Blight
9th January 2003, 17:59
Change list length is limits me from a proper introduction, so here is the complete change list since v2.90 :
New :
* Zoom Player should now work with VMR9 under DirectX-9 in
both DVD (as long as the decoder also supports it) and Media
modes. On a personal point, I feel DirectX-9 was rushed as
there are still a few issues with it... In any case, backward
support is still working, so you don't have to use VMR9 if you
don't want to.
* New Media Library Category System (Optional).
By enabling (Enabled by Default) the system on the
"Options -> OSD -> Navigators" interface, the Media Library
navigator will now be divided into categories, which can be
set on the Media Library Editor (Shift+"M").
Each Directory can be assigned one of two states, either
assigned to ALL categories or assigned to a Specific category.
You can create as many categories as you desire.
When enabled, the Left/Right navigational controls will now
be used to switch between categories.
* New Video Orbiting System (Options -> Values -> Playback).
Video Orbiting allows you to specify a video position movement
range in order to prevent screen burns on movies that don't
cover the entire screen area.
* New Shell Integration feature (Options -> Association) allowing
you to right click directories and associated files and select
to either Play or Enqueue them. When playing/queuing Directories,
they are checked for DVD Structure and would be queued/played as
a DVD if such a structure exists.
* New Web URL Navigator. The Web URL Navigator allows you to
assign a web address to a specific DVD or Media file.
Media Files:
Create a URL file with the same base name as your media file,
but with the ".URL" extension.
DVD Discs:
Create a URL file by the name of "disc.url" in the local
DVD-Bookmarks directory (within the Zoom Player directory)
each previously loaded disc should have a directory if the
last position or disc definition data were saved.
The URL files are standard windows URL files, structure is
very simple. Create a text file that contains the following
information:
URL=http://www.tomysite.com/mypage.html
or, for local HTML files:
URL=file:///c:/my local info/mydata.html
(Yes, the slashes are correct in both numbers and direction,
this is how windows stores paths in URL files)
If you open web pages that contain pop-ups, there's not much
I can do, you may be able to install pop-up prevention software
to combat those. Or simply don't assign cheesy sites.
When the Web URL Navigator is open, you can use the arrow
keys to scroll the pages and press Enter to close it.
* You can now load ".GRF" GraphEdit files as standard media files.
* You can now use ".GRF" GraphEdit files as DVD Graph files by
putting them in the DVDGraph directory. However, using GraphEdit
Graph files, you can't register the used filters using the
register button, nor will you get a detailed error listing if one
of the filters refused to connect properly. Using this method,
you would not be able to use Extended VMR9 capabilities.
* New Default Definition File Value (Options -> Values -> Other),
allowing you to specify a definition file that is to be loaded
if the DVD/Media being loaded doesn't have a definition file
of it's own.
* The List Based Navigators are now more easy to navigate using the
mouse. Not too intuative as they were designed for TV-Display and
not the Monitor.
* New Scene Cut feature allowing you to "End" Playback (and proceed
to the next file on the Play List). This works for both Media and
DVD. With DVD this allows you to play multiple DVDs in sequence.
For safety reasons (to prevent infinite loops), the last Stop
Position on a DVD isn't saved if the playback was stopped by an
End Playback Scene Cut event.
* The Arrow keys Toggle has been split into Left/Right and Up/Down
toggles, each can be assigned a different set of functions and more
functions can now be assigned to the arrow keys.
* New Function ("H" on keyboard) to Enable/Disable Source Relative
Stretch. This is useful if you're switching a lot between a monitor
and a non 4:3 display device such as a Projector or a TV.
* New Animate Buttons setting (Skin Selector Dialog). When enabled,
button states are transitioned transparently.
* New Setting (Options -> OSD -> Navigators) allowing you to disable
file extensions from showing up on the File, Media Library and
Play List Navigators.
* New Setting on the Play List Editor allowing you to set playback
to loop on the currently playing item.
* New Setting (Options -> Values -> Playback) allowing you to
modulate the speed the Skip/Jump/Seek functions work when used
repeatedly. If used quickly (within 1.5 seconds), each use makes
the distance moved x1/x2/x3 ... faster than the specified value.
