Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Hendrik]

Its finally done, right for Easter.

CloudPlay support for JRemote2 has been in development for a long time, and there have been many hurdles to overcome, but now its the first remote that can not only instruct MC itself to play from CloudPlay, but also directly stream from the cloud without involving MC (most of the time). JRemote2 can only play FLAC from CloudPlay (for now), so if another format is encountered, it'll go back to MC and ask it for a transcoded stream - but we're looking into extending the native support for Lossless formats in JRemote2 to tackle this.

Radio JRiver is equally supported in either local or remote playback, in full lossless quality for FLAC streams.

Due to the new requirements for CloudPlay on a remote, using this feature requires Media Center 26.0.52 or newer, which was released publicly just a few hours ago to ensure it can be tested right away!

As an additional bonus, I've included the Theater View Remote functionality in this update, which was originally developed for Gizmo, and never actually made it into the previous version of JRemote. It actually works pretty neatly and I would recommend to check it out if you use Theater View!

Note: Due to the current situation in the world, it may take longer then usual for Google to approve this update and distribute it to all devices.

JRemote 2.1.0 (04/10/2020)

1. NEW: Full CloudPlay support (requires Media Center 26.0.52 or newer)
2. NEW: Theater View Remote
3. Fixed: Saving Rating changes was not working properly

[Edit by JimH -- Split Previous Thread]

[JimH]

Thanks, Hendrik!  Great to see it released.

[Awesome Donkey]

Cloudplay works pretty good in JRemote2, been checking out thecrow's HiRes 24/96 and 24/192 playlists and the smooth jazz playlist.

[JimH]

The original thread on JRemote2 is here:  https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,123223.0.html

[ferday]

can't play via cast (home/chromecast) for more than a few minutes, music or video

any suggestions on settings etc. appreciated

thanks for all the work on this

[Zachik]

So... now that this big update is out - can I ask, (pretty please) to add Windows shutdown function?
That would allow for turning my MC 26 Windows PC into a totally headless server, getting rid of the Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse!

Thanks, and happy Easter ;-)

[Zhillsguy]

So... now that this big update is out - can I ask, (pretty please) to add Windows shutdown function?
That would allow for turning my MC 26 Windows PC into a totally headless server, getting rid of the Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse!

Thanks, and happy Easter ;-)

As an alternative you could run any number of utilities for that purpose. I have been using Unified Remote for over a year without issue. All of my electronics are inside the house with the TV and surround speakers on the lanai.

https://www.unifiedremote.com/

You can also run VNC on the server, and install viewer on your control devices or other pc's for direct management.

[Zachik]

As an alternative you could run any number of utilities for that purpose. I have been using Unified Remote for over a year without issue. All of my electronics are inside the house with the TV and surround speakers on the lanai.

https://www.unifiedremote.com/

Interesting. Will give it a try. Thanks!

[JimH]

It's on the Play Store now.

[RoderickGI]

Radio JRiver played sweet Jazz to me all night... nearly flattened my phone battery though, and it was on charge! 

I am still having ongoing and inconsistent connection issues though. I don't think it is just a JRemote2 issue. It's just that my MC Servers sometimes don't seem to respond, because the Library Server isn't visible to BingoSSDP or JRemote2, even when the MC DLNA Server on that PC is visible. Very strange. A WOL sent from the long press popup menu on My Servers just caused JRemote2 to see my HTPC MC Library Server and connect, when before that it could see the PC but wouldn't connect. The HTPC is on 24/7 at the moment, so connection should be immediate.

I would love to have a simple and reliable way to diagnose this connectivity stuff.

[DJLegba]

Now that the big ticket items (CloudPlay and Theater View Remote) have been added, I would love to see regular minor updates to fix the little issues that were mentioned after the previous release (titles don't scroll, metadata needs some formatting tweaks, etc). Thanks

[Logic800]

Just tried for the first time to Chromecast some FLAC files using MC26 and JRemote2, but the files appear to be transcoded to MP3 and then cast.  Is this a setting issue or a current standard feature?  Advice please, thanks.

[Gatherum]

Does JRemote2 understand CUE sheets?

Just made one for a particularly long mix of tracks sold consolidated in to one. Plays as intended in MC and appears fine in JRemote2, but selecting any track just plays the long mix from the beginning.

Edit: Got it to work by disabling the Use native audio format option.

I see it behaves similarly to when using MC to push media to other devices with DSP: transcoding must be in play to actually apply the desired effects.

This is obviously not a high priority at this early stage, but consider this a feature request for later: if Use native audio format is enabled and media asset is CUE, convert to same format as the file the CUE references.

Migrating this over from the other thread as part of my feature wishlist.

Also requesting:

• Ability to exclude lossy files from transcoding when Use native audio format is turned off.
• Ability to downsample lossless files (take FLAC 192/24, for instance, and sample it down to 44.1/16) for ease of streaming through the cloud on 4G (LTE), as opposed to outright transcoding them to a lossy format.
• Volume levelling, adaptive volume, and headphones DSP—but especially the latter.
• Rating stars in metadata viewer, as seen in the original JRemote. As it stands, cannot rate track without it already playing.

Speaking of ratings, thank you SO much for fixing them! It feels so good to rate tracks again! ^o^

[oie]

Hi,
Can you please implement the option of controlling RadioParadise?.
Many thanks,
O

[designmule]

I'm having trouble playing music using the "player" zone on JRiver clients using JRemote2 (JRemote works fine). I created post 196 in the beta thread about this issue but the thread is now locked so I'm posting again.

In my setup, I have one central library server and multiple clients which connect to the library server. Typically, I control the clients using JRemote to play music using the "player" zone. With JRemote2 this method doesn't work.

I can push music from the server to the client using DLNA and JRemote2. Heck, the client can even push music to itself via DLNA and JRemote2 but when I switch the zone to "player" in JRemote2 the client will not play music. Switch the zone back to the client via DLNA and it works again.

Use becomes tricky this way because I can connect to my client but the client is going to push to the last zone selected in the app which may not be that particular client. I'm not opposed to simply pushing to all of my clients but it is my understanding that I can't apply volume leveling without transcoding.

Any thoughts? I appreciate the help.

[RoderickGI]

Designmule, I covered all this back here: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,123223.msg857499.html#msg857499

Read back through that thread and see if you missed something. What you are doing works fine for me. You may need to concisely clarify your setup again. I am not comfortable with the way you talk about DLNA connections in your description above, because while MC uses DLNA as part of the Media Network functionality, the Client/Server connection is more than that. So I am wondering if we are having a communication problem here.

To reiterate, I run a MC Server, I have a MC Client connected to that Server, I connect JRemote2 to the Client (which is running Media Network and so allows that connection), and I can play music to the Player Zone on the Client.

I can also play to the Player Zone on the Server, which is called "There", because I am connected to the Client, and the Client sees the MC Server Player Zone as "There".


Regarding this specific comment:

Use becomes tricky this way because I can connect to my client but the client is going to push to the last zone selected in the app which may not be that particular client.

Go into the JRemote2 settings, under Application Settings, turn on "Server follows App Zones". See if that makes a difference.

[maky100]

.... the cloud without involving MC (most of the time)........

I can confirm that, sometimes it works without running a server, sometimes not, because I have to connect to a server in the App.
So, what means "most of the time" exact and why is it so?

[designmule]

Designmule, I covered all this back here: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,123223.msg857499.html#msg857499

To reiterate, I run a MC Server, I have a MC Client connected to that Server, I connect JRemote2 to the Client (which is running Media Network and so allows that connection), and I can play music to the Player Zone on the Client.

I can also play to the Player Zone on the Server, which is called "There", because I am connected to the Client, and the Client sees the MC Server Player Zone as "There".

Ok, I think I see where my wires were crossed. I was enabling the DLNA renderer option in order to push to clients. But I now realize that your use of the term "There" refers to the option to "Show playback zones from the server on the client". I have enabled this and in JRiver I can see the option of "There" to which I can play music on my server from the client. I also see two of my other clients labeled as "There: Clientname" even though they are not library servers.

However, in JRemote2 I now only "'This device" and "Player" as optional zones. The original JRemote shows "This device", "Player", "There", as well as the two other clients.

And all authentications is turned off and cleared out of JRemote & JRemote2 BTW.

[RoderickGI]

I can see "This device", "Player", and "There" in JRemote2 when connected to a Client that has a Library loaded from the Server. Plus other local Zones on the Client.

Authentication is only a requirement for syncing, I believe. I have it turned on in the Server and Client, and have the Username and Password saved in JRemote2.

Sometimes Zones can take a little while to show up in the Media Network environment, although I haven't seen any delay in JRemote2 showing them. If the Zones show in the MC Client, and JRemote2 is connected to that Client, I would expect all the same Zones to show up, named the same way.

Try turning on the DLNA Controller in the Client as well, if it isn't already on. The Server should have DLNA Controller on already. In fact, on both my Server and Client I just turn on DLNA Server, Renderer, and Controller for simplicity, and so I can see all options. Try that.

[Hendrik]

I can confirm that, sometimes it works without running a server, sometimes not, because I have to connect to a server in the App.
So, what means "most of the time" exact and why is it so?

Which files can be played from CloudPlay without MC being involved is outlined in the first post of this thread.

Either way, JRemote is designed to run with a MC server, its not going to function without one, and its not a design goal to ever support that. Its just a nice feature to be able to stream from CloudPlay without having to go through MC, and we'll extend when this is possible more in the future.

[designmule]

Try turning on the DLNA Controller in the Client as well, if it isn't already on. The Server should have DLNA Controller on already. In fact, on both my Server and Client I just turn on DLNA Server, Renderer, and Controller for simplicity, and so I can see all options. Try that.

With all of the DLNA bits turned enabled on both the client and server, I still do not have the zone "there" available on JRemote2 though it is visible in Media Center. I enabled all of these options last night and have restarted both the server and client so there should be no issues with there being a delay in propagating the zone to JRemote2. Additionally, I can now see all of the other clients available as zones in JRemote2 because DLNA has been enabled on them as well. However, there are not listed as "there: clientname".

Oddly, now that all of the DLNA pieces are turned on, JRemote2 will connect to the client and from the zone "player" it acts as if it is able to play music. If I hit play on a track, JRemote2 indicates that it is playing the track, it sets volume (which it shouldn't do as I have volume disabled) and even advances to the next track on the album. However, no music is playing over the system and Media Center indicates that nothing is playing. This is consistent across multiple clients and JRemote (original) still works fine.

[Hendrik]

Oddly, now that all of the DLNA pieces are turned on, JRemote2 will connect to the client and from the zone "player" it acts as if it is able to play music. If I hit play on a track, JRemote2 indicates that it is playing the track, it sets volume (which it shouldn't do as I have volume disabled) and even advances to the next track on the album. However, no music is playing over the system and Media Center indicates that nothing is playing. This is consistent across multiple clients and JRemote (original) still works fine.

If you select anything but the "Here" zone in JRemote, then it can't exactly fake playing anything, it only reports what MC tells it, so somewhere some zone in MC must be playing to something, if its not coming out somewhere its probably a mis-configured zone.

[designmule]

If you select anything but the "Here" zone in JRemote, then it can't exactly fake playing anything, it only reports what MC tells it, so somewhere some zone in MC must be playing to something, if its not coming out somewhere its probably a mis-configured zone.

I don't have "Here" as an option in JRemote2, I have "Player" and "This Device". Your comment about coming out somewhere got me to do some investigating. What seems to be happening is that no matter which client I connect to using JRemote2 it is attempting to play music on the server. I have the sound card disabled on that machine as its a headless server so ordinarily when I hit play on JRemote2 nothing happens because there is no sound device. Yesterday I plugged a DAC and headphones into the server to try and test something. That's why when I hit play on JRemote2, it started playing.

I'm not sure how this is happening. Clients are added to JRemote2 using their access keys, which I've double checked and verified against JRemote which doesn't have the same behavior

[designmule]

Ok, so I just powered off one of my clients. I was then able to "connect" to it via JRemote2 and in "Playing Now" was the last track I played on the server. So it would seem that regardless of the client I choose, JRemote2 is connecting directly to the library server.

