Windows 10 Films & TV app & MPC-BE

[Alicekoo86]

Hi.

Many video files appears overexposed when played on the pre-installed Windows 10 Films & TV app.
I've observed the same issue with video files on the pre-installed Windows 10 Photo app but not images.
This issue does not occur on other media players.
I've uninstalled the Movies & TV app in an attempt to fix the issue but found out later that the same app is no longer available on the Microsoft store.
Please advise how I can reinstall the Films & TV app and resolve the overexposed video playback issue.

On other matter, MPC-BE can be configured to play the next file in a folder without relying on a playlist file à la the above Films & TV app.
However, unlike the Films & TV app which plays video files according to the order they are sorted in Windows Explorer (by date, size, type, and name), MPC-BE plays the files in alphabetical order only.
How can I configure MPC-BE to play files in the same order they are sorted in Windows Explorer?
or please suggest another media player that is able to perform the above.

Thanks very much.

 

[ChatGPT]

Short version — two separate fixes:

• For the Films & TV (Movies & TV) over‑exposure: it’s almost always HDR / Windows HD Color (tone‑mapping) related. Check/turn off HDR or adjust the HDR/SDR brightness slider first; update GPU drivers and codecs; reset/reinstall the app if needed. Microsoft documents the HDR/SDR slider and how SDR apps can look too bright/dark when an HDR display is enabled. (support.microsoft.com) (intel.com)
• For MPC‑BE folder play order: MPC‑BE’s “play next file in folder” uses its own traversal/sorting (usually filename‑based) and doesn’t honour every Explorer sort mode (date/size/etc.) by default. The most reliable workaround is to create an ordered playlist (M3U) from the folder sorted the way you want (example PowerShell below) and open that playlist in MPC‑BE. If you want a player that exposes explicit playlist sort controls in the UI, PotPlayer or mpv (with scripts) are good alternatives. (virtualcuriosities.com, reddit.com)

I’ll give step‑by‑step actions you can try now.
Part A — Films & TV: quick troubleshooting and how to reinstall
1) Quick test (very often fixes the “overexposed” look)

• Settings > System > Display > (select your HDR display) > Windows HD Color settings (or just search “HDR settings”).
• Turn off “Use HDR” (or toggle “Play HDR games and apps” / Stream HDR video) and test the same file in Films & TV. If the brightness/contrast becomes normal, the HDR pipeline / tone‑mapping was the cause. If you want HDR on, adjust the “SDR content brightness” or “HDR/SDR brightness balance” slider until SDR content looks correct. Microsoft documents these controls and why SDR apps can look wrong on HDR displays. (support.microsoft.com)

2) Other quick checks

• Test the same file in VLC, MPC‑BE or MPV. If those players look normal and Films & TV looks blown out, it reinforces an app/HDR pipeline problem.
• Update GPU drivers (NVIDIA/AMD/Intel) and reinstall video codec extensions (HEVC / AV1) if the file uses those codecs.
• Check the file for HDR metadata (use MediaInfo or a player that reports HDR10/HLG) — if the file is HDR and your system/display handling is inconsistent, that will explain the different look.

3) Reset the Films & TV app

• Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Films & TV > Advanced options > Reset. Try the app again.

4) Reinstall / re‑register the app (PowerShell method)

• If the Store won’t show the app or you removed it, Windows admins commonly use PowerShell to remove/re‑register the package. Run an elevated PowerShell (Run as Administrator) and:
  To remove:
  Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.ZuneVideo* | Remove-AppxPackage
  To re‑register / reinstall (rebuild package registration):
  

   Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.ZuneVideo | ForEach-Object {
     Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"
   }

  (These commands are the standard approach recommended in Microsoft / vendor KBs for the Movies & TV / Films & TV package.) (dell.com, learn.microsoft.com)
• Notes and caveats:
  • Microsoft announced changes to how it sells/ships movies & TV content (the store side changed recently), so availability and packaging have shifted — the app may no longer be preinstalled on some builds and purchase functionality has been curtailed. That’s why you might not find a simple “Install” entry in the Store. But the app itself and the package can still be managed via the PowerShell reinstall above or via a Store link if it appears for your Windows build/account. (tomsguide.com, support.microsoft.com)

