Documentation > Getting Started

Understanding the different parts of the software

Assuming you are familiar with the consumer-oriented VZX Player, how is the Professional Player different?

Here are some key differences:

• Consumer player is one program, Pro Player consists of 3 main programs
• Consumer player has a built-in GUI, in Pro Player the GUI is separated from the graphical output
• Consumer player can only listen to audio from the same computer it is run from - Pro Player can gather audio from a separate computer

The programs in Pro Player

Player

• Responsible for rendering graphics output

Audio Server

• Records audio and sends it over the network to the Player

Controller

• The User Interface, controls the Audio Server and Player over the network

Managing the Programs

Having to start 3 programs just to get a visual up and running seems a bit annoying.

That's why in addition to the Audio Server and the Player, there is

Player Manager

• Starts and stops Player
• Controls start up parameters for Player such as window size and position, which display is to be used and so on.

Audio Server Manager

• Starts and manages the Audio Server dynamically
• Enumerates which Audio APIs are available

You only need to start these managers once - they are small and light on memory and CPU, so are designed to be started when Windows is starting up.

The added benefit is that you can control the player process remotely.