[DJLegba]

Ok, so I just powered off one of my clients. I was then able to "connect" to it via JRemote2 and in "Playing Now" was the last track I played on the server. So it would seem that regardless of the client I choose, JRemote2 is connecting directly to the library server.

If you are trying to connect to different MC instances on your network, it really helps to use a different port for each instance. My server uses 52199 and the client uses 52198. Before I did this I was seeing behaviour similar to what you're describing above.

[RoderickGI]

I use port 52199 on my Server and Client, and JRemote2 works fine. Each Server and Client must have its own MC Access Key, and MC should force that automatically. Maybe with more Clients on the network there is a problem. I only have one Client. I can't replicate the problem.

Designmule, did you do this?

Go into the JRemote2 settings, under Application Settings, turn on "Server follows App Zones". See if that makes a difference.

With that setting, JRemote2 should change the Zone on the Clint correctly, and play where you told it to play.

Also make sure that "App follow server zones" is not selected.

[designmule]

Designmule, did you do this?

I did and it didn't make any difference. It seems pretty clear to me that the app is connecting to the library server even though I have entered the access key for the client. I can remote in to the server and when I use JRemote2 which indicates that it is playing to the correct zone on the correct client and play a track the track queues up on the server.

This probably explains why when using the app I don't have the option of "There" because on the library server I wouldn't expect there to be a "There" unless it was connected to another library server.

Furthermore if I delete the client from JRemote2 and add it back using the appropriate access key, JRemote2 names the client with the name of the server. So instead of the newly re-added client appearing as "Livingroom" in JRemote2 it shows up as "Fileserver". I now remember this happening when I first installed JRemote2. At the time, I just renamed the client to it's correct name in the app.

I think I'm going to delete the app, reinstall it and see if that fixes things. If not, I'll look further into the port thing suggested by DJLegba. I think at minimum I can power down all of my clients but one eliminate the possibility that the issue is related to multiple clients using the same port.

I appreciate the suggestions.

[RoderickGI]

I think I'm going to delete the app, reinstall it and see if that fixes things.

Good idea.

It sounds like both the Client and the Server have the same Access Key, which can happen for local Libraries when a Library Backup from a Server is Restored onto a Client, including settings. But that should only affect the Local Library, and not the local copy of the Server Library.

If that happened and JRemote2 had two Libraries that it could connect to with the same Access Key, it might always pick the Server Library. If that is what is happening, then I would think that was unintended functionality.

[designmule]

Uninstalling the app made no difference. When I reinstalled it all of the servers and settings were still there and again when I connected to my client and attempted to play music the track queued up on the server.

All of the client access keys are correct and match what is entered into the original JRemote. I don't even have the library server added to the app because I don't use it to play music though I have added it for testing and then removed it.

I'll look into the port thing but I'm kind of skeptical about that as I've run JRiver and JRemote with multiple clients for a number of years and not had an issue there.

[Hendrik]

If you use the same port everywhere, and JRemote2 happens to connect through the public IP, then you can only have one system reachable - likely your server. If you used different ports, it would ensure that all systems are uniquely identified, even if it tries to use the public IP.

[RoderickGI]

D'oh! Thanks Hendrik.

I didn't even think to ask if you were connecting to your home network via WiFi Designmule. Hendrik's comment has reminded me, if you are only connected to the internet from your phone via Mobile Data, then JRemote2 is trying to connect to your Client via your external Public IP Address, and if you have Port Forwarding set up to forward a MC connection to your MC Server, then you will get the result you are seeing.

Make sure the phone is connected to your home network via WiFi. Turn off Mobile Data on your phone for testing, so that it can't connect via that path.

If you can't do that, then set up different ports for your MC Clients and Port Forwarding to each Client correctly. But then understand that your music will be playing via Mobile Data, which may be costing you a lot, depending on your mobile provider and plan. If you are connected to both WiFi and Mobile Data your music will be routed via your home network.

[DJLegba]

D'oh! Thanks Hendrik.

I didn't even think to ask if you were connecting to your home network via WiFi Designmule. Hendrik's comment has reminded me, if you are only connected to the internet from your phone via Mobile Data, then JRemote2 is trying to connect to your Client via your external Public IP Address, and if you have Port Forwarding set up to forward a MC connection to your MC Server, then you will get the result you are seeing.

