1300 - Current Play Mode             | 0  - DVD Mode
                                        1  - Media Mode
                                        2  - Audio Mode
 1400 - DVD Title Change              | Current Title
 1401 - DVD Title Count               | Number of Titles
 1410 - DVD Domain Change             | See EC_DVD_DOMAIN_CHANGE in DirectX SDK
 1420 - DVD Menu Mode                 | 0  - Not in a Menu
                                      | 1  - In a Menu
 1450 - DVD Unique String             | Returns a unique DVD indentifer
 1500 - DVD Chapter Change            | Current Chapter
 1501 - DVD Chapter Count             | Number of Chapters
 1600 - DVD Audio Change              | Current Audio Track
 1601 - DVD Audio Count               | Number of Audio Tracks
 1602 - DVD Audio Name                | Contains the name of the Audio track and a
                                        padded number for example "001 5.1 AC3"
 1700 - DVD Sub Change                | Current Subtitle Track
 1701 - DVD Sub Count                 | Number of Subtitle Tracks
 1702 - DVD Audio Name                | Contains the name of the Subtitle track and a
                                        padded number for example "001 5.1 AC3"
 1750 - DVD Angle Change              | Current Angle
 1751 - DVD Angle Count               | Number of Angles in the DVD Title 
 1800 - Currently Loaded File         | String containing file name
 1810 - Current Play List             | String containing the Zoom Player Play List
                                        structure.  Each entry is separated by the
                                        ">" character.  Each entry is sub-divided
                                        into additional information:
                                        |N .. |n - Name
                                        |E .. |e - Extension
                                        |D .. |d - Date
                                        |S .. |s - Size
                                        |P .. |p - Path
                                        |R .. |r - Duration
                                        |F .. |f - Forced Duration
                                        It is possible addtional tags will be used
                                        in future version, so code safely.
 1855 - End of File                   | End of file has been reached
 1900 - File PlayList Pos             | String containing file
                                        position in play list
 2000 - Video Resolution              | String containing the
                                        video resolution (if there is one)
 2100 - Video Frame Rate              | String containing the
                                        video frame rate (if there is one)
 2200 - AR Change                     | String containing the AR String
                                        (same as OSD message)
 2210 - DVD AR Mode Change            | 0  - Unknown
                                        1  - Full-Frame
                                        2  - Letterbox
                                        3  - Anamorphic
 2300 - Current Audio Volume          | The current Audio Volume
 2400 - Media Content Tags            | Returns Media Content Strings
                                        (ID3/APE/WMA/Etc... Tags)
 2500 - A CD/DVD Was Inserted         | Returns path to drive the disc was inserted to
 3000 - ZP Error Message              | String of error messsage
                                        Note that there can be multiple errors
                                        appearing in sequence, only the last
                                        error may be visible by the user.
 3100 - Nav Dialog Opened             | A Navigator Dialog has opened
                                         0 - Blanking Navigator
                                         1 - Chapter Navigator
                                         2 - Context Navigator
                                         3 - File Navigator
                                         4 - GoTo Navigator
                                         5 - Media Library Navigator
                                         6 - MouseWheel Navigator
                                         7 - Color Control Navigator
                                         8 - Play List Navigator
                                         9 - Resize Navigator
                                        10 - Station Navigator
                                        11 - Web URL Navigator
 3110 - Nav Dialog Closed             | A Navigator Dialog has closed
                                        (Values are the same as #3100)

 3200 - Screen Saver Mdeo             | The ZP Screen Saver has:
                                        0 - Started
                                        1 - Ended 

 External Messages (Program -> ZP, TCP/IP only)
 Messages that contain parameters should be space seperated,
 for example: "5100 fnPlay"
 and a comma used to seperate multiple parameters,
 for example: "5110 exSetAR,1".

 0000 - Get Application Name          | Returns 0000 message
 0001 - Get Version                   | Returns 0001 message
 1000 - Get Play State                | Returns 1000 message
 1110 - Get Current Duration          | Returns 1110 message
 1120 - Get Current Position          | Returns 1120 message
 1200 - Show a PopUp OSD Text         | Parameter is a UTF8 encoded text to be
                                        shown as a PopUp OSD
 1201 - Temp Disable PopUp OSD        | Temporarily Disables the PopUp OSD
 1202 - Re-Enable PopUp OSD           | Re-Enables the PopUp OSD
 1300 - Get Play Mode                 | Returns 1300 message
 1400 - Request DVD Title             | Returns 1400 message
 1401 - Request DVD Title Count       | Returns 1401 message
 1420 - Request DVD Menu Mode         | Returns 1420 message
 1500 - Request DVD Chapter           | Returns 1500 message
 1501 - Request DVD Chapter Count     | Returns 1501 message
 1600 - Request DVD Audio             | Returns 1600 message
 1601 - Request DVD Audio Count       | Returns 1601 message
 1602 - Request DVD Audio Names       | Returns 1602 message
 1700 - Request DVD Subtitle          | Returns 1700 message
 1701 - Request DVD Subtitle Count    | Returns 1701 message
 1702 - Request DVD Subtitle Names    | Returns 1702 message
 1750 - Request DVD Angle             | Returns 1750 message
 1751 - Request DVD Angle Count       | Returns 1751 message
 1800 - Request File Name             | Returns 1800 message
 1810 - Request Play List             | Returns 1810 message
 1850 - Play File                     | Play a Media File, Value is a UTF8 encoded
                                        string containing the file name.
 1900 - Get Play List Index           | Returns 1900 message
 1910 - Set Play List Index           | Value from 0 to Number items in
                                        the play list-1 (plays the file in index).
 1920 - Clear Play List               | Clears the Current Play List
                                        (will close any playing file)
 1930 - Add Play List File            | Add a file to the Play List
 1940 - Select Play List Item         | Select an Item in the Play List
 1941 - DeSelect Play List Item       | Remove selection of a Play List item
 2200 - Request AR Mode               | Request the current ZP AR Mode
 2210 - Request DVD AR Mode           | Request the DVD AR Mode (see outgoing #2210)
 2300 - Request Audio Volume          | Request the Audio Volume Level
 3000 - Dismiss ZP Error              | Close the ZP Error message (if visible).
 5000 - Set Current Position          | Sets the Current Play Position (in seconds)
 5010 - Play DVD Title                | Plays a DVD Title (depends on DVD Navigation
                                        accepting the title).
 5020 - Play DVD Title,Chapter        | Same as 5010, Plays a DVD Title at a specific
                                        chapter, value of "1,5" plays Title #1, Chapter #5
                                        (without the "" of course).
 5030 - Play DVD Chapter              | Same as 5010, Plays a DVD Chapter in the
                                        current Title.
 5100 - Call ZP Function              | Calls a Zoom Player function
                                        by name (see skinning tutorial for list)
 5110 - Call ZP ExFunction            | Calls a Zoom Player extended function
                                        by name (see skinning tutorial for list)
 5120 - Call ZP ScanCode              | Pass a keyboard scancode number to the
                                        Zoom Player Interperter (such as VK_DOWN),
                                        this can be used to access the Navigator
                                        interfaces, pass the scancode as a parameter.

[SicteR]

Blight, thanks for the 'Open Item Directory' function. Btw new advanced playlist is great

[OV2]

Nice work Blight, but there still seem to be some skin problems:
I tried my test vid (320x136) with the default skin and it produces the attached image.
And when I tried it with tinyaqua (which has a min height/width of 436/325) the initial window size is 1800x765.

Attached Files

•  zplayermin.jpg   16.76KB   0 downloads

[Vern Dias]

Full screen renderless is giving me an access violation at 0060F5BD in zplayer.exe.

