Windows media player *light*

[shorterxp]

Windows Media Player Done Right

Hi all, presented here is the worlds first truly modular slim / light editions of WMP v8 and v10 and accompanying direct show filters for them. Links below. When combined, players can playback all popular Audio and Video formats (as of 2019). All files are installed/uninstalled silent and cleanly (leaves no trace). This is the most light weight approach to multimedia on windows because its modular, system-wide and requires no extra bloated software/codec packs/installers+viruses (you know the ones).

Tested and proven to work on OS with no trace* of WMP previously installed (i.e. removed with nlite), even when windows the media player 6.4 and the 1.0MB compatibility file are non existant. Both of these can be removed with nlite.

Features:

• SRS bass/width enhancement included, expect to pay for this enhancement else where. (works on < 48k files only)
• Drag and drop DOES work. i.e. from explorer onto the main display.
• Visualisations / effects dont work with 24/192k files, nevertheless 24/192 flac files DO work.
• Compatible with reclock (re-sync video and resample audio app). I suggest version 1.8.8.6 - Link
• Toothy skin included - tooth is a seekbar and eye a visualizer.

  *Happy new year!*

Download:

Shorterxp's wmp-v8.1 Installer  (10.8mb).
Shorterxp's CoreVideo Installer (3.2mb). Adds H.264 (AVC) MP4, AVI, XviD, DivX support.

DCBassSourceMod_1.5.2.1 Installer (0.9mb). Adds support for common audio formats, including 24bit FLAC playback as well as support for:

MP2, MP3, MPA, M1A, M2A, OGG, OGA, OPUS, AAC, M4A, M4B, MPC, WAV, AIF, AIFC, AIFF, CDA, ALAC, M4A, APE, MAC, OFR, FLAC, TAK, TTA, WV, IT, MO3, MOD, MTM, S3M, UMX, XM (and MP3, OGG, AAC and OPUS for Shoutcast streams).

Backup Links: OneDrive | Google Drive

If you prefer, some codecs are available here individually.

WMP10 'Patch'

It is possible to install Windows Media Player 10 easily too, as long as WMP8.1 is installed first. WMP10 adds HDCD support, has a sleeker interface and remains lightweight. You can download WMP10 Patch here. In any case, WMP11 is not recommended (bloatware + adds nothing but slow features).

All these should work on Windows 7. Not sure about windows 8+.

All of these packages, install/uninstall cleanly provided windows file protection is off on target system. For filters aka codecs, only "relevant_codec.ax" file is installed in sys32 folder - .ax are modular bits of direct show and direct show helps "ramify" media in direct show based media players like WMP among others (most players use DS).

How directshow filters work

When .ax (directshow filters) are installed they are automatically called by (directshow) media players when associated media is played, if players dont alread have their own codecs built in; in this case internal decoders are preffered over the system wide filters. Some players give option to toggle between Internal / System wide. If the player doesn't have this option, 3rd party tools i.e. 'grapheditplus' can prioritise what filters are called first. DS filters can also be installed/uninstalled v.easily (more specifically registered/unregistered). To Register any .ax file initially, the command is simply: REGSVR32 <filename.ax> - likewise to unregister; REGSVR32 /U <filename.ax>, these commands are run in folder where .ax file is located (usually system32). Installers like those above do this automatically. If more than one filter exists for any one given format on a system, which can happen, the most recently installed filter takes priortity when called by a DS player.

All windows media players are hard coded to use internal decoder for wav and mp3, for mp3 its l3codecp.acm and l3codeca.ax. Audio Compression Manager / DirectX is used, not directshow. FLAC and MP4 are different, and do work in wmp via system-wide filters. Again, mp3 in wmp is parsed as audio without video, whereas FLAC is actually parsed as audio+video.

Video files like avi (old) and mp4 (newer) are actually containers with both video and audio inside. When played, Directshow orders relevant Splitter filter (also an .ax) to split audio/video to their respective decoder DS filters. Take mp4 video for example; mkv_splitter.ax, mp4_decoder.ax and audio_decoder.ax are necessery for its playback. MKV (matroska) is a popular container format. Haali is an example splitter filter for mkv. To re-itterate, MP4 is a video format that can contain either mp3, aac, m4a, alac tracks alongside the video track, inside the ".MP4" file. Many format combinations are possible inside containers.

Edited October 13, 2019 by shorterxp

[jaclaz]

NOT what you asked , but maybe you can find some related tool/codec/trick here:

http://rarewares.org/index.php

as it contains a lot of "related" material.

jaclaz

[shorterxp]

Aha, yeh I did stumble upon that page earlier...

Thanks for response and happy 2016 (Y)

See also Really Rare Warez

 

My favourite has to be Philips MPEG Audio Player

Quote

Date: 1996-04-19
Version: 2.0 beta
Interface: Graphical
Platform: Win32
Download: mpegplayer2.zip - 34kB

 

Edited August 25, 2019 by shorterxp

[shorterxp]

Hey all just an update.

MP3 ACM decoder is hard-coded into wmp (via directX). Therefore it's impossible to force alternative directshow filter for mp3 decode.

Info about WMP9+ and HDCD decode

WMP9 and 10 can save HDCD content, to WAV via 3rd parts plugin described below however this is imited to WMP 9 and 10 on XP.
Futhermore, the audio kernel of Vista and Win7 were revamped to address anti piracy concerns. The plugin is incompatible with WMP11.
 

With the exception of dBpoweramp, wmp v9 and v10 is the only software capable of decoding HDCD in their full glory (provided the music was recorded properly to begin with). In order to rip HDCD with WMP:

1. Download and install Chronotron WAVout plugin | backup link (google drive)
2. Open WMP, click tools>devices>speakers to enable '24bit support' in WMP (see figure A below).
3. Navigate plug-ins TAB>Add...>locate "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\Plugins\WmpWavOutput.dll">OK
4. Click Background in the left pane, and enable tickbox beside WmpWavOutput.
5. Click "Properties..." - here the directory where HDCD tracks are saved to is specified. Enable the fast recording option too.
6. Put HDCD in tray. File>Open... locate HDCD. Files are saved in the above defined driectory.
7. Convert the resultant WAVS to format of choice (i.e. fLAC, wavpack or apple lossless).
8. Note you can enable/disable the plugin at any time via Tools>Plugins Menu.

figure A: user enables 24-bit in wmp.

This approach is certainly more prohibity and somewhat convoluted than using dBpoweramp to rip HDCDs to 24bit.
Its been indcluded merely for reference purposes.

Edited October 6, 2019 by shorterxp

[shorterxp]

19/02/19 - Updated links to use OneDrive, added backup links for contingency. Updated overall package to be cleaner / more install/uninstall friendly.

Edited February 20, 2019 by shorterxp