CineWindows 0.0.2

CineWindows 0.0.2 adds saved streaming-quality preferences, improves everyday
controls, and fixes Windows portable packaging.

Added

• YouTube Quality: save Automatic or a resolution limit from 144p through
  2160p (4K) in Preferences or the YouTube Search menu. Both selectors use the
  same setting and Solar 4K icons. Lower available resolutions and combined
  video/audio streams are supported as fallbacks. References #9.
• Open Media: browse files or paste local paths and URLs, including multiple
  entries and quoted paths, through the player picker.
• Optional TMDB metadata: enrich the local library with movie and TV matches,
  artwork, search, and categories using a user-provided API credential. References #3.
• Local diagnostics: route Qt, QML, mpv, and service messages through QtLogger;
  inspect system, graphics, and display information; open the log folder or export
  a diagnostic report from Preferences. Each running instance has its own log slot.

Improved

• Slim, themed volume, equalizer, and HDR sliders with round thumbs, keyboard
  focus feedback, reference markers, and correct vertical and mirrored positions.
• Evenly spaced equalizer bands with zero-centered gain fills, a visible volume
  percentage, and a readable companion-remote address field in both themes.
• Solar Subtitles Linear/Bold icons consistently reflect inactive, active, and
  hovered states in the main player and picture-in-picture views.
• Shared theme colors for the media picker, buttons, and menus.
• Human-readable subtitle language names with ISO 639 codes. References #6.

Fixed

• Main-window startup no longer depends on an invisible video's first rendered
  frame. Startup placement uses one monitor's work area rather than the entire
  virtual desktop, with later monitor-change bounds checks retained.
• Concurrent instances use separate temporary mpv configuration files and log
  files; library initialization avoids unnecessary schema work and migration races.
• Native timeline previews no longer free mpv-owned screenshot data. Captures
  wait for frame readiness, coalesce hover requests, retain a bounded cache, and
  reuse a quiet worker before releasing it after inactivity.
• Linux desktop identity and matching raster/scalable icons are installed together.
• Website download and changelog cards reveal correctly when release data arrives
  asynchronously; FAQ navigation and wide-screen marquee coverage are corrected.
• QtLogger's upstream headers are treated as system headers while application
  conversion and shadow warnings remain enabled.
• Windows .zip downloads now contain actual ZIP data, rather than mislabeled
  7-Zip data. The portable package and installer include matching Qt runtime
  libraries, plugins, and QML modules. Packaging checks reject missing runtime
  dependencies and unreadable archives.

Downloads And Notes

• Windows x86_64: portable ZIP and NSIS installer. Both include the core playback
  runtime. The separate media-tools ZIP contains yt-dlp, FFmpeg, and FFprobe for
  online extraction and related integrations; place those executables beside
  CineWindows.exe. No Qt installation or DLL-download website is needed.
• Linux x86_64: AppImage and Flatpak. macOS: separate arm64 and x86_64 DMGs.
• SHA-256 manifests accompany the packages. Windows executables are unsigned.
• Quality preferences apply to the next URL opened, not streams already playing.
  Availability still depends on the source.
• Diagnostic exports may contain local media paths; review reports before sharing.

Compare changes since v0.0.1

CineWindows 0.0.1

[0.0.1] - 2026-09-10

The first public CineWindows release delivers a native desktop media player
built with Qt 6, QML, C++20, libmpv, and FFmpeg. It is designed for local media,
streaming, detailed playback control, and a focused desktop viewing experience.

Playback

• Play video and audio formats supported by FFmpeg through the libmpv engine.
• Open individual files, folders, playlists, subtitles, external audio tracks,
  and supported network URLs.
• Configure hardware decoding, playback speed from 0.25x to 4.0x, precise seek
  intervals, frame stepping, chapter navigation, and track selection.
• Use file and playlist looping, shuffle, A-B repeat, resume positions, and
  automatic session restoration.
• Drag media, folders, and subtitle files directly into the player.
• Capture screenshots with or without subtitles, the application window, or
  every rendered frame.

Subtitles, Audio, and Video

• Load embedded or external SRT, ASS, SSA, VTT, and other subtitle formats,
  with automatic discovery and manual track selection.
• Customize subtitle fonts, size, colors, borders, shadows, position, timing,
  and secondary subtitle tracks.
• Search for subtitles through the optional OpenSubtitles integration.
• Select audio tracks, adjust audio delay, normalize loudness, and configure a
  10-band equalizer with presets.
• Display waveform and spectrum audio visualizations.
• Adjust brightness, contrast, gamma, saturation, hue, aspect ratio, crop,
  zoom, pan, rotation, and horizontal or vertical flipping.
• Configure deinterlacing, debanding, stereo 3D conversion, and HDR tone
  mapping with target peak controls.

Media Hub and Interface

• Browse the filesystem and index selected folders in the Media Hub.
• Search the local library, mark favorites, revisit recent items, and review
  playback history with resume progress and local watch statistics.
• Generate and cache media thumbnails for library items and seek previews.
• Manage playlists in a side drawer with reordering, removal, shuffle,
  repeat, and M3U/M3U8 import and export.
• Use a frameless desktop window with light and dark palettes, custom accent
  colors, on-screen playback feedback, reduced-motion support, and responsive
  controls.
• Switch to picture-in-picture or mini-player layouts with always-on-top and
  compact playback controls.
• Configure mouse behavior and remap keyboard shortcuts from Preferences.
• Use the translated interface across more than 50 bundled locales.

Streaming and Integrations

• Open supported streaming sites and direct media URLs through yt-dlp.
• Search YouTube from the application and play results with the normal player
  controls.
• Discover compatible DLNA renderers on the local network and cast direct
  media URLs.
• Pair a browser on the local network through a QR code and token-protected
  companion remote for playback, volume, seeking, and folder browsing.
• Enable the optional localhost JSON-RPC server for mpv-compatible automation.
• Run the interactive CLI mode for newline-delimited JSON-RPC or raw mpv
  commands over standard input and output.

Reliability, Privacy, and Updates

• Keep settings, library data, history, favorites, thumbnails, and playback
  state on the local device.
• Operate local playback without an account, advertising, or analytics.
• Keep IPC disabled unless explicitly requested and bind it to localhost.
• Protect the companion remote with a short-lived pairing token and bounded
  request handling.
• Check GitHub Releases for updates and verify supported installer downloads
  against their published SHA-256 digest when available.
• Include the CineWindows Community License and third-party attribution in
  packaged distributions.

Packages and Documentation

• Windows x86_64: NSIS installer and portable ZIP.
• Linux x86_64: AppImage and Flatpak bundle using application ID
  com.gyrolet.CineWindows.
• macOS arm64 and x86_64: architecture-specific DMG packages.
• Publish SHA-256 checksum manifests with release artifacts.
• Provide a project website, installation and feature guides, configuration
  reference, keyboard shortcut reference, and IPC protocol documentation.

License

CineWindows is source-available under the CineWindows Community License for
personal, non-commercial use. See LICENSE.md for the complete
terms and THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for dependency and
asset attribution.