I've been using MC9 since beta and I've been following along for a bit in this forum but something that I haven't seen mentioned are filtergraphs.
With XP (and in limited fashion Win2K) it is possible to build a stream of filters/encoders/decoders/renderers/whatever from file to output. This gives quite a bit of flexibility but it can be somewhat complex. It could be one method of providing virtually infinite format support.
Zoom Player is a perfect example of an app that provides builtin support similar to Microsoft's filtergraphs.
For music it could provide for unlimited format support via external decoders as well as providing for the possibility to use one's own favorite decoder(s). For DVD/Video, it is really a must-have for die-hard enthusiasts. Everyone has their favorite codecs (Such as
Sonic CineMaster Decoder for video often combined the audio codec from
WinDVD).
By default MC could provide its own choices for simplicity (maintaining current functionality), but provide for an option to choose specific codecs and external filters (ewwwwwwwwwwww!) for those that desire this.
Is this possible in some fashion? If not, could it be a feature request? (Comments?)
Also - for my HTPC I'm contemplating a
PowerMate from
Griffin Technology. I'm unsure if an SDK exists yet (I'm checking into this) but the driver provides application-sensitive support (an SDK could possibly provide context-sensitive settings). Just wondering if anyone else has seen this yet. I probably wouldn't use it as a volume control (my HK receiver would do that) but it could provide a fast and easy way to navigate through the library menus in MC. . .