Changing Default Media Player in Win 2003 SE??

[computermaverick]

Hello- I have Win 2003 SE running on a Toshiba E800 and I do not like the postage stamp size video it plays. Does anyone know how to change the default media player for streaming video and the like to say beta player - so it starts automatically and not MS Media Player ? Thanks :|

[Nurhisham Hussein]

You can change file associations with Resco Explorer, or GSFinder+ (a freeware alternative). The simplest way to do it though is through Betaplayer itself. Click on options on the menubar, then on settings in the menu. this will bring up Betaplayer's settings screens. Here, click on Select page on the menubar, and File Associations on the popup menu. After that just select all the media types you want Betaplayer to handle, and click on the OK button at the top. I'm not sure if you have to restart Betaplayer for the registry changes to take hold, but that should do what you want.

HTH

[GSmith]

There still is at least one MIME type that BetaPlayer does not associate with itself (video/x-ms-wmv). This affects programs like FeederReader that use the MIME type to determine which program to launch for enclosures (podcasts, videocasts, etc). I believe that most programs, such as File Explorer, use the file extension first to determine the associated program.

Can Resco Explorer or GSFinder+ set MIME type associations as well?

Greg Smith
Author, FeederReader - Pocket PC *direct* RSS text, audio, video, podcast
www.FeederReader.com - Download on the Road

[Nurhisham Hussein]

You are quite correct. I've just flipped through the registry and Betaplayer doesn't pick up that particular filetype. On the other hand the MIME entry for that filetype just points back to another extension: '.wmwebasf' which has the entry 'WMWebASFFile'. A quick search led me to HKCR\WMWebASFFile, with a shell\open\command entry pointing to wmplayer, with a few parameters added. Would changing this entry here do what you want?

I don't know about Resco (which I don't have), but GSFinder+ does pick up the extra parameters, so it might actually be able to directly edit the correct registry entries.

[GSmith]

You are quite correct. I've just flipped through the registry and Betaplayer doesn't pick up that particular filetype. On the other hand the MIME entry for that filetype just points back to another extension: '.wmwebasf' which has the entry 'WMWebASFFile'. A quick search led me to HKCR\WMWebASFFile, with a shell\open\command entry pointing to wmplayer, with a few parameters added. Would changing this entry here do what you want?

And you are also right. Changing either the MIME entry or that extension registry entry should work fine as long as BetaPlayer plays ALL files with that MIME type and extension. (BTW, can you have an 8-letter extension on a PPC?)

It is very likely much more appropriate to change the "file extension -> program" entry and leave the "MIME type -> file extension" entry alone.

Nice work!

[Don't Panic!]

I'm pretty sure the problem is caused by WMP10, not betaplayer. Microsoft changed something in WMP10 that picard_beta hasn't been able to figure out. IF this MIME thing should work though get on over to corecodec.org and let him know.

Maybe that will get is mnd off the PALM platform and back on to PPC's. :devilboy:

[GSmith]

I'm not sure if the OP simply did not have ANY file associations enabled or if they had a particular problem with the file type I mentioned. Nonetheless, I submitted this MIME-type/file-type improvement to corecodec.org.

[computermaverick]

Wow! Everyone sure went to work on my question. I noticed when streaming video played from web sites and so forth on my Toshiba E800 with MS Media Player 9 - everything was postage stamp size. It seems everything played on MS Media Player 9 is postage stamp size. Why would I purchase a pocket pc with one of the bigger screens on the market and play postage stamp size video?? My cell phone maybe (that has a postage stamp size video display) - but not my large screen pocket pc. I searched around and found BetaPlayer that worked great. But I could not figure out how to make it the default player. I do not believe I can uninstall MS Media Player 9? I may have made this more complicated than I intended and caused people a lot of needless effort. As GSmith surmised -I looked at the file associations and nothing was selected. So - I selected them all and later tonight will try streaming video and the like and see if BetaPlayer will automatically start playing the stream. If not - I'll be back. Is there a way to de/select file associations within Media Player 9 (I could not find any)? Do I have to worry about Media Player still being the default player for apps - after I checked all the file associations in BetaPlayer? Thanks for all the input. One of the things I like about fiddlin with computers is that there is always a great bunch of people out there willing to help if asked. :D

[GSmith]

As far as I know, WMP9 has no way of selecting or deselecting file associations.