Vern

[ehathgepiurhe]

Hi Blight,

The 'Zoom Player now Intercepts when applications try to artificially maximize its window when loading and will go to Zoom Mode instead' feature doesn't work correctly. Download SoraeMovies http://www.enekyn.com/sorae/ add a movie and try to play it with Zoom Player and you will see what I mean. When it plays, you still get the Zoom Player titlebar at the top of the screen, Zoom Player opens maximised, and when you close it, Zoom Player goes from maximised to a normal window, with a blank background with that titlebar behind it, and than you can finally close Zoom Player again, and everything will go away.

CM

[Kram Sacul]

I really love the magnetic docking button but there seems to be an issue of it always ending up on the left side when resizing or dragging the window around, making viewing the playlist a pain.

[bLight]

Kram:
It switches sides when there's not enough space on the right side to view the entire window. I'll change it so it only switches sides of there's more space on the left side than the right.

ehathgepiurhe:
What do you mean by "close it", if you just press escape, then ZP will return to window mode... Press Alt+X or double escape to close. That whole titlebar in the background isn't from ZP, it's something that this program does.

OV2:
I can't duplicate it... double check that you have indeed upgraded to the 4.50b4 file (Options / Information / About).

vern:
Can you be more specific? DVD mode or Media mode? You start fullscreen or switch to fullscreen? Primary monitor or secondary monitor? I'm assuming that the "use exclusive fullscreen..." checkbox is enabled.

[filewalker]

Cool, thanks for the new build! and new features

Streamswitching works now fine with Haalis's splitter.

Although Haali's splitter is installed, ZP shows me that a Matroska filter is missing...cosmetic for me but maybe some newbies are wondering
(After installation/start up-pop up window and under Formats/missing formats)

There seems to be a bug with the audio bar.
I can't resize manually the width of the audio bar...if I try it, the audio bar shrinks a little bit(or not) but there's no controlled increasing/decreasing of the audio bar's width.


Cu

[ExtraEye]

yes this is an essue for me too.
i reinstalled haali's splitter and saw it still appears as missing although it uses it.
also zp doesn't seem to take into account in the customized media playback that ffdshow can play mpeg.
you should add it to the choices because it plays it really good and can also work as a postprocessor along with other decoders(like real alternative with ffdshow play real files with excelent post processing).

[bLight]

Yeah, I'll add haali's splitter to the filter database.

And you're right about the resize thing, it's due to the resize maintain aspect ratio setting. I'll fix it.

[OV2]

Blight: yes it says 4.5 b4
I used defaultsettings.exe, enabled both auto-size options and the result is the same.

[Vern Dias]

OK, wound up cleaning out all the remnants of prior ZP code and re-installed. All is working now.

Vern

[midiboy]

HI Blight,

I don´t have much to say this time, everything important seems to still work ok for me except maybe for the following:

1. Very minor details:

In Customized Media Mode/Video Decoder section there are now 2 entries for H.264 content: One is called H 264 and contains a bunch of profiles and the other is called MPEG4 H264 and contains NO profiles. Does this one serve a purpose or did it slip in by accident ? (This is a fresh installation so it cannot be a remaining thing from earlier installations)

2. Renderless Mode (NOT Exclusive) works ok now on the second monitor. CPU usage is even lower than windowless mode. BUT IT TEARS LIKE HELL !! I know you probably have little influence on the performance of the various renderers but I am just curious why renderless causes major, major tearing (not the microtearing i sometimes have with windowless mode) that completely disappears when switching to windowless mode. Shouldn´t renderless mode be at least equal in performance to windowless mode ? CPU is > 3 Ghz, so my machine should be fast enough with a Nvidia 5700 GPU and latest drivers (71.89)

I guess windowless is here to stay ...

3. Renderless Exclusive mode does NOT work yet on the second monitor but I am sure you know that.

Other than that, I am very pleased with this version. Thanks !

