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Bruce O'Neal · Jan 15, 2002, 08:50 AM

what are your impressions of the new windows media player for mac os x? i installed it and it seems to be pretty cool. guys, sorry to say, but microsoft is making some neat applications for the mac market.

anyhow, when is real coming out with their player for os x? has anyone heard anything?

Kristoff · Jan 15, 2002, 12:24 PM

You have got to be kidding!

WiMP for X sucks!
No ACELP audio....it sucks! Sucks, I say!

Mastrap · Jan 15, 2002, 03:53 PM

Originally posted by Bruce O'Neal:
<STRONG>what are your impressions of the new windows media player for mac os x? i installed it and it seems to be pretty cool. guys, sorry to say, but microsoft is making some neat applications for the mac market.

anyhow, when is real coming out with their player for os x? has anyone heard anything?</STRONG>

Well, I am trying to listen to a radio station in WMP right now. It is terrible. Awful. Shite. It stutters. It looses connection all the time. It accesses my disk every ten seconds for some reason - and I've got plenty RAM and a fast connection. Using the same connection in 9.2 is fine so it's not the server.

In short, it sucks. Big time.

malvolio · Jan 15, 2002, 04:06 PM

Image quality sucks, too. When I watch pr0n, it's impossible to tell who's doing what to whom.

mftalon · Jan 15, 2002, 04:45 PM

I can never get WMP to launch when I click on the links. I have to enter the address of the .asp file into WMP directly to get anything to play...

Technicolor · Jan 15, 2002, 07:22 PM

I'm dissappointed in WMP for OSX. It's identical to the OS9 version which was pretty useless unless you HAD to use it. I just don't understand why they don't make it better. For example if I download some AVI's from Gamespot or something WMP will give me some error about the codec being "not supported" or something. But the same AVI on the Windows version of WMP will play perfectly. I just feel like a second class citizen using WMP. Although it does function properly when I find a file that it actually can decode.

On a similar note...I'd hate to be the poor guy who Microsoft sent to Macworld to represent the Windows Media group. I don't think anybody had a positive thing to say to him. Maybe they'll get the picture that it's time to step up to the plate and really take the Mac version of WMP seriously.

Justin

mikemako · Jan 16, 2002, 12:04 AM

Has anyone else (i know you have) run into the frequent problem of clicking on files that are supposed to be Win Media format and it opens the player, but it just sits there and does nothing. No sound, no video, it says it's playing but the dial doesn't progress. Has anyone found a way to fix this? I find it very odd and it happens to more than 1/2 the files I try to open that are Windows Media.

Mastrap · Jan 16, 2002, 03:31 AM

Originally posted by malvolio:
<STRONG>Image quality sucks, too. When I watch pr0n, it's impossible to tell who's doing what to whom.

</STRONG>

Of course, sometimes that might be an advantage

Avon · Feb 16, 2003, 02:00 PM

Originally posted by mftalon:
I can never get WMP to launch when I click on the links. I have to enter the address of the .asp file into WMP directly to get anything to play...

Unfortunately I was forced to install the terrible pice of software because of NetFlix. When you click on the preview link, it just downloads the .asp file in safari. Is there any way to make safari open .asp links in WMP?
That would be much faster than manually cutting and pasting the stupid link into WMP.

Also, I just want to add that WMP is the crappiest application I have ever used. It stutters even thought the quality is horrendous and has nothing on Quick Time. I really wish NetFlix would use Quick Time.

Any help would be appreciated, even recommendations on a NetFlix alternative that uses quicktime previews. Thanks....

Developer · Feb 16, 2003, 02:41 PM

Originally posted by Bruce O'Neal:
what are your impressions of the new windows media player for mac os x?

New? Has it been updated?

Bouba · Feb 16, 2003, 05:06 PM

If they want to cut on developper time and resources, they should just make a quicktime plugin for their codecs and then everyone will be happy.

I mean, do we really need WMP if we can decode all of its movies in QT???

Quicktime is a standard... and people should devote more time making plugins for it. And moreover, these plugins will be available to all the applications in the system.

That's the way I see things.

If they want us to know that they have made the product, they could program something that will had a short movie clip before the movie saying : content visible through windows media player...

or something like this.

Oh talking about plugins, the guy from sound app, the audio application compatible with about every audio codec outthere should make his mac os x version as a codec... I don't really see the need for another audio app but the extra codecs would be really appreciated!

SupahCoolX · Feb 16, 2003, 10:46 PM

Originally posted by Developer:
New? Has it been updated?

Well, it was new when the original post was made over a year ago

Avon · Feb 17, 2003, 01:55 AM

Originally posted by SupahCoolX:
Well, it was new when the original post was made over a year ago

I revived the thread because after over a year one still cannot click on a link and have it open in WMP automaticaly. Any help will be apreciated. Thanks.

Oh, and thanks Microsoft. You'r software is as terrible as its always been.

kOnshii · Feb 18, 2003, 04:30 AM

Window Media player only sucks on the mac, because all the good features have been striped out and taken away.

I think its only compatible with Window files, which is good for compatibility, but that is it. The windows version is nearly capable of reading nearly everything, from vcd, dvd and so on..beside mp4, which i don't even see a need anymore.

Not mac hating, just WMP hating of the MAC version

kOnshii · Feb 18, 2003, 04:32 AM

Ohh yeah, asf is a much, much, better compression format than mov. Its a fact, is smaller, clearer and better for streaming.

ckohler · Feb 18, 2003, 05:17 AM

The Corona (Windows Media 9) codecs have been available for at least six months now and none of that content will even play in the current release. The plugin also needs to be made Safari friendly.. or vice versa whichever it is.

Not to mention the current player has too much legacy code in it. All video playback halts whenever any mouse event occurs (selecting menus, window dragging).

I don't think the MacBU did the current port, so here's hoping they handle the next version if/when it's ever released and do it right.

[APi]TheMan · Feb 18, 2003, 02:23 PM

The day I am forced to have Windows Media Player or RealOne Player installed on my system is the day I die.

Luckily I only have to watch the occasional .wmv, no streams... and mplayerOSX can take care of that for me. Phew!

Angus_D · Feb 18, 2003, 02:35 PM

Originally posted by kOnshii:
Ohh yeah, asf is a much, much, better compression format than mov. Its a fact, is smaller, clearer and better for streaming.

Mov is not a compression format. .mov can have video compressed by a wide range of codecs, such as mp4 or sorenson or whatever. I wouldn't be surprised if asf was similar.