Video Renderer
The Video Renderer is the component used to display video on your screen. Each Video Renderer component has its benefits and limitations (click the "?" button for detailed information on each renderer).

Video rendering technology has evolved over the years. If your hardware or version of windows is too old, some video renderers may not function while others may provide you with a better image and stability.

If you are experiencing problems with video rendering (video picture), try switching the video renderer between "EVR", "MadVR" and "MPC-VR" (MadVR and MPC-VR are available on Zoom Player's install center). Under some conditions, the video content may appear "washed out" (black will look gray, image may look as if the contrast isn't set properly). This is caused by a Display Driver setting. Updating or configuring the display driver may help, look for a setting for specifying if the monitor is used to display video content or possibly a setting related to the video's luma-range, which should be "0-255" and not "16-235".

Custom Renderer
Setting a custom video renderer re-routing video output to a user-defined filter (component). Used mainly in hardware-specific cases where a special renderer is used route video output through special hardware.

Allow EVR to span video across multiple monitors
Enabling this setting allows EVR Video Renderer to display video across multiple monitors (video-wall mode). It is limited to Windows Vista (or newer) and requires Aero (windows vista's desktop rendering mode) enabled. Cards with limited Direct3D hardware may fail to work with this feature.

Use EVR non-linear stretch for 16:9 and 4:3 content
When enabled, the EVR Video Renderer compensates for 4:3 or 16:9 content by performing a non-linear stretch on the video image to cover the entire screen (the video borders may appear a bit distorted). Enabling this mode breaks the internal Aspect Ratio controls as the video image always covers the entire viewing area.

Permit EVR to dynamically change the video Aspect Ratio
Some video files, mostly ones rerecorded from Live TV can contain flags that instruct Zoom Player to switch the video's aspect ratio during playback. This setting controls whether Zoom Player should apply the dynamic aspect ratio changes it receives automatically when in "Derived Aspect Ratio" mode.

Video covers entire display area
When enabled, Zoom Player renders the video region virtually within the display area rather than displaying the video in front of a black rectangle. Certain video renderers (MadVR for example) require this mode. It may also be beneficial if Zooming or panning the video causes the video to jump around inaccurately (an effect caused by faulty display drivers).

Display OSD through MadVR's OSD API
Zoom Player can render most of its OSD elements through MadVR's OSD Services. The benefit is that MadVR can maintain its fullscreen exclusive mode while Zoom Player displays OSD elements. The downside is that MadVR's OSD rendering has a ~500ms delay before an OSD element is displayed and OSD elements can not be displayed on top of fullscreen navigation interfaces.

Enable MadVR's internal seek bar
Since Zoom Player has its own Control Bar, there's no need to let MadVR display its own seek bar. If you prefer to use MadVR's seek bar, enable this setting.

Flip Video Horizontally (only works when Video Renderer is set to VMR9)
When using a VMR9 based video renderer, enabling this setting flips the image horizontally.

Flip Video Vertically (only works when Video Renderer is set to VMR9)
When using a VMR9 based video renderer, enabling this setting flips the image vertically.

Fix window movement glitches
Microsoft introduced a bug in Windows Vista (which wasn't fixed in Windows 7) that causes the player window to jump when trying to move the window from the video area. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that on some system the glitch happens and on others it doesn't. And the problem is not only limited to the version of windows you're running, but to the video renderer you've chosen as well. Since it's impossible to know in advance if the problem exists on any system, you must manually turn this setting on/off to try and remedy the situation.

Prevent VMR Video Renderers from correcting Aspect Ratio (can fix image-resizing artifacts)
The image artifacts described under "Fix VMR9 blurry image Bug" can usually be fixed if this setting is enabled, without any stability issues. This setting should remain enabled unless you are experiencing unexpected Video Rendering issues.

Disable Overlay on VMR7 Video Renderer
VMR7 can work with overlay hardware or in full software mode. Depending on the video hardware, using overlays can improve or reduce video quality. If you use VMR7 technology to render videos, try with overlay on and off to get the best results.

Use VMR7 in non-mixing mode (enable if VMR7 is giving you problems)
If you're encountering problems using VMR7, try enabling this special non-mixing mode.

Enable YUV mixing on all VMR modes (less CPU overhead under some configurations)
YUV mixing with VMR video rendering can reduce CPU load on some systems, but depending graphic hardware drivers compliance, it may break media playback entirely (not supported non-VMR renderers).

Fix VMR9 blurry image Bug (can cause issues with some graphic drivers, use with care)
When using the VMR9 based renderers, video content containing non-square pixel aspect ratio (some MPEG1/2 and WMV content mostly) may cause image degradation due to bugs in the display card drivers. These bugs have mostly been fixed in Windows XP SP2 and recent display drivers, so in most cases this setting should remain disabled.

Use Exclusive Fullscreen with VMR9 Renderless mode (use with care)
When the video renderer is set to VMR9 Renderless, enabling this check box enables "Fullscreen Exclusive mode". With this mode enabled when Zoom Player goes fullscreen, it prevents background applications from accessing the monitor. This can improve image smoothness, but at the cost of eliminating access to background application and even to Zoom Player's own navigation interfaces. MadVR offers similar functionality with enhanced stability.

Seek to key-frames when using LAV Video Decoder
Seeking to key-frames is faster than regular seeking as it requires less video decoding. However, depending on the format, key-frames may only be available every few seconds, making this type of seeking faster but less accurate.

Use FFDShow to control Video Sharpness
When enabled (and FFDShow is used as the video decoder or as a post-processing filter), Zoom Player uses FFDShow to control video Sharpness. If you use FFDShow to manually control Sharpness, disable this setting.

Use FFDShow to control Video DeInterlacing
When enabled (and FFDShow is used as the video decoder or as a post-processing filter), Zoom Player uses FFDShow to control video DeInterlacing. If you use FFDShow to manually control DeInterlacing, disable this setting.

Enable MadVR's smooth motion
When using MadVR as the video renderer, the Smooth Motion feature can be used to improve motion smoothness by generating new inter-frames exactly at the monitor's refresh rate, reducing motion judder.

LAV Hardware Acceleration
When the LAV Video decoder filter is in use, this setting controls which type of hardware acceleration to use. Top-End desktop machines will work fastest in software mode. Tablets or laptops should set LAV's hardware acceleration to "DXVA2 (native)" to get the best performance while using the least battery power.

To use "DXVA2 (native)" and display subtitles, you must set the video renderer to MadVR, otherwise, subtitles will cause "DXVA2 (native)" to drop to software mode.

To maintain the best battery performance using MadVR, make sure to set the "scaling algorithms" to "DXVA2" (where available), uncheck "Enable automatic fullscreen exclusive mode" and check "enable windowed overlay" in MadVR's configuration dialog.