If you want I can paste the exact commands with copy/paste formatting for you to run, or walk you through gathering MediaInfo output so we can identify whether files are HDR.
Part B — MPC‑BE: play next file in the same order as Explorer
Why this happens

• Many players (including MPC‑BE and others) choose a stable sort (usually filename/natural sort) when auto‑traversing a folder. Explorer’s visual sort (by Date, Size, Type, Name) is not always passed on or honoured by the player — behaviour differs between programs and between the ways files are added (drag/drop, context menu, “Open folder”). MPC‑BE’s sibling traversal exists but it doesn’t offer a simple “use Windows Explorer sort” toggle. (virtualcuriosities.com, reddit.com)

Simple, reliable workarounds
1) Create an ordered playlist (recommended)

• Use PowerShell to make an M3U playlist in the order you want (by date, size, type, name, etc.). Example — sort by last modified time (oldest → newest) and save playlist.m3u in the folder:
  

  $folder = 'C:\Path\To\Your\Folder'
  Set-Location $folder
  # Create header (optional) and then add full paths sorted by LastWriteTime:
  '#EXTM3U' | Out-File -FilePath "$folder\playlist.m3u" -Encoding UTF8
  Get-ChildItem -File | Sort-Object LastWriteTime | ForEach-Object { $_.FullName } | Add-Content -Path "$folder\playlist.m3u"

• Open that playlist in MPC‑BE (File → Open → select playlist.m3u) — MPC‑BE will play files in playlist order exactly.

2) Drag‑select carefully (less reliable)

• If you sort Explorer by the column you want, select the files in that order (click first file, Shift+click last) then drag them into MPC‑BE’s playlist window. This sometimes preserves the Explorer order, but Windows Explorer can pass selection in surprising orders — it’s not 100% reliable.

3) Use a player that exposes playlist sorting

• PotPlayer: its playlist view offers Sort by → Date/Name/etc. after you add files. If you prefer GUI controls, PotPlayer may be more convenient. (reddit.com)
• mpv: with autoload.lua or scripts you can auto‑load folder files and control order; it’s very scriptable if you like lightweight players and scripting. (github.com, reddit.com)

If you’d like, I can:

• Provide a ready‑to‑copy PowerShell script adapted to your folder and preferred sort (date / size / name / extension).
• Walk you through re‑registering Films & TV via PowerShell (with copy/paste commands and what to expect).
• Help interpret a MediaInfo text dump for one of the problematic files (paste it here or tell me how you want to proceed).

Summary checklist (do these in order)

1. In Films & TV — toggle HDR off and test the file. If that fixes it, adjust Windows HDR/SDR slider for a permanent balance. (support.microsoft.com)
2. Update GPU drivers and codec extensions (HEVC/AV1) if file is encoded in those formats. (intel.com)
3. Reset Films & TV app (Settings > Apps > Advanced options > Reset); re‑register with PowerShell if needed. (learn.microsoft.com, dell.com)
4. For MPC‑BE folder order — create an M3U playlist sorted the way you want (PowerShell sample above) and open that playlist in MPC‑BE. (virtualcuriosities.com)

Tell me:

• Do the problem files report HDR (HDR10/HLG) in MediaInfo? If you don’t know how to get MediaInfo I’ll show step steps or you can paste one file’s MediaInfo summary here.
• Do you want the one‑click PowerShell playlist generator (I’ll give a 1‑line you can run for any folder)?

 

[Alicekoo86]

Please walk me through re‑registering Films & TV via PowerShell (with copy/paste commands and what to expect). Thanks very much, AI.

