Windows 8 support plans

[ksarnelli]

I just upgrade to Windows 8 and was saddened to see that Media Preview doesn't work with anything after the Consumer Preview. What call was removed that broke functionality? Are there any plans for a workaround to re-enable support? Thanks in advance!

[BabelSoft]

Windows 8 is just a mess...
Well, if you can read Chinese, a user told me in the Chinese section that the issue may be related to security issues, as Microsoft may have tighten add-in integration in Windows 8.
Sadly, Microsoft didn't release any information on this and I don't really have the time to investigate this right now.
But I know I'm not the only one facing this issue, so a workaround should appear in the near future.

[BabelSoft]

Well, I investigated a little further the potential security issue. It actually doesn't apply to Media Preview as it is installed using admin rights and the system call at fault doesn't return an "Access denied" error...
The system call that broke in Windows 8 is (beware C++ code):
IStream *m_pStream;
STATSTG stat;
HRESULT hr = m_pStream->Stat(&stat, STATFLAG_DEFAULT);

The stat structure should contain the original name of the file underlying the current binary stream, but in Windows 8, it just never returns the filename... If any seasoned programmer could give me a hand here, it would be quite useful...

[TheAndyMac]

I am very interested how you progress on this fix. Moving all machines at home (and sons) to Windows 8 and really valued Media Preview, so as soon as you have something you'd like to have tested on a wider basis, I'd be happy to try to help.

[BabelSoft]

Sadly, I still can't find a way to make it work securely with Windows 8.
As explained, an important system call is broken in Windows 8, and I don't really want to lessen the stability of Media Preview on Windows 8 by using a less secured mode than what is used on previous version of Windows.

I'll try to keep this thread updated with the latest pieces of information, but it's not likely to happen soon

[BabelSoft]

I think that some people here will be really happy.
I found a viable workaround to make Media Preview working on Windows 8. Despite being as robust as ever (this is the top priority design for Media Preview), it's not always producing thumbnails in every cases as what would be done on Windows 7 and earlier, so I need some people to test the current beta version and report any video files that don't get any thumbnails.

Here's the links to the beta version:
http://www.babelsoft.net/bin/MediaPrevi ... .beta3.msi
http://www.babelsoft.net/bin/MediaPrevi ... .beta3.msi

[alanson]

It seems like I may be the first to comment on the new beta version of Media Preview, at least on this English language site. And I think I am privileged as I have just installed it - I have Windows 8 and a 64-bit computer - and found that it has created thumbnails of all my video files bar a couple. For some reason I do not have a preview for one MP4 file. I did try to live test it and an FLV file by dragging and dropping thems to the Target Zone with the System vs. MP mode selected. The FLV file tested fine but the MP4 file generated the error "Configuration tool for Media Preview has stopped working". Strangely I had no problems creating thumbnails for my other MP4 files (which I did not try and live test). The file types I have are WMV, ASF, MP4, FLV, M4V (this one did not seem to work) and MTS. I also added a VRO file to the file format list and this one also now has a thumbnail. Congratulations Babelsoft! I take it that there should be no security concerns having Media Preview running with Windows 8.

[BabelSoft]

Thanks alanson for the early report.
Can you find a way to send me the 2 video files that don't get any thumbnails? As I had to do some very low-level works to make Media Preview working on Windows 8, I know that I have overlooked some use cases. The only way to address this is by testing the new version with a lot of video files and doing some corrections along the way...

[BabelSoft]

I've been reported some issues with some players that just disable Media Preview thumbnailing after being installed on Windows 8.
This bug is mainly related to MPC-HD.

So here's a beta4 with related fixes, uninstall beta3 before installing beta4:
http://www.babelsoft.net/bin/MediaPrevi ... .beta4.msi
http://www.babelsoft.net/bin/MediaPrevi ... .beta4.msi

[alanson]

Re my Beta version and Windows 8 post, I now realise my M4V video does/does have a thumbnail (it is the title page not a picture). Re the MP4 video with no thumbnail, I think there is something wrong with the video. It is a test video on the RealPlayer site, https://real.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8883. I found the same video in FLV format and it has no problems associated with it. All my other MP4s have thumbnails. I am impressed that when adding a new video to file, a thumbnail is automatically generated, so no need to run the MP program again.