Make sure the phone is connected to your home network via WiFi. Turn off Mobile Data on your phone for testing, so that it can't connect via that path.

If you can't do that, then set up different ports for your MC Clients and Port Forwarding to each Client correctly. But then understand that your music will be playing via Mobile Data, which may be costing you a lot, depending on your mobile provider and plan. If you are connected to both WiFi and Mobile Data your music will be routed via your home network.

It's not as alarming or extreme as that, and you don't need to set up port forwarding for every client. If JRemote sometimes connects to the wrong host the simplest solution is to assign each host (server or client) a different port. It worked for me (and BTW, it was Hendrik who suggested it).

[haoyuanren]

Is there a fuzzy top level search function in the Android app that behaves like the search function in iOS?

In the iOS search is on the left pull out menu, and when using it it will query results from all categories and display in a nested list form.

Thank you

[designmule]

It's not as alarming or extreme as that, and you don't need to set up port forwarding for every client. If JRemote sometimes connects to the wrong host the simplest solution is to assign each host (server or client) a different port. It worked for me (and BTW, it was Hendrik who suggested it).

Changing the port on each of the clients as you suggested seems to have it taken care of it on my end. I expected to have to forward the port but as you say, it isn't necessary.

I appreciate the suggestion and everyone else's help.

[Awesome Donkey]

Is there a fuzzy top level search function in the Android app that behaves like the search function in iOS?

Not yet.

[milsdrewbulch]

Feature requests: A way of accessing DSP Studio from JRemote2.

For example, it would be nice to twiddle the graphic equaliser in Player to fix badly mastered albums during playback.

Also Artist Bio of original JRemote has gone.

[JetBlack]

I want to try this app out but it has pretty low ratings and it's 9.99
If I don't like it, can I get a refund?

[Awesome Donkey]

It all depends on Play Store policies. I think the refund window is like 2 hours after purchase, if I recall correctly.

[Hendrik]

The ratings are pretty screwed up since most people signed up for Beta testing, and those ratings and reviews don't show up on the public play store page.

As Awesome Donkey says, refunds are handled by the Play Store directly, and Googles policies therein.

[rec head]

Sorry if I missed it in my search but none of my Chromecasts show up in zones. How do I cast?

Also, is it possible to add all the current features of the app in the first post? They haven't been moved over from the previous thread.

[JetBlack]

What is the difference between the Jremote2 and jriver for Android apps?

[Awesome Donkey]

To put it in as simple terms as possible JRemote2 is a remote for a JRiver Media Center running on another PC/Mac. You can either control a Media Center instance running on another device or stream media from a Media Center instance running on another device to your Android device. For example, I have JRiver Media Center running on a Raspberry Pi 24/7 with my music library of nearly 115,000 songs. I can stream my FLAC files from my Raspberry Pi to my Android phone using a remote like JRemote2. Obviously this means it requires JRiver Media Center running on a PC/Mac to work so it can't play files locally on the Android device for example. There's other remotes like Gizmo, MO 4Media, Panel (which runs in a web browser), etc.

JRiver for Android is a standalone Android media player app that can play files that are located locally on a device and it can also load libraries from other Media Center instances running on PCs/Macs. Basically it's JRiver Media Center ported to run on Android devices, but it uses Panel for its UI however it doesn't have feature parity with Media Center on PCs/Macs yet but it's in active development. There's work-in-progress things like video support on Android TV boxes, for example. It's more-or-less still the early days for JRiver for Android and its development.

More info on remotes: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Remotes

[JetBlack]

Thank you for the quick response. A couple more questions if I purchase jriver for Android for 9.99 do I automatically get all future updates to the app or am I going to have to pay upgrade fees like you do with media center? And for Jremote2 does it also function as a music player for music on my Android phone?

[Awesome Donkey]

As far as I know, the purchase of JRiver for Android will allow updates as long as the app is updated... unless they release a successor app, e.g. JRiver2 for Android or something like that. JRiver for Android doesn't use any sort of external licensing (so you can't use your Media Center master license for example to get JRiver for Android).

