Why does AutoPlay use the old Media Player? (it does on my system)

[francisq]

I'm using Media Player objects in my application but when AuotPlay invokes Media Player it uses the old version of MP.

I looked "behind the scenes" and found:

I'm running WinMe and in my C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player folder there are 2 MP's :

1 - WMPLAYER.EXE Microsoft(R) Windows Media Player 7.00.00.1440

2 - MPLAYER2.EXE Windows Media Player 6.4.07.1112

A right-click + About inside my MP window when it's running in AutoPlay showed that it's using version 6.4.07.1112

In my C:\Windows\System folder I have 2 related ActiveX controls:

1 - WMP.OCX Windows Media Player OCX 7.0.0.1440

2 - MSDXM.OCX Windows Media Player 2 ActiveX Control 6.4.7.1112

A thread analysis showed that the Autoplay thread, when running an MP object, is using MSDXM.OCX

Is this correct?
I mean, is it normal to use the OLD MP?
Or is this indicative of some sort of problem on MY system?

You see, the V7 MP has support for playing animated GIF's :-))
whilst V6 MP doesn't support them :-((

[_acecombat_]

I get a similar problem: i have Windows Media Player 9 and when i use the windows media function in autoplay it uses the original media style with plain scrollbar etc. is there any way to insert the installed version of media player? oh by the way anyone who uses Windows XP you should get the Windows Media Player 9 Series from www.microsoft.com it is the BEST!!! i love it!

[Worm]

I might be wrong here...
AMS doesn't use the Media Player itself. It uses the Media Player Object. I believe I read somewhere that a user doesn't necessarily have to have Media Player installed for an AMS project to be able to use a Media Player object. So I don't believe that the two are one in the same. Although it would seem that Microsoft would update the "object" when the Player is upgraded.

[francisq]

AMS uses the Media Player OCX - ActiveX Control. As I pointed out in my post a thread analysis showed that AMS was linking to the OLD ActiveX Control (MSDXM).
What I was wondering was if there was some sort of "registration" problem on my system (eg my registry had MSDXM registered as the official OCX to use for Media Player).
However the first reply indicates that the same happens on WinXP so it would appear that AMS "links" to the OLD MP.
Probably something like "lowest common denominator" - works on all versions of Windows.
Pity though - it would have been a workaround for the GIF restriction :-(

[Worm]

If animated GIFs are what your looking to show, there are several GIF to SWF converters that will let you convert your GIFs to a flash movie that can be displayed in the Flash Object. Boomer (http://www.gfx2swf.com/) is one that I have used and it does a nice job.

[Lorne]

AFAIK, there is no "new" MediaPlayer ActiveX control. There's either the full-blown media player app, or the ActiveX control. MSDXM is the ActiveX MediaPlayer control.

So no, there isn't anything registered incorrectly on your system. /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif

[francisq]

Lorne, the OTHER MP OCX that I have on my system has the following descriptions (taken from Properties/Version):

WMP.OCX

Version: 7.0.0.1440 (same as the full-blown V7 MP)
Description: Windows Media Player OCX
OLE Self-Register: Microsoft(R) Windows Media Player
Product Name: Microsoft(R) Windows Media Player
Creation Date/Time: 08 June 2000 17:00:00 (same as all common WinMe modules)

So WMP.OCX is the ActiveX Control for Windows Media Player (7) sent with WinMe.

There is a fairly comprehensive article on how to build a Windows Media Player application around WMP.OCX at:

http://dogma.net/markn/articles/LouisLouis/

As I said in an earlier reply I can understand that you need to maintain compatability for the maximum number of users of different versions of Windows - so I'm not complaining.

My original question was posted more to find out if MY system had some problem with MP.

I'm looking into the GIF->Flash with Bloomer possibility mentioned earlier to solve my problem with GIF's - thanks for that idea, Worm - may all your topsoils be fruitful :-)

Thanks to all for your feedback on this - much appreciated.

Now if only someone would reply to my post about my "OK, "Cancel" and "Retry" button text translation problem :-(

--
Francis
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil