Topic: POLL: Do you use JRiver's TV? (Read 12072 times)

JimH · « **on:** January 21, 2018, 04:52:00 pm »

I'd appreciate your help in learning how much our TV feature is used, and how satisfactory the experience is.

Any comments about other products you've tried would also be useful.

Thanks,

Jim

Edit: Similar poll on Images.

mattkhan · « **Reply #1 on:** January 21, 2018, 05:24:15 pm »

I've used it for capturing hdmi input, I now use mpc-be instead because jriver has not worked reliably in my experience with either capture device I've used. I found it only worked in timeshift mode with a hauppauge device which is no good for live use, I had insurmountable av sync issues with the magewell hdmi capture device I use now (and timeshifting doesn't work at all in this case). The setup in either case was relatively confusing compared to the other apps I tried (inc vlc, mpc, potplayer), possibly because capture card use is embedded in the TV setup.

tzr916 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 21, 2018, 06:30:26 pm »

USA Comcast cablecard - made the switch from WMC a few years ago and never looked back. MC Server PC using ROHQ the picture quality beats WMC (or any consumer hardware cable box/dvr). Has incredibly flexible series/show record schedule settings and commercial skipping capability on recorded shows is really nice too. While it's had some bugs/headaches, currently MC Tv is very stable. Besides being our whole-home tv/dvr solution, it's nice having my entire music/photo collection in all rooms. Some guests do find guide/live tv/channel changes on client PC's a little sluggish, but I don't mind.

Love to see either a JRiver Id that does Tv, or even better a true Android Tv Client App (that does NOT need transcoding on the Server).

greynolds · « **Reply #3 on:** January 21, 2018, 06:38:20 pm »

I'm using the TV feature with a mix of SiliconDust HDHomeRun OTA and CableCard tuners. The only places where JRiver really comes up short at this point for TV functionality are:

1) Crashes. When JRiver's UI crashes, which happens more than I'd like, it takes the recording engine down too. So I've had some cases where I lost recordings because JRiver had crashed. The WMC UI crashes once in a blue moon, but I don't recall the recording service ever crashing.

2) Support for CableCard DRM channels. I know you guys attempted a Kickstarter to fund development for this, but it's an obvious hole as it prevents recording FX and any other premium channels, such as HBO. For some cable providers, it means that nearly nothing can be recorded.

If you guys could address issue #1, I would probably feel comfortable finally shutting down my WMC system. Issue #1 is something I can ultimately live with because we don't subscribe to HBO, Cinemax, ShowTime, and so on and there's only 1 show on FX that I care about.

I use the JRiver TV functionality pretty much every day, and would definitely like to see you guys continue to support and enhance it.

marko · « **Reply #4 on:** January 21, 2018, 07:12:35 pm »

I've never tried it, and at the moment, I couldn't even if I wanted to as I don't have a tuner.
I would like to, but haven't because I baulk at the thoughts of:

Buying the wrong hardware
Too many acronyms. I've no idea what gets piped down the co-ax from the aerial on the roof. Assuming that my presumption that this is my only option as cable channels are encrypted is correct.
I Worry that support is heavily US biased, so, what I read on the forums is very likely not applicable to me.
Assuming I had all the correct hardware, setup needs to be more straightforward than a straight forward thing :) I am concerned that this won't be the case. I mean, even basic things like "what file type to record to" would cause me to glaze over. I have no idea what the differences are between all the options.
and finally, I read a lot of posts about recordings failing. I would find that soul destroying. It puts me off.

I also have to sort out getting MC served into another room, wirelessly, somehow which has to take priority over the TV stuff... I think homeplugs might be something I could use, but there's another thread for that already, so that's not really for discussion here.

PGibby · « **Reply #5 on:** January 21, 2018, 07:38:56 pm »

Yes, everyday..it's all i use for tv. In fact, I'd love to have live TV available on Linux, so I could dump windows.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #6 on:** January 21, 2018, 08:13:27 pm »

I use it all the time. I have recordings every night, for News and Current Affairs sort of programs, and quite a few Series are recorded whenever they are broadcast. So year on year, without intervention, and new episodes of my favourite programs are broadcast, MC records them for me for my later viewing pleasure. It was the main reason I bought MC and keep using it, although I now use the library functions for Audio and Video as much as TV.

