Microsoft has had a wierd relationship with native video playback for the previous a number of years. It’s a kind of options that was caught within the purgatory that was created with the beginning of Home windows 10, as Microsoft hung onto legacy apps like Home windows Media Participant whereas attempting to push into a brand new, trendy period. We’ve come a great distance since that time, and Windows 11 is the closest to providing a full-featured video participant that Microsoft has been in years.
Media Participant, the app constructed into Home windows 11 for video and audio playback, has come a great distance within the two years because it was launched. It’s surprisingly feature-rich for such a easy utility. Even with updates and new additions to Media Participant, although, it nonetheless falls in need of free, open-source choices due to two key points.
The historical past
There’s some historical past right here that’s vital to deal with. Don’t confuse Media Participant with Home windows Media Participant. They’re completely different apps. The latter is now generally known as Home windows Media Participant Legacy, and it’s the app you’re acquainted with if you happen to’ve ever interacted with Microsoft’s media participant previous to Home windows 11. It could actually make playlists, present movies, and rip your CDs. It hasn’t fairly grown out of the Vista-era trimmings, however at this level, it actually doesn’t must.
The app Media Participant we’ve as we speak was constructed out of the leftovers of Groove Music. This was Microsoft’s music app, which Microsoft discontinued and rebranded under Media Player. As a substitute of simply audio, Media Participant helps video, as nicely. Some options, reminiscent of ripping CDs, weren’t accessible when the app launched a few years in the past. Since then, Microsoft has rolled out the options of the legacy Home windows Media Participant, making Media Participant your one-stop store for audio and video.
I’d forgive you for considering Media Participant isn’t any good, although. Groove Music was notorious in Home windows 10 and the early days of Home windows 11, and I think about most individuals ditched the built-in participant and located a video/music app of their very own. I definitely did with VLC Participant. I used to be shocked how far Media Participant has come because it was launched two years in the past, although.
It has plenty of options, and for most individuals, it has the whole lot you want in a simple-to-understand format. It additionally seems to be nice, which is much more than I can say for different video gamers. There are two important points that also maintain it again, although.
What’s proper
The most important factor Media Participant has going for it’s that it’s simple to make use of. That often means sacrificing options — everyone knows an app that appears prefer it was designed for Windows XP has extra options, proper? — however Media Participant is surprisingly strong for enjoying movies. Out of the gate, you’ve got assist for almost each codec you could possibly want, minus one important omission that I’ll get to within the subsequent part.
In comparison with one thing like VLC, you’ve got the principle controls you’d need for enjoying video inside simple attain. You’ll be able to modify the playback pace, tweak the audio with an equalizer, and crop in to keep away from black bars. There are even some picture settings, permitting you to vary the brightness, distinction, and saturation. VLC definitely goes deeper with sharpening, an audio compressor, customized overlays, and a lot extra. However for the overwhelming majority of movies you’ll play, Media Participant has what you want.
There are two issues that transcend the fundamentals with Media Participant, although: subtitles and audio tracks, and casting. Within the outdated Home windows Media Participant, you could possibly add subtitles to movies that didn’t have them included, nevertheless it was a guide course of that occurred within the File Explorer. With the brand new Media Participant, you possibly can simply add a file straight by urgent the Caption button inside the app. It’s a small change, nevertheless it makes Media Participant rather a lot simpler to make use of.
Subtitles and audio tracks are essential for my native movies, too. I watch plenty of anime, and I’ll need to typically resort to archived copies of older exhibits and films as a consequence of some unlucky stream of licensing disputes. It’s important that I can simply modify the subtitle and audio monitor {that a} file is utilizing whereas taking part in a video, and Media Participant makes that easy. That assumes you’ve got the audio and subtitle tracks you want, and that they’re prime quality, nonetheless. VLC nonetheless takes the cake if you want to sync issues up.
Casting is a giant addition, too. Media Participant hooks into the casting options constructed into Home windows 11, and it might probably stream your display screen to any gadget that helps casting. The one draw back right here is that it streams your total display screen, so that you’ll must cease the casting after your video is finished taking part in.
Two main issues
For most individuals, Media Participant will get the job carried out for video. However there are two main points with the app that invalidate its upsides.
First, HEVC. If in case you have a video that encoded with HEVC, or H.265, it’s important to purchase a $1 add-on within the Microsoft Retailer to look at that video in Media Participant. It’s not the price of the add-on — I feel most of us may spare $1 — nevertheless it’s a slap within the face to cost for such a widely-used codec within the first place. You’ll generally discover HEVC in video modifying and seize functions, so you could possibly simply file or edit a video and never have the ability to watch it in Media Participant.
What’s extra irritating is that Microsoft supplied HEVC assist totally free beforehand. In Home windows 11 22H2, you could possibly discover a free obtain for HEVC codec from the Microsoft Retailer. That itemizing is now gone, and if you happen to in some way handle to search out it with a more moderen model of Home windows, the Microsoft Retailer will block you from putting in it. There are methods to nonetheless get the free model — I’ll hyperlink this Reddit thread and allow you to take it from there — however you shouldn’t need to undergo the effort.
The cost, apparently, is because of licensing charges. I’m truthfully unsure in some way, and I’m definitely no skilled relating to patent licensing agreements. I do know that HEVC is supported in each main browser, together with Edge, Chrome, and Safari, and that it’s been supported in {hardware} between CPUs and GPUs since 2015, nonetheless. That’s on high of that undeniable fact that Microsoft beforehand supplied it totally free.
The opposite main difficulty comes right down to Media Participant’s historical past. It was constructed out of an app created for music, and there are much more options centered there. As an example, you possibly can seize metadata in your music on-line routinely by way of the app — you possibly can’t do the identical for video. You additionally don’t have any option to discover subtitles for movies by way of Media Participant, in contrast to VLC and its VLSub extension that hooks into Opensubtitles.org straight from the app.
In each circumstances, the rationale behind these lack of options comes right down to cash. Microsoft is likely one of the largest corporations on this planet, and there’s little question that exterior databases like Open Subtitles and licensing businesses would salivate at a minimize of Microsoft’s pie contemplating the huge set up base of Home windows. That’s the price of doing enterprise, although, and clearly Microsoft thinks that value isn’t justified.
Whatever the purpose, the actual fact stays that the Media Participant app in Home windows 11 falls in need of a mess of free choices which have been accessible for many years. I exploit VLC for my functions, however there are a ton of different choices together with Media Participant Traditional (MPC) and its variants, FFmpeg, and Pot Participant.
