Kantaris- Another Good Player For Windows

Which media player do you use? Default Windows media player, VideoLAN Client (VLC), GOM, or any other? I know there are many more underrated media players present, but installing more than two players is also not a good idea unless you are a media buff, right?

If you are tired with the common players, here is another media player for your Windows. The software we are talking about is Kantaris (heard its name here).

Kantaris is an open-source media player available for Windows. This player is basically based on the famous VLC player and Bass audio library.

Along with the ability to play DVDs and audio CDs, Kantaris can also play AVI, MPEG, MGEG-AVC, WMV, MOV, MKV, quicktime, matroska, divx, xvid, H264, MP3, WMA, OGG files and more.

User interface is simple but better than the VLC player. Playback, Menu, Last.fm radio, Movie trailers, and Video library options are available at the top of the screen just like in Windows Media Player.

The most interesting feature present with this player is that it allows you to browse through hundreds of movie trailers in 3D environment right within the player, without opening your web browser. To do this, just switch to Movie trailers tab and wait for a few seconds to see a big list of movie trailers. Kantaris also lets you upload your own subtitles to open subtitles site.

You will find hundreds of settings related to audio, video, subtitles, video library under settings option. You can also customize the hotkeys (shortcut keys) by opening settings, hotkey.

|Download Kantaris|

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Kantaris- Another Good Player For Windows

Which media player do you use? Default Windows media player, VideoLAN Client (VLC), GOM, or any other? I know there are many more underrated media players present, but installing more than two players is also not a good idea unless you are a media buff, right?

If you are tired with the common players, here is another media player for your Windows. The software we are talking about is Kantaris (heard its name here).

Kantaris is an open-source media player available for Windows. This player is basically based on the famous VLC player and Bass audio library.

Along with the ability to play DVDs and audio CDs, Kantaris can also play AVI, MPEG, MGEG-AVC, WMV, MOV, MKV, quicktime, matroska, divx, xvid, H264, MP3, WMA, OGG files and more.

User interface is simple but better than the VLC player. Playback, Menu, Last.fm radio, Movie trailers, and Video library options are available at the top of the screen just like in Windows Media Player.

The most interesting feature present with this player is that it allows you to browse through hundreds of movie trailers in 3D environment right within the player, without opening your web browser. To do this, just switch to Movie trailers tab and wait for a few seconds to see a big list of movie trailers. Kantaris also lets you upload your own subtitles to open subtitles site.

You will find hundreds of settings related to audio, video, subtitles, video library under settings option. You can also customize the hotkeys (shortcut keys) by opening settings, hotkey.

|Download Kantaris|

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VLC Media Player 1.0.0 Released, Download Now

One of the most versatile media players, VLC, has been reached version 1.0.0 (code named Goldeneye). The new VLC media player comes with tons of features and improvements that make the new browser very essential for Windows.

Key features:

* Supports most of the video formats

* Live recording

* Speed controls

* Video scaling in fullscreen

* New Dirac encoder and MP3 fixed-point encoder

* Zipped file playback

* Customizable toolbar

* New skin for the skins2 interface

* New HD codecs and major improvements in many formats

Moreover, the Windows version supports the highest number of formats compared to other platforms. VLC v1.0.0 is 18 MB in size and can be downloaded from the link below.

Download VLC Player 1.0.0

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VLC Media Player 1.0.0 Released, Download Now

One of the most versatile media players, VLC, has been reached version 1.0.0 (code named Goldeneye). The new VLC media player comes with tons of features and improvements that make the new browser very essential for Windows.

Key features:

* Supports most of the video formats

* Live recording

* Speed controls

* Video scaling in fullscreen

* New Dirac encoder and MP3 fixed-point encoder

* Zipped file playback

* Customizable toolbar

* New skin for the skins2 interface

* New HD codecs and major improvements in many formats

Moreover, the Windows version supports the highest number of formats compared to other platforms. VLC v1.0.0 is 18 MB in size and can be downloaded from the link below.

Download VLC Player 1.0.0

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How To Import Windows Media Player Library To Winamp

Since Winamp is one of the best audio players available for Windows, most of us use Winamp as our default audio player. If you have used the default Windows Media Player for a while you will agree that the Windows Media Player library feature is excellent.

