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Author Topic: Media Center 9 Open Issues  (Read 2481 times)

RandyP

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Media Center 9 Open Issues
« on: April 07, 2003, 02:37:01 pm »

These are not errors in MC9, but I'd like to report my experiences in the hope you'll think about them and come up with a solution.

I don't use MC9's TV option. I use the TV that came with my ATI USB TV. This lets me use MC9 for tagging and file management while watching the TV without interruption.

I don't use the iPod feature of MC9, as it ties up MC for the duration of the file transfer. I use XPlay, which will run "in the background" while I use MC9 for file mgmt activities.

I like having the ability to tag and catalog images, but the "Multiple Artists" Thumbnail grouping is a constant pain. There are no facilities for printing multiple images on a page or easily making several "Photo Albums" that I can share over the network.

It's very cool that MC can support so many devices and file types! I truly appreciate the effort that's gone into the program. Perhaps you can think about these issues and devise a way to segregate certain functions so MC can handle several unrelated tasks simultaneously without conflict. I also hope you'll concentrate on image features with the same enthusiasm shown for audio files.
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Matt

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2003, 03:06:34 pm »

Quote
I don't use MC9's TV option. I use the TV that came with my ATI USB TV. This lets me use MC9 for tagging and file management while watching the TV without interruption.


You can window the TV or run it full screen on a second monitor while using MC for other stuff.

Quote
I don't use the iPod feature of MC9, as it ties up MC for the duration of the file transfer. I use XPlay, which will run "in the background" while I use MC9 for file mgmt activities.


Agreed.  I hope the next major version can address this.

Quote
I like having the ability to tag and catalog images, but the "Multiple Artists" Thumbnail grouping is a constant pain. There are no facilities for printing multiple images on a page or easily making several "Photo Albums" that I can share over the network.


You keep talking about the "Multiple Artists" thing for pictures, but I'm not sure I get it.  Is it only for pictures that have a blank album field?  Do you like how it works once you fill the album in?

Also, for sharing, you can upload images to a webpage or share your library (and playlists / slideshows) using Media Server with anyone in the world.

Quote
I also hope you'll concentrate on image features with the same enthusiasm shown for audio files.


What's so cool is that almost every improvement we've made really ends up helping every media type work slicker.

Thanks for the continued help Randy.
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

Jaguu

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2003, 04:31:30 pm »

In a next version there should be more dependency on media type:

1) Separate tagging for audio, images and video with the capacity to group fields according to personal taste! It seems that the only real tag those media type have in common is the "name" tag! Image tags can vary widely depending whether you store camera pictures, paintings, people etc.

2) Functions should also be media dependent! Getting cover art for images simply does not make any sense!

3) Tagging for videos!

4) As suggested once TV and Radio stations should follow standard MC9 conventions, that means creating your own Views with TV and radio stations!

5) Directory/File naming rules should be available right away when importing media (input rules)!

6) Maybe a more project oriented set and forget interface such as: Define everything once for certain views, then any time things will be done the same way, kind of extended smartlists that include rules for importing, ripping, playback, display, burning etc.

Example: Do everything that deals with Jazz Music in a certain way, do everything that deals with Classical Music in another way, everything that deals with family pics in one way and everything that deals with paintings in another way!

Easy CD Creator has in some way this project priented approach!

Just a few ideas to breed over your soon to be earned holidays!

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AZ_JazzyJ

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2003, 10:03:54 pm »

Downloaded and installed 144 and I still have the issue with the center panel not updating after prolonged usage.  This problem typically displays itself if I have imported new songs and I am bouncing around the tree diagram updating tags and pruning and grafting.  The only option I have is to quit MC and reopen the application.  The windows then update correctly.  I am not sure if 144 is worse or if I am just doing more tagging and cleaning than I was with earlier versions.  Over the course of the last 2 hours I have had to quit and re-launch 6 times.  I get the impression this is not a show stopper but it is annoying after the fourth time.

Jeff
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PhDSM

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2003, 12:29:21 am »

in version 144, Album Artist uses the new little artist icon in the tree.
Would it be possible to do the same for "Composer "
Rgds
PhDSM

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MighTiVo

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2003, 01:49:59 am »

Anybody else have VBR files show up with a low bitrate and extremely long play time?

