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Author Topic: JRiver Media Server - missing features  (Read 5466 times)

jayw654

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JRiver Media Server - missing features
« on: December 03, 2015, 12:13:41 am »

JRiver Media Center missing features that are definitely needed:
1.   Multiple user accounts where any number of people can connect and use server concurrently over the Internet
2.   HTTPS support to encrypt connections for privacy using certificate format of .PFX would be easy to use and will support Private Key, Certificate and Intermediate certificate.
3.   Ability to limit concurrent streams but this needs separate settings for Video and Audio where I could set 5 active streams for audio but only 2 for video or any number if I choose it simply need to have separate settings.
4.   Ability to turn off notice for JRiver Media Server license meaning the ad saying to purchase with limited time. Some folks will only use this as a client and connect to my server with no intention of purchasing so this notice is simply annoying to Client Only users.
5.     Ability to connect via URL without having to use a token in the android app

If any of these settings exists but not in trial please correct me as I’m assuming this options are missing as I’m trialing it but whatever isn’t present please add all the options missing.

However I must also give kudos other than options missing this is the most robust well running server and would love to purchase but I seriously need the features mentioned above.
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JimH

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Re: JRiver Media Server - missing features
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2015, 06:42:11 am »

JRiver Media Center missing features that are definitely needed:
1.   Multiple user accounts where any number of people can connect and use server concurrently over the Internet
2.   HTTPS support to encrypt connections for privacy using certificate format of .PFX would be easy to use and will support Private Key, Certificate and Intermediate certificate.
3.   Ability to limit concurrent streams but this needs separate settings for Video and Audio where I could set 5 active streams for audio but only 2 for video or any number if I choose it simply need to have separate settings.
4.   Ability to turn off notice for JRiver Media Server license meaning the ad saying to purchase with limited time. Some folks will only use this as a client and connect to my server with no intention of purchasing so this notice is simply annoying to Client Only users.
5.     Ability to connect via URL without having to use a token in the android app
MC requires a license, whether it is a client or server.

You can use an IP address and port instead of an Access Key when you start MC.  For example:

192.168.0.10:52199
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blgentry

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Re: JRiver Media Server - missing features
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2015, 08:04:11 am »

However I must also give kudos other than options missing this is the most robust well running server and would love to purchase but I seriously need the features mentioned above.

Need?  What are you planning to do with MC?  It sounds like you want to be able to stream video and audio as a service for a group of people that you only mildly trust.  ALA a commercial streaming solution.  MC is a great solution, but it's designed for home use.  Maybe I'm missing something.  Why would any home user "need" this sort of sophisticated granular control with encryption and certificates?

EDIT:  I'm just a customer, so don't take my questions as anything official.  I'm just another user.

Brian.
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marko

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Re: JRiver Media Server - missing features
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2015, 08:54:16 am »

Need?  What are you planning to do with MC?  It sounds like you want to be able to stream video and audio as a service for a group of people that you only mildly trust.  ALA a commercial streaming solution.  MC is a great solution, but it's designed for home use.  Maybe I'm missing something.  Why would any home user "need" this sort of sophisticated granular control with encryption and certificates?

EDIT:  I'm just a customer, so don't take my questions as anything official.  I'm just another user.

Brian.
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glynor

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Re: JRiver Media Server - missing features
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2015, 12:21:26 am »

Why would any home user "need" this sort of sophisticated granular control with encryption and certificates?

I agree generally. Though I feel I should chime in on one nuance (since it was brought up). I do agree with the OP's point #2 on encryption generally. I don't think they necessarily need to expose the ugly complexities of the certs to the end user, but encryption?

MC should, IMHO, encrypt MCWS traffic with TLS. I don't think it needs to be impenetrable, but... It should encrypt it. And, since you're just going to do this using one of the common LGPL libraries out there like OpenSSL (or one of the various post-heartbleed "re-dos" of it), you should make an effort to do it well and pre-set it with good, sensible defaults.

As it is, if you poke a hole through your firewall at home and stream your media across the Internet, you are transmitting all of that (including the authentication MC does) in the clear. That raises a few issues:

* The authentication isn't really much of a lock: If you come to my office or house and use MC on your laptop to connect to your home server, over my network without VPN, with Wireshark and a few minutes to spare, I can delete your entire Library from disk on your server.