 

If you don’t like to waste your precious time in creating or organizing library in Winamp you can simply import your WMP library to Winamp as well. But Winamp doesn’t let you import WMP library by default.

Luckily! I have come across a small application, in fact a plug-in, (of course free) that lets you import windows Media Player library to Winamp including all metadata such as ratings and play counts.

This plug-in requires Windows Media Player 9 or higher and Winamp version 5 or higher.

Key features:

# Imports library in a few seconds

# Import what you need: You can import all audio and video files, only audio or only video files as well

# Allows you remove files from the Winamp library that are not found in Windows Media Player library

# Automatic import allows you import library on every Winamp startup

Download Plug-in

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SMPlayer – Another Good Video Player For Windows

Which is the best free video player for Windows? Probably, it’s tough to answer to this question as we all have different tastes.

SMPlayer is another good video player for Windows, which actually uses the famous MPlayer as its engine. As it runs on the all time favorite MPlayer’s engine it supports most of the video formats out there including avi, mov, vob, 3gp, and ogg.

The user interface is slightly better than the default MPlayer. It also supports enough number of subtitle formats such as srt, ssa, sub, which is really helpful to watch a non-native language movie.

There is an interesting and unusual feature present in SMPlayer. It can remember the settings for all the files that you play. That is, if you reopen a video file you will be taken to the scene that you have left while closing the particular video file. It’s something like automatic pause and resume option.

The re is one more good feature present in SMPlayer. This player can play a video file from an URL as well. This feature is really cool if you like to watch YouTube videos on with great controls.

Just like in any other good video player you will also find hundreds of options in this player to tweak video and audio settings. Overall it’s a good video player for Windows as far as the performance is concerned.

Download size is 13.3 MB and can be downloaded from the link mentioned below.

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How To Display Recent Files Instead Of Frequent Files In Windows Media Player Jump List

The all new Windows Media Player (WMP) in Windows 7 has several useful features. If you use Windows Media Player to watch movies or listen to music, then here is a small trick.
The Windows Media Player jump list in taskbar displays ten frequently used files under “Frequent” list by default. The frequent list in the WMP jump list can be replaced with recently used files. That is, you will be shown recently used files in WMP jump list instead of the default frequent list.

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Download Yule Log Visualization For Windows 7

A Visualization is plug-in for Windows Media Player that displays splashes of colour and geometric shapes that change with the beat of the audio that is playing. In simple words, Visualization is a graphical display that changes in response to the audio signal.

Yule Log is a cool visualization of a warm fireplace for your Windows Media Player in Windows 7 (x86 and x64). If you are new to visualizations, here is how to enable the visualization in Windows Media Player.

1. Download the Yule Log Visualization.

2. Kick start the installation by double-clicking on the .msi file and simply click the Next button to complete the installation.

3. Now you need to enable the visualization in Windows Media Player. Run the Windows Media Player.

4. Right-click on the player and go to Visualizations > Yule Log and then select Yule Log to enable the visualization.

5. Done! Play an audio file to see the beauty of Yule Log visualization.

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How To Make Windows Media Player Begin Playing Songs At A Predefined Time

Like most of you, I also use Windows Media Player as my primary media player. Every time I start my notebook, I like to listen to old hits. As opening the same playlist again and again is a boring task to do, I have done this simple tweak so that WMP will automatically start and playing my favourite playlist.

In simple words, you can make your WMP to start playing your favourite playlist at any predefined time by using this guide.

How to make WMP Playing songs at a predefined time:

1. Type task scheduler in Start menu search field and hit enter.

2. Once the Task Scheduler window launched, click Create Basic Task to launch Create Basic Task Wizard.

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How To Make Windows Media Player Begin Playing Songs At A Predefined Time

Like most of you, I also use Windows Media Player as my primary media player. Every time I start my notebook, I like to listen to old hits. As opening the same playlist again and again is a boring task to do, I have done this simple tweak so that WMP will automatically start and playing my favourite playlist.

In simple words, you can make your WMP to start playing your favourite playlist at any predefined time by using this guide.

How to make WMP Playing songs at a predefined time:

1. Type task scheduler in Start menu search field and hit enter.

2. Once the Task Scheduler window launched, click Create Basic Task to launch Create Basic Task Wizard.

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How To Delete Corrupted Windows Media Player Library

Windows Media Player 12 comes with a brilliant Library which helps you organize digital media collection in a simple way. At times, you might want to build a new library by deleting the current one. Or, one might also like to delete the corrupted library.