Like I said above, JRemote2 requires JRiver Media Center running on a PC/Mac, and it can stream media from Media Center running on a PC/Mac to an Android device. JRemote2 can't play files that are located locally on an Android phone, for example. It's a remote app, not an actual media player. JRiver for Android on the other hand is a media player though.

Think of it this way... let's say you have JRiver Media Center running on a PC/Mac with your library full of media that you use constantly. Let's then say you want to play/stream that media within your Media Center library on a device like a phone. For this a remote app would work, just remember to change the zone within the remote app to "This Device" or whatever it's called in the remote app. JRemote2 would be my main recommendation for this, however JRiver for Android can also load a remote library as well as long as Media Network is enabled in JRiver Media Center running on a PC/Mac. Technically, you can use both JRiver for Android to playback media on your phone and use JRemote2 to control it at the same time on the same device, but this may be a bit cumbersome using two apps like this at the same time, but it is indeed possible.

Now, let's say you want to use your phone to control media playing back in a JRiver Media Center instance running on a PC/Mac. JRemote2 can also do this.

Finally, let's say you've put a bunch of music files on a SD card that's in your phone and you want to play those. JRiver for Android would be the recommendation there, JRemote2 can't do this.

P.S. If you decide to purchase, I highly suggest testing immediately because if JRiver for Android or JRemote2 doesn't suit your needs, you can get a refund from the Google Play Store within 2 hours of the purchase. So if purchasing, test ASAP just in case.

[JetBlack]

Thank you that helps one last question
For Jremote2 to work do have to be connected to wifi

[Awesome Donkey]

Yes.

And Media Network needs to be enabled within JRiver Media Center. Here's a helpful wiki topic about that: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Network

This wiki topic about network access is also helpful: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Network_Access

[jonathan99]

Hi Hendrik, JRemote2 looks really fine.

What I miss on the JRemote(2), is to see my rating of the individual tracks, when selecting and opening an album.
I like to play the tracks I like ;-)
Now I have to select and play the whole album first, then go to the now playing window, then shifting the album to the left to get the playlist showing the ratings per track.
So that's a long way to find my favourite numbers :-(

Is it possible to show the ratings on the window showing the tracks within the albums?

[RoderickGI]

For Jremote2 to work do have to be connected to wifi

Yes.

Let me clarify that. The Android device needs to have network access to the MC Server you want to play music from. That network connection can be WiFi, Mobile Broadband, or just a Data connection on a mobile phone.

So if you are away from home and want to connect to and play from the MC Server you have at home, that works fine. There is some setup required on your home network, such as Port Forwarding and Wake On WAN if your server is allowed to sleep. WOW can be a can of worms, and will not on some ISP routers, but if the MC Server is left always running, you don't need WOW, just Port Forwarding.

[BryanC]

Hendrik, bravo on the Theater View remote control! It is very intuitive and response, I like it. It is also very timely since my Flirc just up and died and I needed a backup way to control Theater View from the couch. I am in no hurry to purchase another IR receiver as the alternative works so well.

[Robert Taylor]

G'day from DownUnder!

I'm starting to really like JRemote2 for Android! I have been a long time Gizmo user, and I think now JRemote is at a level where I will stop using Gizmo in favour of it.

I use my Media Center apps often in my vehicle to stream my music collection to my vehicle's audio system (as I'm sure many would do).

I just purchased a new vehicle which has Android Auto, and noticed some very strange behaviour with JRemote2.

The phone (A Nokia 8 / Android 9) is connected to the Android Auto head unit via USB cable. Via Gizmo, I can stream audio and play it via the head unit without any issues.

If I then exit Gizmo, and fire up JRemote, start streaming a song, I can see that it appears to be playing, but no audio comes out of the head unit. If I then stop, and exit JRemote, and start Gizmo up again, and start playing a track, BOTH Gizmo and JRemote audio starts playing simultaneously!

Is there any chance that JRemote may support Android Auto in the future? It would make the in-vehicle experience so much better!

Loving the products that you guys produce (ie. MediaCenter 26 and JRemote is pretty hard to beat)!

Best wishes for everyone's health and welbeing during the "current situation".

UPDATE

I just realised I had the 'MO 4Media' app installed on my phone, so I'm giving that a try - supports Android Auto...