* Even assuming no malicious actors on the same LAN as you (or at their ISP, or their ISP, or yours, or wherever it gets routed on this rickety series of tubes we call the Internet) are watching for MCWS traffic and trying to nuke your files for lulz... Many regular people out there use the same password for multiple things. So, sniffing passwords is useful not just to attack MC, but to try to get the "keys to the kingdom" (your email account which can then be used to reset most of your other passwords).

* I don't feel entirely comfortable with my boss, a bored sysad, or some guy on the same public hotspot as me at an airport, being able to watch the filenames fly by of what I'm watching or listening to or looking at in my Library. Is it my banking data? No. But it is creepy. And, it could be valuable "marketing" data on us to know everything you watch and look at and listen to, so there's also the creepy building-a-dossier-on-every-human-advertising-tech-behemoth(s) out there to be vaguely creeped out about.

Again, IMHO, it would be best if MC did TLS encrypt all MCWS traffic. I've agitated about this myself a few times before (and you can call this an opportunity to do it again). I do not think they need to expose a bunch of fancy options to set your own certificates (and other things that would appeal to an enterprise environment). It is fine to just auto-generate a self-signed certificate on install and then prompt the user to accept it on the first connection (right before it prompts for the username and password). Like I said above, it doesn't need to be impenetrable, but... No encryption at all is not just "ok" because it targets home users.

And for the record, if you have a server with authentication enabled (and so therefore allowing changes to the Library via MCWS) you should really be using a VPN. At least, you should know what you are signing up for before you poke a hole through your firewall to allow access to that Library from the WAN.
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glynor

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Re: JRiver Media Server - missing features
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2015, 12:35:59 am »

Also, for the record to the OP. If you are considering JRiver Media Center for a large enterprise deployment, I'd suggest you contact JRiver directly:
http://www.jriver.com/partner_players.html

They can build custom things to order. And, heck, if you demand TLS, you might get it for me too, so there's that! I also don't work for JRiver (if you couldn't tell from my minor rant above), so I can't speak for them, but I'm sure Jim would agree that if you are looking at buying a whole bunch of licenses for an enterprise deployment... They'll talk.
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gvanbrunt

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Re: JRiver Media Server - missing features
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2015, 01:02:43 am »

+1 for encryption. I've posted about this too...
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jayw654

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Re: JRiver Media Server - missing features
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2015, 02:23:29 am »

I need the features as I share with friends and family but also want to keeps under control and secure. I don't need to have 7-8 family and friends to trying to stream a vid at once as it would kill my bandwidth but 7-8 people listening to audio is fine since it doesn't use as much bandwidth. My needs are personal and legit but I also like to share privately so such granular control is needed. However if the developer isn't interested I'm sure I can find my way to Plex. Willing to go ahead and purchase if the developer can promise to add the missing features within a year. Aslo I need the cert support since I want to run the server independently. Also people running as a client should be free or very deeply discounted as it is with Plex. Maybe Plex would be the better option now that I think of it as it already has most of the controls I'm requesting.
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AndrewFG

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Re: JRiver Media Server - missing features
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2015, 02:43:06 am »

However if the developer isn't interested I'm sure I can find my way to Plex. Willing to go ahead and purchase if the developer can promise to add the missing features within a year.

IMHO don't hold your breath on getting any such promise; it sounds a bit like blackmail, and I am pretty sure they won't go down that path; so if that's the way you want to play it, you may as well go over to Plex right now...


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fitbrit

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Re: JRiver Media Server - missing features
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2015, 10:51:16 am »

JRiver has an extremely generous licencing policy in that any computers (within a given platform, or cross-platform with a Master licence) that are yours can install the software -  whether they are server or client. This wouldn't extend to your friends, of course, but within your household it is fine. However, those PCs within the household must still install the licence, but do not need to purchase an additional one.
I think I will move to Plex too, because if JRiver is too short-sighted to implement all the changes you require to get your $50, there is no hope for them. Time to abandon this sinking ship right now. You may just have saved me my annual $10-$20 upgrade fees for the the foreseeable future. Thank you, OP.
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