Zoom Player
Description
Inmatrix Ltd. created Zoom Player as a media playing application that emphasizes keyboard and remote control navigation as opposed to mouse driven application interfaces because its focus is on users who are interested in a home theater-type viewing experience on a Windows PC from a distance as would be found on a couch or living room. The player mixing broad format support via DirectShow and LAV Filters with a skin system you can change and an interface for navigation that is optimized for 10 foot viewing – the full screen browsing and playback mode that’s built for television distance viewing rather than desktop distance operation.
The free version deals with video and audio playback using the main navigation interface. The paid MAX license includes advanced features such as a media library, automatic Internet movie database metadata fetching, Blu-ray disc playback, and more extensive customization of the interface and start-up behavior.
Media Playback and Format support
Zoom Player uses DirectShow and LAV Filters for the decoding of video and audio, and has a very wide range of supported format including MKV, MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV, FLV, RMVB, HEVC, H.264, VP9 and audio formats including FLAC, MP3, AAC, OGG. Hardware-accelerated decoding here uses DXVA2 and D3D11VA to offload video decoding to the GPU, offloading the CPU and achieving clean video playback of high resolution content on capable hardware. The format support reaches to Blu-Ray and DVD disc playback for the MAX version.
10-Foot Interface and Navigation
The 10-foot interface mode displays a full-screen navigation panel meant for use of television viewing distance without a mouse. A remote control or keyboard translates the interface by giant and easy-to-read panels: a media browser to select files, a settings panel, and controls to play. The interface reacts to Windows Media Center remote controls, Microsoft Wireless Keyboard media keys and configurable keyboard shortcuts. This mode uses a windows PC as the basis of a functioning home theater player that doesn’t require the viewer to get close to the screen to operate.
Skin System
Zoom Player’s appearance is changed with the use of skins which substitute for the player’s window chrome, control buttons, and overlay display. The skin system includes the compact windowed mode that is used at the viewing distance for computer desktops, and not at full screen 10 foot interface mode. Custom skins from the Inmatrix community add more visual options than the defaults.
Media Library (MAX)
The MAX version has a media library that indexes local video and audio files, retrieving metadata — the movie title, plot summary, cover art, cast information and ratings — from The Movie Database (TMDB) and other internet databases. The library provides a visual interface to the collection broken up by category and metadata instead of raw file and folder names. Video files identified as movies or TV episodes are presented with their official artwork and details, pulling out a Netflix-like browsing experience from local files.
Playback Controls and Features
Zoom Player’s playback controls include variable speed playback from slow motion through fast forward, seek preview, which displays thumbnail frames at the cursor position on the progress bar when seeking, A/B loop repeat, automatic bookmarking, which starts playback from the last watched position in any file, and chapter navigation, which works with files that have chapter markers. Subtitle loading will automatically load an external Subtitle file (SRT, ASS, SSA) if it has the exact same filename of the video, and settings for subtitles control the font, size, color and time offset.
Playlist Management
The playlist supports video and audio files in any combination, playlists the files, also supports m3u and pls playlist formats from outside sources. Playlist entries shuffle, sort and loop with configurable behavior. The playlist panel appears during playback without interrupting the video.
Audio Output Configuration
Zoom Player has audio output that uses DirectSound or WASAPI (WASAPI exclusive mode cuts the number of audio processing levels between setting the audio output and software, producing a smaller number of processing steps for users who use external audio equipment). Audio pitch correction is applied in case changes in the playback speed is 1.0x, preserving normal pitch at 1.0x.
Startup Configuration and Default Player Configuration
Zoom Player MAX enables the designation of files of specific file-types as the default player for that file type and the configuration of recently used file start-up behavior: which file to restart from and which interface mode to enter when the application is launched, which audio- and subtitle-track to select by default according to language preference.
