It allows you to encode VIDEO with the following codecs:
Iso Mpeg4, Windows Media v7, v8, v9, 9screen, or Uncompressed.
It allows you to encode AUDIO with the following codecs:
WM 9
WM 9 Professional
WM 9 Voice
Uncompressed.
According to MS. You will only be able to play Video encoded with the WMP 9 codec with Window Media Player 9, but with Audio, it is reverse compatible, so your old player can play audio portion.
Opened it up for a moment & while you're stuck with 9 for audio, you can choose uncompressed, video 9 & 9 screen, video 8, video 7, & the old standby: mpeg4 iso1.
I tried the video 7 once, quite by accident really, and it did a nice job with vbr, quite a bit faster then with the video 9 re-render.
>>>Does this mean web audience cannot view my encoded movie streams (audio & video, of course) if they do not instal the 9 series?
this would be a major break from the MS media player model of backwards compatibility. I would surf over to the MS page and try playing their samples. I bet they work even in WMP 6.4