HC Player 1.6.0

Meet the new Floating playback bar in HC Player 1.6.0: a rounded Mica surface that brings playback controls, time readouts and the timeline together in a compact layout. This release also adds chapter-based intro and ending controls, video cropping presets and improvements to playlists, audio playback and panel behavior.

Highlights

• New Floating playback bar with a rounded Mica surface, precise seeking and time/chapter previews.
• Search in the playback queue, with smoother opening, pagination and playback-state feedback.
• Skip intros and endings using named chapters, with a Next episode action when another queue item is available.
• 18 video Crop presets, accessible from the context menu and keyboard by @sindrelol
• Smoother audio playback with embedded album artwork.

New Floating Playback Bar

A new way to control playback, alongside the Full, Compact and Minimal layouts.

• Rounded Mica design: a floating surface with refined corners, borderless edges and spacing that works in light and dark themes.
• Controls together: playback buttons, chapter/file navigation, time readouts and a timeline in one compact bar.
• Precise seeking: click or drag the Windows 11 timeline using the measured track position, with protection against duplicate seeks.
• Time and chapter previews: follow the target position through clicks and drags, with an immediate refresh on release.
• Easy fullscreen access: reveal the hidden bar from the full-width bottom region with pointer movement.

Skip Intros and Endings

Enable Skip intro and ending in Settings → Playback. The option is off by default.

• Recognizes opening and ending chapters in eligible local videos, with support for English and Portuguese chapter names.
• Offers a manual skip to the following chapter, preserving post-credit content.
• Offers Next episode at a final ending or supported Preview chapter when another queue item is available.
• Shows the button for seven seconds per visit. Returning to the section can show it again; expiry never advances playback automatically.
• Adapts to windowed playback, fullscreen, PiP and both themes.

This feature uses chapter metadata; it does not identify intros by analyzing sound or images. Videos without suitable chapters and streamed sources are not eligible.

Video Crop Presets

• Choose from 18 presets under Right-click → Pan & Scan → Crop, including 4:3, 16:9, 1.85:1, 2.35:1, 2.39:1 and 2.76:1.
• Press C to cycle forward or Shift+C to cycle backward.
• Keep the selected ratio across videos during the current session.
• Select Original to restore the full picture.

Crop changes the visible framing without stretching the picture. The existing Aspect Ratio controls remain separate.

More Precise Seeking in the Minimal Bar

• Brings the Floating bar's precise seeking to the Minimal bar in both HC Player and Windows 11 timeline styles.
• Uses the pointer's position on the track to select the playback time, with exact seeking on click and when a drag ends.

Search Your Playback Queue

• Type in Search queue to find items by their available title or filename, across every page.
• Works with local files and queued web/YouTube items using the names already available.
• Results update as you type, with a result count and a clear message when nothing matches.
• Clear the query to return to the full queue. Original playback order and intentional repeated entries remain intact.
• Smoother panel reopening, track changes, page navigation and pause/play feedback through reuse of visible card structures.
• Refined memory management while filtering and navigating the queue, without keeping separate full-page caches.

Other Fixes and Polish

• Addresses brief audio interruptions associated with embedded album artwork, including FLAC track changes.
• Improves mute-icon synchronization and Q/Esc handling.
• Refreshes file-type icons for clearer recognition in Explorer.
• Updates English and Brazilian Portuguese text, Help and shortcut guidance.
• Refines Minimal bar edges, corners and spacing while preserving their native Mica material.
• Improves Windows 11 thumb alignment, endpoint clipping and hover/pressed feedback, including the inner-dot response in Full and Compact layouts.
• Improves the alignment of the visible progress fill with the thumb after seeking.
• Closing Settings, Playlist, MediaInfo or YouTube Comments/Live Chat during playback leaves the controls hidden until fresh pointer interaction reveals them.
• Makes panel closing consistent when entering or leaving fullscreen, while preserving the existing Enter-key behavior.
• Improves PiP entry and fullscreen transitions, including paused playback.
• Fixes panel flashes when restoring OpenSubtitles and Add URL dialogs after Show Desktop.
• Improves application shutdown ordering.
• Fixes extra or repeated tracks caused by combining a local .m3u with automatic neighboring-file discovery.
• Context Menu: Audio and primary/secondary subtitle selection are disabled when no media is loaded.
• Context Menu: Loaded media keeps track selection available while paused or with audio/subtitles disabled, so tracks can be enabled again.
• Context Menu: Capture screenshot and Capture without subtitles require an available video image and remain usable with paused video. Audio-only playback without a video image does not enable these captures.