Announcing Zoom Player MAX & IPTV version 21.5
Published July 16th, 2025
What's new, changed and fixed in Zoom Player MAX v21.5:
New :
* 18 new functions added to the control overlay button options: 01. Play previous video in the same folder as the playing video 02. Play next video in the same folder as the playing video 03. Play previous media with the same file extension in the same folder 04. Play next media with the same file extension in the same folder 05. Fast Play by user specified value 06. Delete currently playing media 07. Increase play rate by user specified value 08. Decrease play rate by user specified value 09. DirectShow-Zoom Pan Left 10. DirectShow-Zoom Pan Right 11. DirectShow-Zoom Pan Up 12. DirectShow-Zoom Pan Down 13. Audio Synchronize ahead by user specified value 14. Audio Synchronize back by user specified value 15. Subtitle Synchronize ahead by user specified value 16. Subtitle Synchronize back by user specified value 17. Increase Volume by user specified value 18. Decrease Volume by user specified value Since the available buttons now stands at 88, I've added a filtering option to make it easier to find the button you're looking for. * Color Control support is now available when using MPC-VR as the video renderer. * Added a new JSON post-processing cache mechanism when using the IPTV Player API. The practical application is that Zoom Player opens the IPTV window faster when closing and reopening Zoom Player several times in the same IPTV database update period (by default, once per day). * The IPTV play window has been visually enhanced with gradient shading of the playlist and EPG sections. Of course, I made the gradient colors fully customizable through the IPTV Window's "Customize" menu option. * The IPTV EPG Grid view has been visually enhanced with gradient shading of Streams and Programs. Of course, I made the gradient colors fully customizable through the EPG Grid's "Customize" menu option. * Added support for IPTV stream grouping based on the "#EXTGRP" tag in M3U/M3U8 playlist. * Added support for two more types of IPTV archive (catchup) streaming modes. * New Setting (Adv. Options / Interface / Mouse / Settings) that determines whether the mouse cursor hides automatically when the player window is maximized. Enabled by default. * New Settings (Adv. Options / Interface / Control Overlay) to pick the color and opacity of timeline highlighting features (e.g. AB Repeat). * The "exInterface" extended function has been enhanced with new parameters: 15 = Show Control Overlay 16 = Hide Control Overlay 17 = Show Color Control Overlay 18 = Hide Color Control Overlay 19 = Show IPTV stream selection window 20 = Hide IPTV stream selection window 21 = Show Media Server browser window 22 = Hide Media Server browser window * Zoom Player's error dialog is no longer skinned and has been rewritten to use a modern overlay style. Should be easier to read, especially when compared to the skinned version on bright skins (e.g. Alba). * Zoom Player's "Please wait" dialog is no longer skinned and has been rewritten to use an modern overlay style. * New "Tab" (nvTab) navigation function. The Tab button can now be used to: 1. Switch the main home theater interface between home theater interface selection and system functions. 2. Switch the media library home theater interface to function mode and back to the media list. 3. Switch the file browsing home theater interface to function mode and back to the file list. 4. Switch the play list home theater interface to function mode and back to the media list. 5. Switch the play history home theater interface to function mode and back to the media list. 6. Switch the favorites home theater interface to function mode and back to the media list. 7. Switch the streaming audio home theater interface to function mode and back to the media list. 8. Switch the active button on the error dialog window. If you are using a custom keyboard layout, you may want to add this line to your key file: nvAddKey(None,9,nvTab) * I modified the media library's meta-data editor to show the last play date for TV and Movie category folders. And now next to the date, I show how many years and days have passed since the last play date. * Added "Switch to Modern UI" and "Switch to Classic UI" right-click menu options under the "Controls" sub-menu. * Zoom Player's TCP/IP has been extended with a new "0300" message that returns the current skin mode. The skin mode is a 32bit value with each bit indicating whether a skin group section is active. * Zoom Player's TCP/IP has been extended with a new "0310" message that returns the current Media mode skin file. * Zoom Player's TCP/IP has been extended with a new "0320" message that returns the current DVD mode skin file. * Zoom Player's TCP/IP has been extended with a new "0330" message that returns the current Audio mode skin file.Changed :
+ The AB Repeat feature's active range is now visible on the control overlay timeline area. + The "Refresh" button on the IPTV player window can now be used to force a refresh of the IPTV playlist/EPG databases for either the selected playlist entry or All playlist entries without having to open the advanced options dialog. + Playing media from a media server (PLEX / Emby / Jellyfin) that includes multiple versions of the same media will now add all versions to the playlist, allowing you to switch between versions using the "next track" feature. + The Media Server Browser now remembers the list's "Top Index" when closing and re-opening the browser window, restoring the exact scroll bar position of the selected item within the list. + Opening the "Chapter Editor / Go to" dialog using the "G" keyboard shortcut now opens with the "Go to" entry box active and available for immediate input. Opening the same dialog with the Shift+"C" keyboard shortcut opens the dialog with the Chapter name entry box active. + Dragging the Color Control Overlay's color bars now shows the active value as you drag the mouse cursor over a color bar. + Switching between Modern and Classic user interface modes now tries to remember the currently active skin in Classic mode. + Zoom Player's function picker dialog now uses a filtering feature instead of search as it makes it much easier to find functions. The function picker is used in several places throughout Zoom Player's user interface, including the keyboard layout editor and picking custom mouse button functions. + When using multiple attempts to connect to a streaming server, the "Please Wait" window now shows a "Connecting (2/3)" type messages to provide better feedback on the current connection status. + You can no longer show the control overlay by mouse movement when the "Please Wait" window is visible.Fixed :
- Fixed an issue where the playlist editor and equalizer windows could pop to the front of other applications when a new media is loaded and Zoom Player is in the running in the background. - When specifying a custom font that is incompatible (e.g. vertical text font starting with the "@" character) with overlay interfaces or was uninstalled later on, the overlay interfaces did not show any text. Now in such cases, the Arial font is used as a fallback. - There were some cases when trying to use the media library category editor to add a YouTube channel where channel URLs using "@[username]" were not identified correctly and other channels were added instead. - When using Zoom Player's trial version, the time viewing limit only counts actual play time and will no longer bug you to upgrade when you're just setting up. - When using Zoom Player's trial version and the time viewing limit expires Zoom Player did not close itself properly. - Using the media library category editor failed to add a YouTube channel where the channel's URL contained extra information after the channel's identifier (e.g. "https://youtube.com/@zptechnology?si=LsHK4XZ6ngCgLcXE"). - In the advanced options dialog, the ability to set custom functions for the keyboard's "Space" and "Arrow" functions (left/right/up/down) was broken with the custom entry fields remaining disabled. - Switching to audio mode when using MPC-VR as the video renderer did not hide the video window causing cosmetic issues with the audio mode skin. - There was a slight lag updating the timeline's current position when loading a media with a previously saved position. - Favorites added from the media server's media library plugin are now playable. If you previously added favorites from a media library category using the media server plugin, you will have to add them again. - Trying to play a media from either an Emby or Jellyfin server failed if the media had multiple versions (encodings). - The "Show/Hide the Home Theater's Web Browser interface" feature was broken, triggering an empty screen or crash. - The advanced options dialog's playlist Customization page was accidentally labeled as "Playlist". - Resetting the control overlay's default style did not reset the opacity level of the timeline chapter marks to its correct 50% default value. - The were cases where the error dialog could appear behind other, open windows. - Fixed a glitch when Zoom Player's window is positioned in between two different monitors, the OSD action pop-up message could have appeared in the wrong position and even flicker a bit.