K, here's my state using
http://inception.davepedu.com/ to test. MC is set to point to my headphones in Options->Audio->Audio Device. I only have the default "Player" Zone (and "There").
MC Off
Sound control panel set to headphones
Inception comes out headphones
Sound control panel set to JRiver
The JRiver device shows activation, but no sound in headphones
MC On - Not playing
Sound control panel set to headphones
Inception comes out headphones
Sound control panel set to JRiver
The JRiver device shows activation, but no sound in headphones
MC adds "Ipc" to playing now, attempts to play it - status bar shows "Opening..."
Eventually status bar returns to normal "JRiver Media Center 20"
MC On - Playing Video with audio
Sound control panel set to headphones
Video audio comes out headphones (Windows Sound control panel does not see activation)
Inception sound is not audible and does not activate control panel
Sound control panel set to JRiver
Video audio comes out headphones (Windows Sound control panel does not see activation)
Inception sound is not audible but activates JRiver device in control panel
MC On - Video Paused
Sound control panel set to headphones
Inception sound is not audible and does not activate control panel
After a few seconds, MC kills video display, MC reverts to library display, shows Ipc for a second but no "Opening..."
Once MC on library screen, Inception button plays through headphones
Sound control panel set to JRiver
Pressing Inception button kills video display, MC reverts to library display, tries to open Ipc as in the MC On - Not playing state
Sound panel shows JRiver device activating, but no sound in headphones.
Looking at the log, it looks like MC is saying "eff you paused video, Ipc wins!".
0004696: 3492: General: CMCUICore::SetMode: Start
0004696: 3492: General: CMCUICore::SetMode: Setting UI mode: 2
0004696: 7496: Playback: CDXPlayerWindow::Load: Start
0004696: 7928: Playback: CPlayerZoneDisplayInfoUpdateThread::Thread: Start
0004696: 7496: Playback: CDShowFilterGraph::SetOwnerWindow: Window: 153C3008 (valid: 1)
0004696: 7928: Playback: CPlayerZoneDisplayInfoUpdateThread::Thread: Zone: Player (id: 0)
0018221: 7928: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Accum audio bytes 863, video bytes 82664, time period 1637.8767678620320112 ms, bitrate 400000
0020389: 7928: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Accum audio bytes 16387, video bytes 195228, time period 2166.0077860585256531 ms, bitrate 776000
[repeats]
0056067: 3492: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Start
0056067: 7928: Playback: CPlayerZoneDisplayInfoUpdateThread::Thread: Finish (51371 ms)
0056067: 7188: Playback: CPlayerZoneDisplayInfoLoadImageThread::Thread: Start
0056067: 7188: Playback: CPlayerZoneDisplayInfoLoadImageThread::Thread: Image: 00000000
0056067: 7188: Playback: CPlayerZoneDisplayInfoLoadImageThread::Thread: Finish (0 ms)
0056082: 3492: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Handling exclusive playback zones
0056082: 3492: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Getting actual playback track
0056082: 3492: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Processing play for 'live://ipc?pipe=0000028C&streaming=1'
0056082: 3492: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Updating internal track info
0056082: 3492: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Playing: <XMLFN version="1.0"><Item Name="Filename">live://ipc?pipe=0000028C&streaming=1</Item><Item Name="PlaylistIndex">0</Item><Item Name="AlbumSequentialWithLastTrack">0</Item><Item Name="SampleRate"></Item><Item Name="VolumeReset">0</Item><Item Name="Channels"></Item><Item Name="ErrorFreeMode">1</Item><Item Name="VolumePeakLevels"></Item><Item Name="MediaType">Audio</Item><Item Name="DatabaseKey">8229</Item><Item Name="VolumeTrackMaxSafeGain">-1</Item><Item Name="Bitrate"></Item><Item Name="Bookmark"></Item><Item Name="BitDepth"></Item><Item Name="VolumeLeveling">-10</Item><Item Name="DSP"></Item><Item Name="FileType"></Item><Item Name="UserInterfaceModeChangeEventHandle">0000019C</Item></XMLFN>
0056082: 3492: Playback: CJRPlaybackEngine::Play: Start
0056082: 3492: Playback: CDXPlayerWindow::StopVideo: Start
Using the thread pointed to by fitbrit I was able to stumble my way through making a new zone, directing its output to Null, and sending Ipc to it. That appears to have stopped MC from hijacking my paused video, but has resulted in killing Windows audio (email notifications, etc).
I tried setting my new zone ("WDM") to output to my headphones, but Windows audio is still gobbled up when video is paused. On library screen, windows audio works fine. I disabled exclusive access on both zones to no avail.
Ooooh, looks like if I go back to having my headphones be the default audio device and then disable exclusive access in the Player and WDM zones, I get video that doesn't die when paused and my Windows audio comes through the headphones. Have to say, this was quite the ordeal getting MC to work post-patch the same as it did pre-patch.