Windows Media Player stores all library related information in a folder located in C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player folder. Though one can manually delete all contents present in Media Player folder to delete all Library information, there is a much better option available in Media Player that does the same job. 

To delete your current Media Library items, follow the steps given below:

1.  Run Windows Media Player.

2. Right-click on Address bar or playback controls area, select Tools, Advanced and finally click Restore media library option.

3. Click Yes for the prompt to empty Library contents!

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Download And Install Windows Media Player 12 Skins

The default skin of the Windows Media Player 12 is elegant. The aero UI theme of the WMP 12 look awesome on the latest version of Windows. If you are bored with the default look of the WMP 12, you might want to install a third-party skin.

There are very few skins are available for Windows Media Player 12 on the Internet. For some reasons, users are not creating new skins for WMP 12.

The official Windows Media Player skins gallery features some of the best skins available for Windows Media Player. Even though, skins were originally developed for Windows Media Player 11, most of them work on WMP 12 as well.

In this guide, we will show you how to download and install skins in WMP 12:

1. Visit the official skins gallery and download a skin.

2. Double-click on the skin file to install and apply it. Click Yes for the warning prompt.

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How To Create Live USB/CD/DVD OF Vista/XP

You might have read many tutorials, which guide you to make Vista/XP live CD using Barts PE software. Bart’s PE procedure is pretty time consuming as well as old. In this tutorial I am going to show you the Vista/XP live CD and Vista/XP live USB stick without using the old Barts PE freeware. Let’s start the procedure.I have tried to keep the tut as small as possible.

[Read How To Create Live XP CD (easy procedure)]

Required Software(s) and other things
1.Microsoft Windows XP/Vista CD/DVD
2.Two GB or more capacity pen drive
3.Net connection( No need to worry for speed connection. I am doing this on MO). It’s matter of few MBs
4.CD/DVD to make live CD/DVD.
5.Man of the match..Sorry, I mean, WinBuild software, using which we are going to create live CD.
*Download the WinBuild Here(It’s just 834KBs!!!)
*Extract the file and copy it to a ‘New Folder’(Recommended requierd space is 2GB)
*Unpack and Run Winbuilder(no installation required!!!)
*On your mark, get set, go…
1.The first screen of WinBuilder gives you the brief explanation on how to use this magnificent program. You can read all the necessary instructions here. Press on the “Download” tab to proceed further.
2.This is the download screen of WinBuilder were you need to select required tools, drivers and other crusial applications required for a live CD/USB. As you can see in the screen shot you need to select one option from the three(‘Recommended’ or ‘Complete’ or ‘Minimum’) options in the drop down menu. You can further remove from the list which shows just below these three options.
3.After selecting required option,press ‘Download’ button which is located just below the left side pane. Time required to download depends on what optins you have selected in the left side pane just before. Download size is around 40 MB.
4.The next one is ‘Scripts’ tab.Once again you will see a list of options on the left pane of the wizard. Here, check the ‘VistaPE MUltiboot’/XP option and expand the tree further.
5.Expand the tree named ‘Applications’.In this option, you will see all the available sections of applications,which you can add to your live Vista/XP CD/USB.
6.Next screen is ‘Finalize’ option. It might take few minutes to build the live media.If you like to create live CD select the ‘Create ISO’ option and provide the label for the CD.

7.Suppose, if you planning to make a bootable USB drive, then select the ‘Copy to USB device’ option.

8.Click on the ‘Paths’ tab, and provide the path of the USB drive, which has the Windows Vista/XP DVD in the source directory filed and click on the ‘Play’ button.

9.Extraction process takes place. Wait for a minute.
Wait for few seconds to see you. Burn the ISO to get your dream live Windows
10.Now,your bootable USB/CD is ready.
11.Insert the CD/USB and kick start the your own windows live!!!
(Will add more screen shots soon)
Note: Make sure your system supports ‘booting from the USB’ before creating the live USB.
Under vista you will need to disable the UAC (User Account Control)

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Create Live XP CD [Without Using Bart PE]

If you are regular here, few weeks ago I had written an article “how to create live XP/Vista CD/DVD/USB“. Few readers had asked me to write a new simplified article which shows the making of Live XP without any hassle. So, I am writing this new guide for XP lovers.

