Why Doesn't The Zune Desktop Software Really Go Full Screen?

[Jason Dunn]

<p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/zt/auto/1290662428.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Anyone else with a two monitor set up notice that the Zune desktop software, when put into full screen mode, leaves a line of pixels at the bottom? Below is a screen shot of the problem up close:</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/zt/auto/1290662447.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>It's pretty ugly, and pretty obvious. I wonder how something this obvious could have gotten through the beta testing on the 4.7 software? You'd think at least one person with a two monitor set up would have tried to run the client full-screen on the second monitor...</p>

[Sven Johannsen]

Mine doesn't seem to look as bad as that. I had to auto-hide the UltraMon taskbar on the second monitor to see it. With UltraMon taskbar up, Zune full screens above it. Thought that was strange, but it wasn't ugly.

You could try running a fat point black sharpie along the bottom of that monitor ;)

[djrudiak]

Another important question is: "Glee Cast? Really?":confused:

[djdj]

I'm running with 4 monitors regularly and have never seen this behavior.

[Lotheric]

It doesn't do that for me. It might be a video driver issue.

[bwest11]

Does perfect full screen on mine. Must be hard to come up with Zune news when this is a story. Pretty sad.

[Jason Dunn]

Another important question is: "Glee Cast? Really?":confused:

Yes, really. I like a huge variety of music, and many of the Glee songs are excellent covers/mash-ups. :D

[Jason Dunn]

I'm running with 4 monitors regularly and have never seen this behavior.

Interesting. I wonder why I'm seeing it? Hmm. It doesn't matter if I do full screen, or snap it to the top of the monitor to get it to go full screen, etc...it always has the same issue.

[Jason Dunn]

It doesn't do that for me. It might be a video driver issue.

I'm using the latest Catalyst video driver package, but maybe it's some sort of weird interaction with the particular video card and monitor that I have.

I guess it's good news that no one else is having this problem. :D

[Jason Dunn]

Must be hard to come up with Zune news when this is a story. Pretty sad.

Yeah, well, there's not much to talk about. There were a couple of new apps released last week - or was it the week before - but I'm pretty pissed that I have to log out of my Windows Live ID and change my location before I can see the Zune HD apps again. :mad:

Every software update, Microsoft makes it harder and harder for anyone outside the USA to use a Zune HD. I'm just about ready to give up. :mad: I guess I could post on that. :D

[Philip Colmer]

I'm seeing the same problem on a Dell laptop with two monitors - one is connected by DVI and the other via VGA, both running at 1920x1080.

If I put the Zune screen on the primary monitor (where the taskbar is), the display sits above the taskbar. If I tell the taskbar to autohide, I'm left with seeing the top pixel of the taskbar.

If I put Zune on the sceondary screen, it looks like it expands to be 1079 pixels tall, with the bottom pixel of the background showing through. If you have a very colourful desktop picture or, indeed, a solid white background for testing, that pixel line becomes very apparent.

A bit of a shame.

[Jason Dunn]

I'm seeing the same problem on a Dell laptop with two monitors...If I put the Zune screen on the primary monitor (where the taskbar is), the display sits above the taskbar. If I tell the taskbar to autohide, I'm left with seeing the top pixel of the taskbar.

Thanks Philip, I'm glad to hear I'm not alone. I wonder why you and I are seeing this behaviour and the other people in this thread are not? Are you running an ATI graphics card on that Dell laptop?

[Philip Colmer]

No, it is the embedded Intel graphics. The laptop is an E4310 with i7 processor and associated chippery.

Doing a web search revealed a thread on a TechNet forum suggesting that someone was also having the same issue with iTunes. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with application windows that are frameless, i.e. they don't have any of the normal window furniture around the edges?

It is strange that not everyone is seeing the problem, otherwise I'd be inclined to suggest it might be a Windows bug where it is reporting back the wrong size somehow for the window to grow to.

It could be that Zune/iTunes has got some logic built into to it regarding "guessing" things like the taskbar size, etc and that is why their windows aren't going full size but, again, why does it happen for everyone? At the very least, you would expect it to happen on 2 or more monitors. I would not necessarily expect the problem to appear on a single monitor system because you don't seem to be able to get a window to go OVER the taskbar now. All you can do really is get the taskbar to autohide and that still leaves a single pixel of taskbar visible at the bottom of the screen.

So ... in order to reproduce the problem, you need at least two monitors. Beyond that, I'm struggling to figure out what the common cause might be.

If you manually drag the Zune window to fill a screen, that is OK but you have the single pixel frame around the window. If you then maximise the window, the pixel frame disappears and you are left seeing the background again.

Very strange ...