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[JimH]

We're thinking about where we need to go next with MC.  I'd like to hear your opinion on big areas where you find that MC is weak when compared to competitors.

A couple of comments:

1.  Please don't use this thread to request specific features.

2.  Streaming media services are problematic, since they are often not open to developers and most have weak financial models so they tend to turn over every few years.

[JimH]

Looks like we're in pretty good shape then.

[ferday]

JimH, i'm a commited MC fanboy, so take it for what you will

but as an active forum participant, i see:
1. a manual / documentation - apparently wikis and forum searches are so 2007 these days and basic stuff is repeatedly posted.  a manual covering the basic things that don't really change would save the forum regulars a lot of hassle
2. less focus on fancy new features and more on eye candy / UI simplification / modernization.  Kodi is useless to me, but it looks nice (it looks like netflix, so my wife can use it.)  what happened to the pretty face initiative?
3. a more interactive way to experience the data (related to #2?).  Roon is very neat, even JRemote has better features than MC proper for Artist bio's and liner notes etc.

these three would IMO sort out a large % of the questions i see in the forums

streaming is what it is.  personally i can't stand it but i'm old enough to be a curmudgeon now.  

[Vocalpoint]

Looks like we're in pretty good shape then.

Jim,

I guess I would ask - who do you consider "competitors"?

Not sure about others who spend time here as much as I do on a regular basis - but I since I spend 100% of my time with MC - I simply do not have the cycles to even look at any competitors - never mind have enough backgrounder to be able to state A is better than B in App X - making that a competitive advantage over MC?

I can only assume you are looking for input from non-MC users? Or those that use MC along with a stack of other apps out there?

The only thing I could add right now - as a competitive "advantage" was possibly an update to that thread that hinted at a possible simpler UI for playback. (aka - What happened to the pretty face initiative?) As a real world example - the wife now uses JRemote exclusively and will not touch the main UI of MC.

Cheers!

VP

[jgreen]

I think that MC's vast feature set truly means that it has no direct competitiors.  I also think this vast feature set begs for a simple, tasks-oriented user's manual that is NOT a Wiki or committee-sourced product.  This manual should appear in the "help" menu of MC and and not be something that needs to be downloaded separately.

I also agree with the "eye candy" suggestion.  This is the trend now with the most expensive software--it doubles as visual entertainment.  I know certain purist propellerheads will cringe at this--and I cringe also--but this would extend to scripted menu open/closes etc.

I think JRiver's on the right track here by going to more frequent new versions and by keeping on the cutting edge with features.  Some of your loyal customers may only purchase every other version, but it will still be a revenue- and customer loyalty-enhancing initiative. 

[JonnyRedHed]

I love JRiver, but also agree with the "eye candy" suggestion.   There is something to be said for the the look of the Amarra For Tidal UI, and settings page UI.  Love the smooth spacey look and feel of the buttons across the top of the main UI transport section, and love the large shiny dial. I do love me a big shiny dial.   (bigger images at bottom of article).

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/attachments/20376d1439925616-amarra-tidal-006.png/

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/attachments/20375d1439925616-amarra-tidal-005.png/

[Manfred]

Just purchased the upgrade to MC22. I started my digital media journey in Feb. 2013 with JRiver and I use it for audio, video and photo's. In total ~49 000 files stored on my NAS. JRiver runs on a separate HTPC with a GTX 960. As remote I use JRemote. In general I love the audio quality, the tremendous picture quality that madVR could produce etc. DAC + AMP is a Devialet D-200.

What I personally see as challengens for MC:

• I had only a look at it on various demos -the roon User experience with all the metadata I would love to have for JRiver. Also ELAC on the Munich High End shows an added value to roon, they have all? the text information stored for different music titles.
• Tidal integration is implemented now by Audirvana, Roon and many others. It's charming. Because its only audio and not video I have up to now withstand to purchase roon. The high price of roon for me personally is not so important.

• Video from my point of view will be in the future also be a challange for MC, regarding what happens to AnyDVD. Also its not clear if the UHD Blu Ray could be played on a HTPC because there will be no disc drive available in the near future (to my current knowledge). For me this would lead to buying an UHD Blu Ray player (e.g. Oppo in the End of 2016), if nothing changes. The same is valid for Dolby Vision and HDR, which to my understanding requires an license, which would require to rebuild the (UHD) Blu Ray functionality to a certain extend in JRiver, if it is possible regarding the license challenges.
• DAC + AMP vendors also have an App today. For my D-200 I think Devialet will bring a modified SPARK app to their Expert line later this year. If I would only play music - I would not any more need an HTPC with JRiver and also not JRemote. A NAS would be enough.

