Windows Media Player video playback stops when moved between different displays

The media playback system of WMP is closely coupled to the graphics device to assist with rendering the video. The device may provide hardware acceleration to improve playback quality. Once WMP negotiates the necessary components for playback, it is assumed the rendering sub-system will not change during playback. If a single graphics card is used, that supports multiple monitors, the switch between the display is handled within the hardware and is handled accordingly. It is when a separate graphics card is introduced that the rendering system is required to try and re-negotiate a new rendering path with the new hardware that may cause failure.

The software components used by WMP, are required to handle the device change for the playback to continue with minimal impact to the user. In some instances, third party components may cause a failure which will cause WMP to crash. This can occur when there are differences between the devices and what capabilities they support.