Microsoft is gradually lifting the wraps off its big release which is anticipated some time later this year. The company has been slowly showing off the new and added features in Windows 8. Here’s the latest on the list. Microsoft is now touting the movie and music players in the upcoming OS, claiming that they will offer a far better experience for the users.

According to a recent blog post by Media Platform and Technologies group, Windows 8 will be equipped with far better movie and music players. Essentially, these players will perform equally well on all hardware platforms which meet minimum requirements for Windows 8.

Moreover, the new playback for movie and music players will be able to save on the battery life while at the same time processing data at a better pace. Citing the example of audio playback, the team writes that audio data will be created into batches, each of which will then be made into chunks and then processed which is very helpful in conserving battery while at the same time, leaving the CPU less busy.

For media playback, Microsoft has also enhanced the adaptive bitrate system. Due to this new system, when a video streams on Windows 8, its first few frames are streamed at a slower rate.

According to the post, “Instead of mixing all audio content and sending the resulting (often incoherent) stream to the speakers, Windows can pause a stream when a second stream is played and when it makes sense to do so. In most cases, Windows prioritizes audio coming from the app that is in the foreground. When you move the app to the background, the system quiets the stream.”

Source: Building Windows 8

Courtesy: The Verge