Playback controls not working on Surface RT

[SamAt]

Hi,

When I play video(s) on a Surface RT, the controls e.g. Pause, Fast Forward are not functional. For example pressing Pause has no effect at all. Is this a known issue?

Thanks,

Sam

[Lowlander]

I presume you're using MediaMonkey for Metro from the App store?

[SamAt]

Hi, thanks for the response. Certainly an app from the store since, unlike the pro version, that is the only way to put an app of any kind on the Surface RT. In the store it is simply "Media Monkey", and my attraction to it is good playlist support. It looks polished enough, and no surprise when I see you've used the product since 2003; thank you for posting. So I'm really surprised it does not appear to work properly, especially when it's difficult to mess up a Surface RT environment. I checked and of course it does not repro on desktop Win 8. The Surface does limitations that a desktop does not.

In the form of a hasty bug report:

Product: Media Monkey
Title: Playback controls don't function on Surface RT App
Source: Win 8 Store
Environment: Surface RT, Win 8.0
Repro steps:
1. Play as list of .wmv files.
2. Click on any of the playback controls, pause, forward, backward and they have no effect. It does not repro on other players.

Thanks much,

Sam

[Sanjay]

I can confirm. Latest version of the app installed today on a 1st Gen. Surface RT with Windows RT 8.1 and all updates. Tried browsing to a folder on a USB stick with an MP4 (see MediaInfo report below) and associated SRT. First problem - the MP4 was displayed twice for some reason (perhaps the SRT with the same name confused the app?) Next and most major issue - either copy started fine but none of the on-screen controls (pause, seek bar, volume etc.) worked and the subtitles (Unicode SRT) didn't show up either.

Code: Select all

  General
    Complete name : Movie.mp4
    Format : MPEG-4
    Format profile : Base Media
    Codec ID : isom
    File size : 3.01 GiB
    Duration : 1h 16mn
    Overall bit rate mode : Variable
    Overall bit rate : 5 667 Kbps
    Encoded date : UTC 2012-02-09 18:34:11
    Tagged date : UTC 2012-02-09 18:34:11

  Video #1
    ID : 1
    Format : AVC
    Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
    Format profile : High@L4.1
    Format settings, CABAC : Yes
    Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
    Codec ID : avc1
    Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
    Duration : 1h 16mn
    Bit rate mode : Variable
    Bit rate : 5 344 Kbps
    Maximum bit rate : 62.5 Mbps
    Width : 1 920 pixels
    Height : 800 pixels
    Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
    Frame rate mode : Constant
    Frame rate : 23.976 fps
    Color space : YUV
    Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
    Bit depth : 8 bits
    Scan type : Progressive
    Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.145
    Stream size : 2.84 GiB (94%)
    Title : Lady and the Tramp
    Writing library : x264 core 120 r2120 0c7dab9
    Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=5344 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=62500 / vbv_bufsize=62500 / nal_hrd=vbr / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
    Encoded date : UTC 2012-02-09 18:34:11
    Tagged date : UTC 2012-02-09 18:36:56

  Audio #2
    ID : 2
    Format : AAC
    Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
    Format profile : LC
    Codec ID : 40
    Duration : 1h 16mn
    Bit rate mode : Variable
    Bit rate : 320 Kbps
    Maximum bit rate : 334 Kbps
    Channel count : 2 channels
    Original Channel count : 6 channels
    Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
    Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
    Compression mode : Lossy
    Stream size : 174 MiB (6%)
    Language : English
    Encoded date : UTC 2012-02-09 18:36:45
    Tagged date : UTC 2012-02-09 18:36:56

I installed this app mainly hoping for MKV and FLAC support. MP3s and FLACs seem to play back fine from a USB stick in my very limited testing so far. MKV support seems to be non-existent although perhaps something is planned? MP4 should work properly but doesn't, which is a real disappointment. Any fixes on the horizon since it's been more than a month now since this major issue was reported?

Thanks for an otherwise wonderful app!

[PetrCBR]

We're preparing new update for windows 8.1 with various fixes and improvements.

[Sanjay]

We're preparing new update for windows 8.1 with various fixes and improvements.

There seem to be posts promising an imminent release of the update for almost half a year now, but looks like it's become a mythical thing like VLC for Metro! I'm guessing there's still no ETA for it? Maybe we'll have it in time for Windows 8.1 Update 1 or even Windows 8.2, which of course will cause the app to break once more and yet another long wait.

Edit: Sorry for the sniping. I'm just a huge MM fan who's getting quite frustrated with the sorry state of media playback apps on Windows RT (especially for FLACs and MKVs with subtitles). I can't stand seeing yet another damn fake VLC app in the store.

[PetrCBR]

It's not that easy. Current version is in C++ and because of some critical issues (not on our side, but MS) we're working hard on HTML5/JS/C++ version which is almost ready to release.

[Lowlander]

It seems that Metro limitations and lack of user adoption are to blame for lack of good apps on Metro. Even Microsoft has been slow with Metro Apps or released them with severe limitations. I personally only use the mail App occasionally and do everything else in the desktop environment.

[PeterP]

Can I confirm that the problem occurs on my Asus Transformer T100 running Win 8.1.
Plays fine, with the best volume of any video player I have tried (VLC, VLC metro, Win Media Player, Stock Video Player) but none of the player controls (including Pause and Stop) work./
It finds both Video & Music and indexes well - please can we have an update to resolve the controls