 

[ChatGPT]

Good — below is a step‑by‑step PowerShell walkthrough you can copy/paste. I’ll show how to (A) check for the Movies & TV / Films & TV package, (B) re‑register it if it’s present, and (C) fallbacks if it’s missing or registration fails. I’ll also list common errors and what to do next. The commands below are the standard approach used by Windows admins and shown in our forum knowledge base.
Important prep

• Run these in an elevated PowerShell (right‑click Start → Windows PowerShell (Admin) or Windows Terminal (Admin)).
• Close Films & TV if it’s running.
• If you removed the app previously, you might not be able to reinstall it from the Store on some Windows builds — that’s covered in the fallbacks below.

A — Check whether the package exists and find its InstallLocation
1) In the elevated PowerShell paste:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *ZuneVideo*
Explanation / expected output:

• If the package exists you’ll see an object with Name (Microsoft.ZuneVideo...), Version and InstallLocation. If nothing prints, the package is not installed for any user.

B — If the package exists: re‑register (rebuild package registration)
2) If the Get-AppxPackage command returned a result, run this single copy/paste command to re‑register it:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.ZuneVideo | ForEach-Object {
  Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"
}

What this does and what to expect:

• Add-AppxPackage -Register tells Windows to re‑read the app’s AppXManifest and re‑create the registration entries. You may see progress text and/or warnings; if successful, the app will reappear in Start and be runnable after a reboot or logoff/logon. This is the standard re‑register technique used for built‑in UWP packages.

C — If the package does NOT exist (or you removed it)
Option 1 — re‑register from on‑disk AppxManifest if files exist

• If you have the package folder in C:\Program Files\WindowsApps or C:\Windows\SystemApps you can re‑register every app from those folders (useful if many built‑ins were deregistered). Example (run as admin):
  

  # re-register everything found in WindowsApps (can show errors for already-registered packages)
  Get-ChildItem "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" | ForEach-Object {
  if (Test-Path "$($_.FullName)\AppxManifest.xml") {
  Add-AppxPackage -Path "$($_.FullName)\AppxManifest.xml" -Register -DisableDevelopmentMode
  }
  }

also try re-registering SystemApps​

Get-ChildItem "C:\Windows\SystemApps" | ForEach-Object {
if (Test-Path "$($.FullName)\AppxManifest.xml") {
Add-AppxPackage -Path "$($.FullName)\AppxManifest.xml" -Register -DisableDevelopmentMode
}
}

- Note: these scripts commonly produce many “already registered” messages or path-not-found messages for packages that are legitimately missing; that’s expected. Use this when the app files are still present on disk.

Option 2 — reinstall from Microsoft Store
- If the package is truly removed and you want the official installer, try the Microsoft Store page for Movies & TV (may be unavailable depending on Microsoft changes to the app/store). If the Store no longer offers it on your build/account you’ll have to use the local Appx re‑register approach or consider reinstalling via an in‑place Windows repair/upgrade that restores built‑in apps.

D — Common failures and troubleshooting
- Add-AppxPackage / Register may fail with deployment HRESULTs such as 0x80073CF9, 0x80073D05, or 0x80073D23. These errors commonly mean:
  - Permission / profile issues (special profile / need non‑special account).
  - Corrupt package state or leftover application data that blocks registration.
  - Files missing from WindowsApps / SystemApps.

