Microsoft Brings Picture-In-Picture to Windows 10 with Latest Insider Build

Megalith

Megalith

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Windows 10 Insider Build 15031 for PC has been released, and it comes with a notable feature dubbed “Compact Overlay”—which is basically Microsoft’s fancy name for picture-in-picture mode. Call me easy to please, but I am excited about this one if only for running Netflix on my main display without snapping and losing significant workspace. Others of you with multi-monitor setups may be less enthused, but for me, it beats turning my head and having video displayed in a portrait setup. I should also note that Build 15031 is feature complete; it is probably your most comprehensive look at what the Creator’s Update is going to bring in April.

Microsoft has released a new build of Windows 10, 15031, to Insiders and there are a couple of new features in this release. This release is only for desktop users and there is no word on when this will come to mobile. Microsoft is calling its new Picture-in-Picture feature a compact overlay which allows you to continue to watch a movie or video chat while working on other content. When an app enters compact overlay mode, it will be shown above all other windows and will not get blocked; the first apps to take advantage of this feature will be Skype Preview and Movies & TV. Dynamic lock, a feature that had shown up in previous builds is now functioning. This feature will lock your Windows 10 PC when you are not around the device by using Bluetooth as the proximity detector; your PC will lock after 30 seconds of you being out of range.
 
So, you can have a video playing in its own small window when you're using Windows?
 
I'm pretty stoked for this too actually, it's the little things.

I've been wondering what the hell happened to built in PIP in the past two decades with display devices. Things finally went digital which I assumed would make supporting PIP easier than it used to be and instead it all but disappeared from the market. I remember watching TV while playing playstation on our old 30" CRT TV back in the late 90s and that was the last TV/monitor I've owned that had the feature. It was really nice to have.
 
BTW, If you have this release is chrome broken for you as well? I had to install FF because the menus of chrome don't work on the last 2 preview builds.
 
im confused... i thought we have had picture in picture mode on windows since ummm windows ??

or is this going to take a metro app from another device and play it in a window ? that would be a feature.

but if all this is doing is playing some application in a small window i dont get it .
 
Windows Media Center has an option to always stay on top. I could watch live TV(tv tuner), Netflix plugin, Emby, etc. and just place the windows wherever I wanted with any size I wanted. Then they killed it with Windows 10 and you're left with trying to hack it back into Windows or going back to Windows 7. I believe it was the best DVR to date for Windows, but I'm not bitter about it at all. :/
 
chaos4u said:
im confused... i thought we have had picture in picture mode on windows since ummm windows ??

or is this going to take a metro app from another device and play it in a window ? that would be a feature.

but if all this is doing is playing some application in a small window i dont get it .
Click to expand...

this is locking the one window over everything else. So you open Netflix app and lock it in. After that you open excel and even when in focus Netflix stays over excel. You do your work and have the video playing. You close out of excel and go to your web browser and Netflix is still over your browser. You switch to some other program and Netflix is still playing.

right now you can't do that. If you launch Netflix then excel, the excel window will cover up Netflix. You could snap Netflix to the side of your screen but then you have half of the screen unusable by excel even though in that size Netflix is only using part of that half.
 
Something something

xzibit-windows.png
 
Exavior said:
this is locking the one window over everything else. So you open Netflix app and lock it in. After that you open excel and even when in focus Netflix stays over excel. You do your work and have the video playing. You close out of excel and go to your web browser and Netflix is still over your browser. You switch to some other program and Netflix is still playing.

right now you can't do that. If you launch Netflix then excel, the excel window will cover up Netflix. You could snap Netflix to the side of your screen but then you have half of the screen unusable by excel even though in that size Netflix is only using part of that half.
Click to expand...

You can totally do that right now... at least with non-uwp programs. I've always seen it called "always on top" or similar in options. One of the easier ways to test it yourself is with Process Explorer. I have process explorer up right now on top of firefox while I'm typing this message.
From what I can see, this is "borderless windowed mode + always on top" at the same time. Does it do something else special I'm missing?
 
Honestly, i have no idea what Microsoft is thinking when it comes to their OS anymore .

here they are touting always on top as something new.

before with win 8.1 they were all excited about resizable and controllable apps .

its like their design team has never used computers before. or more than likely they have purposefully decided that anything tied to legacy applications is dysfunctional
and the only way forward is to reinvent the wheel with terrible apps.

and when they make any kind of usability advancement in apps, they feel they have accomplished some kind of big leap in progress. no mater whether it has been done before or better in the past.

i guess the next big advancement will be a powerful right click menu in metro apps that actually allow you to work with the files from with in the app !!
 
No wonder they can't fix Windows update. They can't even get windowed apps working without breaking stuff.
 
chaos4u said:
Honestly, i have no idea what Microsoft is thinking when it comes to their OS anymore .

here they are touting always on top as something new.

before with win 8.1 they were all excited about resizable and controllable apps .

its like their design team has never used computers before. or more than likely they have purposefully decided that anything tied to legacy applications is dysfunctional and the only way forward is to reinvent the wheel with terrible apps.

and when they make any kind of usability advancement in apps, they feel they have accomplished some kind of big leap in progress. no mater whether it has been done before or better in the past.

i guess the next big advancement will be a powerful right click menu in metro apps that actually allow you to work with the files from with in the app !!
Click to expand...

This. They seem out of touch in their bizarre obsession to pave over their bread and butter desktop with pseudo mobile spackle for devices they aren't even selling. It's baffling, and underlines the disconnect between divisions at MS, and a lack of awareness for what customers want.
 
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ShinseiTom said:
You can totally do that right now... at least with non-uwp programs. I've always seen it called "always on top" or similar in options. One of the easier ways to test it yourself is with Process Explorer. I have process explorer up right now on top of firefox while I'm typing this message.
From what I can see, this is "borderless windowed mode + always on top" at the same time. Does it do something else special I'm missing?
Click to expand...

Task manager is the only thing that you can do that with. You can't make notepad stay in front of firefox at all times. As there is no always on top option in notepad. Nor is there an always on top option in Firefox or any other program. So it isn't a non-uwp option it is only a task manager option.
 
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