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[wer]

What would everyone think of starting a JRiver Users Group?

Here's the idea...

Some cities have Audio Societies, or A/V Groups, where people get together and talk about their shared interest in audio, video, and the equipment and technology around it.  It's a good way to meet and exchange views with people who share a common interest.  But a lot of people don't live near there, or can't make it to the meetings.

But right here on the JRiver forums we have a good collection of folks.  Some "Audiophiles" and some people who just enjoy music.  Some are Technologists, some are ordinary users.  We all obviously enjoy using MC.

So I was thinking, why not form a virtual A/V society, a JRiver User's Group.  We could meet virtually, perhaps once a month, via some sort of online resource.  Services like Join.Me can provide real-time audio conferencing, together with screen-sharing.  We could meet in real time to talk about MC or other topics of interest.  People could give presentations, or share tips and tricks.  Through photos or videos on the screen-share, we could take tours of members' interesting audio or home theater systems.  Etc, etc.  Potential topics are limitless.

People who don't have headsets for their computer could still dial in by phone.  The cost for a single small business Join.me account is negligible ($20/mo), and it's free for all the participants.  Someone (JRiver perhaps) could sponsor and serve as host, but hand off to whomever was presenting for that particular meeting.

It would be a good way to meet people we've been corresponding with for years here on the forums, and share camaraderie around our mutual interests. Talking and sharing in real-time would bring a totally different level of engagement to what we do here on the forums.  It might be fun.


So what do you all think?


-Will

[Moe]

I'd give it a try.  I think it would be cool to get a "tour" of other people's libraries to see how they have stuff setup, their views, etc.  I am sure I'd get some new ideas.

[RoderickGI]

I'm not convinced it would be something I would want to participate in.

Convince me.

[wer]

I'm not selling anything.  If you need to be convinced, I guess it's not for you.  Like anything else, if you don't give it a chance, you won't know.

[remixedcat]

Fun idea. I got tons to share and it's easier to screen cast it all lol.

[JimH]

How about using the off topic board on Music, Movies and Other Cheap Thrills?

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/board,14.0.html

Assuming that there is some learning going on, it would be nice to capture that on the forum.

[wer]

How about using the off topic board on Music, Movies and Other Cheap Thrills?

My idea was that this would be in addition to the forums, not a replacement.  It would not be limited to discussing MC; people might want to talk about audio systems, or DACs, or someone's new projection home theater.

Forums aren't live real-time interactive, with voice and video or live screen-sharing.  Saying use the forum instead of meeting misses the whole point.

Of course, the technology exists to capture the screen share, which could then be posted to the forums.  But without the interactivity of the meeting to drive it, the screenshare won't exist.  Preparing and reciting an individual presentation on your own, without remuneration, is just talking to one's self and quite boring, which is why there aren't scads of "here's how to do this in JRiver" videos on Youtube.

[JimH]

Forums aren't live real-time interactive, with voice and video or live screen-sharing.  Saying use the forum instead of meeting misses the whole point.

I didn't intend to say "instead of".

[wer]

Well, we have 3 people interested.  Out of 50,000 registered forum users.   

If any of you might be interested be have your own alternative suggestions, speak out.  It certainly doesn't have to be confined to what I described above. It's the people that participate that make it what it will be.

[tij]

i just live across the globe ... so this, while interesting, is not possible for me ... i doubt my country have anybody using JRiver  ... here ppl just buy huge chinese speakers, crank the volume to levels where distortion makes what artist sings impossible to understand ... and listen to that garbage till their ears bleed ... we think that Sony make best audio equipment and Bose make best speakers lol

[rec head]

I'm interested, especially for presentations and discussions.

[pgrisham]

I would greatly appreciate the chance to see how other users have their views, etc. set up. Every once in a while I see some screenshot in a forum answer and think, "Wow...that's a great idea I would have never thought of." I think I could be inspired by seeing what other people do with their tweaks.

[Spike1000]

I would greatly appreciate the chance to see how other users have their views, etc. set up. Every once in a while I see some screenshot in a forum answer and think, "Wow...that's a great idea I would have never thought of." I think I could be inspired by seeing what other people do with their tweaks.

Hmm, just like some kind of video of tutorial/overview/walk through that nobody seems interested in making. . .   

I've made some myself (they are on YouTube and in my footer) as MC is complex, a video and a few words really helps explain thnings. For a media player any 'media' on the product itself is sadly lacking; shame really.

