Oddities in iTunes Video Playback UI

Video playback in iTunes just doesn't seem to work the way it should. First and foremost, the playback should start immediately. Unfortunately, there is usually severals seconds of spinning beachball before the video starts. I can't see any rationale for this because the QuickTime player starts instantly.

Next, there's the issue of display size. Once a given video has been shown at an adjusted size, there doesn't seem to be any way to return it to its natural state. In QuickTime player, you can just press Command-1. The fact that you can't return to the natural size in iTunes creates some playback quality issues because the pixels have been scaled.

The last issue is probably the one that feels the most awkward. If you close a video window in mid-playback, the video won't just stop as expected. Instead, the video moves to the little square below the playlists. This just feels so wrong. If a close a video, I want it to close, not just pop up somewhere else.

Video playback is something that really needs to just work in iTunes. These issues just seem really basic to me. Also, what about a full-screen mode? Sure, I can right-click on a movie file, reveal the file in the Finder, launch QuickTime player and drag the file there, but what's the point of having it in iTunes?
Design Element
Oddities in iTunes Video Playback UI
Posted Nov 21, 2005 — 2 comments below




 

Ashley Clark — Nov 21, 05 557

You can restore a video to it's normal size by control-clicking on the playing video and selecting Normal Size. You can also choose Double and Full Screen. Of course if you select Full Screen and click the mouse, the video disappears and keeps playing.

Blake Seely — Nov 21, 05 558

I had similar thoughts - posted about it at http://blakeseely.com/blog/archives/2005/11/16/how-does-itunes-stack-up-for-movies/




 

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