Known issues with the SongShow Plus 7 May 2012 Edition and Windows 8/8.1

Applicable SongShow Plus Versions:
This article applies to SongShow Plus 7 May 2012 Edition and Windows 8/8.1

During testing with the latest operating system from Microsoft - Windows 8/8.1 - with the May 2012 Edition of SongShow Plus we have found the following issues (and solutions) related to Windows 8/8.1.  Our testing was done with the Windows 8/8.1 Pro Edition.

Installation

• The SSP Installer does not recognize Windows 8/8.1 as a valid operating system.  During the installation it prompts the user indicating that there is one or more required components missing – Do you wish to continue?
  • The user should select "YES" and the installation will continue as expected.
• During the installation the user may be prompted that .NET 3.5 needs to be installed as part of the SongShow Plus installation. 
  • This can be enabled/installed during the installation of SongShow Plus or avoided altogether by enabling it from the Windows Components installer before attempting to install SongShow Plus.  It is possible that system components installed prior to SongShow Plus have already taken care of this.

MPEG2/ DVD Playback

• MPEG2 video files will not play in Windows 8/8.1 natively in SongShow Plus (or otherwise).
• This is not really a bug - just a heads up.  Microsoft discontinued native support for MPEG2 file playback in the base operating system for Windows 8/8.1.  This can be addressed in a variety of ways.
   
  • The Windows 8/8.1 Media Center add-on update does resolve MPEG2 playback in SongShow Plus but as expected will not work for SongShow Plus DVD Playback.
    NOTE: There are two levels of Media Center updates - One from the base version of Win8/8.1 and another from the Pro version of Win8/8.1.  The former costs more than the latter.
     
  • Currently supported DVD player software options for SSP 7 should still work and enable both DVD import and MPEG2 playback in SSP 7 if they are supported in Windows 8/8.1 though this has not specifically been tested.
  • Other DVD player software that is not supported for SSP DVD Playback may still enable MPEG2 support since they would contain that ability. This option may require the selection of Option B in the video playback settings.
  •  Other 3rd party filters/codecs may work to allow MPEG2 playback but there are none known that will enable DVD support.  Use caution with these as the same risks with 3rd party codecs that have been previously discussed will apply here especially if you use the SSP H.264 Support plug-in.  This option may require the selection of Option B in the video playback settings.
  • A final alternative for MPEG2 playback would be to convert any MPEG2 videos you have to a supported format such as WMV or H.264.  The latter would require the SSP H.264 plug-in.

WEB

• VIMEO web pages will not play/capture inside SongShow Plus but does play in IE 10.
  • At present we are not aware of the root cause or a work around.  This may simply require an update on the part of VIMEO.
• IIS is enabled when the Windows 8/8.1 Media Center add-on is installed and will block Mobile Control.
  • IIS blocking Mobile control is not new but since this is done without specifically indicating this to the user it may go without being noticed and cause Mobile Control to stop working.  As is currently the case, the fix is to either remove IIS if it is not needed or use a different port for Mobile Control.

Chromex

• It appears that the Chromex / Search by Color feature in SongShow Plus will not work in Windows 8/8.1.
  • There is currently no work around for this issue. The only supported correction for this is to use SSP 8 with Windows 8/8.1.

Text Display and DPI Changes

• It appears that the display of text from text boxes is adversely affected when the DPI setting is changed from the default setting in Windows 8/8.1.
  • The work around for this issue would be to return the setting to the default (smaller) setting. This does appear to work as expected with SSP 8.

These issue may be addressed in later Editions of SongShow Plus but will not be fixed in the May 2012 Edition.

This article will be updated if new issues are found.  If you are using Windows 8 and encounter issues that are not noted here, you can discuss them in the SSPlash Forums area and we will evaluate.

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