If you get an error that includes an ActivityID (a GUID), copy the GUID and run:
```powershell
Get-AppPackageLog -ActivityID <GUID-from-error>

That returns a more detailed error log you can paste here and I can help interpret.
If Add-AppxPackage fails with errors about deleting previous application data:

• Open Explorer → %LocalAppData%\Packages and look for a package folder whose name contains Microsoft.ZuneVideo or the package full name; rename it (append .bak) and then re‑run the Add-AppxPackage re‑register command. Forum posts show renaming the per‑user package folder often clears the blocking state. (Be careful: renaming removes user settings for the app.)

If you hit persistent registration failures:

• Run DISM and SFC to rule out system component corruption:
  

  DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
  sfc /scannow

• After repairs, try the re‑register command again. If system component repair doesn’t fix it, an in‑place Windows repair/upgrade will restore missing system app packages.

E — Final steps & sanity checks

1. After a successful re‑register, reboot (or sign out/in).
2. Open Start → search “Films & TV” or “Movies & TV”. Test a file.
3. If there are visual problems that persist only in Films & TV (e.g., extreme brightness) check Windows Display → HDR settings (that’s a different issue but common). If re‑register succeeds but the app still behaves oddly, tell me the exact app behavior and any error text.

If you want, I can:

• Provide the exact commands again in a single script you can run (with safety checks).
• Interpret the output if you paste the PowerShell output or an Add-AppxPackage error (include any ActivityID GUID).
• Walk through renaming the %LocalAppData%\Packages folder entry if you hit the “previous application data” error.

Which would you like me to paste first — the one‑shot script that checks for the ZuneVideo package and then re‑registers it, or help reading your Get-AppxPackage output?

 

[Alicekoo86]

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *ZuneVideo*

“Use HDR” turned off, files looks normal in VLC and MPC-BE but overexposed in Films & TV, MediaInfo reports HLG, How do I resolve this issue?

 

[ChatGPT]

Thanks — useful details. HLG in MediaInfo plus Films & TV showing the same files over‑exposed (while VLC/MPC‑BE look normal) strongly points to an HDR/HD‑Color tone‑mapping problem in the Windows playback pipeline. Below are step‑by‑step checks and fixes (copy/paste commands included) — follow them in order and tell me which step changes anything.
Why this is happening (short)

• Films & TV uses the Windows HDR/HD‑Color pipeline and will apply tone‑mapping when a file presents HDR metadata (HLG/HDR10). That can make HLG files look blown out if tone‑mapping or system HDR settings are incorrect. Turning HDR off usually fixes it; there are additional app/driver/codec and registration issues that can keep the app behaving badly even when “Use HDR” is toggled.

Quick checks (try these first)
1) Confirm HDR settings and try a reset toggle

• Settings → System → Display → (select your HDR monitor) → Windows HD Color settings (or search “HDR settings”).
• If “Use HDR” is OFF now, toggle it ON, then adjust the “SDR content brightness” (HDR/SDR slider) until the image looks reasonable, then toggle HDR OFF and test again. This “on→adjust→off” flow sometimes clears the wrong tone‑mapping state. If the file looks correct with HDR ON after lowering SDR brightness, that confirms tone‑mapping is the issue.

2) Test other players

• You already said VLC and MPC‑BE look normal — that confirms the file is fine and the problem is Films & TV / Windows HDR handling.

If the quick checks didn’t fix it, do the deeper fixes below.
A — Update drivers & codecs

• Update your GPU driver (NVIDIA/AMD/Intel) to the latest WHQL from the vendor website.
• Install the HEVC and AV1 extensions from the Microsoft Store if the files use those codecs (sometimes the app falls back to a different decoder that behaves poorly). These steps resolve many playback/tone‑mapping quirks.

B — Reset the Films & TV app (GUI)

• Settings → Apps → Apps & features → Films & TV (Movies & TV) → Advanced options → Reset.
• Test files after the reset.

C — Re‑register / reinstall the app (PowerShell)
Run PowerShell as Administrator and copy/paste the commands below.
1) Check whether the package exists:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *ZuneVideo*
If it returns package info you’ll see InstallLocation.
2) If package exists, re‑register it:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *ZuneVideo* | ForEach-Object {
  Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"
}

What to expect

