The Sad Tale of Play To and Windows 8

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Windows 8 is the prime example of Microsoft shooting themselves in the foot. Here's a short list:

1. Bragged that Windows 8 media play back was awesome, while simultaniously not supporting: Bitstreaming of TrueHD, DTS or DTS-Master audio; MKV, MPEG2 (without WMC pack), Ogg and many others. 2004 called and wants it's crappy xbox support back.
2. Worse, provides no pay upgrade service in app. The only way to get mpeg2 is through wmc, but you can't buy it in app and it's a PITA to install and get going, so App devs won't support it even though they could.
3. Music app plays ads within YOUR OWN MUSIC.
4. Music app stops every hour and ransoms your music asking if you're there still (even though you're typing on your damn computer!!!) and tells you that this nag will go away if you pay $9.99 / month.
5. Sandboxes Media Foundation libraries so apps can't share them.
6. Removes the start menu but forgets to remove the start bar and make desktop apps full screen, thus confusing the hell out of everyone.
7. Fails to enable "app per screen" so it's impossible to run Mail on one screen and Skype on the other, or mail on the left of a screen, something useful in the rest of the screen, skype on the left of screen #2 and something else useful in the rest of the screen.
8. Broke Play To.
9. Didn't bother to provide DLNA client rendering services in either the music or the video app.
10. Blocked both video and audio apps from accessing anything other than indexed sources, thus eliminating being able to play music from a network share unless it's another Windows homegroup box or a Windows Server. Say goodbye to NAS.
11. Forgot to make Windows 8 PCs a DLNA target for playing stuff back to. I don't want to use the ad-ridden Xbox to play video, I want to use a Windows 8 box thanks!
12. Forgot to bother to allow programmers to hook into the button presses for play, pause, rew, ff, skip, back, back/forward, and info buttons on Microsoft eHome Remotes thus making it impossible to create a good integrated multi-media app properly (see plex's struggles with this)

Thus they created a hobbled frankenstein OS that intentionally blocks users from doing the most basic things when they should have and could have made those things trivial.

MS Needs to:

1. Provide an automatic update that provides MKV, ogg and Bitstreaming audio for free to all apps. (because there is 0 cost to MS other than the development of the MF libraries).
2. Provide DLNA support in the Music and Video apps for rendering.
3. Provide DLNA target support.
4. Fix the music app (I an hoping it's just a bug!) so that it doesn't play ads in your own music files.
5. Remove all ransomware.
6. Require that all multimedia apps support ehome remote control.
7. Allow both video and audio apps to add other folders other than those indexed and have them periodically check. (better yet, extend Windows 8 Modern apps to be able to setup file watchers and leave them running in the background as notifications.)
8. Provide an in-app purchase of MPEG2 decoders that MS already has that would automatically install, and then play the file after installing. Say $10 and you've got MPEG2.
9. Provide an in-app purchase of decoding for DTS, DTS-MA, and TrueHD to PCM output. (Whatever the licence cost is for MS)

They can do all of this in Windows 8 and make good on the promise. By doing so they can own the set top box market, just help plex people out and Windows 8 will become the defacto standard.

Then Windows Blue needs to:

1. Drop the task bar completely. It's the fact that it's still there but the start menu that people expect to be on it, that drives people nuts and makes them expect to have the start button and miss it. Get rid of it. There are so few apps that can't go full screen it isn't funny. Make them, and don't allow anything but full screen. For apps that won't, put a back background on them.

2. Enable app per screen. This allows multi-monitor to run as many Windows 8 Modern Apps as they have screens * 2. We know this will work and it's just a design decision because you can pin one to the left or right and run another one, thus we know it can multi-task to open apps. Just allow each screen to run another app and let us flick apps between the screens.

3. Stop chasing ad revenue and start building an amazing OS that everyone has to have and wants to use. Windows 8 Modern UI has huge potential. It's exactly what Windows needed. Now they have to think like Apple, but give power users the features that goolge would provide. That means simple AND powerful. It's easy to do if they THINK about it.

Then make an embedd Surface Cube device that is a headless server that can be plugged into your network. Allow snap on additional hard drive modules that will automatically RAID and on the other side, snap on tuners. Provide OTA, CableCard and DLNA DTCP tuners that people can grab for < $50 and snap on, and make the hard drives pre-sized and bought or allow people to buy the box and snap in a 2.5" drive. Make it so that it works as a fully indexed content server that can optionally backup to sky drive, and automatically host a home group. Make it download guide data, and automatically figure out all of the channel stuff, and record stuff from the tuner(s). Make it all automatic except maybe specifying your zip code to get the right guide data.

Then provide native live tv and guide apps with scheduling in Windows 8 that will prompt the first time after it finds the cube for the zip code and pick the TV provider (it should automatically match the channels so it already knows based on call signs available in the area on the tuners)

They should then sell a surface TV that is $99 and is running RT and automatically provides all of the standard apps and can be optionally connected to the cube automatically and transparently with 0 configuration.

This should be plug and play, and just work. LItterally plug in an network cable on the server and sign in to wifi/network cable on the surface tv and type in your zip code and you've got a full Windows 8 experience with ehome remote and full TV with PVR.

they have all of the elements. They simply need to put this together into a simple package, which again, if they think like apple is trivial to do and would JUST WORK and would take the TV by storm. Allow TV manufacturers to integrate it as the standard interface and volia, you're golden.

That's where they need to get in the next 12 months. If they don't, then RIP Microsoft.

(and this is to say nothing about releasing Windows 8 Phone without Xbox music support, play to or DLNA client Renderer support.

My WDTV Live suddenly works in Metro.

My old WDTV Live did not work in Metro, when Win 8 came out. I then forgot about it.

Now it works.

I found out by accident the other day, when setting up a printer.

I do not understand how this device thing works. I find this interesting - it's a quote from MS, I found in this blog post http://digitalmediaphile.com/index.php/2013/01/17/january-surface-rt-upd... "Device certification is not handled in any way via Windows Update.

We have a service, called NCD-AS (auto setup for short) that will automatically find media renderers and pair them (even if they aren’t certified). As part of pairing, PNP updates drivers and metadata packages for a device if available. Every 8 days, this service will check for updated drivers and metadata packages for all media renderers that have been paired".

First, nice write up, both Paul's original and especially the lengthy 'John Gault' note.

Second, it's just strange that Microsoft's video and audio efforts are so...half baked, or as jeffreydmitchell puts it ".they have grand ideas but can't go the extra mile to implement them."

I mean, isn't it the price of admission for anyone hoping to sell a tablet or a laptop or an OS to consumers, having something that plays a decent assortment of codecs, and works with an assortment of devices out of the box?

Scott A.

How does "Play To" related to any software applications that allows play back of any music files? This is where the technology meets actual usage. Sadly, a lot of Microsoft's initiatives are missing that final link. How does it benefit the users? Can they find it? Is it easy to use?

It's ridiculous that MS has disabled Play To access to all but a handful of DNLA devices for no discernable reason. BUT there's a workaround, and it's a simpler than the arcane Powershell routine on the linked page. A pretty simple registry mod will let you Play To any DNLA device that work under Windows 7. Just follow the instructions, EXPLICITLY, shown on this page: http://digitalmediaphile.com/index.php/2013/03/30/using-uncertified-play.... I'm listening to music streaming from a home server to a Yamaha RX-V773 using my Surface Pro Modern Music player right now!