I use complex Recording Rules, I have an enhanced EPG for input, I sort and store lots of recordings, sometimes not viewing them until a whole season of a program has been recorded. I use multiple views to separate programs, and have modified the MC menu layout to make using MC easier.

The functionality is very good, if a little complex to learn. There is a solution to most things now, if you know where to find them. Once set up though, it just works. The lip sync changes made recently, for example, filled one of the gaps that were remaining.

There are still missing bits, like the conversion from JTV to TS format for trimming and storing, or even ComSkip commercial removal. IR Remote functionality is still a bit of a can of worms. The basics work, but it is confusing and anything other than the basics is hit and miss. I wouldn't mind some email notification functionality for things like EPG collection and load failure, failed recordings, first new episode of a program recorded for six months, stuff like that.

MC can provide perfect video playback for recordings, and other programs. It is a concern that sometimes it doesn't, with mild shifts in lip sync, a bit of blocking, and some artifacts. But that isn't a major problem, as generally the quality is better than any other source of programs except for DVD and Blu-ray. Or HD streaming, but that co$t$.

Streaming is a threat to OTA TV and our DVRs. But FTA is still FTA, and for some stuff it is the best source. One of the problems with streaming, as we know, is that a user has to use many applications to view content from multiple sources. The market is still trying to differentiate by holding exclusive content. This is the antithesis of the drive behind a media Server such as MC which consolidates content. So streaming may break FTA TV not because of direct competition, but because FTA TV becomes just one small source of many, and is becoming less relevant, as the perceived value declines.

Marko MC TV works fine in Australia, and I know it works well in the UK and many other locations. The core TV functionality will work well anywhere. There is a learning curve, but the idea is to seek and take good advice.

jachin99 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 21, 2018, 10:32:16 pm »

When I was using JRiver I used TV every day. I think one of the most important features you can have is smooth channel changes and playback. WMC is still king of this and simplicity in my opinion. If the spouse of a JRiver user is going to use any part of it then that will be TV so I think getting to TV from within the JRiver menus should be extremely straight forward, I.E. un-nest it from video and give it it's own top level menu.

imugli · « **Reply #8 on:** January 21, 2018, 11:25:48 pm »

Absolutely! In fact, now that my music and movie consumption is mainly from streaming services, TV is pretty much the ONLY thing I use it for. I'd absolutely love TV on Linux, as well. But question - do your anonymous diagnostic stats not show you how may people use it?

tyler69 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 22, 2018, 01:26:08 am »

I've tried it but don't use it.
I really wanted to use it (with a Digital Devices OctopusNET SAT<IP receiver).
It was too cumbersome to set up. Crashes and long pauses between switching channels (I also remember that one had to wait a minute or so for MC to find the tuners before being able to watch TV). Then there was no possibility to scan for channels IIRC. It is only possible to fetch them from the sat-receiver/server. There are probably some more things but those are the points that first came to my mind.
For TV I use DVBViewer, which is preety much a solid work of software with regard to ones TV needs.

BillT · « **Reply #10 on:** January 22, 2018, 02:17:56 am »

I've tried it in the past, but found it too cumbersome to set up - it's probably better now, but as I have a solution that works there is no incentive to invest the effort into setting it up again.

AFAIKS, it still has a drawback in that it doesn't support recording more than one stream from a multiplex. This means that you need an excessive number of tuners for simultaneous recordings.

My solution is to use NPVR for recordings (NPVR does support recording more than one stream from a multiplex) and JRiver watches the recording directories and is used for replay. NPVR also has the advantage of an optional web based interface, so recordings can be scheduled from any connectable browser rather than an instance of JRiver

jmone · « **Reply #11 on:** January 22, 2018, 02:32:09 am »

Our use of the TV features has gone down a bit for us due to 2 factors:
1) Our Cable Package now including more OTA channels.
2) HDHomeRun has an Android App that works pretty well (which I tend to use on tablets over EOS which is the only Remote that supports MC's TV Function).

That said, I still have rules set to record using MC TV and then playback in MC Clients.