I have several VBR songs that shows up in the playlist with bitrate of 32 and a very long runtime. The playback window shows the bitrate accuratey as it changes and the runtime seems accurate although the total time is incorrect.

No big deal, just cosmetic on the player, but a pain when trying to sort out files with the smart playlists.
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msc3

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2003, 03:10:51 am »

Technically I guess this isn't an issue with MC since it will work without it, but starting with build 144, the dfx plug-in causues MC to go into a hard loop when playing mp3 files. I have the latest version of dfx and if you remove the plug-in, MC works fine. Anyone else seeing this problem?
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Maynard
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nila

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2003, 04:01:16 am »

Playback of Video files is still at best 'Weak'.
Letting MC try to move on from one file to the next never works and produces an error each time.
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JimH

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2003, 04:06:30 am »

Quote
Playback of Video files is still at best 'Weak'.
Letting MC try to move on from one file to the next never works and produces an error each time.

Nila,
Please start a thread on this.  I can't duplicate it.  Try deleting the files from your database and re-importing.  Provide info on file types.
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rocketsauce

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2003, 11:11:33 am »

Quote
Anybody else have VBR files show up with a low bitrate and extremely long play time?

I have several VBR songs that shows up in the playlist with bitrate of 32 and a very long runtime. The playback window shows the bitrate accuratey as it changes and the runtime seems accurate although the total time is incorrect.


This is probaly due to a missing or corrupt VBR header on those MP3s and is most likely not MCs fault, but that of the software that was used to rip and encode the files.

My friend just gave me a bunch of mp3 albums the other day that were ripped and encoded with Musicmatch and the first track on every album has this same problem.

You can fix them with this program:

http://www.willwap.co.uk/Programs/vbrfix.html

Rob
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MighTiVo

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #10 on: April 10, 2003, 10:05:22 pm »

Quote


This is probaly due to a missing or corrupt VBR header on those MP3s and is most likely not MCs fault, but that of the software that was used to rip and encode the files.

My friend just gave me a bunch of mp3 albums the other day that were ripped and encoded with Musicmatch and the first track on every album has this same problem.

You can fix them with this program:

http://www.willwap.co.uk/Programs/vbrfix.html

Rob


Thanks, that certainly changed things....

Before running vbrfix MC showed BitRate of 32 and 49min time. XP explorer showed a 415kbs bit rate and 7:18 run time and WMP showed the same.

After running vbrfix MC showed bitrate of 211 and 7:18 runtime, XP explorer showed 408kbs rate and same run time.

I don't dispute that there was an encoder fault, but I don't understand how XP explorer and WMP didn't have any trouble with the file.
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rocketsauce

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #11 on: April 10, 2003, 10:20:09 pm »

Well, XP is still having some sort of problem with something if its showing a bitrate of 408kbps, since the highest bitrate an MP3 can have is 320kbps.

Rob
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PhDSM

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #12 on: April 10, 2003, 11:05:51 pm »

Still Open in build 147 :(:

In trackInfo :
>TRACKINFO_INSERT_CUSTOM1
>TRACKINFO_INSERT_CUSTOM2
>TRACKINFO_INSERT_CUSTOM3
are not returning values.

In Visualization Studio the text field:
>CUSTOM_1
>CUSTOM_3
>CUSTOM_3
are not returning values.

Both were working well in MJ8

How access the new composer field in both VS & TI ?
(TRACKINFO_INSERT_COMPOSER & COMPOSER ?)

Rgds
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jakobluck

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #13 on: April 11, 2003, 12:49:50 am »

In a next version there should definitely be support for OGM files -- until then, MC won't be the solution for all types of media, at least on my system.
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MighTiVo

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Re: Media Center 9 Open Issues
« Reply #14 on: April 11, 2003, 05:55:32 am »

Quote
Well, XP is still having some sort of problem with something if its showing a bitrate of 408kbps, since the highest bitrate an MP3 can have is 320kbps.

Rob


At least the run time was accurate in XP and WMP, very strange.

Well I think I got all of my run time errors in MC fixed with fixvbr....
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