Here I am re-writing the article by assuming that you are going to create Live XP CD. To create live XP CD, you need have internet connection. If you don’t have internet connection you need to wait for few days as we will write about creating Live USB drive using another method. Make sure your system is connected to the internet.
Essentials:
1. Winbuilder (download from here)
2. Windows XP CD
3. Internet Connection
4. Blank CD
1. Download Winbuilder (Free) from here, extract the zip file to a folder called “Live XP” on your Desktop (assuming that you have a minimum of 700MB free space on your C Drive).You can even choose any other drives or folders to extract the Winbuilder  zip file. Make sure you have enough amount of free space before proceeding further.

2. Run Winbuilder.exe file from the Live XP folder, below is the welcome screen you will see at the first time. Download screen is the screen where you need to choose the tools, drivers and other applications required for the live CD.

3. Switch to Download tab, uncheck the box named “Optional”, and click Download button located at the bottom left of the pane to start the download of essential scripts and tools for your XP live CD.

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How To: Install Windows 7/Vista From USB Drive [Detailed 100% Working Guide]

This guide works 100% for Vista & Windows 7 unlike most of the guides out there. I have seen many sites/blogs that have “Install Vista from USB guide” but either with incomplete steps or not working guide. I have also seen some guides that don’t’ use proper commands in this guide. After spending many hours I have come up with this 100% working guide.
I just did this method on one of my friends machine and installed the new Windows 7 BETA. The main advantage is that by using USB drive you will be able to install Windows 7/Vista in just 15 minutes. You can also use this bootable USB drive on friend’s computer who doesn’t have a DVD optical drive.
The method is very simple and you can use without any hassles. Needless to say that your motherboard should support USB Boot feature to make use of the bootable USB drive.
Requirements:
*USB Flash Drive (Minimum 4GB)
*Windows 7 or Vista installation files.
Follow the below steps to create bootable Windows 7/Vista USB drive using which you can install Windows 7/Vista easily.

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How To Make Bootable USB

Having a bootable USB is very essential, especially if you are a Netbook user. Using bootable USB to install an operating system (OS) not only makes the installation faster, but also saves a DVD.

Creating or using an USB drive to install Windows operating systems is very easy if you follow the below mentioned steps.

If you are planning to use bootable USB to install Windows 7 or Vista please refer our guides:

Install Windows 7/Vista using bootable USB guide

And also, you can refer install Windows 7 on Acer Aspire One guide

Coming back to bootable USB guide, here we assume that you are using either Vista or Windows 7 to create a bootable USB.

1. Insert your USB (4GB+ preferable) stick to the system and backup all the data from the USB as we are going to format the USB to make it as bootable.

2. Open elevated Command Prompt. To do this, type in CMD in Start menu search field and hit Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Alternatively, navigate to Start > All programs >Accessories > right click on Command Prompt and select run as administrator.

3. When the Command Prompt opens, enter the following command:

DISKPART and hit enter.

LIST DISK and hit enter.

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Gmail Gets New Emoticons

If you remember, Google had added emoticons to Gmail back in 2008. Now, once again, Google labs has added several (100+) new emoticons to the existing list.

To enable these new icons go to settings > click on Labs tab > scroll down the page till you see an entry named Extra Emoji. Check the Extra Emoji entry and click on save changes button. Now, go back to compose mail option to see the new emoticons.

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Google Search Right In Gmail Now

Last evening, Into Windows reported that Gmail Labs added over 100 emoticons to Gmail. Now, Gmail Labs added yet another feature named “Google Search” to Gmail inbox. With Google Search you can search the web without leaving your inbox.

To enable Google Search feature in Gmail, open your Gmail, go to Settings > click on Labs, locate the option named Google Search, select Enabled and finally, click Save Changes button to save the settings. Go back to inbox, type in the keyword (search word) in the left side search box, and hit enter to see a new search results at the bottom right of your screen.

Once you see the required results in the pop-up window, you can replay to the message with the search results, send the URL by chat, past the URL or result in to the message, or compose a new message depending on what you are doing in Gmail while entering the search keyword.

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Gmail Gets Automatic Message Translation Feature

The team behind Gmail Labs has done it again. Few days ago, they added the ability to import mail and contact from other account to Gmail. Today, Gmail Labs introduced automatic message translation to Gmail.

