-- Please Read: * Please go to: http://order.kagi.com/?47D Even if you don't want to donate, I want you to read the current situation the Inmatrix site and this program is currently in. --- What's new in v3.00: Legend : "*" = New "+" = Change "-" = Fix New : * New default skin. The old "Brushed Silver" default skin has been replaced with a new Silver Chrome default skin. This skin took about 50 hours to draw and looks very well when tinted. * 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 DVD Playback system. Instead of using a specific graph file or gambling that windows can build it's own DVD Graph, you can now specify which Audio/Video Decoder/Renderer to use in any combination you want with an easy to use interface. Maximum flexibility, minimum effort. In addition to this interface, there's a new verification tool that checks if the selected filters are properly registered on your computer. * 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. * The association dialog now allows you to manually select the icons of associated file extensions. * Support for DVD Parental Control Levels (Options / DVD). * Extensive code rewrite to support a unicode based file system (Win2K/XP) with localized file names. * Zoom Player now utilizes it's own Play List Format (yes, another one). It's a very simple Unicode format which was designed for loading speed and extendibility. The new format uses the ".ZPL" extension, which can be associated using the File Association Options Dialog. Large Play Lists should now load a bit faster. * New recursive Play List opening code. When you now open a play list file (any supported format), it will be automatically expanded. This allows for recursive play lists. The only caveat is ... don't create a loop (two lists referencing each other) or basically you'll end up in a situation where the playlists load each other ad infinitum. * The Zoom Player registry location can now be altered by creating a file called "zplayer.regpath" within the Zoom Player directory and entering one line of text containing the new position. For example: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VirtuaMedia\ZoomPlayerDeus By creating this file, you can have multiple versions of the player running at once with different settings assigned to each. (as long as each copy is being run from a different directory) * You can now use a MediaGraph file instructing Zoom Player how to play a specific media file even when using a MediaGraph is disabled in the options dialog. This is useful for specific files that require special filters to play while not altering your default playback method. To use this, simply create a MediaGraph file with the same base name as the media file you are trying to play and using the MediaGraph extension. For Example: "My Video.avi" "My Video.MediaGraph" For more information on building MediaGraph files, open "example_avi.mediagraph" within the MediaGraph directory in any text editor. * New example MediaGraph file for use with the Elecard MPEG2 decoders. I use it with the feature above for really corrupted MPEG2 files which only the Elecard decoders seem capable of playing. * New Function "fnBringToFront" allowing you to force the Player window to the front. The assign keyboard macro is Alt+"0", but really, it can't be used (since the window doesn't have focus), but it can be assigned to remote devices such as Girder, which is the whole point. * New Functions "fnZoom50", "fnZoom400" and "fnZoom800". These functions are mapped to the Alt+"1", Alt+"4" and Alt+"5" keys and allow you to set the Zoom Player window to 50%, 400% and 800% of the source video size (100% and 200% already existed in previous versions if you were wondering). * New Web URL Navigator. The Web URL Navigator allows you to assign a web address, Text or HTML file 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) You can also use the Dynamic "" tag like this: URL=http://www.scriptpage.com/process.php? Any spaces in the filename are automatically converted to the "_" underscore character as HTML urls do not allow for spaces. 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. Furthermore, instead of creating a URL file, you can create an HTML or Text file. The following extensions are valid: ".HTML" + ".HTM" + ".TXT" + ".NFO". * You can now use Higher Fast Forward values in Media Mode if you have the ReClock filter installed. You get get the ReClock filter at : http://ogo.nerim.net/reclockfilter/ or at : http://www.doom9.org * 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. * You can now save general-purpose Skin Tinting Profiles. These are accessible through the Skin Selection dialog. I've even made a few default profiles. * New Animate Buttons setting (Skin Selector Dialog). When enabled, button states are transitioned transparently. * New "TintSource" skinning function. This function allows you to RGB tint the source image as the skin loads so that you can modify parts of the image to create diverse color schemes for your skin without actually modifying the source image yourself for each skin. * New "cTransColor" skinning variable allowing you to create color-keyed transparent Control Bars. * New "cBarRightMargin" skinning variable allowing you to set the right margin of the control bar so that you can better draw it to interconnect with button graphics. * New "AniSpeed" parameter for creating buttons. This parameter allows you to specify the animation speed of buttons when the "Animate Buttons" setting is enabled on the Skin Selector. * New "" skinning constant allowing you to get the full width of the Control Bar, including the area used for the Buttons and Right Margin. * New "" Skinning Constant for displaying the Current Time. * New "" Skinning Constant for displaying the Current Date. * New "" skinning constant allowing you to display the number of items currently loaded within the Play List. * New "" skinning constant allowing you to display the total duration of the items currently loaded within the Play List. * Now "", "", "" and "" skinning constant allowing you to position items within the Play List window. * New Setting (Options -> OSD -> Navigators) allowing you to have Zoom Player check each media file if it has an accompanying subtitle file and highlight it accordingly. This applies to the Media Library, File and Play List Navigator interfaces. * New Setting (Options -> OSD -> Navigators) allowing you to reposition the navigators. * 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 -> Settings -> Playback) allowing you to have Zoom Player pre-buffer the next video file 10 seconds before it starts playing. This Seamless Playback setting can cut the time it takes Zoom Player to switch between media tracks. There are a few limitations: 1. Doesn't work for Random Play at the moment. 2. For it to work with MPEG2 files (VOB/SVCD) you must use the VMR9 renderer (this is a limitation of the MPEG2 decoders that won't work if there is a running overlay surface already, since the VMR9 doesn't use an overlay surface, it doesn't suffer from this). You can enable the VMR9 renderer at Options->Manual Filter. Note: DirectX-9 is required for the VMR9 to work. 3. It may not work well with custom media graphs. 4. The code is experimental, some display card drivers or other system components may not like it. * 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 -> DVD -> Values) allowing you to maintain audio while in fast forward or rewind. Frankly, I've tried it with both the PowerDVD and WinDVD filters and neither is capable of this feature. Hopefully in the future they will be. * 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 -> Values -> 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 -> 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. * You can now set Zoom Player to close the open Media file when playback ends. * You can now set Double Click to Play / Pause. This can be useful when using minimalistic skins with no buttons and the single click is assigned to dragging the window. * 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. * The Cycle Audio Track function (Ctrl+"A") will now cycle through MPEG2/VOB Audio tracks (as long as the MPEG2 Splitter filter is in use). * 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. * You can now have ".df" Definition Files automatically add additional media file segments to a multi-segment media file. Zoom Player will scan the current directory and the root directory on every drive for the additional segments. * You can now have ".df" Definition Files apply Audio Volume when opening media/dvd files. * The zplayer.zdf file now instructs Zoom Player to save audio volume within definition files. * 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. * You can now associate the ".AVS" (AVISynth Script Format) extension. * You can now have the current time show up within the Timeline. Middle click the to enable this feature. * You can now have the remaining time show up within the Timeline. Middle click the timeline to enable this feature. * You can now have the source resolution show up within the Timeline. Middle click the timeline to enable this feature. * Pressing Ctrl+"C" on the Information Panel moves the currently playing file name into the Clipboard. * The Playing and Path fields on the Information Panel are now selectable. * New Reset button on the ID3Script section in case it somehow got messed up and you want the original back. * Holding Ctrl or Alt with their respective settings to drag the window/video will change the mouse cursor to indicate this. * The beta version is now listed in the About box. 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 Play List Editor is now fully skinnable. Backward support for older skin that didn't include code for the Play List, a simplistic yet functional play list is made available. + The OSD Action Pop-Up window is now fully skinnable. + The Play Kist editor will now display the duration for some file formats and you can sort the list by it as well. + 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. + The "CreateExButton" skinning function has been expanded with a few more parameters, and can now be used to add buttons to the Play List Editor. + 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. + Made some adjustment to DVD Seeking, it may be a bit faster now. + Play Next/Previous File in Directory is now loopable (after playing the last file in the directory, the first file is then played again). + The Custom Audio Device setting no longer applies to DVD Mode. Using the Customized DVD Mode you can choose which Audio Renderer is used. With standard graphs, the Audio Renderer defined in the graph is preserved. + 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. + Using the File Navigator, pressing Enter on a Drive listed on the right-side panel will now open the entire drive while respecting VCD/SVCD/DVD disc structure. + 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: , , and . + Cycling through subtitles (Ctrl+"B") using the DirectVobSub filter will now cycle through the "Hide Subtitles" entry. + Play List Editor entries are now numbered. + 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. + From now on the Control Bar and Timeline Text are never outlined. The control over the outline color has been relegated to the skinner and can be set using the "TimeLineFontShade" and "TimeLineCBarFontShader" values. + Switching audio tracks will now always show an OSD Message, even if there is only one audio track (will show the current audio track). + Switching DVD Angles or OGM Video Tracks will now always show an OSD Message. + Switching Subtitle tracks will now always show an OSD Message. If none is available, this will be indicated. + 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. + 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. + Using the "/F" or "/Z" parameter now goes to fullscreen before loading any files (so you don't see the user interface). Also applies to "/M" and Minimize. + 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=-85,Height=15, Align=Center,FontName=Tahoma,FontSize=12, FontColor=E4E4E4,FontStyle=Bold, "Text=,