Windows7 Media Player

**doodab** · 27 August 2010, 22:04

Originally posted by d000hg View Post

I'm quite a Fan of Media Player from XP, I think the last version I had was 11. I'm now running W7 and have started putting some music on. I've got The Ultimate version and my first confusion was the difference between Media Center and Media Player - seems the former simply launches the latter to play music on my PC?

Secondly, with W7 I was expecting a bunch of bells and whistles from Media Player... but I can't find any. For instance on XP I could set it to put a mini control on my task-bar when minimized, but I can't see the equivalent now. And, I was expecting there'd be a fancy desktop widget... but all I see is the main window.

Minor niggles, maybe I've not got the hang of W7 fully and that's the issue. Any suggestions, other than unhelpful "use something else" ones (unless justified coherently)?

If you hold your mouse over the taskbar button there are some controls in the mini window. I expect they decided it wasn't as important as everyone has media keys on their keyboard these days.

Media Center is a HTPC interface designed to work well on a TV with a remote control and handle all the TV recording and EPG and so on. You sort of need to build a PC for the purpose to really get the best out of it.

**NickFitz** · 28 August 2010, 04:28

Originally posted by d000hg View Post

Any suggestions, other than unhelpful "use something else" ones (unless justified coherently)?

Use something else. Justification: it doesn't seem to be working for you, so something that does work would undoubtedly be better.

Originally posted by doodab View Post

You sort of need to build a PC for the purpose to really get the best out of it.

That too

**doodab** · 28 August 2010, 08:08

It's best to have a dedicated box for media center because then it can sit under the TV in the lounge, and be set to boot straight into the "10 foot interface". Think of it as a DVR with benefits rather than a computer and you'll be on the right track.

I managed to put together my HTPC with dual DVB-S2 tuners & a bluray drive for quite a bit less than the price of the comparable panasonic dedicated box. Freeview / DVB-T would have been cheaper, but I have no antenna and the box might be moving to Germany where I will be relying on freesat.

It's simple enough that my 3 year old can play DVDs and find his recorded numberjacks and chuggington, also serves as a VPN gateway and allows me to bring recordings to Germany on a HD and watch them.

**chef** · 28 August 2010, 08:26

@doodab: morning, ur up early for a saturday?

agreed, media center is best in its own box rather than be used on a laptop.

**doodab** · 28 August 2010, 08:35

Originally posted by chef View Post

@doodab: morning, ur up early for a saturday?

I only like to waste time lazing in bed on days when I have to go to work.

**d000hg** · 28 August 2010, 09:51

Originally posted by NickFitz View Post

Use something else. Justification: it doesn't seem to be working for you, so something that does work would undoubtedly be better.

That too

I should clarify, I really only want to play music on my PC, I am not setting it up as a media centre - although intriguingly my PC does show up as a media-centre device on my PS3.

Media Player is working, I just thought there would be more fancy things since MS seemed quite good at improving it during XP days. What are other applications that would actually take full advantage of W7/Aero - as a normal Windows app MediaPlayer seems fine.

**Not So Wise** · 31 August 2010, 13:02

From 11 to 12 the main enhancements are native support for various formats (mainly visual/movie playback).

**Spacecadet** · 1 September 2010, 11:49

There is a widget for media player but its made by a third party and IMO is crap

Not sure what you expect in terms of bells and whistles from a media player. I keep my music organised on the hard drive and just drag it over to the play list (or right click and add to WM play list) .
End result, I select the music I want it to play and it plays it.
If you have Aero enabled then as has been said you can use the mini controls on the task bar.

Only thing I don't use media player for is HD files. My laptop is a bit long in the tooth for some HD and WM seems to struggle to keep the video and sound synced. VLC player gets round this by dropping frames when necessary

**d000hg** · 1 September 2010, 13:41

The XP version had a task-bar control which let you control volume and so on as well as the basic Aero controls. Maybe I just wished the Aero control had more functionality - personally I really like all the cool Aero stuff like thumbnails, progress bars, etc.

Windows7 Media Player