Windows Media Player 9

[Duncan]

Just wondering if anyone else has downloaded this yet??

People without Windows XP will have been stuck with WMP7 for god only knows how long... which I thought was complete junk, at that time Winamp won me over every time...

WMP8 (with XP) changed my opinion on that... sounding really great, but yet... I think its safe to say that WMP9 sounds better still, its amazingly clear for MP3s (albeit running through my DAC)... running with all tones defeated even 128k MP3s sound more than respectable now (and is available for platforms from 98SE onwards)

Has anyone else tried this yet? - any opinions?

For those of you that are interested... the beta version can be found here

 

[grinch]

wmp has been a piece of **** ever since 7 came out. i still use version 6 and refuse to upgrade (long live win2k!).

use winamp 2.80 with the mad plugin if you want good quality mp3 sound.

 

[Duncan]

Grinch...

Thanks for the Winamp tip...

Do you have Windows XP? If not, then this is the first update you'll have had since WMP7 (which as I said in my initial post, I too thought was really poor)... WMP8 (XP Only) was definetly a substantial improvement over 7... and now 9 appears better still

 

[taipeileviathan]

i just posted this on another thread, but here it is again. a great website for info on mp3 from ripping and encoding to the best players...

http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/features...s/MP3/MP3.html

 

[Pepsione1]

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch use winamp 2.80 with the mad plugin if you want good quality mp3 sound.

Anyone want to fill me in on what the mad plugin does for your mp3s?

 

[Wodgy]

Be careful about installing the Windows Media Player 9 beta version. It might screw up some other programs on your system -- it killed Rhapsody, which was pretty much my favorite program, I used to listen to it about 8 hours a day

The uninstall program doesn't really seem to work either. I'm not sure I'd recommend this experience to anyone.

 

[grinch]

Quote:

Originally posted by Duncan Do you have Windows XP?

i use win2k instead, but i've used winxp enough to know that i don't feel wmp8 is any better. i don't like it's interface at all and i really don't like how it's become its own operating system. anybody remember the old days, where media player played movie files and sound files and that's it?

they force that stupid visualization crap on you and it sucks up to 70% cpu usage. gimme a break.. if i want to see that stuff (which i do, on occasion) i'll use the real plugin that everybody ripped off: geiss.

pepsione1: it's a super-high-quality mpeg decoder plugin for winamp. it allows you to up the resolution (theoretically) to 24-bit or 32-bit (not just 8 and 16) and has a few other features. it is hailed as the best quality mp3 decoder, although it uses slightly more cpu than winamp's standard plugin.

 

[CaptBubba]

Win Xp comes with the old media player (vers 6.4), just enter "mplayer2" into the run box and there it is! You can change your file assosiations to use it if you like.

I don't know if Wmp 9 messes with this though.

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

Originally posted by CaptBubba Win Xp comes with the old media player (vers 6.4), just enter "mplayer2" into the run box and there it is! You can change your file assosiations to use it if you like. I don't know if Wmp 9 messes with this though.

I didn't know that CaptBubba... but, yup... its still there 6.4.09.1124 and thats with 9 Beta installed...

Sorry to hear about your problems Wodgy... worst case scenario... how about a system restore?

 

[Chastity]

taipeileviathan: Thanx for the comment on the MP3 Guide. I had to beat Roj several times in the head to get that right.

Regarding WMP as a player: My major issue with it is that it uses DirectX as an output, and it's been shown that has resampling issues, and not as clear as using Wave Out.

Regarding MAD: If you use a consumer soundcard like an Audigy, TBSC, GTXP, etc, you have an AC97 card, and using 24-bit or higher will result in KMixer and the hardware to resample it to 16/48. So you might as well just use 16-bit mode. Also any DSP plugins/EQ will also wreak havoc on the dithering of MAD, so I offer to you the following config for WinAmp to maximise its benefits:

1) For MP3 decoding, please use MAD Plugin, and set according to your card's abilities. Also, you will need to open up in_mp3.dll, and remove all file associations, otherwise it will use this by default even with MAD enabled. Do not use the EQ of WinAmp, or any DSP enhancers like DFX. If your card has an EQ, like a TBSC, you can use that.

2) Use Peter's updated out_Wave files, and if you use an AC97 card, use Out_WaveSRCC, and set it to 48000 resampling. This way the audio is resampled to 16/48, and kmixer and/or hardware resampler won't abuse the signal too much.

3) If you have an ASIO 2.0 compliant card and drivers, like an Audigy or Terratec, you can use an ASIO out plugin, which bypasses KMixer all together. If you do use it for the Audigy, the mp3s will need to be 16/48, since that is the only mode Audigy supports due to AC97 restrictions, but also offers the best playback in terms of clarity, imaging, and frequency response.

4) You can also use a very precise resampling program to upsample your rips to 48K before encoding to MP3, like CoolEdit. You can then use any player and benefit from the upsampling on AC97 cards. I would suggest you try it with a favorite track of yours to see if it will benefit you.

 

[grinch]

i do #1 and like it a lot.

and.. after an hour of searching, i found out what on earth you were talking about during 2-4.

http://www.blorp.com/%7Epeter/wa2.htm

anyone else interested should go there and stuff. i am now using the out_wave srcc plugin for my crappy onboard soundcard here at work and plan on swapping over to an asio plugin for my dmx 6fire at home.. thanks for the lesson chastity!

 

[DeeJayBump]

Chastity and Grinch---

Thanks a bunch. Looked in these forums and other places on the net and didn't find the info you folks just posted.

Once again, thanks.

 

[Chastity]

To Grinch and DeJay:

You're both very welcome.

If you would like learn more, I am usually found on the forums at 3DSoundSurge.com, and if you hit the Music/MP3 forum, you will find a bunch of threads on improving the source output of mp3 playback, as well as a list of players. Roj and I also collaborated an Intro Guide to Good MP3 making, and I can also let you sample some mp3s that I have encoded.

If you private message me, I can give you the ftp site that I have so you can grab a couple of resampled mp3s. (I spent alot of time tweaking my playback to get the mud out of the sound)

 

[taipeileviathan]

wow... i tried this stuff out, and it makes all the difference... indispensable knowledge... the only drawback is that it gives me even more of an incentive to buy an ipod, which is the last thing i need: another 300+$ expenditure... *sigh*...

chastity: haha, i've never been on the forums on 3dsoundsurge... i just read the reviews for various computer speaker setups last year when i was buying new speakers as well as that mp3 stuff. hehe, it's an honor receiving semi-personalized advice from u.

rock on... btw, it would be great if u guys would do a direct comparison of the klipsch 5.1's vs the Megaworks 510D. that would be something i'd look forward to reading very much...

 

[Chastity]

Heh, the battle between the ProMedias 5.1 and the MegaWorks is a classic, and we have lots of threads on that.

What's interesting is that I find a corrolation between headphones and those units:

If you like the HD590s, you will like the ProMedias. If you prefer the presentation of the HD580s/600s, then you will prefer the MegaWorks.

I also see that Cambridge on HiFi.com is offering the Ultra MegaWorks 2.1 that uses the MC300 sats. Interesting to see if they make a 5.1 system with that.

I have the MegaWorks personally, and I find them to be great all-around performers. Maybe not the best in DVD, or music, or gaming, but definately VERY CLOSE to the top performers and doesn't have alot of weaknesses.

If they come out with the MC300 version, that will definately ROCK! 2 4" Newton drivers and 1" silk dome tweeters per sat... yum!