Bye,
Alex

[midiboy]

Ah,

I forgot to test Windows media files with this beta ... unfortunately, this beta shows the same error I reported for beta 3 already:

just found a problem with beta3. It will not play a few of my DRM encoded but freely available windows media files anymore. I get the

"unable to add the WM Reader Filter" to the graph error. Then the
"could not find a suitable file source filter" error appears. Then it tries standard mode but this also fails.

Those files still play fine in Windows Media Player 10.

I have the latest Windows Media Player 10 installed (10.00.00.3802)

One of the files that do not play anymore (played fine in beta2) is this one:

Bourne Supremacy Trailer

You replied to me that this is because you are still waiting on something from Microsoft. I was wondering what that could be if this file played absolutely fine up until beta 2. But it turns out, that whatever you got from MS does not help with files like this one. It plays fine in Windows Media Player 10, also played fine in beta 2 but does not anymore since beta 3.

Anything you can do about it ?

Thanks,
Alex

[bLight]

midiboy:
Yeah, it's a slip-up and you can blame yourself for it , I'm slowly trying to transition the ZP Custom Media profiles into the registry as you'd want and this file was sort of a side effect.

With regards to why renderless is tearing more than windowless... Renderless is "supposed" to only switch between the front and back buffers when v-sync is ready for it, but for some reason, in windowed mode, Direct3D completely ignores v-sync... not sure why, but I have something for you to try (see below). With windowless, it does wait for v-sync and then does a buffer copy (rather than a buffer flip in renderless) which is more time consuming and depending on the resolution of the video and the speed of your system bus/video card can take longer than the vsync and thus you'll see tearing.

As for what you can try doing, open the ZP reg path and create a dword key called "OPRSSwapMode". Set its value to "3". Then create a dword key called "OPRSBackBuffers" and set its value to "1".

Let me know if it helps with the tearing in windowed mode.

With regards to WMV... I'll download that clip and give it a shot.

[bLight]

Midi, I just checked the file and it does play here... you do need an internet connection to get it to play, but plays just fine... make sure you are using the ZP WMV version, the pro version won't play this. And the WMV version won't either if you're using a Pro key.

[bLight]

OV2:
You say that all you do is run defaultsettings.exe, open the options dialog, enable those 2 settings and run your test video and you see that? I will need a copy of your test video... send it to "inmatrix at gmail dot com"

[Mastiff]

I had one lockup in a menu yesterday (renderless exclusive), and it turned out that the only way to get control of my computer back was to log off or restart. I saw the desktop, but I believe an invisible Zoom was covering it, since every time I switched to another program, I still saw the desktop. And the only things that would show themselves properly was the logoff and shutdown dialogs. Not even the task manager was able to get on top.

[midiboy]

Blight,

I will test renderless mode with your two registry settings again tonight. I don´t have enough time right now. But thanks for providing them !

Yeah, it's a slip-up and you can blame yourself for it tongue.gif , I'm slowly trying to transition the ZP Custom Media profiles into the registry as you'd want and this file was sort of a side effect.

Great, work in progress !

As for the wmv file ... I have no idea what is going on on my (freshly installed) system if it works for you.

I have tried the following:

I have cleared the ZP directory completely.
I have reinstalled ZP Pro WMV.
I made sure to use the WMV key (ZP also says "Pro WMV" in the Advanced Options)
I do have internet connection on that PC.
ZP is not blocked in the firewall (also tried with Firewall off)

I also tried with default settings (using the DefaultSettings.exe)

The file won´t play no matter what, while it plays absolutely fine in WMP10 (after acquiring the license)

What else could I do ? I am using the latest WMP10 version available, I have all Windows XP updates installed, including the latest quartz.dll ....




Bye,
Alex

[Gnerma]

New Magnetic Hard Docking functions (fnPLMagToggle, fnEQMagToggle) and Buttons on the Equalizer and Play List Editor. When activated, Zoom Player will try to make these interfaces always-docked onto the main user interface and auto-adjusting to remain on screen and retain position as the user interface is moved and resized.

Thank you for this and all the rest of your hard work Blight-san. Are there supposed to be tooltips on the playlist buttons?

G