In general I love JRiver. The video and the usability challanges given by roon are for me the biggest competetive challenges for the MC team.

[Awesome Donkey]

I tend to agree with the above where emphasis on eye candy, UI simplification and modernization appeals most to me. Perhaps a visual overhaul of everything including theater view with a brand new skin from scratch that's "modern" in mind (e.g. flat buttons and controls). Kinda like the direction the Modern Cards skins went in, with plenty of improvements and refinements.

Also improving the Mac and Linux builds and working towards feature parity with the Windows version appeals to me too.

[jgreen]

I just googled for images of Roon and it didn't look too far out of the norm to me--I'd never heard of the program.  That said, the images linked to all the familiar premium A/V sites, so Roon would seem to be an example of a "competitor."

Currently a "skin" for MC is mostly a different color scheme, with maybe thicker or thinner borders thrown in.  Perhaps a good start might be a radically new skin treatment that rearranges things a bit and spends more effort on eye appeal?  That way those who take offense at the changes can stick with good ol' MC.   

[blgentry]

1.  Client server consistency and robustness:  There are a good number of "gotchas" when working with MC in a client server configuration (MC client to MC server).  Such as not being able to edit metadata on the client reliably.  There are enough of these that I have read about, that I wouldn't recommend this functionality to anyone without some big provisos and special procedures.  Such as "only edit data on the server using remote access".  This is probably a big hurdle, but it's a weakness from my perspective.

2.  Robustness of network audio:  The main problem here is that DLNA and UPNP are horribly implemented in many devices and JRiver has no control over this.  Frankly, I recommend that no one interested in reliable "it just works" audio use a network renderer with MC.  There are just too many unknowns, too many hoops to jump through.  What path would someone take, that wants "whole house audio" the easiest most reliable way?  Currently the answer is to use DACs that are direct attached to the MC host.

Could MC support some subset of network renderers in a robust way?  I.E. Chromecast audio, or Airplay receivers, or something else?  Audio synchronization would be an important part of this.  Again, the key here is not to try to make all network renderers work really well.  Just a subset that is "JRiver recommended".

3.  Enhanced customization for theater view, or a similar "10 foot view" oriented interface.  We see long passionate threads from time to time from people who are used to Kodi or another semi-open home media server product who are REALLY into the idea of changing the look and feel of the big screen UI.  They are usually met with "we have skins, what more do you want?"  Frankly, I don't know the answer for what to implement, as I haven't studied the market.  But clearly there is the desire from a sometimes vocal subset of users.

Please don't take any of these items as overly negative.  I'm just shooting straight calling it how I see it with no bias.

Thanks for reading.

Brian.

[fitbrit]

As someone who deals with multiple MC users almost every day, I do get a sense of the following:

1) People are enamored with the metadata handling of Roon, and I almost always get asked about whether MC can do this or that in comparison to Roon. Many then ask if I would support Roon for them, and until now I have said I will not.

2) An optional simplified interface would be welcomed, with some default views set up that reflect the common usage scenarios. This would be especially welcome for JRemote view schemes, which doesn't come with a series; season;episode view for TV shows for example.

3) Tidal support is what most people want, but I explain the situation and they are satisfied running Tidal through WDM.

4) It would be great to have access to a bigger and better metadatabase for CD ripping. Currently our customers are instructed to use dBpoweramp; it always has their (even quite rare) CDs in the database with good quality cover art. I am not convinced that the ripping process itself is superior to MC's from what I've read on this forum.

[mwillems]

I agree with most of what's been said here.  I think metadata access and user interface are probably the two big areas where competitors are at a potential advantage.

1) JRiver's UI is many good things (customizable, comprehensive, suipportive of different workflows), but it is not simple or consistent (either internally or crossplatform).  This is an area where some of the competition are potentially a bit ahead.

a) Pretty Face - Like other folks upthread, I too had been hoping for some movement on Pretty Face: a single cross-platform simplified interface would greatly improve the user experience in my house.  This is an area that Roon and Kodi have addressed (more or less).   The idea would be to have a consistent interface for 10 foot and touch applications that's similar across devices and platforms.  JRiver has interfaces on various platforms, but they're not at all consistent (and several use different view schemes by default!) which means re-learning how to do what you want in each place and repeating customizations in each place.  

b) Main program UI - Setting aside a simplified interface, I think the existing user interface could stand some rationalization.  I'm not sure a manual or more formal introductory guide (as mentioned above) is the answer.  It might be nice to have, but I think simpler and more consistent UI would answer a lot of questions in advance.  There are, for example, between 4 and 6 separate buffer settings depending on your hardware and platform.  Several of them are not visible at the same time (they're in different submenus), and some of them cause others to be ignored when enabled (but this isn't clear from the UI).  Without a stopwatch or asking questions on the forum there's really no way to know how those settings interact.  The whole thing could be simplified by putting them all in the same submenu, possibly with a dynamic illustration showing how the final buffer applied by the software is composed.  You could have the exact same level of granularity and complexity but it would be self-describing.  To be clear, this isn't a request, just an example. I'm absolutely not suggesting removing any settings, I love the settings; I'm suggesting rationalizing the settings and providing "helps" (whether grapical or tooltips) that will make more parts of the program self-explanatory.  

2) Metadata-  Better metadata access would enhance the software in a lot of ways and is something that I think some of JRiver's competitors have an "edge" on.  Integrated metadata access is the only reason I trialled Roon. It's the only thing Roon did that I wished JRiver did.  Almost everything else about JRiver was superior (in terms of functionality) from my perspective.  Similarly, metadata quality is the only reason that I don't use MC for ripping anymore (I use dBpoweramp).  JRiver's database isn't really "there" for what I listen to (60% hitrate on my last trial), and I rip enough CDs that I can't be bothered typing it all in a third of the time when dBPoweramp has a 99% hitrate.  So this is an area where competitors are at a comparative advantage in my opinion.

[RD James]

Off the top of my head the biggest feature that competing audio players have which JRiver lacks is the ability to cache the whole playlist in memory.
For video, the biggest thing would be that most other players are 64-bit now which can really improve performance and stability with H.265/4K playback.

[hoyt]

1) The idea of Pretty Face was what I think a lot of us expected to address this.  A cross-platform consistent interface puts JRiver behind the curve of its competitors.

2) Marketing/ Vision.  There is a ton possible with MC, but you don't get that until you're knee deep in it.  Look at Roon's home page compared to JRiver's.  It paints a picture of how awesome life is going to be when you use Roon.  JRiver shows you everything that's possible and that's too much for the average consumer (I don't consider the user base on here to be your average user).  When I install JRiver, I'd like to know that it's going to be easy to play back my music across multi-platforms and multi-device types (Sonos, AirPlay, Chromecast, etc).  I think a video or a way to show off a pure JRiver installation with multi-zones, multi-user playback, would go a long way to closing the gap with some of those players in the whole-house audio arena.

[stewart_pk]

I'll have a go.

Cyberlink PowerDVD: Superior 3D playback stability, Blu-ray Menu support, auto ISO mount.

MediaPortal: TV functionality is vastly superior.

KODI: A more stable application. An abundance of UI choices. Song lyrics.

[DJLegba]

I think MC is fantastic, but many people appear to have trouble with it. Use the forum. Take the two most common questions/problems and change MC to make those issues go away. Repeat until done. Video support is changing a lot right now, but audio seems to be fairly stable, so start there.

[ssands]

Lots of good ideas up above.

Manual: Yep. I think MC needs one.
Updated Wiki: searching the forum is not really a good way to discover the depth of MC (ties in with manual above).

==> Handle ebook and docs media. More in line with what Calibre offers but that is not an elegant program at all. I'd love to consolidate *all* my media into MC.

[kstuart]

I think that it depends what you mean by competition.

The "media player on a desktop computer" paradigm - and the whole "Home Theater" paradigm was part of the way that some families experienced music and television in the previous 15 years.

During that time period, JRiver MC had competition in that arena mainly from products that were free.

So, it was merely a question of providing sufficient extra value to make it worthwhile to buy a commercial product rather than just install freeware.   And I think that JRiver MC succeeded in doing so for two groups - audiophiles and videophiles - both of whom were used to spending extra money for extra value.

However, I think that in 2016, the above paradigm is not being adopted by the next generation.  Music is a) streamed, b) on the phone, c) on the cloud.   No one has music on 4TB hard drives any more (except for us, of course).  Only people who have been collecting CDs and audio files for 20 years play them on desktop PCs.

One new trend amongst 20-somethings is vinyl LPs.   Some recent albums were released on LP instead of CD.  Pink Floyd just announced they will re-release their entire catalogue on vinyl LP.

So, I guess the real answer to your question is " An all-analog version of Media Center ".

[apgood]

I think Theater View / 10foot UI needs some love.  Things like:

The option to add overlay icons to covers to indicate things like 3D, audio & video codec, resolution and aspect ratio

More flexible skinning engine??? Not really a coder so can't really comment but has been raised often over the years.

Most of the 10 foot UI competitors like Kodi and Emby have these sorts of things.

Maybe the adding of theater view to the Linux and Mac versions of Media Center is an opportunity to build a cross-platform theater view that incorporates some of the things that have been raised over the years.

[dtblair]

I've been using JRiver since version 14.  I have spent many hours evaluating KODI since I am a programmer by trade and like the aspect of a true database.  KODI's interface for video and system for film metadata blows JRiver away, however, audio is a joke and is therefore unusable.  JRiver has no equal for audio playback.  Also editing of data in JRiver is so much easier than KODI.  I have to ODBC to SQL in KODI to do that.  However, the presentation (eyecandy and screen manipulation) is vastly better in KODI

•   Add sidecar metadata storage for audio, especially artist bio and info.  Adding to the individual wav or flac file makes no sense and any small edit requires re-writing of the original file. This is just asking for a file corruption to happen and since most of my new files are HD, backing up 2GIG files is a pain.
•   Allow for increased metadata presentation in Theater view.  There is no easy way to add bio or track information to the limited real-estate and scolling of the screen is not easy with a touchscreen.  It is also prone to crashing of the dll (posted this in JRiver 19).  See how KODI uses tabs and popups for their INFO on how this should be done.
•   Allow for customized backgrounds in Theater view rather than on-line metadata when playing audio files (KODI has this).  Each folder is linked to the album or artist.
•   Improve multi-user library.  I no longer do this in JRiver as edits cause corruption.  Allowing multiple users of same library (individual copies of JRiver on individual computers connected to the network library) to make changes , i.e. add playlists, doesn't work. KODI doesn't have this issue as it uses a true muli-user relational database (SQL).

[park]

I agree that most casual media consumers are going the way of streaming. There will probably always be a niche group of hoarders like us though, and no good software like itunes is a great way of introducing people to a frustrating limited user experience and funnelling them towards JRiver. Also, it is going to take another decade at this rate before there is really a decent on demand video service that has all the classic, niche, foreign, and indie movies. That means that there will be a use case for private home libraries like ours for quite a while yet. I think that JRiver should continue to polish its core product for a while yet.

Even as a hardened Media center fan, I am changing my use patterns in the following ways:

1. I Use Theater View 100% of the time for viewing and playing media at home. I use JRemote on Android for out of the house playback, even though I also have MC on my mac air.  I use Standard view for its panes tagging of newly imported media only. Standard View could be tweaked a bit more for this kind of job. Some work on Groupings/Album thumbnail list views is necessary. I have posted about this recently. Theater View could do with some easy remote based tagging. I'm thinking [Rating] mainly. But other ideas could be stuff like "Watch later", or "Flag for tagging later"

2. I find myself wanting to throw media between devices more and more. I have a chromecast but dont like changing the tv input to use it. I want MC to act as a chromecast device. I know that it is currently impossible because the chromecast system is a closed standard. the fact that dlna is being forgotten by the industry feels bad though. Right now i use bubble upnp on android to throw music from google play to MC. It works ok, but it feels like it could stop working at any time.
Perhaps the ideal solution to this will come when MC is ported to android properly. Then it can access the chromecast functionality at the os level, or at least will be running on the android TV device so that if you do cast to it from your phone, you wont be changing TV input, youll just be switching away from Android MC to another app briefly. A modular MC is probably the future I guess. MC running on a headless mac or windows tucked away in a corner somewhere acting as a file server. A version of MC installed on iOS or Android built in to the TV or an android TV device to act as the 10 foot interface for playback and browsing. Tagging done on an ultrabook version of MC running as a library server client.

3. I agree that 4k and hdr might be the end of private ripped movie libraries. We`ll have to wait and see what happens I guess.


4. I using Google Play music for streaming and music discovery, but I still purchase music i like, and add it to MC. I do like its thumbs up/down interface. I think JRiver could utilize something like that to make its smartlists much smarter. The user might tag a lot more items if there is only thumbs up/down rather than thinking where each song is in a ranking of 5 stars. The more tagging the user does that doesnt feel like too much effort, the better MC can get at suggesting tracks and artists, etc.

[amsco15]

Suppose this isn't a competitive disadvantage since the competition is very weak.  However, would love to see JRemote get more attention.  It's one of the major reasons I've bought 3 and soon to be 4 consecutive JRiver licenses.

[cncb]

1.  Client server consistency and robustness:  There are a good number of "gotchas" when working with MC in a client server configuration (MC client to MC server).  Such as not being able to edit metadata on the client reliably.  There are enough of these that I have read about, that I wouldn't recommend this functionality to anyone without some big provisos and special procedures.  Such as "only edit data on the server using remote access".  This is probably a big hurdle, but it's a weakness from my perspective.

Yes!  There is also no indication on the client when something goes wrong.

Also, all other TV recording applications have the recording done in a separate service so that any playback or other unrelated crashes don't bring down the recording engine causing recordings to be missed.

[JimH]

I split a couple of posts that deserve discussion.

[jgreen]

More interesting comments and more opportunity for me to Opine.

Firstly, I agree completely with JimH's perspective in his original question, namely that streaming services are too difficult/unstable/etc to effectively configure MC as an end client (in the current business environment).  This may change but I think too much effort and cost is required now to chase streaming services that may be out of business two years from now.

Implied in this is something that I also agree with:  MC's competitive advantage revolves around local storage, cataloguing and playback of media.  I am not the least bit troubled by the cultural trend towards streamed content.  In particular, the fact that the young are streaming media while the old (like me) are warehousing it says nothing new about the preferences and/or capabilities of either generation.  The old warehouse media (or anything) because they can afford to, the young don't because they usually can't.  As the young get older they'll get more money and more inclination to warehouse stuff.

For this reason I would continue to introduce non-obvious revenue enhancements.  Is that non-obvious enough, JimH?  I think the market will bear it.  I think cranking out more enticements and enhancing the meta-experience (forum, wiki, users manual, etc) will continue to win you friends. 

If there was a specific media experience that I would chase in this market it would be television.  I cannot imagine a bigger group of dinosaurs who are finally seeing the end of their accustomed dominance.  That MIGHT make them easier to deal with--or it might just make them form into a circle and fight to the death.

As regards 4k (and 8k) I would take a wait-and-see attitude.  It is true that these enormous file sizes are designed to make wholesale local storage impractical.  At the same time, I am amazed at how good MC makes my SD content look, including multiple Terabytes of (analogue) video capture.  Sat and cable cos feel their best hope for the future is in continuing to offer niche content unavailable elsewhere.  IMO, such a marketplace plays directly in to MC's strength with regards to locally-stored content.

FWIW!

[Vocalpoint]

If there was a specific media experience that I would chase in this market it would be television.  I cannot imagine a bigger group of dinosaurs who are finally seeing the end of their accustomed dominance. 

The issue I have with MC chasing TV - is that TV is subject to all sorts of rules and regs that are vastly different from country to country. It's all well and good to say "Let's go get TV" if you live in the US - where the bits and bobs of TV goodness that MC can deliver - actually work and bring value.

But up here in Canada or in Europe (or a hundred other places round the globe) where MC might be installed - the actual "value" of TV functionality may be nil. So while the US guys get all sorts of cool TV dev - the rest of us may never see any value.

I am not suggesting that a rock solid TV experience in MC should be ignored - I am saying - if you are gonna do it - try to do it with everyone in mind - not just the US users.

VP

[BartMan01]

No native apps for the popular set top boxes (AppleTV, FireTV, Roku, XBox, PS4, etc.). The fact that you have to plug a computer in to your TV to watch video is a big usability set back, and trying to use DLNA to browse a large library is a nightmare.

No ability to cache content locally with iOS. I know JRiver says it is 'hard to do', but everyone else seems to be doing it.

Last I tried it, streaming video with JRemote was not reliable and not configurable on the fly. I use AirVideo HD for that currently, it tries to auto adjust bandwidth and lets you choose from a selection of pre-sets for resolution and bit rate when you need/want to manually control that.

[Vocalpoint]

Last I tried it, streaming video with JRemote was not reliable and not configurable on the fly.

I still cannot stream an MKV video file with JRemote from our movie library to an iPad. So I stopped worrying about it.

VP

[imugli]

I think BartMan01 may be onto something with the whole "No native apps on boxes" thing. If you can't bring streaming services to MC, perhaps take MC to where the streaming services are? How would that look? I have no idea.

Another thing (that I would never expect or ask to change) I think puts you at a competitive disadvantage is that the likes of Kodi, MythTV, (Parts of) Plex etc are open source, and plugin development and extension by the community is not only OK, but encouraged. If I want a fairly austere looking interface, like what we have at the moment, I can have one. If I want my TV to look like a teenager's bedroom, with rubbish everywhere, I can find a skin or code one myself. If I want to create a completely new feature, and integrate it, I can.

I know experienced users here will say "there is an SDK" but given the emphasis for HTPC use is on Theater View, the ability to extend the functionality of Theater View seems to be either lacking, or there but less *approachable* than that of the open sourced alternatives.  

[glynor]

From me, the main competitive disadvantage I see is the lack of progress on the iOS App Front, including:

• Ability to sync content to the device for local playback (something where you could select a Smartlist in JRemote and have it cache those files locally so they'd work even if the device is offline).
• Video streaming. This is better than it was, but seeking is still pretty poor. The goal should be as reliable and capable as AirVideo HD. When trying to play video to my devices, I almost always end up falling back to AirVideo HD because I need to 30-second skip seek to jump over commercials. The "Dream" would be to seamlessly switch (with bookmarking and resume) between the mobile device and MC itself on my HTPC.

[mattkhan]

I agree with many of the points already listed and the existential problem posed by UHD/immersive audio/streaming (for video playback, aka the DRM problem) seems the fundamental issue (albeit one that applies to any PC based system).

IMV the major issue is simply the barrier to entry from a user point of view to using the MC client + the major inconsistency across platforms (gizmo, jremote and mc itself are all completely different). In my mind the MC client is basically a "designer" interface whereas theatre view/jremote should be the user interfaces. However there's no obvious consistency across the user interfaces and the "designer" is basically too obscure unless you're willing to put a lot of time into working out how to operate it only to find that functions just don't compose the way you might expect.

NB: I have not used a competing product since my mythtv days (which ended in ~2006) so no idea whether other apps do things better.

[jgreen]

What does it mean when a competing product offers "streaming"?  Is there any aspect of that streamed content that resides locally, under the direct control of the player and able to be played without an internet connection?  If so I would agree that is a very desirable feature.

In the early days of protected downloaded audio MC was early to the market and offered better performance than the services' own players.  The audio files stayed local on your drives and you got to use MC to browse and play it.  To me that was a whopping advantage to MC.  But absent the locally-stored content I just don't see the point.   

I use google chrome for streaming protected content (and that's ALL I use it for).  For utoub (ski vids) I use legacy FF+certain addons and scraip away like a mad dog--and then view it in MC.

My point is that MC could allow me to stream protected content tomorrow and I still wouldn't see the benefit of using it for that.  At the same time I have -zero- product loyalty to google.  Tomorrow I may use a different browser.  My desire is that it be lightweight and simple and nothing else, because there is so little value-added by any particular streaming client.

Many of the voices crying for streaming are also decrying inconsitencies in the UI and various networking issues.  If I were JimH marshalling resources I would look at those areas first.  And if a competing product offers streaming, why not see if you can license it and wrap MC's UI around it?  After all, that's all that any product can do with regard to the streamed content.

[JimH]

Split another post on client/server functionality.

[greynolds]

I agree with others who have suggested that JRemote could use some love and like many of the specific suggestions that have been made so far.

One additional thing I'd like to see is more consistency between the configuration of Theater View views and Media Network views - everything that can be done in one should (ideally) be possible in the other.  One obvious example for those of us who use the TV functionality is that TV Guide and To Be Recorded views can't really be setup in JRemote (unless I'm missing something - I can setup views that sort of display the data, but they aren't really usable).  I'd love to be able to use JRemote to add recordings or adjust recording settings if I'm away on a trip and wasn't able to set something up before I left.

