Wmp10??

[Yo]

Any reason to install it?

I'm running Windows XP Pro SP1.

I have Windows Media Player 9 installed. However, I rarely use it, as I have Media Player Classic 6.4.8.2 (Gabest program) installed as my default media player, and I like it much better--much quicker, etc. (although there are still some bugs in it)

Now when I run Windows Update, I see that WMP10 is out in its final version. Is there any real difference between WMP9 and 10, other than cosmetics? Anything that 10 can do, that 9 cannot? Does 10 do anything better than 9 does? Is it just as slow and bloated as 9? Worse?

Does 10 install any new codecs? Is there a wmv10 and wma10, to replace the 9 versions of those codecs? Better compression? Is there a new and improved WME (Windows Media Encoder)?

Even if I am still going to use MPC most of the time for playing media, is it a good idea to have WMP10 on the system, rather than 9?

Any thoughts and experience-sharing on this topic would be welcome, whether an upgrade from WMP9 to WMP10 might be a good idea, even for someone who doesn't use WMP9 much.

Thank you for your input.

[minolta]

If you already use MPC, no need to install just yet. Looks like much the same program, just new graphics and layout.

It does not update WME with v10 codecs (WMV9-AP, but not the upcoming WMV10). You might hold off till then...

But, installing it probably won't cause major damage. Like all WMP, it attempts to kidnap your file associations, but just get them back with MPC via View->Options->Player->Formats->All.

[Vincent Vega]

i downgraded back to wmp9 after a week of using v10 -> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=82209

[Booji Boy]

I had two problems after installing WMP10:

1. Usually I use MPC to play videos with windows media codecs, but some websites with streaming wmv content still use the WMP plugin. But since the update to 10 the WMP doesn't playback any audio in videos anymore. I don't know why. MPC is fine (except for problem #2) but WMP (plugin and standalone) keeps silent.

2. Playing WMV with MPC results in massive Video/Audio syncing problems, so the video's speed varies all the time.

I will downgrade to WMP 9 too, but somehow I sense that it won't help.

Edit: I just did. Heh, and now I know why I upgraded to 10 in the first place: WMVs play twice as fast no matter if in MPC or WMP.