For an average internet user, translating an e-mail might not required. But this is handy feature if you get mails in other languages. Next time when you see a mail in unknown language, you need not to open the Google Translator page, instead you can now automatically convert the mail using automatic message translation feature.

You need to enable automatic message translation feature in Gmail Labs. To do this, go to Settings, click on Labs, scroll down, check the entry named Message Translation and click on Save changes button.

Once you enable this feature and open a mail in other language, you will see an option called Translate message to your default preferred language option on top left. You can also change the default language using the drop-down option.

If all parties are using Gmail, you can have entire conversations in multiple languages with each participant reading the messages in whatever language is most comfortable for them. Enjoy Gmail!

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Windows Live Mail Photo Email Slide Shows Updated

Microsoft has updated the photo email slide show feature of Windows Live Mail. A few changes have been made to the online slide show to make it even better.

Here is what live blog says about the recent changes to the online slide show feature. “Although the photo e-mail feature has been around for several years already in Mail, we made a few recent changes to the online slide show to make it even better.

We took away a lot of the dead space in the old slide show, allowing for a larger viewing area, a much cleaner presentation, and the same beautiful effects you see in all our slide shows on Windows Live Photos. The new slide show uses Microsoft Silverlight technology to match the background color to your image, so it always appears in the best light.”

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Gmail Max Attachment Size Increased to 25 MB

Good news for Gmail folks. Google has increased the maximum Gmail attachment size from 20 MB to 25 MB. This is very useful, especially if you often transfer large files between your friends and family.

According to Google blog, Gmail users can now send and receive messages up to 25 MB in size. Note that you can’t send larger attachments to the contacts that use other email services with smaller attachment limits.

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Windows Live Photo Gallery, Messenger, & Hotmail Tips

If you have already installed Windows Live Essentials, you might want to know some of the great features of Live Photo Gallery, and Messenger. Most of the Windows users are pretty much familiar with Messenger.

And if you are not aware of Live Photo Gallery, Photo Gallery is a part of Windows Live Essentials pack. With Photo Gallery you can make your photos look better, share, change date & time of photo taken, add tags,and create panoramic photos as well.

There are some official videos available that show some of the best features of Windows Live programs.

1. Windows Live Photo Gallery Tips & Tricks:

2. Live Messenger Tips & Tricks:

  

3. Hotmail Tips & Tricks:

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How To Publish/Post/Upload A Video To YouTube From Windows Live Movie Maker

The all new out of beta Windows Live Movie Maker has many new features. One of the feature that is handy for both YouTube and Movie Maker lovers is that one can now easily publish/post/upload a video directly to the popular video sharing site YouTube.

As Microsoft has shutdown its own video sharing site Soapbox recently, YouTube is the best choice

for uploading and sharing your videos.

You can publish/post a video to YouTube from Windows Live Movie Maker by following the given steps given below:

1. Launch Windows Live Movie Maker.

2. Create or edit your video by using the over 60 transitions, 18 pan and zoom options, and 20 visual effects.

3. Click on the YouTube icon available at the top, enter your YouTube username & password to proceed to the next step.

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Windows Live Movie Maker (WLMM) 14 Supported Formats

With the launch of new Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows users are exited to know about its features and also about the supported formats by WLMM.

One of the best things about new WLMM 14 is that it now supports vast number of formats. As Windows 7 provides native support for many new formats over Vista & WLMM is optimized for Windows 7, Windows Live Movie Maker on Windows 7 supports max number of video formats including AVCHD and MPEG-4.

Windows Live Movie Maker (WLMM) 14 Supported formats:

# Windows Media Video (WMV)

# Windows Media , DA-AVI

# Microsoft Recorded TV Show

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Googsystray – Keep Track Of Gmail, Google Voice, Calendar, Google Reader From System Tray

Most of us use one or more Google services in our day to day life. If you use Google Voice, Gmail, Google Calendar, or Google Reader, here is a brilliant application that allows you keep track of all that stuff without the help of a web  browser.

Here are the features of Googsystray:

Google Voice is the most feature-filled service at the moment. There’s almost no reason to ever go to the ‘actual’ GV page. You can hit a hotkey and pop up a ‘new SMS’ dialog, and of course replying to unread SMS is already in there. There’s no current support for listening to voicemails, although you can see the transcripts.

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