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@adipose adipose commented Nov 12, 2025

Experimental build on SDK 10 and supporting smtc2. I don't see much value here, to be honest. On Win10 it seems to have no impact. On Windows 11 I can make a tiny thumbnail show up. Maybe you can test more things.

@clsid2
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clsid2 commented Nov 12, 2025

It should be useful primarily for setting the file duration.
For video thumb, I would even say skip that for performance reasons. Just do coverart.

But SMTC behavior is a bit weird. There must have been changes in Windows, because it behaves worse than I can remember when initially implemented. Compare to Microsoft player.

@adipose
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adipose commented Nov 12, 2025

It should be useful primarily for setting the file duration.

For video thumb, I would even say skip that for performance reasons. Just do coverart.

But SMTC behavior is a bit weird. There must have been changes in Windows, because it behaves worse than I can remember when initially implemented. Compare to Microsoft player.

I set the duration, but apparently windows does nothing with it...

The win+A pop-up is pretty useless. Just has some media controls and a tiny thumbnail. No seekbar at all.

@clsid2
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clsid2 commented Nov 12, 2025

I guess they simplified it. I am pretty sure in the past it also showed the time and a seekbar with modern WMP.

@adipose
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adipose commented Nov 12, 2025

@adipose
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adipose commented Nov 15, 2025

Per Claude...

The Critical Detail

The default SMTC visual control interface on Windows 10 doesn't have timeline display - this bug is an enhancement for an external plugin (Modern Flyouts)

So the timeline feature added by ISystemMediaTransportControls2 is NOT displayed by Windows' built-in media controls. It only works with third-party replacements like Modern Flyouts that specifically read and display that information.

What This Means

  1. Native Windows 10/11 SMTC UI - Does NOT show timeline/position information, even if your app provides it via ISystemMediaTransportControls2

  2. Third-party apps (like Modern Flyouts) - CAN read the timeline data from GlobalSystemMediaTransportControlsSession and display it

  3. ISystemMediaTransportControls2 - Exists and lets you send timeline data, but Microsoft's own UI ignores it

This explains why there are no screenshots - Windows itself doesn't render the timeline data! The API exists for third-party tools to consume, not for the built-in Windows UI.

For MPC-HC, implementing ISystemMediaTransportControls2 would only benefit users who have Modern Flyouts or similar tools installed. The standard Windows 11 Quick Settings media controls won't show the timeline no matter what you do.

Pretty disappointing discovery, honestly.

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2 participants