Following up my previous integrated Windows 7 codec support coverage, I saw from Volker Zota at heise that some new developments in the Windows 7 betas have come to light. According to the investigative work of an ffdshow developer, as reported to Dan “BetaBoy” Marlin of CoreCodec, the latest beta of Windows 7 blocks the usage of third party video decoders from Windows Media Player and MCE. There are some very notable caveats to the information as it stands right now: this is after all just a beta and might not be in the final released version of Windows 7, there will likely be work arounds, especially for other player software applications (like VLC and Media Player Classic), and because Windows 7 will come with h.264 already installed, many users will never need third-party decoders anyway.
there have been a handful of “releases” around and so far i’ve stuck with the 7000 build, it would be a real nightmare if this is true in future microsoft released updates. i’m still wondering how, or if, they’ll cater to those upgrading from beta to RC or final. most likely just reformat/install.
I installed win7codecs on my Windows 7 Beta machines from Sharrk007’s Win 7 Codecs Page:
http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html
Not only did they install and work with Windows Media Player – they were essential – far better for many codec types than the codecs that shipped with W7 Beta – especially on my under powered laptop with an under powered graphics card with drivers that were never updated to support Vista, let alone W7.
…Dale