Zoom Player 5.00 Technology Preview 7

Posted on Sunday, July 16 2006 @ 13:12 CEST by LSDsmurf

New features:
  • Smart Media Mode (previously Customized Media Mode) has been vastly simplified. In the simple mode, only the available profiles and the currently used filters are visible. If the currently used filter matches a profile (which it most always will), the profile will be highlighted.
    Smart Media Mode is now available in all version of Zoom Player to a lesser degree.
  • The Keyboard Editor will now let you create Global HotKeys. These are functions assigned to keys that are active even if Zoom Player itself is not the active application.
  • The Auto-Get Duration for media files has been rewritten to get the duration in the background (working only on unused CPU cycles), allowing you to load massive play lists without having to wait.
    Getting durations for media files also supports more formats and is now enabled by default.
  • New Equalizer Navigator (Shift+"Q"), allowing you to access Equalizer settings through the navigation system.
  • New Play History Navigator (Shift+"H"), allowing you to return to previously played files (if they still exist).
  • New "ZPS" Skin Installation System. Simply opening any "ZPS" file (file with a .zps extension) will run Zoom Player and prompt you to install the skin.
  • New Functions allowing you to play the Next and Previous files in the same directory as the currently playing file with a matching file extension. These functions are now assigned to the "PgUp" and "PgDn" navigational keys when navigator interfaces are not visible.
    For example, when viewing "MyImage.jpg" in a directory that looks like this:
    MyImage.jpg MyImage.avi MyImage2.jpg
    Pressing "PgDn" will show "MyImage2.jpg", skipping "MyImage.avi" These functions enhance Zoom Player's capability as an image viewer.
  • New Functions (Accessible on the Play List's right-click context menu) allowing you to move selected items to the top/bottom of the play list.
  • New Function (Shift+"L") allowing you to show/hide the all Control Bar buttons (without the need to select/remove which buttons are visible). This function has also replaced the Hide/Show All Control Bar buttons on the Control Bar Context-Menu. You will now be presented with a "Hide All Button" toggle (with a checkbox indicating ON/OFF state).
  • New Function "fnDeleteCurrent", Assigned by default to the Delete key (when the navigational interfaces are not in use), allowing you to erase the currently playing file (with confirmation).
  • New Function (Shift+"Esc") allowing you to close all navigational interfaces. If no navigators are visible, this function does nothing.
  • New Settings (Advanced Options / OSD / OSD Area), allowing you to force all OSD Displays (Navigators, OSD Actions, Control Bar, etc...) to display relative to a specific position on screen (while in fullscreen). When enabled, it allows you to Zoom/Move the video without it having an effect on the positioning of the On Screen Display elements.
  • New Setting (Skin Selector / Save Position). When enabled, each skin's position (window position and size) will be remembered on an individual basis.
  • New Setting (Advanced Options / Values / Aspect Ratio) allowing you specify which monitor you want Source Relative Stretch (Pixel Aspect Ratio) to apply to.
  • New Setting (Advanced Options / Values / Interface) allowing you to blank (black-out) all secondary monitors (any monitor not currently playing video).
  • New Setting (Advanced Options / Values / Interface) allowing you to enable the Internal Screen Saver for Audio-Only files (so that the Internal Screen Saver would kick-in even if the file is playing).
  • New Setting (Advanced Options / Filter Control / Windows Media) allowing you to use the "WMAPro over S/PDIF" DMO filter to output Windows Media Audio through the S/PDIF port. This setting requires that you use an external Receiver with Windows Media Audio capabilities.
  • The GoTo dialog now allows you to input a time to seek to using an HH:MM:SS.ms structure. The input is pretty flexible, allowing variants such as H:M:S, M:S, S.ms, etc...
  • Pressing Ctrl+"V" on the GoTo dialog pastes the clipboard value into the "H:M:S.ms" Time field.
  • New Setting on the GoTo dialog allowing you to keep the dialog open even after seeking to a new location. (Useful for FanSub Editors)
  • The current time in MS is now visible on the GoTo dialog.
  • New "Remove Non-Exisiting Entries" button on the Play History interface, allowing you to remove old entries where the file no longer exists on the system.
  • Automatic support for Audio file image support by base name. For example, if you have "song.mp3" and "song.jpg" in the same directory, "song.jpg" will automatically load as a folder image.
  • New "FolderImage" Skin-Script function allowing you to draw the folder image anywhere within the main user interface.
  • The "VolumeExData", "BalanceExData" and "RateExData" Skin-Script functions can now use a Target parameter allowing you to place a Volume, Balance and Rate Control interfaces on the Play List Editor, Equalizer and Control Bar.
  • SHOUTcasted audio information (Title, Author, URL, Copyright, Description) can now be accessed by the following Skin-Script tags: <trackname>, <artistname>, <urllink>, <copyright>, <comment>.
  • New " " Skin-Script tag, allowing you to display the current Audio Volume level percentage (0-100).
  • New " " Skin-Script tag, allowing you to display the currently playing file's index number.
  • New "cBarTLMinWidth" Skin-Script constant allowing you to specify the minimum width of the Control Bar's TimeLine (default 64 pixels).