* New Setting (Options -> Settings -> Playback) allowing you to
have the currently playing Media File closed when the stop command
is issued. Useful for people who'd like to have the Media Image
pop back up.
* New Setting (Options -> Settings -> Playback) allowing you to have
the Media Definition file saved in the Zoom Player Media-Data
directory (Within the install dir) rather than the location of the
open media file.
* New Setting (Options -> Settings -> Interface) allowing you to
fix the user interface aspect ratio to the video's aspect ratio.
* New Setting (Options -> Values -> Resolution) allowing you to
set the screen resolution when going into Zoom/Fullscreen modes.
You can specify Width/Height/Bits/Refresh Rate/Interlaced.
Your display driver must support the specified values.
* New Extended Function (exOpenDrive) allowing you to open the entire
content of a drive using a keyboard/button/remote device.
* New "Query Overlay" button on the Overlay Color Dialog allowing you
to check the Overlay Color capabilities and to grab the default
values of the Overlay Color (if the interface was disabled when
a video was loaded) for your specific Display Card. Useful for
setting a default value.
* Pressing "E" will now open the File Navigator, regardless of the
navigator the Enter key is set to.
* New "Search" entry on the Keyboard list so you can quickly find
a specific keyboard function.
* New "/MOUSEOFF" command line that sends the mouse cursor off-screen.
* New "/OPENDRIVE" Command Line Parameter that allows you to open
an entire drive while respecting VCD/SVCD/DVD structures.
Usage Example:
"x:\my\path\to\zoomplayer\zplayer.exe" "/opendrive:z"
* New "/QUEUE" Command Line Parameter that works when Zoom Player is
already running. When used, any specified directories will be
enqueued at the end of the Play List. When used when Zoom Player
isn't running, it works the same as the "/ADD" Command Line.
Usage Example:
"x:\my\path\to\zoomplayer\zplayer.exe" "/queue:z:\music videos\"
* The Cycle Audio Track function (Ctrl+"A") will now cycle through
MPEG1 Audio Tracks (Left/Right/Merged). Useful for multi-language
MPEG1 Audio discs. Code written due to incessant nagging and
research on the part of civic5zigen.
* New "UseSystemClock" function for Graph Building scripts. This
function tells Zoom Player to create a System Clock and use it
to keep Sync. It may help with microstutter issues but may also
cause Audio Desync.
* The Information Panel ("I") now shows these additional details:
1. Video Aspect Ratio.
2. Derived Aspect Ratio.
3. Source Aspect Ratio.
* Improved the function description within the "Brownish.skn" file,
hopefully each and every Zoom Player function should now be well
understood.
* You can now associate the ".TS" and ".AC3" extensions.
Changes :
* Completely rewrote the code behind the Association system.
While the interface looks the same, I dumped the previous DDE
system which was in all honesty faster. However, it was somewhat
limiting and had some compatibility issues with certain systems.
Due to this change, you must re-associate all used extensions
with Zoom Player otherwise you may get certain pop-up errors
from the OS. Do this even if you had previously installed a
v3.00 beta!
Also, when you DeAssociation, ZP cleans better after itself.
* The Play List Editor has been modified, you can now drag around
files using the mouse and further customize the color scheme.
* The text drawn on the Navigators and Play List Editor is now
reformatted to better fit the interface. Long names will have
their vowels removed first and if room is still an issue, you
see the standard cropping.
* After installing Windows Media Player 9, opening and seeking
in Windows Media Video files (".WMV" and ".ASF") within
Zoom Player is significantly faster, as the Microsoft installer
also adds a new Reader filter which FINALLY! doesn't think that
you are always trying to open a file from the internet and
doesn't try to buffer 5 seconds ahead.
* Opening a Directory through the Navigators is now "DVD Aware".
If the directory contains a VIDEO_TS.IFO file, the directory
would be opened as a DVD.
* Zoom Player now properly supports ID3v2.4 and OGGVorbis tags.
If no tags exist, the file name will be used as a Title Tag.
The script has changed somewhat so if you modified it, you'll
have to re-enter your modifications.
There are also several new tags:
<language>, <encoder>, <urllink> and <copyright>.