MC's TV Function is great, supports EPGs and works well. For "cable cutters" it would be a cornerstone for TV.

My only real suggestions is that an inbuilt JTV to TS/MKV muxing option should be included at some point.

jmone · « **Reply #12 on:** January 22, 2018, 02:39:15 am »

...also for those struggling with "Tuners", I've been using HDHomeRun products for a decade with MC. The combination just works, and works well. The HDHomeRun plugs into your Antenna Coax Run and presents itself on the Network for MC (or their Andriod/IOS app) to tune into a channel. It is one of the best "gadgets" I've every purchased. So much so, I've cut all connections to the Antenna except for the one to the HDHomeRun.

Mans · « **Reply #13 on:** January 22, 2018, 03:54:48 am »

Hi there,
I'm using the TV feature inside MC since the release of 23.
The Sat>IP support was one of the key-features to go for JRiver's MC.
Apart from the extended format support which this program offers

(Before i did used WMC 7).

Setup:
DD OctoNET Sat>IP device.
Includes 4 DVB-S2 tuners with decryption capacities over independent CI's.
Having a dedicated MC server for Recordings, buffering, EPG, library etc.
Each MC client, 3 in total, then receives its requested stream from the Sat>IP server directly.

Result:
75% happy with it.
Speed of channelswitching is ok.
Quality of video is excellent.
OSD is good and complete.
But still having in some 1 out of 10 cases a channelswitch which don't get locked... and finally the next channel shows up, or even one deeper down the ch-list.

*In the case when we're on portable devices and going with VLC player, all streams are picked/played perfectly.

Suggestion from my side, could the MC Server push status changes and feedback immediately to each involved Client ?
I'm guessing it's done now by refreshing the MC Client each xx amount of time with the Server.

Thanks for all the work !

JimH · « **Reply #14 on:** January 22, 2018, 06:39:22 am »

Snapshot with 34 people voting:

Use TV frequently: 29.4%

cncb · « **Reply #15 on:** January 22, 2018, 07:10:05 am »

My main issue with it was that since it is not in a separate service, any issues/crashes in other parts of the program would take down recordings. Also, at the time there was no feedback about conflicts or missed recordings although that may have changed since then. I currently use NPVR which has been very solid and reliable.

rec head · « **Reply #16 on:** January 22, 2018, 07:47:00 am »

I used to use it all the time for OTA. I think it may have been one of the selling points. Then a year or two ago my tuner pooped out and Hulu got a lot better. I never bothered getting a new tuner.

muzicman0 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 22, 2018, 12:55:19 pm »

I use it all the time. If I'm being honest, it is not as good as some of the dedicated PVR's out there like WMC, or NPVR, however, the flexibility that I have in archiving, having all of my media in one place (theater view), and the 'skip' speed keeps me using it. I am constantly trying other applications, but I haven't found something that does everything I want other than JRiver.

The things that would probably keep me from looking elsewhere are moving the TV recording to a separate service, and Linux TV recording, or at a minimum, playback (IE: a client).

MusicHawk · « **Reply #18 on:** January 22, 2018, 01:11:56 pm »

Reasons MC's TV features are of no value to me:

Record OTA is not feasible. I've lived in "mountainous" California for decades. The major coastal cities are among mountains). So, I have NEVER lived where I could get OTA of even all the network stations, nevermind secondary stations. When I was a TV station engineer, and then a cable TV system engineer, we struggled with this constantly (hard to work at a station where you can't receive your own channel!). In my travels, when I see a (usually very old) TV antenna on a roof, it is usually on a gigantic 50ft mast with a rotor, a reminder of how difficult it was and still is. Unfortunately...

Also, I travel periodically in a TV-equipped RV throughout the mountainous western states. I have MC on a laptop to play music. I've experimented with also recording TV (RVs usually have a small rooftop OTA antenna), but getting reliable OTA is rarely possible.

Therefore, almost everywhere Out West TV viewing is via cable, which these days is tightly locked up. Even a CableCard is iffy because (per my cable system) it provides only "some" channels.

And of course satellite is non-starter because it is just one active channel at a time.

I wish it were otherwise, but MC's TV features seem quite limited for unavoidable geographical and technical reasons.