  • The Skin Selection dialog now has an "Uninstall" button.
  • New "RN" tag for the Zoom Player Play List file format (".zpl") instructing Zoom Player to randomize the play list once loaded.
  • New Communication API Messages "2610, 2611, 2620, 2621, 2630, 2631, 2640, 2641" allowing you to query the current video display area located within fullscreen mode and to set a new location/size.
  • New Communication API Messages "2700, 2701" allowing you to get and set the current Play Rate (Media Mode Fast Play/Slow Motion and DVD Mode Fast Forward/Slow Motion/Rewind rates).
  • New Communication API Message "5130" allowing you to execute navigational control functions.
  • New Communication API Message "1450" allowing you to request the Unique DVD Identifier information.
  • New DVD "Additional Filter", the "Trombettworks Channel Downmixer", http://www.trombettworks.com/directshow.php
  • The Nero DVD Navigator is now a DVD Navigator option.
  • New support for ".FLV" (Flash Video) files (used on YouTube and several other locations). You need a recent version of ffdshow (with the FLV1 codec support enabled) and the Gabest FLV Splitter to get the files to play.
  • New Smart Media support for WMV:AP (Windows Media Video:Advanced Profile). You also need updated Windows Media decoders to play this new format (the decoders come with WMP 11 and possibly in a decoder pack from Microsoft).
  • New Smart Media profiles for several uncommon AVI/MOV codecs.
  • New Smart Media profiles for WavPack Audio.
Changes:
  • The WMV DRM license aquisition code has been improved and you should no longer be required to use Windows Media Player to aquire licenses.
  • When running a new version for the first time, you will now be prompted only for important missing decoders. The full list can still be found in the options dialog.
  • The missing decoders list in the Advanced Options dialog has been split into a list of Imporant decoders and All decoders in order to emphasize that not all decoders listed are required for general day to day media playback. The Simple Options dialog will only show the Important decoders.
  • The Media Library interface should work faster on networked drives and uses less drive access.
  • The navigator erase confirmation dialog now returns to the navaigator it was called from.
  • The navigation interfaces can now work without any graphics (without the "NavData" directory). Won't look very good though.
  • Integration into Windows Vista file association interface. Zoom Player should now appear as a supported program for all association extensions supported by Zoom Player.
  • Switching display resolution while in fullscreen should now react better with the main window covering the full display in the new resolution. And if the display area covered the entire monitor, the display area is now modified to cover the new resolution.
  • Pressing Stop while already stopped (in media mode) will now return the playback position to its previous position.
  • The Default Play List skin has been tweaked a bit for usability and clarity.
  • The File and Media Library Navigators will now dynamically update their content when a removable media is inserted/removed.
  • The Blanking Navigator will now allow you to Ebable/Disable Blanking.
  • The Control Bar will now have a minimum width of 64 pixels for the timeline and whatever space the active Control Bar buttons take.
  • The Mouse Cursor over the Volume, Rate Control, Balance and Equazlier bars will now use the "Hand Point" mouse cursor.
  • The Fast Play/Slow Motion rates have changes slightly.
  • Showing the Control Bar now hides the navigator interfaces.
  • Better streaming support.
  • Customized Media Playback has been renamed to "Smart Media Playback".
  • Updated Smart Media profiles to account for Elecard v4's change of filter identifications.
  • The "Mouse Wheel" section of the Options Dialog has been renamed to "Mouse" and the "Mouse Toggles" section has moved under it.
  • The Skinning Constants " ", " " and " " in DVD Mode will now display the DVD Title instead of the file name (which when playing DVDs always points to "VIDEO_TS.IFO". This is simply more informative.
  • Pressing Enter in the GoTo dialog without any fields filled will now seek to the current position (useful for Subbing).
  • The Information Dialog (Press "I") now shows an approximate bitrate as calculated using size of the file being played when DirectShow doesn't return a valid bitrate.
  • Playing external audio tracks should now maintain proper synchronization when seeking. Playing external tracks will also create improved graphs.
  • The Sort by Date feature now sorts new files first.
  • "Play List Editor display moves to follow currently playing track" setting now centers the currently playing track within the list (instead of having it appear at the top of the list).
  • The Smart Media Mode Source Filter selection now allows you to add DMO filters as post processors.
  • Improved shortcut support. When loading shortcuts, instead of loading the shortcut into the play list, the entry is replaced by the file the shortcut is pointing to.
    Furthermore, you can now use shortcut files in the file and media library navigators.
  • The Sub-Type list on the Audio/Video Smart Media Mode configuration dialog will now display the FourCC code for each Sub-Type.
  • The Blanking Navigator key has been changed from "K" to Shift+"K" in order to prevent accidental activation.
  • The File Navigator key has been changed from "E" to Shift"F" in order to prevent accidental activation.
  • The Scene-Cut and GoTo interfaces now require the use of Zoom Player Professional.
Fixes:
  • Audio Renderers containing "00" in their device name (such as the "SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio [A400]") could have disabled audio under some conditions.
  • Trying to run multiple instances all using the same TCP/IP port will no longer crash with a bind error.
  • Flash files should now play in the proper aspect ratio on display devices that do not use square pixels.
  • OSD Messages wider than the monitor will now be cut to fit the monitor.
  • Possible fix for VMR9 Renderless Exclusive fullscreen mode where icons may have flashed.
  • Zoom Player can now use/display BMP files created with Photoshop. (Recent versions of PhotoShop create improperly formatted BMP files).
  • Zoom Player user interface elements will now snap to the Visible Work Area (Task Bar rather than the Monitor border).
  • When Zoom Player was set to save its configuration file locally, or when using an alternative window name, Zoom Player would not load files from external programs if it was already open.
  • Auto-Disable DVD Subtitles and Preferred DVD Subtitles are now mutually exclusive (with warning message).
  • When Detached, The Control Bar can now be resized from the right as well as the left sides of the interface.
  • Better handling of filters that change the duration of the currently playing media in real-time (such as TSFileSource).
  • You should now be able to erase the currently playing file from within the Media Library Navigator.
  • Mid-Stream aspect ratio changes should now work better (was not working well when switching DVB TV-Channels).
  • Switching to Audio Mode from DVD Mode and then back to DVD Mode would load the Media Mode skin instead of the DVD Mode skin.
  • A few stability tweaks to the skin parsing engine (better handling of badly written skin-script).
  • The setting to prevent Zoom Player from using Smart Media Playback by the extension of the file being played was not working properly.
  • Fixed a possible stability issues with Smart Media Playback and problematic filters.
  • A System-Sound would play when trying to exit Zoom Player using the TCP Interface.
  • The Definition File "SetAudioSync" setting wasn't being applied when playing DVDs.
  • Using the "/F" or "/Z" parameters while Zoom Player is already fullscreen on a secondary monitor could cause the display to move to the primary monitor.
  • The Change Resolution on Fullscreen feature may not have properly covered the video area.
  • The Search area background color on the Play List Editor was not being set properly for the default skin.
  • When ejecting DVDs as they are playing, Zoom Player may have tried to automatically replay them causing a DVD Not Found error to pop.
  • The Navigator Background skin code definition would only accept the image if it existed in the root skin directory.
  • The Navigator Background skin code definition was ignored if no icon file was set.
  • Automatic Save/Restore of the last position for ".dvr-ms" and ".ts" files was not working correctly.
  • Scene-Cut would malfunction under certain conditions (especially when trying to use it in combination with ".dvr-ms" files).
  • The Play List Editor Window sizes would glitch if closing Zoom Player while the Play List Editor was maximized.
  • When Zoom Player was set to disable the Windows Screen Saver in fullscreen mode, it could under some conditions cause hardware powerdown not to activate after Zoom Player was closed.
  • When scrolling on the Play History or the Key Editor, the screen will now update while scrolling.
  • Audio files will now be listed in the Play History even if the setting not to remember the last position for audio files is enabled.
  • Removing the currently playing file from the play list would not clear the file name from the Task Bar or Tray Icon.
  • The " " Skin Script value wasn't being cleared when a file was closed.
  • Sorting the play list could lead to the currently playing item highlight on the play list editor to show the wrong file.
  • Moving items in the Play List up/down could fail on unicode files.
  • The Gradient skin commands were not being effected by the skin tint.
  • Several Option dialog tabs may have not translated properly when a unicode translation was used.
  • Using a forced duration value in a Zoom Player Play List file would carry over the duration to the next file in the play list if it did not have a forced duration.
  • The Pop-Up OSD Action message would not show Unicode characters properly under some conditions.
  • Pressing Enter in the Station Navigator when the navigator contained no entires would have caused a crash.
  • Switching from DVD Mode to Audio Mode and trying to select a different skin, would set the skin to the DVD Mode and not the Audio Mode.
  • Closing the Player when the screen saver is active on a secondary monitor caused Zoom Player to crash and not close properly.
  • Opening a URL from the command line would have caused it to open using uppercase, which some servers would not accept as a correct location for the item.
  • Communication API Message 2500 would only transmit if a specific play on insert setting was enabled. It will now always transmit if a new disc/drive was inserted.
  • Enabling the TCP/IP interface using an Extended Function did not properly enable the interface.
  • Some cosmetic glitches when using XP Themes.
  • Grid Interfaces (Play History, Key Editor etc...) now respect the windows color scheme.

Program Information
Category:
Multimedia
Type:
Shareware

Version:
5.00 Technology Preview 7
Size:
1MB
Works on:
Windows


Product page: here

Download: Zoom Player 5.00 Technology Preview 7


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