There really is no need to *deselect* from a program, you simply *select* in the program of your choice and the other application is automatically deselected. If the application does not allow you to select file associations, it's possible that it can't handle all files of that type. But many programs I think are conservative or just incompletely specified w.r.t. their file associations. For such programs, use the previously-mentioned applications (Resco Explorer or GSFinder+) to specify the file associations you prefer.

There is a list of audio/video programs at http://www.feederreader.com/mediachart.html that may come in handy. On the chart is an attempt at identifying programs that can handle streaming based on information gleaned from various web sites, although information on streaming is difficult to round up. If you find out more information about streaming and specific programs, let me know!

Good luck!

Greg Smith
Author, FeederReader - Pocket PC *direct* RSS text, audio, video, podcasts
www.FeederReader.com - Download on the Road

[computermaverick]

GSmith etal:
Regarding playing video files on a Toshiba E800 via BetaPlayer rather than Windows Media Player 9 - I associated all files possible in Beta Player. I went to the pocketpcmedia.com web site and tried to view a movie trailer. When I selected this I got a pop up that asked if I wanted to download xxxx.asx file to the my documents folder in main memory. There was a check box for "open the file after download." I had not received such a pop up before I associated all the files in BetaPlayer. When I check the box - it appears to download the file - then starts playing it with Media Player - Postage Stamp Size. If I uncheck the box it does not play it automatically. I then go to BetaPlayer, find the file on my SD card or in main memory - select it and I get a message from BetaPlayer that mms protocol is not supported. But the file extension is .asx - which is listed in the supported associations of BetaPlayer! I noticed the .asx file size is 0 bytes. Media Player still plays it. Any ideas?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I've never done streaming on my PDA before, so take this with a pinch of salt. First, if I'm not mistaken, the *.asx file is just a shortcut pointing to the location on the web of the actual media. That's the reason why the file you got is so small. I guess that WMP knows how to manage internet shortcuts, which is why it can play the file and why Betaplayer can't. I actually had a go at changing the file associations directly in the registry (the WMWebASFFile and WMWebASXFile default entries) and got pretty much the same thing you got, with the exception that an error was generated saying that it couldn't find a *.php file and associated libraries!? So there is something beyond just file types going on here, there has got to be a tie-in with PIE and handling database generated files.

FYI, unlike Betaplayer, WMP does not scale videos which is why you're getting the 'postage stamp' size.

[OddbOd]

Hishamh is quite correct, the ASX file is merely a metafile which points to a location on the web. The reason some files play and others don't is a little more complicated than it first appears and has more to do with Pocket IE's strange behaviour rather than either player.

It was discovered some time ago that IE 4, which is the codebase that PIE is derived from, actually ignores some headers sent by a webserver and attempts to determine a file's type using a poorly documented method known as "sniffing", the inner logic of which has never been revealed. Any file that is sent with the HTTP content-disposition header set to inline will have its content arbitrarily determined by IE leading to ASX,WAX,WMWEBASX,etc. files never being checked against the file associations in the registry and instead passed directly to WMP. This is why on some websites they continue to be opened by WMP9/10 even after the registry entries have been edited. This "feature" of PIE can only be fixed by Microsoft or avoided by ensuring the webserver always sends the Content Disposition header set to download. On balance who do you think should fix it, the webmasters who were following accepted web standards or Microsoft who attempt to set their own.

computermaverick: The reason you had the file download message box appear after changing the file association for ASX files is because of more undocumented Microsoft voodoo. It turns out that you can suppress that message box by using a special EditFlags value in the registry, unfortunately no other player except WMP exploits this value as undocumented features are subject to change without notice. The problem you are having with the file mentioned above is the primary reason you shouldn't attempt to replace WMP for playback of Windows Media metafiles namely that Betaplayer doesn't support the MMS protocol suite. Again this protocol is not documented by Microsoft and programs that do support MMS streaming use a reverse engineered version that works but can't guarantee future compatibility. Maybe in the future Picard will add support for MMS streams he could probably borrow the MMS code from the VideoLAN or MPlayer projects, but at this satge I'm not holding my breath.

Sorry to be such a wet blanket with my first post here but I think it's better that you know the truth (as I see it) rather than trying solutions that in the end will not work.

[Don't Panic!]

I love it when someone who knows what they're talking about and can express themselves in plain english joins the boards. Welcome to PPCT OddbOd. 8)