PS: Instead of more and more TV, I keep hoping MC will turn its considerable talents to better managing photos, which according to research reports declared during CES, is the HUGE wave that is building. Younger people (Millennials, they like to say), care less and less about TV but are massively into photography. But the typical photo management tools are horribly simplistic (Google Photos, Apple, Instagram, etc) or expensive yet lame. MC just needs a bit of metadata/tags improvement, AND integration with major online photo storage services, notably Google Photos.

Vocalpoint · « **Reply #19 on:** January 22, 2018, 01:37:32 pm »

Quote from: MusicHawk on January 22, 2018, 01:11:56 pm

Reasons MC's TV features are of no value to me:

Record OTA is not feasible.

+1. Here in Calgary - there might be 10 OTA channels - none of which have any interest to me as a TV viewer. Not to mention - we got fed up with the high cable bill every month - and cut it to the quick anyway. For me - outside of live sports - there is little value in TV anymore period.

Quote from: MusicHawk on January 22, 2018, 01:11:56 pm

Instead of more and more TV, I keep hoping MC will turn its considerable talents to better managing photos, which according to research reports declared during CES, is the HUGE wave that is building. MC just needs a bit of metadata/tags improvement, AND integration with major online photo storage services, notably Google Photos.

Big +1 here.

Cheers,

VP

rudyrednose · « **Reply #20 on:** January 22, 2018, 02:21:51 pm »

We use it every day, and JRTV is an essential tool for us, cord cutters.

We use three SiliconDust HDHomeRun dual ATSC tuners, so we have access to 6 simultaneous channels.

Using a MC central server, all our TVs have Win10 NUCs or full fledged HTPCs running MC23.
They auto logon directly into TheaterView.
Along with Logitech remotes, most of the time we never touch a keyboard, so our user experience is fairly similar to a set top box.

Living 45 km north of Montreal, our rooftop antenna gives us 30 channels including 5 major US networks (from VT) although ABC is flaky, we get it maybe 20% of times. Not bad considering VT stations are 106 miles away

I agree with the previous posts, photos metadata/tags should get a bit of TLC from the developpers...

DocLotus · « **Reply #21 on:** January 22, 2018, 03:18:24 pm »

It is my ONLY source of OTA TV.

I have two HAUPPAUGE WinTV-quadHD PCI Express TV Tuner Card 1609 (eight channels total) with separate antenna to each.

Pluses...
1: I really like having it built into MC; combines ALL my Audio-Video into one great program.
2: Also like the Standard View Guide, VERY detailed information & it seems to just keep getting better.
3: The VERY BEST Quality image that I have ever seen on ANY TV. I LOVE IT

Areas that need Improvement...
As some others have mentioned, I too have an on-going love-hate relationship with MCTV .
1: MC in general is pretty fast to load & fast to switch functions, that is all except the TV. When switching to the TV mode things seem to really slow down.
2: Just switching from, lets say, Audio to TV is rather slow compared to the rest of MC.
3: Switching TV channels has always been a pain for me; I get a whole bunch of irritations such as very slow channel changing, stuttering, micro-blocking, channel artifacts, sound mess-ups such as the sound from the previous channel coming out for several seconds after a channel change. Also, occasional after a channel change, the sound will be very Micky Mouse-like (very fast & high pitched); the only way I can stop it is to switch to another channel & back again then the sound returns to normal. Sometimes after a channel change there will be no sound at all & the only way I can stop it is to again switch to another channel & back again then the sound returns to normal.

As muzicman0 correctly stated...

Quote

I use it all the time. If I'm being honest, it is not as good as some of the dedicated PVR's out there like WMC, or NPVR, however, the flexibility that I have in archiving, having all of my media in one place (theater view), and the 'skip' speed keeps me using it. I am constantly trying other applications, but I haven't found something that does everything I want other than JRiver.

As jachin99 mentioned...

Quote

I think one of the most important features you can have is smooth channel changes and playback. WMC is still king of this and simplicity in my opinion.

My overall conclusion about MCTV...
I just wish these problems could be fixed then we would have an absolutely PERFECT TV.

astromo · « **Reply #22 on:** January 22, 2018, 04:46:40 pm »

MC TV gets daily use in our house.