On another note, giving people a way to completely cut ties with Windows Media Center by adding Copy Once support would be awesome.  The Kickstarter failed to raise enough funds, but it was run at a bad time of the year (during the Christmas holiday time probably isn't a good time to get people to fund something like this) and didn't seem to be promoted very well.  It's also the sort of feature where if you build it people will come.  But it's understood that it's an expensive feature to implement.  In my case, I watch just 1 show on 1 channel that is Copy Once and it's the only thing preventing me from completely switching over to using MC as my DVR.  The other recent TV enhancements have been great.

[JimH]

Split Separate the audio and video interfaces

[spiggytopes]

I'm not qualified to say what the market is doing or where it is going. I put all my stuff on 2 servers and am happy. I love the sound quality from JR.

All I can observe is how my family use it .... as little as possible. How many time have I suggested using YouTube inside JRiver? Will they use it? No, out we go to Firefox.

For example, I drop into the standard view to tinker with a setting I have to press Ctrl 4 to get back to Theatre View ... what is this? It should be more obvious and easy.


Another approach would be to have settings reachable from Theatre View from a toolbox in the top menu.

So, for me, it is usability as is.

Probably doesn't help much, but there you are.

[v_erich]

What is really nice in XBMC is the scraping of movie content/description in other languages than english (e.g. german for me).

So now I have to use manually JScrap as external tool, my wife couldn't do that - too complicated and it is always a manual step when adding new movies to the database.

BR
Erich

[jmone]

I see MC as an both an aggregator, disseminator, and manager of content.  The following has no thought it how hard or valuable such features are.  With this in mind I see a few obvious areas that may be of potential interest:

Finding Content (Aggregation)
- Radio Streams (Vs TuneIn):  You can do it but it is ugly to find, import, display and manage TV Streams
- OnLine Protected Video (Vs Netfix):  With the open API pulled we don't have a seamless option, can use 3rd party utilities to launch Netflix app or a reduced browser but tighter integration would be good.

Playing Content (Dissemination)
- Bluray Menus (Vs PDVD): No support in MC (makes it hard to find the correct EPS on a BD TV Series for example)
- Android / iOS Clients (Vs Many Apps): No ability for local/off line playback, or to use Android / iOS devices as a Zone (the current remotes only control and pull content)
- Multi Room Playback (Vs Apple, Sonos, etc):  No ability to keep multi zones in sync
- Live TV Playback on JR Remotes (Vs EOS):  EOS can do it and all the calls are inplace using MCWS, but no support from JR Remotes

Managing Content
- Particles: Better support for BD Music Videos with auto creation by Chapter and Auto Data scraping just like with a CD (currently can done by 3rd party utilities but would be better to be part of MC)
- Ripping Video (Vs MakeMKV, Handbrake):  Only Basic ripping/transcoding options exist.  Many users relay on these 3rd party tools to "prepare" content for importing in MC instead of using MC for the whole process.

[Aircub]

Some other players I have used have a "folder view" option (as well as album and artists views etc) I really like this.
Sometimes I find this a better way to look at my collection and quickly select a track to play.
I have folders named by artist but the folder view is more concise than artist view which picks up compilation artists etc and is much more unwieldly.
Would it be possible to add a folder view option in MC22
Thanks.

EDIT: Jmone comment below that it is available under devices etc.... Should have made clear I would like it on the ipad remote.

[jmone]

@Aircub

Have a look under "Drives & Devices" --> Explorer

Here you have a Folder View.

[JimH]

Some other players I have used have a "folder view" option (as well as album and artists views etc) I really like this.
Sometimes I find this a better way to look at my collection and quickly select a track to play.
I have folders named by artist but the folder view is more concise than artist view which picks up compilation artists etc and is much more unwieldly.
Would it be possible to add a folder view option in MC22
Thanks.

Click on Drives and Devices in the tree on the left, then click on Explorer.

[jmone]

Jinks

Is what you say, when you and at least one other person, simultaneously, say the same word(s). If you are first to say jinks, you are in effect the jinks master, and the person who uttered the same word(s) and who is now jinksed, cannot speak, until someone says their name in full. Utterring words while jinksed however, will result in double jinks, triple jinks and so on and so forth, for each additional word spoken.

[audioriver]

Weak areas compared to competitors specialised in those areas (there are no real direct competitors I think for everything MC does) for my usage of MC: Television/Radio and the CD Labeler. I'd also love UI improvements, but without dumbing it down.

