Zoom Player: A Player for Every Type of Media File? Complex but Simple Scott Koegler
Complex but Simple
Zoom's main interface is a bit Spartan. Inmatrix intentionally left the controls simple in order to make it easy to simply view DVDs or videos on your computer. The DVD main interface consists of a playback control bar and a 5-position menu control with Left, Right, Up, Down, and Select buttons that make for simple and nearly universal control even when viewing on a TV screen.
Configuration controls are hidden in a right-click menu, and there are two levels of controls. Both the Basic and Advanced Options panels are laid out in tabbed configurations. The Basic version shows controls for handling the way DVDs play, what your mouse controls, what kinds of files are associated with Zoom Player, and what media formats are supported.
Switching to the Advanced Options can be bewildering for the casual user due to the sheer number of items and tabs. If you're not familiar with multimedia terms like Video Mixing Renderer 9 (VMR9), BiCubic Resizer, and DiVX Antifreeze, you'll probably want to do some reading before you venture into these settings.
Low Overhead
Inmatrix created Zoom Player in an effort to address what it sees as bloated and resource-consuming media player applications. The company's mantra is "Do no harm and listen to users." In following that line of thinking Inmatrix has kept Zoom Player lightweight and non-intrusive. We were able to run a DVD movie and change the display size while simultaneously editing an image in Photoshop, and our 2.0 GHz Dell didn't even blink. Normally simply changing the size of the video display causes some hesitation as the screen is redrawn when using Windows Media Player.
As far as the second part of their philosophy, it seems their users must tell them a lot. Inmatrix's user forum is filled with suggestions, most of which seem to have been implemented in recent updates. Support issues are also handled through the forum. A quick review of the content shows that while there are plenty of questions from users, there are always quick answers. And usually the answers point to some configuration switch or driver patch for the user's computer video hardware.