• If successful the app will reappear in Start and should behave as a freshly registered app. If you see deployment errors (HRESULTs like 0x80073D06, 0x80073CF9, etc.), copy the error text (or any ActivityID GUID) and paste it here so I can interpret it. The forum KB contains the same re‑register approach and common followups.

D — If Add-AppxPackage complains about “previous application data”

• Rename the per‑user package folder to force the app to recreate its state:
  1) Close Films & TV.
  2) Open Explorer and go to:
  %LocalAppData%\Packages
  3) Find the folder that starts with Microsoft.ZuneVideo_ and append “.bak” to the folder name (this preserves it but removes it from the app’s view).
  4) Retry the re‑register command above. (Renaming clears app settings — you’ll lose any per‑app preferences, but it often clears blocked registrations.)

E — System repairs (only if registration fails with low‑level deployment errors)

• Run these in an elevated command prompt:
  

  DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
  sfc /scannow

  Reboot, then retry re‑register. These commands repair Windows component store problems that can block app registration.

F — Workarounds if you just need correct playback now
1) Convert HLG → SDR (lossy copy) — permanent solution for Films & TV:

• If you don’t need HDR, convert the file to SDR using ffmpeg (creates a new SDR file that all players will display normally). Example ffmpeg one‑liner (adjust paths and filenames):
  ffmpeg -i "input.mkv" -vf "zscale=primaries=bt2020:trc=bt2020-10:matrix=bt2020_ncl,tonemap=hable,zscale=primaries=bt709:trc=bt709:matrix=bt709" -c:v libx265 -crf 20 -preset medium -c:a copy "output_sdr.mkv"
• This tone‑maps HLG to Rec.709 SDR so Films & TV (and other SDR‑only renderers) show correct brightness. (If you want a version using libx264 or different tuning, tell me and I’ll give that variant.)

2) Use another player that handles HLG correctly

• Continue using VLC, MPC‑BE, mpv, or PotPlayer for these files — they already display correctly on your system. If you want an app that mimics Films & TV folder traversal plus correct HDR handling, PotPlayer and mpv are good picks (mpv can be scripted to autoload a folder in Explorer order).

What I need from you if the above doesn’t fix it

• Paste the output of Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers ZuneVideo (run the check command and paste the text here). That tells me if the package exists and the InstallLocation.
• Tell me your Windows version (Settings → System → About → OS Build) and GPU make/model (Device Manager → Display adapters). That helps determine driver or OS‑level HDR handling problems.
• If you want, upload a short MediaInfo text dump of one problematic file (MediaInfo’s “Text” or “View → Text” output) so I can confirm exactly which HDR signalling is present.

Quick suggested order to run right now

1. Toggle HDR ON → adjust SDR slider → toggle HDR OFF and test.
2. Update GPU driver + HEVC/AV1 extensions.
3. Reset Films & TV (Settings → Apps → Reset). Test.
4. Run Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers ZuneVideo and if present re‑register using the command above. If errors, paste them here.

If you want, I can:

• Provide an ffmpeg command tuned to your quality/format preference.
• Interpret any PowerShell Add-AppxPackage error you paste here.
• Give a one‑click PowerShell script that performs the check → rename package data → re‑register sequence safely and logs results.

Which do you want to try next?

 

[john37]

Hi.

Many video files appears overexposed when played on the pre-installed Windows 10 Films & TV app.
I've observed the same issue with video files on the pre-installed Windows 10 Photo app but not images.
This issue does not occur on other media players.
I've uninstalled the Movies & TV app in an attempt to fix the issue but found out later that the same app is no longer available on the Microsoft store.
Please advise how I can reinstall the Films & TV app and resolve the overexposed video playback issue.

On other matter, MPC-BE can be configured to play the next file in a folder without relying on a playlist file à la the above Films & TV app.
However, unlike the Films & TV app which plays video files according to the order they are sorted in Windows Explorer (by date, size, type, and name), MPC-BE plays the files in alphabetical order only.
How can I configure MPC-BE to play files in the same order they are sorted in Windows Explorer?
or please suggest another media player that is able to perform the above.

Thanks very much.

Hi.

Many video files appears overexposed when played on the pre-installed Windows 10 Films & TV app.
I've observed the same issue with video files on the pre-installed Windows 10 Photo app but not images.
This issue does not occur on other media players.
I've uninstalled the Movies & TV app in an attempt to fix the issue but found out later that the same app is no longer available on the Microsoft store.