[rec head]

I am not looking forward to going back to using a bluray player when I make the jump to a UHD TV. I really don't care about the size of the files I want to be able to rip and watch UHD from my computer. Things look bleak on this front but I would really like to use MC to play and organize UHD. This would be a huge competitive advantage because if anyone offers it I'll be using it.

Otherwise I'm in agreement with the interface.

The forum is a good place for finding things out, but only once you're used to using/searching forums.

[JimH]

Split Manual

[eddyshere]

Most has been said I guess.
For me :
- a better Theaterview experience would also be paramount.
- some more details available through API for better home automation system integration

On the bluray front I don't think (and that's a change) that changing anything would be beneficial. Seeking for a licence is the only way forward but I doubt it would make a growth case for MC. Kodi has now full BD menu support in JRiver we still need Powerdvd to do that.

I confess that I have abandoned my MC HTPC lately for video and have bought an OPPO103D, which I modded to now be able to play DVD and BD iso's from SMB/NAS.

In my humble opinion (and i already shared this thought years ago) JRiver should go hardware. I don't know how feasible this is but it would be interesting to have a partnership between a mid-sized company (dunno like EVGA) or a bigger one (like asus) to develop a JRiverline. Maybe we would see a high-endish soundcard/DAC or a graphic card with special drivers which would have for example DSD bitstreaming enabled or a htpc dedicated driver which would ensure outmost accuracy. ... or let's be more crazy...a dedicated HTPC-mainboard with special components and bios which alreadyintegrates remote controling over RS-232 or IP. In that regard the JRiver NUC was an interesting first move.

Just my five cents.

[michaeljalves]

I suppose the closest competitor in my opinion would be Foobar2000 even though it lacks in eye catching interface functionality. I would humbly suggest adding modules in a similar fashion. They have a vast plugin library. I know that in JRiver most similar modules are built-in and available in options but external functionality plugins other than themes barely exist. Also by selling additional niche premium modules it would provide an additional money flow for the company.

[jachin99]

JRiver's biggest attraction from what I have seen is its functionality, and ease of setup, which is why I chose to purchase it, and stick with it.  In terms of improvements, I'll go ahead and beat a dead horse and suggest more plugins, and UI enhancements are much weaker in JRiver than other programs.  These two kind of go hand in hand in my opinion because as programs like Kodi attract more developers, the selection of skins only gets bigger.  To be more specific, I would like to see a wider range of choices for Theater view layouts.  Each user will have his or her own way of interacting with their PC, so I think giving the users more flexibility in what kind of visual, and input environment they choose to run JRiver within could go a long way.  Example, all of JRiver Theater view skins are relatively dark, and the user doesn't have the option to remove the darkening overlay feature within theater view easily without breaking many of the aesthetic properties of the program.  A dark picture may be fine in a dedicated theater room or on an LCD screen but what about users that have plasma or DLP screens, or those who choose to watch tv in a well lit environment.  I have a DLP right next to a sliding glass window in an apartment, and I hate working in dark rooms so when I get on my HTPC, I am forced to deal with a washed out picture.  Some users like light, colorful themes, so this should be an option.

Another trend in theaterview is small buttons, and this ties into the whole remote/how a user interacts with their PC concept.  It would be nice to see themes with big buttons, and when I say this, I think of how much I like some of the media portal themes so that is the kind of direction I am thinking.  Macro support would be nice as well, and it doesn't have to be anything elaborate, just the ability to read PC actions and states, and execute actions based off of that.  JRiver has great remote programming options, but it would be nice to see the program execute some actions based on events or state to free up how much work is done with a remote.  I could list other things but I don't want to turn this into a two hour feature request.   Just my 2 cents. 

[JimH]

Split JRiver Hardware

[thecrow]

I would agree with others who have requested an improved Theater View experience.
I miss the ability to free form browse that I had in Windows MCE.
i.e. in MCE when playing a music track you can select the current name of the artist or the album or genre and be presented with more albums by that artist or more tracks from that album or more albums in that genre regardless of what view you used to get there.

Whereas in JR MC if I have selected an album from album view and want to explore other albums from that artist I have to exit album view, select artist view and manually search for that artist which is too much of a palava compared to simply clicking on the artist in album view.

The same applies in Shows and Movie views, it would be nice when browsing by any category and when selecting a show/movie to be able to continue browsing by selecting its director or a actor and see more shows/movies that person has been involved with without needing to change views and do a manual search.