The key to hassle free use is the EPG. If you can get a service with curated data that matches with sources like thetvdb, then you can sit back and relax. I used to use standalone software to scrape this data and then have it scrape sources like thetvdb to achieve my end goal. The addition to MC's capability to scrape the EPG was a definite improvement but there are still gains to be had, such as collecting series data but I suspect that diminishing returns will be the barrier and various country standards a big part of that.

I'd agree with jmone's recommendations. I'd add that including inherent capability to read subtitles should get some focus. Currently I've set up CC Extractor as an executable I can send files to and do it that way. It would be great if I could do this while a file is running, until MC's capability is improved.

I'm very glad to see the push to integrate standard MC functionality with TV. It makes TV more MC-like. Simple stuff like being able to rename files using F6, editing meta data tags and running a meta data source grab are all sensible improvements. Keep that sort of thing up please.

EDIT: Of course, cross platform parity is another big target to hit. Hopefully that won't take too long.

hoyt · « **Reply #23 on:** January 22, 2018, 05:02:24 pm »

I answered that I use it occasionally. I've tried a few times to use it frequently and just keep running into issues. I just signed up for YouTubeTV and there are issues with that which JRiverTV did better, and vice versa.

Improvements:

Reliability - This was the number one drawback for me. Whenever I setup a recording, I'd have about a 10% chance that it wouldn't actually record, typically because MC itself crashed.
Windows only - .jtv is a nice format for what it does, but the fact that it's not portable kills me. I have 3 windows PCs in my house, 4 linux variants, and 3 mac os x. Not to mention 5 Androids and an iPad. Every single one of those has a way to view YTTV.
Portability - When I would use my Windows laptop to watch TV away from the HTPC, fast forwarding through commercials was significantly slower than when wired. My wifi is not bad, I'm able to stream a 1080p YTTV show and fast forward 15 seconds at a time. I imagine some of this has to do with the speed of the device serving. If I could compress it, maybe this would help, alas, see the prior point
Status - Setting up a recording, or viewing what's set to be recorded is too hard. It's perfectly fine if you're in front of your Windows PC and view MC that way. If you typically use JRemote, Mac, etc, then it means you need to logon to your Windows server. I should easily be able to see these things in JRemote.
Closed Captions - This is a really small thing, but I would on occasion want to have a game on, without much volume and the inability to have CC turned on was annoying.

Things JRTV does well:

Recording Rules - This kicks the tar out of YTTV and most stuff I've seen. TVHeadEnd is very versatile, but it uses RegEx, which is more confusing than what most end users will put up with. Compared with YTTV, I still haven't figured out how to record all NFL games without "following" all 32 teams.
Categorization - The coloring in Theatre View is plain and just works. Same thing once something is recorded, having it added into the library is great. The combination of the library is what makes it so hard not to use.

I struggle using the TV functions, not because I'm not capable, but I go back and forth over whether or not the effort is worth it. Paying $35 a month for YTTV feels like the opposite of cutting the cord, but I want to push buttons and have TV show up. JRTV wasn't delivering that.

JimH · « **Reply #24 on:** January 22, 2018, 05:27:48 pm »

Quote from: hoyt on January 22, 2018, 05:02:24 pm

Reliability - This was the number one drawback for me. Whenever I setup a recording, I'd have about a 10% chance that it wouldn't actually record, typically because MC itself crashed.

In this thread you said you might try a new power supply.
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,113901.msg787471.html#msg787471

Were you able to do that?

We're happy to try to help if you still have problems.

hoyt · « **Reply #25 on:** January 22, 2018, 05:30:08 pm »

Quote from: JimH on January 22, 2018, 05:27:48 pm

In this thread you said you might try a new power supply.
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,113901.msg787471.html#msg787471

Were you able to do that?

I did order one, but haven't changed it out yet because since that short period, I have not had that issue resurface. That's not the only problem though, just the latest. I've had the HDHomeRun up and running for years and have had random problems with the recording not occurring. Oftentimes I log into the server and MC is unresponsive, so recordings are just missed.

