Windows 7 / WMP 12 toolbar issue.

[WhiteGiant]

Finally had a chance to play with 7, and I'm impressed for the most part. However, in Vista I was able to minimize WMP and have a little toolbar on the taskbar with a small window that shows whatever is being played.

In their infinite wisdom, MS seem to have removed this nifty little feature. I've followed a few guides roughly the same as this one. All end with WMP being borked and telling me to visit Windows Update to fix the problem.

The entire reason I went from XP64 to Vista was because of this niggle, and I use the feature for most of the time I'm on my comp. I'd had to dump Win7 and go back to Vista just becuase of this.

Any suggestions?

[Singh400]

You do realise if you just hover over the WMP taskbar icon, it'll bring up a mini interface where you can change tracks, volume and stuff like that.

[WhiteGiant]

Indeed, however it won't display a mini window that shows whatever is playing (video wise).

[aidanjt]

Indeed, however it won't display a mini window that shows whatever is playing (video wise).

You mean the sticky video window? (it does display the video on hover).

[retroborg]

Why even bother with media player in the 1st place? Media Player Classic is vastly superior, not to mention more stable.

[aidanjt]

Why even bother with media player in the 1st place? Media Player Classic is vastly superior, not to mention more stable.

Because WMP handles collections of media much better. That's definitely one area MPC could do with an overhaul.

[nightkhaos]

Why even bother with media player in the 1st place? Media Player Classic is vastly superior, not to mention more stable.

Because WMP handles collections of media much better. That's definitely one area MPC could do with an overhaul.

Not just that, (and when you consider with libraries in Windows Explorer for Windows 7 it's becoming a null issue) but Media Player intergrates with Media Center, which provides and very nice and friendly UI for playing videos.

Besides, I generally find I end up using the MPC codec to allow GPU accerlation of H.264 video in MKVs... something which Media Player doesn't handle to well (read, not at all).

On a a side not it always get's me those people who say "don't install codecs" cause I wonder how many of them actually realise that the likes of MPC/VLC/KMP have bundled codecs? How precisely do they intend to play video without codecs then?

[aidanjt]

Win7 comes with all the common codecs out of the box anyway (all the ones worth talking about, at least), all you really need is the MKV filter if you use those.

[WhiteGiant]

You mean the sticky video window?

Exactly, this is the only reason I use WMP - I prefer VLC if I'm watching something fullscreen (I know VLC has an 'always on top' option, but I prefer the smooth integration with the taskbar).

Any more suggestions?

[Agent]

On a a side not it always get's me those people who say "don't install codecs" cause I wonder how many of them actually realise that the likes of MPC/VLC/KMP have bundled codecs? How precisely do they intend to play video without codecs then?

Who has ever said "don't install codecs"? I think you're getting mixed up with a "codec pack" here. No one in their right mind would ever claim the first as you would never be able to play any content Windows couldn't.

The reason some people don't use codec packs is because a badly made one has the potential to *seriously* screw up a Windows installation. By 'screw up' I'm not talking about file associations going missing either, but rather serious registry issues that can take days to sort out - if you can even find what's causing the issue.
Don't get me wrong, there are ones that work fine - but there are also some I've seen that are nothing short of horrendous.

Also keep in mind that the default install of something like VLC uses libavcodec, not "bundled codecs" that install them self.

[jim]

I miss that feature as well, keep on mousing over it just to see a huge screen preview with illegible writing. Have to put it into that nauseating player mode to get it to even vaguely resemble the old style.

It's the only thing, along with the enormous homegroup oversight, that's annoying me about 7.

[WhiteGiant]

Guess we're stuck then.

I do love the new run/search function on the Start Menu though, very srubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishy.