# Windows Media Player 12 Transcodes on the fly



## noursegod (Dec 19, 2006)

Article @ Ars Technica

It looks as though WMP12 will support automatic transcoding in addition to streaming to DLNA compliant devices (such as the HR2x). I have the pre-beta and will be testing this functionality as soon as I get back home. I'll be sure to report back about how well it works with my HR21s and R22.

EDIT: Windows Media Player 12 is the player that will come bundled with Windows 7


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Please make sure not to disclose anything that would get you in trouble with Microsoft.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

noursegod said:


> It looks as though WMP12 will support automatic transcoding in addition to streaming to DLNA compliant devices (such as the HR2x)...


Are we certain the HR2x family is DLNA compliant? We had a Wish List request to make that so, but I hadn't heard that it was completed.

Can anyone confirm? TIA. /steve


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

noursegod said:


> Article @ Ars Technica
> 
> It looks as though WMP12 will support automatic transcoding in addition to streaming to DLNA compliant devices (such as the HR2x). I have the pre-beta and will be testing this functionality as soon as I get back home. I'll be sure to report back about how well it works with my HR21s and R22.
> 
> EDIT: Windows Media Player 12 is the player that will come bundled with Windows 7


This is great news as is the following:

common annoyance with many media players, WMP included, is not having the right codec. WMP will try to detect which codecs are required and provide a location to download them, but this is hit-and-miss and less than convenient if all you want to do is play a video. In recognition of this, WMP12 includes support for H.264 video, AAC audio, and both Xvid and DivX video, in addition to all the formats supported by WMP11 in Vista (MPEG2, WMV, MP3, etc.). With these new codecs, WMP should support the majority of video found on the Internet out of the box.


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## noursegod (Dec 19, 2006)

LarryFlowers said:


> This is great news as is the following:
> 
> common annoyance with many media players, WMP included, is not having the right codec. WMP will try to detect which codecs are required and provide a location to download them, but this is hit-and-miss and less than convenient if all you want to do is play a video. In recognition of this, WMP12 includes support for H.264 video, AAC audio, and both Xvid and DivX video, in addition to all the formats supported by WMP11 in Vista (MPEG2, WMV, MP3, etc.). With these new codecs, WMP should support the majority of video found on the Internet out of the box.


Playing with it so far, the only media I have that it won't play is .mkv files. So much better than having to go out and get the codecs I need


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## Sackett (May 21, 2007)

Does trickplay work with WMP12?


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## noursegod (Dec 19, 2006)

Sackett said:


> Does trickplay work with WMP12?


I'm hoping it will since they are touting DLNA compliance for WMP12. That is one thing I will test as soon as I can. I am coming home early (leaving tonight) so I'll have some news by tomorrow.


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## Sackett (May 21, 2007)

noursegod said:


> I'm hoping it will since they are touting DLNA compliance for WMP12. That is one thing I will test as soon as I can. I am coming home early (leaving tonight) so I'll have some news by tomorrow.


Yes keep us posted.


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## phat78boy (Sep 12, 2007)

noursegod said:


> Playing with it so far, the only media I have that it won't play is .mkv files. So much better than having to go out and get the codecs I need


Thats probably because .mkv isn't used by any legal or pay source yet....that I know of anyway.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Steve said:


> Are we certain the HR2x family is DLNA compliant? We had a Wish List request to make that so, but I hadn't heard that it was completed./steve


In an attempt answer my own question, a check at the TVersity website shows that it is apparently both UPnP and DNLA compliant. Since we know the HR2x can't currently FF or RW files streaming from it, whether the issue is in TVersity's DNLA implementation, or a current lack of full DNLA support on the HR2x is unknown to me.

Perhaps others who may have already tested this more extensively can shed more light? Like others, I will be very interested in seeing *noursegod's* WMP12 test results. /steve


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## Maverickster (Sep 20, 2007)

I understand that WMP12 is going to be bundled with Windows 7, but anyone have any idea when it will be released (hopefully before the release of Windows 7) for those of us on Vista?

TIA

--Mav


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## RehabMan (Mar 11, 2007)

Maverickster said:


> I understand that WMP12 is going to be bundled with Windows 7, but anyone have any idea when it will be released (hopefully before the release of Windows 7) for those of us on Vista?
> 
> TIA
> 
> --Mav


Anything is "possible", but my "guess" is that you won't see it until Win7 just because getting it ready in time for Win7 will keep the folks at MS pretty busy.

And... I haven't heard anything about the plans for WMP12 on Vista or XP.

Be patient and good things will come...


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## noursegod (Dec 19, 2006)

Well I worked on it for a little while last night, but I couldn't get either HR21 or the R22 to see the shares. It might have something to do with me running Win7 from a virtual machine, but the VM can see the D* boxes just fine. I am going to fiddle with it some more this weekend and see if I can't get it working. If anybody has any suggestions for me to try, let me know. 

BTW, I have TVersity running just fine on the same network and all three of my boxes can play video from there just fine, so it shouldn't be a problem with my receivers.


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## noursegod (Dec 19, 2006)

Well after fiddling for awhile, I got my HR21's to see the WMP12 share, but it lists all xvid/divx video files with an 'x' to the left. No go on this version. Perhaps that will change before release, but I wouldn't count on it.


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## hoyty76 (Oct 17, 2007)

noursegod said:


> Perhaps that will change before release, but I wouldn't count on it.


At this point I would say there is still a good chance that Win7/WMP12 will change. The build floating about is far from feature complete, let alone bug free.


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