EDIT:

Quote

We're happy to try to help if you still have problems.

You and your team are always helpful. It's not that you don't help, it's that I'm not sure I want to invest the time in something that takes this much help for TV. I don't want that to sound totally mean but that single point is very tough to overcome. I decided I couldn't risk not having the superbowl be recorded, so I dropped $35 a month for YTTV. I hit a button, it starts playing TV (it has other problems, trust me! But I feel confident when I set a recording that I will be able to watch it).

JimH · « **Reply #26 on:** January 22, 2018, 05:49:49 pm »

If the hardware doesn't work, it's hard to make the software work.

I'll split this to a new thread and merge it with your old one.

mwillems · « **Reply #27 on:** January 22, 2018, 06:29:08 pm »

I use JRiver's TV functionality for all my live TV watching. I used to use it for recording, but I had reliability issues that I've detailed in a few threads over the years. We swapped logs and tried a number of things, but I never did figure out where the precise disconnect was. the issue was that sometimes a JRiver recording would hang my tuner and the JRiver interface. Once that happened no further shows would record until I reset the tuner (an HDHomerun Prime) and reset JRiver. I suspected defective hardware for a while, but when I tested it with other recording software, it worked perfectly.

When I was using JRiver for recording, my tuner would get stuck in the failed state about once a week. Ultimately I setup up an emby instance solely to record TV in the background and then have a script that moves the shows to a directory that JRiver watches, so then I can watch recorded TV in JRiver. I've been running the emby solution for about six months without any tuner lockups.

JRiver works great for live TV for me on windows, so I still use JRiver to watch live TV, but the lack of cross-platform support for TV watching makes that challenging as I've got a lot of linux and android boxes around. I know that some TV hardware can be thorny, but in the case of networked TV tuners (like the HDHomerun lineup) the devices literally just expose each channel as a webstream with video that can be viewed by entering the relevant link in any browser, or in video players that support network streaming (like VLC or mpv). But I can't open the streams in MC for Linux (no webstreaming support for video), and there's no native TV support yet for linux. So I'm tinkering with making library entries for the web links for the various channels and telling JRiver to open them using VLC, but I haven't gotten the kinks out.

I suppose it will come in time

hoyt · « **Reply #28 on:** January 22, 2018, 06:38:08 pm »

Quote from: JimH on January 22, 2018, 05:49:49 pm

If the hardware doesn't work, it's hard to make the software work.

I don't think that's the case Jim. With all due respect, I didn't make the points I did to rehash this but to answer the question of why I didn't say I used it frequently. The variety of errors I've had do not let me qualify the TV product as reliable. I've had an HDHomeRun, and as jmone said "they just work." I've also had a handful of other ones (an older Hauppauge USB one I recall specifically) and the HDHomeRun has certainly been hands off.

I'm not out there bashing the TV functionality, please don't take it that way, but reliability is certainly why I have bounced back and forth about using the functionality. Once I recall having a folder full of cnk files and a corrupted jtv file. There was nothing that could be done even though I had 20 GB of "tv files", I couldn't watch it. That was for March Madness. I had guests over for the Super Bowl in 2015 and missed half of the first quarter because MC crashed. There are all sorts of one off issues like this.

1maynard · « **Reply #29 on:** January 22, 2018, 07:43:52 pm »

We use the TV features daily. Both for watching OTA live TV and recording shows that are on other channels at the same time or we are away from home. I have two HDHomerun network tuners for tuning channels and an attached Esata 4 bay enclosure for storage of my music, videos and TV recordings and soon all of our pictures. In the past I have usedWin 7 running WMC, Kodi/NPVR and Kodi/Media Portal and all worked but I switched from WMC to Kodi when they switched guide data and the library functions in WMC did not work very well. Kodi has a great GUI but is subject to many issues with locking up and crashing. I got tired of the wife complaining that she could not her watch shows or recordings. When I tried Win10 on my HTPC Kodi really acted up. I was having to restart it every day. I have been using MC for just short of three weeks running WIN 10 and I did have some glitches but with the great help on this forum we have most all of them ironed out. The Video and Audio quality are fantastic, I love how it displays my library of music and videos. There is just so much customization that can be done. I will admit that the documentation on setting things up could use some updating to make it a little easier on novice users. I really hope that in the future more thought is given to improving the TV interface. I hope this poll does not cause development to stop on the TV interface. To me that would be a major disaster.

imugli · « **Reply #30 on:** January 23, 2018, 12:11:26 am »

A couple of things I've always felt are missing from the TV function of MC are a web interface to the guide (so we can schedule recordings remotely) and (as said before) the ability to use multiple stream from a multiplex.