* Cycling through subtitles (Ctrl+"B") using the DirectVobSub
filter will now cycle through the "Hide Subtitles" entry.
* When the MPEG2 Splitter filter is used for MPEG2 playback and
Zoom Player encounters more than one audio stream, by default
the first audio track will now played (before the MPEG2 Splitter
filter chose a stream according to an unknown criteria).
* You can now set the OSD to be Screen Centered.
* The "/ADD" Command Line Parameter can now accept files and not
only directories.
* You can now use the Delete key with the following navigators:
1. Media Library Navigator
2. File Navigator
3. Play List Navigator
When pressed you will be prompted if you want to send the file
(or directory) to the recycle bin.
* On Play Complete toggle can now Eject the CD.
* Changing the Skin-Tint is now done without having to reload the skin.
* Switching between DVD and Media mode now tries to match the Video
area of both skins so it remains unchanged.
* The ResizeBox skin function can now be used multiple times to define
more than one resize area point.
* The default skin has been modified to improve usability.
4 new Control Bar buttons are now accessible.
* Slight modification to the default DVD Context Menu.
* Unused context menu entries are now disabled.
* When playing a DVD with no DVD-Path specified, Zoom Player will
first scan the specified DVD-Drive for a disc and only them scan
the rest of the drives.
* The Zoom to 100% and Zoom to 200% functions are no longer hard
coded and can be assigned through a function.
* Enhanced method of preventing Power Saving modes (monitor/system)
when the setting is enabled (Options -> Settings -> Other).
* To prevent some user-support headaches. A clean installation
will now have the following settings enabled:
1. Force Overlay Mixer.
2. Prevent Screen Saver/PowerDowns.
* Right clicking the navigator interfaces now closes them.
* Skin Script commands can now accept the , character as long as
the entire script is encompassed within "" and doesn't have
superfluous spacing. For Example, this would now work:
DrawExText(DestX=12,DestY=6,Width=<WinWidth>-85,Height=15,
Align=Center,FontName=Tahoma,FontSize=12,
FontColor=E4E4E4,FontStyle=Bold,
"Text=<FileBase>, <Time>")
The lines are split only to fit the margins of this document,
in the actual script, this should be one line...
* The Information dialog now shows proper playback information
even when the Overlay Mixer or VMR9 renderers are used.
* Girder Exports are now a bit more descriptive.
Fixes :
* Multi Monitor Fixes:
1. Fit to Source with centering now centers on the active monitor.
2. Exiting Zoom with centering now centers on the active monitor.
3. Maximizing wouldn't maximize properly on secondary monitors.
4. Prevent OSD from moving off-screen no longer pops the OSD to
a different screen.
5. Prevent Control Bar from moving off-screen no longer pops the
Control Bar to a different screen.
* When Extended VMR mode was enabled, opening a second video file
would pop an error message (and playback would continue normally
once closed).
* The Internal Zoom Player screen saver could crash after a while.
* Few fixes for Large Fonts.
* Ejecting a CD should not stop playback unless you're playing
something off the ejected CD.
* When closing a video in Extended VMR mode, the video area is now
cleared properly.
* List out of bounds error when pressing right on the Media Library
Navigator when no items are listed.
* A clean installation would not apply Video Position preset #5
correctly.
* Applying Blanking values through the Blanking preset dialog would
not apply the displayed numbers correctly.
* Some Media Files (MPEG2 files mostly), and possibly some DVDs would
not have the Overlay Colors set properly.
* Fixed a crash with Media Library when pressing INSERT on a dir-up.
* Fixed a crash when trying to load a new video with the GoTo
Navigator visible.
* Fixed Scene Cut/Jump issues with MPEG2 media files and the
WinDVD/CineMaster decoders. The fix however created an inaccuracy
of about 1 second in the cut area.
* DirectVobSub v2.23 changed something that made it's Property
dialog unopenable. Changed the method used to open the property
dialogs and now it works fine again.
* Maximized state wasn't being saved properly when going in and out
of fullscreen.
* Pattern Display wasn't showing up properly in Window mode.
* Few other small tweaks and fixes not really worth a mention.
