E3. Video players, rendering technologies and applications
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Video is supported on Windows Vista in WDDM (Aero) mode. Video playing and rendering using
hardware overlays is not supported. The following players are tested by DisplayLink:
- Windows Media Player 11
(www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/default.mspx)
- WinDVD 8 (www.intervideo.com)
- PowerDVD 7 (www.cyberlink.com)
- RealPlayer 11 (www.real.com).
This table shows what rendering interfaces are supported:
Interface
Supported on Vista WDDM Aero?
DxVA
Yes, if supported by the GPU
D3D
Yes, but not if the DisplayLink screen is primary
DirectDraw
Yes
OpenGL
Yes, but not full screen, windowed only
GDI+
Yes, but not full screen, windowed only
On Vista WDDM Basic, video is not supported. It may work in some cases but exhibits poor
performance. It may stop working after an update from Windows Update that affects the graphics
subsystem. (2028)
On all platforms, depending on the player, there may be problems if the video window is moved
between screens while video is running. It may be necessary to close and restart the video player.
With Vista WDDM, on some lower-spec PCs, videos on DisplayLink attached screens pause
frequently for several seconds at a time. This is because there is insufficient system performance
to display video smoothly. (1798)
Known Issues - General
Don’t change the logged user or the display mode, position or
arrangement of attached screens while a video is running. This usually confuses the video player
and the video may stop playing. (1982, 4435)
On Vista WDDM, video players sometimes use hardware overlays to display video. DisplayLink
software does not support hardware overlays and these videos do not display on DisplayLink
screens. Examples: PowerDVD 7 uses overlays when playing DVDs and so cannot display DVDs
on DisplayLink screens. vic can be configured to use overlays and will not work on DisplayLink
screens if so configured. (1807)
On Vista WDDM, some graphics-intensive applications use the GDI or OpenGL interfaces. On
DisplayLink attached screens, such applications can display in a window but not full screen.
Examples of such applications are Starcraft, Quake 3. Also, video players such as Windows
Media Player, WinDVD fail to play in full screen mode on DisplayLink screens on some PCs.
(1655, 2134)