Fangio · « **Reply #31 on:** January 23, 2018, 09:40:04 am »

After a shaky start, it is now my primary DVR and is used daily. TV probably represents around 75% of my usage of MC now, and the all in one solution is a real plus point. For me, MC’s inability to use multiple streams from a single multiplex is a handicap which often results in recording conflicts. A recently purchased quad tuner has helped, but the fundamental issue remains. If it helps anyone in the UK, it’s a TBS 6205 PCIe card, and is working well with terrestrial broadcasts.

Z0001 · « **Reply #32 on:** January 24, 2018, 02:43:39 am »

Quote from: jmone on January 22, 2018, 02:39:15 am

...also for those struggling with "Tuners", I've been using HDHomeRun products for a decade with MC. The combination just works, and works well. The HDHomeRun plugs into your Antenna Coax Run and presents itself on the Network for MC (or their Andriod/IOS app) to tune into a channel. It is one of the best "gadgets" I've every purchased. So much so, I've cut all connections to the Antenna except for the one to the HDHomeRun.

Is it a nice smooth experience? Do channel changes happen quickly, smoothly and without artefacts? I'm in Sydney and really want to ditch my SD set top box and while I like the idea of hdHomeRun I'm nervous it will not perform or the overall experience will be less than a TV set or settop box offers.

Thank

Hilton · « **Reply #33 on:** January 24, 2018, 04:47:24 am »

I too have stopped using TV all together for the moment.. The 4 tuners are still attached and working and I havent stopped because I have any problems with it... but I have 2 x Foxtel IQ3 cable boxes that do all my cable and FTA recording and the series link is pretty good on them and my wife prefers the IQ3 interface. I usually setup MC to record the season for F1 and Supercars and other sports when I want a backup to the IQ3s but that's about as much use they ever get these days.

astropuppy · « **Reply #34 on:** January 24, 2018, 08:15:23 am »

I use to use photo's, video and TV; but, have since found a more family friendly solution. Now I am a JRiver music only kind of user.

lepa · « **Reply #35 on:** January 24, 2018, 09:13:53 am »

Is missing some key features to be usable (at least in DVB world)

skeeterfood · « **Reply #36 on:** January 24, 2018, 01:07:50 pm »

I've just started trying to use it again after a few years off. I'm trying to pair it with YouTubeTV for the Cable channels and MC for the ABC, NBC, and CW channels that are on-demand only in my area. Which means no FFW through commercials!

I tried Plex first, but it was totally unreliable on my PC. It kept reporting 3 or 4 of the 2 tuners on my HdHomeRun Dual were in use, so it never recorded anything. Then it claimed it was offline, even though the normal HDHomeRun app worked just fine.

So, I decided to try MC with BubbleUpNP to make my Chromecasts DLNA renders, hoping I can use Panel to cast the recorded shows to them. Still working on that...

robt · « **Reply #37 on:** January 24, 2018, 04:31:12 pm »

I shall quickly say that I use JRiver tv daily, with a twin HDHomerun and it works very well. I record stuff most days on the server and then watch the recordings on a client connected to my main tv.

I accept that the set up is more complex than just using a tv but the results are more satisfying and networked tv is very impressive.

Improvements / changes - yes direct access to TV on theater view and remote setting of recordings would be nice (works from a client). I never have to wait for my tuners to appear and channel changing is acceptably quick.

I never thought I'd use it when I first discovered JRiver, but quickly found it a must have.

Daydream · « **Reply #38 on:** January 24, 2018, 09:32:46 pm »

I think my last TV capture was when Katy Perry was kissing a girl on NBC's New Year's Eve show (sadly gone now, so one is left with the 720p garbage that ABC broadcasts).