Download the latest Beta (http://www.inmatrix.com/files/zoomplayer_beta.shtml)
New :
* Zoom Player should now work with VMR9 under DirectX-9 in
both DVD (as long as the decoder also supports it) and Media
modes. On a personal point, I feel DirectX-9 was rushed as
there are still a few issues with it... In any case, backward
support is still working, so you don't have to use VMR9 if you
don't want to.
* New Media Library Category System (Optional).
By enabling (Enabled by Default) the system on the
"Options -> OSD -> Navigators" interface, the Media Library
navigator will now be divided into categories, which can be
set on the Media Library Editor (Shift+"M").
Each Directory can be assigned one of two states, either
assigned to ALL categories or assigned to a Specific category.
You can create as many categories as you desire.
When enabled, the Left/Right navigational controls will now
be used to switch between categories.
* New Video Orbiting System (Options -> Values -> Playback).
Video Orbiting allows you to specify a video position movement
range in order to prevent screen burns on movies that don't
cover the entire screen area.
* New Shell Integration feature (Options -> Association) allowing
you to right click directories and associated files and select
to either Play or Enqueue them. When playing/queuing Directories,
they are checked for DVD Structure and would be queued/played as
a DVD if such a structure exists.
* New Web URL Navigator. The Web URL Navigator allows you to
assign a web address to a specific DVD or Media file.
Media Files:
Create a URL file with the same base name as your media file,
but with the ".URL" extension.
DVD Discs:
Create a URL file by the name of "disc.url" in the local
DVD-Bookmarks directory (within the Zoom Player directory)
each previously loaded disc should have a directory if the
last position or disc definition data were saved.
The URL files are standard windows URL files, structure is
very simple. Create a text file that contains the following
information:
URL=http://www.tomysite.com/mypage.html
or, for local HTML files:
URL=file:///c:/my local info/mydata.html
(Yes, the slashes are correct in both numbers and direction,
this is how windows stores paths in URL files)
If you open web pages that contain pop-ups, there's not much
I can do, you may be able to install pop-up prevention software
to combat those. Or simply don't assign cheesy sites.
When the Web URL Navigator is open, you can use the arrow
keys to scroll the pages and press Enter to close it.
* You can now load ".GRF" GraphEdit files as standard media files.
* You can now use ".GRF" GraphEdit files as DVD Graph files by
putting them in the DVDGraph directory. However, using GraphEdit
Graph files, you can't register the used filters using the
register button, nor will you get a detailed error listing if one
of the filters refused to connect properly. Using this method,
you would not be able to use Extended VMR9 capabilities.
* New Default Definition File Value (Options -> Values -> Other),
allowing you to specify a definition file that is to be loaded
if the DVD/Media being loaded doesn't have a definition file
of it's own.
* The List Based Navigators are now more easy to navigate using the
mouse. Not too intuative as they were designed for TV-Display and
not the Monitor.
* New Scene Cut feature allowing you to "End" Playback (and proceed
to the next file on the Play List). This works for both Media and
DVD. With DVD this allows you to play multiple DVDs in sequence.
For safety reasons (to prevent infinite loops), the last Stop
Position on a DVD isn't saved if the playback was stopped by an
End Playback Scene Cut event.
* The Arrow keys Toggle has been split into Left/Right and Up/Down
toggles, each can be assigned a different set of functions and more
functions can now be assigned to the arrow keys.
* New Function ("H" on keyboard) to Enable/Disable Source Relative
Stretch. This is useful if you're switching a lot between a monitor
and a non 4:3 display device such as a Projector or a TV.
* New Animate Buttons setting (Skin Selector Dialog). When enabled,
button states are transitioned transparently.
* New Setting (Options -> OSD -> Navigators) allowing you to disable
file extensions from showing up on the File, Media Library and
Play List Navigators.
* New Setting on the Play List Editor allowing you to set playback
to loop on the currently playing item.
* New Setting (Options -> Values -> Playback) allowing you to
modulate the speed the Skip/Jump/Seek functions work when used
repeatedly. If used quickly (within 1.5 seconds), each use makes
the distance moved x1/x2/x3 ... faster than the specified value.