Anything that shares people's experiences/use of MC is a good thing!

Maybe the recently mooted potential 'restructure/changes' within JRiver will change their philosophy on the promotion of their product.

Spike

[wer]

So does that mean you'd be in, Spike?

[Spike1000]

So does that mean you'd be in, Spike?

Possibly, I feel I'd be more of a 'consumer' than a 'contributer', there are people who know far more about MC than I do. But I'm always curious how other people use it as the possibilities are endless with MC. . .

Where I work we use video conferences a fair bit. We use Google hangouts when we host as we have rooms set up for it. . . I wonder if I could tap into that resource for free (ie just invite people to a meeting as a taster. . .  ) I do find the video element a little 'awkward' and my webcam is disabled so I usually fail to get that working in time (but that's another story). Might be interesting to 'dip in' and see what we learn (time zones permitting) 

I'll ask to see what I can do with google hangouts. . . .

Looks like I could do this
"Hangouts Meet (also referred to as 'Google Meet') offers a simple way of conducting video meetings with up to 50 participants, as well as screen sharing (for presentations etc).

You need a Google account to start a meeting but the other participants don't need an account to join a meeting. This makes it easy to conduct video meetings with people outside the organisation"

For "Google Hangouts (also referred to as 'classic Hangouts') lets you conduct:

    text chat with up to 150 participants
    video or audio chats with up to 10 participants

All participants must have their own Google account." ***** I believe this is a G-Suite account rather than just a google account so that won't work but 'hangouts Meet' may be worth a trial to see how/if it works as a concept.

Spike

[wer]

Well, I think we'd all have things to both learn and contribute.

I wasn't thinking of webcams actually.  A lot of people don't like that.  I was just thinking of voice chat plus a screen share.  Obviously if someone wanted to give a visual tour of their AV system, they would need a cam. 

[Spike1000]

I wasn't thinking of webcams actually.

They aren't the most flattering of things are they  Mine's always off
A screen share would be be handy though for MC walk-throughs.

Spike

[rec head]

I know very little about online conferencing. At work we are usually yelling at each other if we need something. But for a visual tour of AV setups couldn't they be recorded and screen shared as opposed to live?

[Manfred]

My every day work experience with video/web conferencing on a global level is:

- For larger groups >100 it's always a presentation from one or two person's with a connected (e.g. Slack channel) chat for communications. Audio is muted.
- For real working discussion's the group must be small ~< 10 people. And even 10 is large for that.

My experience is also that there are a lot of audio problems if video is used by large number of people for interactive discussions.

[wer]

I know very little about online conferencing. At work we are usually yelling at each other if we need something. But for a visual tour of AV setups couldn't they be recorded and screen shared as opposed to live?

Of course. The point is that at least the screen-share of the pre-recorded video should be live, as then people can interact and ask questions.

[wer]

Manfred, I've done a lot of conferencing too. How well it works depends a lot on the technology used and how well mannered the people are.  It helps a lot if a separate voice bridge is used rather than trying to mux it in with the screenshare.  It's easy to have a Q&A with 30 people.  For a collaborative build session half that many people can't work together even if they're in the same room; different types of discussions accommodate different size groups.

But come on... Right now we have 6 people interested.  7 if we count you.  It's not the time to fret about what happens if we have a hundred people.  We still need enough people to make it viable.

Are you in?

[Moe]

I think I'd have very little interest in watching a prerecorded video.  That's what YouTube is for and I picture this being more of an interactive thing.  Maybe if someone wanted to start their "presentation" with a little prerecorded bit that might work.

[rec head]

I meant just a prerecorded video of your AV not the whole presentation. Walking around your room and showing the gear you have etc, the group could ask questions as the video is playing and it could be paused, rewound, discussed. Definitely not the centerpiece of the group. More like hey guys look at this cool thing I did. Even just images could be shared.

[wer]

Well, it looks like we're up to 5.  Not really good...

Anyone else?

[jimwallen]

I'm interested. I would be most interested in educational topics tied to MC/Win 10 such as, all the settings in the program and what they do, how to use them, plugin suggestions, aspects of digital media (audio, for me), DACS, sound cards, amps, speakers. I think using the Forum would work the best for time and time zones and provide access and history.

[d_pert]

I'd give it  try. 

[wer]

I'm not really sensing interest from enough people to make it worthwhile.