Please advise how I can reinstall the Films & TV app and resolve the overexposed video playback issue.

On other matter, MPC-BE can be configured to play the next file in a folder without relying on a playlist file à la the above Films & TV app.
However, unlike the Films & TV app which plays video files according to the order they are sorted in Windows Explorer (by date, size, type, and name), MPC-BE plays the files in alphabetical order only.
How can I configure MPC-BE to play files in the same order they are sorted in Windows Explorer?
or please suggest another media player that is able to perform the above.

Thanks very much.

You can reinstall Films & TV (Movies & TV) through the Microsoft Store using PowerShell:

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator.
2. Run:
3. Get-AppxPackage *ZuneVideo* | Remove-AppxPackage
   Get-A

ppxPackage -allusers *ZuneVideo* | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

1. 
   

2. Hi.
   
   Many video files appears overexposed when played on the pre-installed Windows 10 Films & TV app.
   I've observed the same issue with video files on the pre-installed Windows 10 Photo app but not images.
   This issue does not occur on other media players.
   I've uninstalled the Movies & TV app in an attempt to fix the issue but found out later that the same app is no longer available on the Microsoft store.
   Please advise how I can reinstall the Films & TV app and resolve the overexposed video playback issue.
   
   On other matter, MPC-BE can be configured to play the next file in a folder without relying on a playlist file à la the above Films & TV app.
   However, unlike the Films & TV app which plays video files according to the order they are sorted in Windows Explorer (by date, size, type, and name), MPC-BE plays the files in alphabetical order only.
   How can I configure MPC-BE to play files in the same order they are sorted in Windows Explorer?
   or please suggest another media player that is able to perform the above.
   
   Thanks very much.

3. You can reinstall Films & TV (Movies & TV) through the Microsoft Store using PowerShell:
   
   Open PowerShell as Administrator.
   
   Run:
   
   Get-AppxPackage *ZuneVideo* | Remove-AppxPackage
   Get-AppxPackage -allusers *ZuneVideo* | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
   
   If that fails, you can download it directly from the store here: Microsoft Store – Movies & TV.
   
   The overexposure is often related to HDR settings—turning off HDR in Settings → System → Display → Windows HD Color settings usually fixes playback brightness.
   
   For MPC-BE sorting, it currently doesn’t read Windows Explorer’s custom sort. If sorting order is critical, MPC-HC or PotPlayer are good alternatives—they can follow Windows Explorer order when “Open with” is used.
   
   This should restore your Films & TV app and resolve the playback issue.

Hi.

Many video files appears overexposed when played on the pre-installed Windows 10 Films & TV app.
I've observed the same issue with video files on the pre-installed Windows 10 Photo app but not images.
This issue does not occur on other media players.
I've uninstalled the Movies & TV app in an attempt to fix the issue but found out later that the same app is no longer available on the Microsoft store.
Please advise how I can reinstall the Films & TV app and resolve the overexposed video playback issue.

On other matter, MPC-BE can be configured to play the next file in a folder without relying on a playlist file à la the above Films & TV app.
However, unlike the Films & TV app which plays video files according to the order they are sorted in Windows Explorer (by date, size, type, and name), MPC-BE plays the files in alphabetical order only.
How can I configure MPC-BE to play files in the same order they are sorted in Windows Explorer?
or please suggest another media player that is able to perform the above.

Thanks very much.

You can reinstall Films & TV (Movies & TV) through the Microsoft Store using PowerShell:

Open PowerShell as Administrator.

Run:

Get-AppxPackage *ZuneVideo* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -allusers *ZuneVideo* | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

If that fails, you can download it directly from the store here: Microsoft Store – Movies & TV.

The overexposure is often related to HDR settings—turning off HDR in Settings → System → Display → Windows HD Color settings usually fixes playback brightness.

For MPC-BE sorting, it currently doesn’t read Windows Explorer’s custom sort. If sorting order is critical, MPC-HC or PotPlayer are good alternatives—they can follow Windows Explorer order when “Open with” is used.

This should restore your Films & TV app and resolve the playback issue.