* New Setting (Options -> Settings -> Playback) allowing you to
have the currently playing Media File closed when the stop command
is issued. Useful for people who'd like to have the Media Image
pop back up.
* New Setting (Options -> Settings -> Playback) allowing you to have
the Media Definition file saved in the Zoom Player Media-Data
directory (Within the install dir) rather than the location of the
open media file.
* New Setting (Options -> Settings -> Interface) allowing you to
fix the user interface aspect ratio to the video's aspect ratio.
* New Setting (Options -> Values -> Resolution) allowing you to
set the screen resolution when going into Zoom/Fullscreen modes.
You can specify Width/Height/Bits/Refresh Rate/Interlaced.
Your display driver must support the specified values.
* New Extended Function (exOpenDrive) allowing you to open the entire
content of a drive using a keyboard/button/remote device.
* New "Query Overlay" button on the Overlay Color Dialog allowing you
to check the Overlay Color capabilities and to grab the default
values of the Overlay Color (if the interface was disabled when
a video was loaded) for your specific Display Card. Useful for
setting a default value.
* Pressing "E" will now open the File Navigator, regardless of the
navigator the Enter key is set to.
* New "Search" entry on the Keyboard list so you can quickly find
a specific keyboard function.
* New "/MOUSEOFF" command line that sends the mouse cursor off-screen.
* New "/OPENDRIVE" Command Line Parameter that allows you to open
an entire drive while respecting VCD/SVCD/DVD structures.
Usage Example:
"x:\my\path\to\zoomplayer\zplayer.exe" "/opendrive:z"
* New "/QUEUE" Command Line Parameter that works when Zoom Player is
already running. When used, any specified directories will be
enqueued at the end of the Play List. When used when Zoom Player
isn't running, it works the same as the "/ADD" Command Line.
Usage Example:
"x:\my\path\to\zoomplayer\zplayer.exe" "/queue:z:\music videos\"
* The Cycle Audio Track function (Ctrl+"A") will now cycle through
MPEG1 Audio Tracks (Left/Right/Merged). Useful for multi-language
MPEG1 Audio discs. Code written due to incessant nagging and
research on the part of civic5zigen.
* New "UseSystemClock" function for Graph Building scripts. This
function tells Zoom Player to create a System Clock and use it
to keep Sync. It may help with microstutter issues but may also
cause Audio Desync.
* The Information Panel ("I") now shows these additional details:
1. Video Aspect Ratio.
2. Derived Aspect Ratio.
3. Source Aspect Ratio.
* Improved the function description within the "Brownish.skn" file,
hopefully each and every Zoom Player function should now be well
understood.
* You can now associate the ".TS" and ".AC3" extensions.
Changes :
* Completely rewrote the code behind the Association system.
While the interface looks the same, I dumped the previous DDE
system which was in all honesty faster. However, it was somewhat
limiting and had some compatibility issues with certain systems.
Due to this change, you must re-associate all used extensions
with Zoom Player otherwise you may get certain pop-up errors
from the OS. Do this even if you had previously installed a
v3.00 beta!
Also, when you DeAssociation, ZP cleans better after itself.
* The Play List Editor has been modified, you can now drag around
files using the mouse and further customize the color scheme.
* The text drawn on the Navigators and Play List Editor is now
reformatted to better fit the interface. Long names will have
their vowels removed first and if room is still an issue, you
see the standard cropping.
* After installing Windows Media Player 9, opening and seeking
in Windows Media Video files (".WMV" and ".ASF") within
Zoom Player is significantly faster, as the Microsoft installer
also adds a new Reader filter which FINALLY! doesn't think that
you are always trying to open a file from the internet and
doesn't try to buffer 5 seconds ahead.
* Opening a Directory through the Navigators is now "DVD Aware".
If the directory contains a VIDEO_TS.IFO file, the directory
would be opened as a DVD.
* Zoom Player now properly supports ID3v2.4 and OGGVorbis tags.
If no tags exist, the file name will be used as a Title Tag.
The script has changed somewhat so if you modified it, you'll
have to re-enter your modifications.
There are also several new tags:
<language>, <encoder>, <urllink> and <copyright>.
