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BrainStormer - 21 Feb 2005 05:53 GMT

why does WMC not send files it doesn't support to a media device?
The DSM-320 supports Mpeg4 encoded quicktime formats but WMC
won't pass those files to it. I think the media device should decide what
can and can't be played, Not WMC.

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Alan Ludwig [MSFT] - 21 Feb 2005 22:06 GMT

> why does WMC not send files it doesn't support to a media device?
> The DSM-320 supports Mpeg4 encoded quicktime formats but WMC
> won't pass those files to it. I think the media device should decide
> what can and can't be played, Not WMC.

Actually, the problem is not as straightforward as you make it sound. WMC
does have to open the files and look at them to extract the information
requred to display it in the directory. Information like Title, Album,
Genre, Duration, Format, etc. must be extracted (or generated) for the file
to be included in the content directory. Really, there isn't any way we can
just support "any" file type. We have to know something about the file
type in order to put it in the content directory.

Regards,

Signature

Alan Ludwig
Software Design Engineer
Windows Media Devices Group
Microsoft Corp.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

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BrainStormer - 22 Feb 2005 01:33 GMT

I just thought it was strange that the D-Link Media Server allows me to play
more files than WMC. It's easy to do. If there is no data in the file, then
display the filename. For this WMC would just have to be told what
extensions are for what media types, which should be user configurable.

Besides, my main issue is for video files and most of the time you don't
care about the other data while watching a video anyways.

> > why does WMC not send files it doesn't support to a media device?
> > The DSM-320 supports Mpeg4 encoded quicktime formats but WMC
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Regards,

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Danno100 - 22 Feb 2005 03:15 GMT

Too bad WMC doesn't support MP4's at this time because I can play them in
Windows Media Player on my server. I didn't think the MP4 container had much
if any information to display. I tried renaming an MP4 file to a mpg (or
vob?) extension thinking it might fool WMC. Nope.

Although D-Link updated their firmware (1.05) to be more WMC (UPnP)
compatible, it isn't of much use for all of us that have MP4's. That's why
I continue to use the D-Link media server and will wait for MS WMC to support
this file type.

> I just thought it was strange that the D-Link Media Server allows me to play
> more files than WMC. It's easy to do. If there is no data in the file, then
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> >
> > Regards,

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