In other words, just like Angry Birds, I considered recording TV so 2009. I was using BeyondTV cause... it was there first. I tried MC for fun but the Internet speeds increased much faster than my interest in recording tv.

To provide some perspective: these days the news arrive faster by other means than TV; the movies are cut to length, broadcast in subpar quality and bitrate, and I don't understand the reason to spend energy setting up systems to detect/cut/skip commercials; the TV episodes can be had in better quality for $3 a pop. Or one can join Johnny Depp on the Black Pearl and that's a different 'market'. The 'events' (a musical performance, etc)? There's always going to be somebody with a better feed than you, popping up online with a 1080p 4:2:2 50Mbps capture that puts your carefully captured file to shame. Unless it's a music video. That pops up in ProRes.

The noise-to-ears that a running TV provides (just be there, showing something)? $35/month as an early adopter (DirecTV Now) gets me a lot of channels and funny, A LOT of sports channels (unheard of almost; hello Australian Open; Wozniacki is 2-1, 30-15 as I type this) and I can cast, play it on PC, an a tablet, on my phone, effortlessly.

I believe it's a market already disrupted and users that still record TV either don't have better options in their territory or don't know any better.

Quote from: marko on January 21, 2018, 07:12:35 pm

I Worry that support is heavily US biased, so, what I read on the forums is very likely not applicable to me.

Matter or perception I guess. For the last half a decade I was of the impression that JRiver focused on TV to please the Europeans and Australians.

jmone · « **Reply #39 on:** January 25, 2018, 12:33:58 am »

Quote from: Z0001 on January 24, 2018, 02:43:39 am

Is it a nice smooth experience? Do channel changes happen quickly, smoothly and without artefacts? I'm in Sydney and really want to ditch my SD set top box and while I like the idea of hdHomeRun I'm nervous it will not perform or the overall experience will be less than a TV set or settop box offers.

Thank

I'm not a channel surfer but just tested it out. The Channel Change looks "different" than with Foxtel. Not bad just different. It takes at most about 2sec, and kind of looks like: Change Channel --> Video Pauses --> Audio starts for new channel --> Video Starts. Sometimes there is a bit of First Frame video artefacts but not normally. It is also quicker when changing channel in the same group (eg Ch 7 to Mate) as these are in the same OTA Stream. I'm a bit like Hilton. I've now 2 x Foxtel Boxes on Telstra so get all the FTA channels as well now (was on Optus prior to this and did not get all FTA Channels). I tend to leave recording rules running on MC and have not had any issues with missed or botched recordings for many years. MC/HDHomeRun just works.... and while subjective the quality of the OTA Channels using MC is better than the rebroadcast by Foxtel (but as if that matters for watching the "news").

astromo · « **Reply #40 on:** January 25, 2018, 03:47:18 pm »

Quote from: lepa on January 24, 2018, 09:13:53 am

Is missing some key features to be usable (at least in DVB world)

That's a bit loose. Can you mention at least one "missing ... key feature ..."

Here's a challenge. Try for three.

lepa · « **Reply #41 on:** January 25, 2018, 04:16:49 pm »

Quote from: astromo on January 25, 2018, 03:47:18 pm

That's a bit loose. Can you mention at least one "missing ... key feature ..."

Here's a challenge. Try for three.

It has been discussed quite many times in TV section although participation is been rather "useractive" so I don't see point to repeat myself when there clearly has been no interest from developers. And that's fine they are allowed use their resources how they see fit. I just use other software which can do those TV features and use MC for those tasks in which it excels

DeaneG · « **Reply #42 on:** January 25, 2018, 07:28:21 pm »

TV is the only reason we use or need JRiver.

imugli · « **Reply #43 on:** January 25, 2018, 09:43:19 pm »

Thinking cap on here...

Is there room for a "Spin off" standalone PVR software from JRiver? If it ensured resources to develop it further?

flac.rules · « **Reply #44 on:** January 27, 2018, 06:47:07 am »

I haven't used regular TV in many many years. The functionality might be good, I just find TV much less appealing to use than streaming or files.

High-End · « **Reply #45 on:** January 28, 2018, 01:43:58 am »

I use jrmc as an audio only solution

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