* Cycling through subtitles (Ctrl+"B") using the DirectVobSub
filter will now cycle through the "Hide Subtitles" entry.
* When the MPEG2 Splitter filter is used for MPEG2 playback and
Zoom Player encounters more than one audio stream, by default
the first audio track will now played (before the MPEG2 Splitter
filter chose a stream according to an unknown criteria).
* You can now set the OSD to be Screen Centered.
* The "/ADD" Command Line Parameter can now accept files and not
only directories.
* You can now use the Delete key with the following navigators:
1. Media Library Navigator
2. File Navigator
3. Play List Navigator
When pressed you will be prompted if you want to send the file
(or directory) to the recycle bin.
* On Play Complete toggle can now Eject the CD.
* Changing the Skin-Tint is now done without having to reload the skin.
* Switching between DVD and Media mode now tries to match the Video
area of both skins so it remains unchanged.
* The ResizeBox skin function can now be used multiple times to define
more than one resize area point.
* The default skin has been modified to improve usability.
4 new Control Bar buttons are now accessible.
* Slight modification to the default DVD Context Menu.
* Unused context menu entries are now disabled.
* When playing a DVD with no DVD-Path specified, Zoom Player will
first scan the specified DVD-Drive for a disc and only them scan
the rest of the drives.
* The Zoom to 100% and Zoom to 200% functions are no longer hard
coded and can be assigned through a function.
* Enhanced method of preventing Power Saving modes (monitor/system)
when the setting is enabled (Options -> Settings -> Other).
* To prevent some user-support headaches. A clean installation
will now have the following settings enabled:
1. Force Overlay Mixer.
2. Prevent Screen Saver/PowerDowns.
* Right clicking the navigator interfaces now closes them.
* Skin Script commands can now accept the , character as long as
the entire script is encompassed within "" and doesn't have
superfluous spacing. For Example, this would now work:
DrawExText(DestX=12,DestY=6,Width=<WinWidth>-85,Height=15,
Align=Center,FontName=Tahoma,FontSize=12,
FontColor=E4E4E4,FontStyle=Bold,
"Text=<FileBase>, <Time>")
The lines are split only to fit the margins of this document,
in the actual script, this should be one line...
* The Information dialog now shows proper playback information
even when the Overlay Mixer or VMR9 renderers are used.
* Girder Exports are now a bit more descriptive.
Fixes :
* Multi Monitor Fixes:
1. Fit to Source with centering now centers on the active monitor.
2. Exiting Zoom with centering now centers on the active monitor.
3. Maximizing wouldn't maximize properly on secondary monitors.
4. Prevent OSD from moving off-screen no longer pops the OSD to
a different screen.
5. Prevent Control Bar from moving off-screen no longer pops the
Control Bar to a different screen.
* When Extended VMR mode was enabled, opening a second video file
would pop an error message (and playback would continue normally
once closed).
* The Internal Zoom Player screen saver could crash after a while.
* Few fixes for Large Fonts.
* Ejecting a CD should not stop playback unless you're playing
something off the ejected CD.
* When closing a video in Extended VMR mode, the video area is now
cleared properly.
* List out of bounds error when pressing right on the Media Library
Navigator when no items are listed.
* A clean installation would not apply Video Position preset #5
correctly.
* Applying Blanking values through the Blanking preset dialog would
not apply the displayed numbers correctly.
* Some Media Files (MPEG2 files mostly), and possibly some DVDs would
not have the Overlay Colors set properly.
* Fixed a crash with Media Library when pressing INSERT on a dir-up.
* Fixed a crash when trying to load a new video with the GoTo
Navigator visible.
* Fixed Scene Cut/Jump issues with MPEG2 media files and the
WinDVD/CineMaster decoders. The fix however created an inaccuracy
of about 1 second in the cut area.
* DirectVobSub v2.23 changed something that made it's Property
dialog unopenable. Changed the method used to open the property
dialogs and now it works fine again.
* Maximized state wasn't being saved properly when going in and out
of fullscreen.
* Pattern Display wasn't showing up properly in Window mode.
* Few other small tweaks and fixes not really worth a mention.
Download the latest Beta (http://www.inmatrix.com/files/zoomplayer_beta.shtml)