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Author Topic: Some Thoughts on MC as an Image Manager...  (Read 1460 times)

DocLotus

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Some Thoughts on MC as an Image Manager...
« on: March 03, 2004, 04:07:04 pm »

Hope I am not putting my foot into this one, & if I offend anyone my apologies in advance, but here goes.

Will (or is) MC a powerful imaging manager?

Let us look at some comparisons...
File managers, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, & ACDSee.

File Managers...
Through the years I have always wanted a file manager that also would handle images as well as they do files.  Slowly, many file managers added some very limited image capabilities such as being able to view thumbnails of a few limited image types such as...

* Windows Explorer that will view thumbnails of *.BMP & *.JPG files but will do nothing else with them.

* PowerDesk 5 will handle more image formats & will do a little more with images (has a built in image viewer) but is still very limited when compared to a full-fledged image management program.
 
The bottom line here is that the people creating file managers put 95% of their effort into the file manager & their customer base is almost all file management.  So, most all bug fixes, & improvements are aimed towards file management.

The results being an image management program it is not.  It is a file manager with some limited image viewing capabilities.

Word vs. Excel...
It has always bugged me how Word can do some limited spreadsheet functions such as columns & sorting but not do it nearly as well as Excel which was designed from the get-go as a column & row spreadsheet with very good sorting capabilities.

It has equally always bugged me how Excel can do some limited word wrap & spell checking but not nearly as well as Word.

It seems that each program has some (if limited) capabilities of the other program.

The bottom line here is that the people creating Word put 95% of their effort into word processing & their customer base is almost all Word processing.  So, most all bug fixes, & improvements are aimed towards word processing.

The same holds true for Excel... the people creating Excel put 95% of their effort into spreadsheet development & their customer base is almost all spreadsheet.  So, most all bug fixes, & improvements are aimed towards the spreadsheet.

The results being a spreadsheet program Word is not.  It is a word processor with some very limited spreadsheet capabilities.  And, a word processing program Excel is not.  It is a spreadsheet with some very limited word processing capabilities.

I would never use one for the other except in an emergency where the other was not available.

ACDSee...
Through the years I have always wanted an image management program that would handle files as well as a dedicated file manager.  Slowly, many image managers added some limited file management capabilities such as the tree view & a few other file management features.  But to this day not of them will do split screen or do a very good job (if at all) of viewing special files such a spreadsheet complete with tabs & all formatting the way a dedicated file manager such as PowerDesk can.  I can even look into ZIPed files with PowerDesk.

The bottom line here is that the people creating image managers put 95% of their effort into the image manager & their customer base is almost all imaging.  So, most all bug fixes, & improvements are aimed towards image management.

The results being a file manager program it is not.  It is an image manager with some limited file management capabilities.

Mc 10...
Does MC do images? Yes, absolutely.
Is it an image management program?  No.

The bottom line here is that the people creating MC put 95% of their effort into Audio / Video & their customer base is almost all Audio / Video.  So, most all bug fixes, & improvements are aimed towards Audio / Video.
 
The results being an image management program it is not.  It is a superb Audio / Video program with some limited image viewing capabilities.

So... what are we saying anyway?

No matter how hard JRiver tries, they will never achieve full image management capabilities in MC because 95% of their effort is in Audio / Video while 95% of ACDSee effort is in imaging.  For each new image feature added to MC, ACDSee will add 10.  It's a matter of priorities for each company.

This is not to say the imaging efforts in MC are not appreciated because they defiantly are.  I think most users like the image viewing capabilities that have been added to MC10 & for some users it may very well be all the imaging management they need.

I am surprised that Microsoft has not combined Word & Excel into one grand program but that probably will not happen any time soon.

If ACDSee & MC were to merge into one company then maybe just then we will finally have an all-in-one Audio / Video / Imaging program.  But, until that day I see MC first & foremost as an Audio / Video program with some image capabilities & ACDSee first & foremost as an image management program with some audio / video capabilities.

Either way, JRiver deserves a big hand for a job very well done.  MC10 is awesome (with or without image management) ;D
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xen-uno

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Re:Some Thoughts on MC as an Image Manager...
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2004, 04:28:24 pm »

You should throw IrfanView into the mix...though not an db based image manager, can do some very groovy things (just found thumbnails capability today)...and can read virtually any format under the sun.

10-27

bjsolem

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Re:Some Thoughts on MC as an Image Manager...
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2004, 04:33:58 pm »

(just found thumbnails capability today)
10-27

What is the Thumbnails capability?

Very well said Doc.  I am happy with MC as my Image organiazer because I always have it open anyway.  Just want to be able to DO a little more with my pictures once they are organized.

Image editing and other tasks specific to the content of the pictures I will always leave to other programs.
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xen-uno

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Re:Some Thoughts on MC as an Image Manager...
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2004, 04:37:46 pm »

IrfanView>File>Thumbnails (opens separate window with a directory tree and the thumbnails)

pipsqueak

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Re:Some Thoughts on MC as an Image Manager...
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2004, 04:50:59 pm »

i had always shied away from using MC as my image manager in the past. mainly because i didnt know all the relevant functionality. But also because my photo directories are quite a mess. Well after reading jim's post on how i could point to a single file then import its contents, clean them up, then move to the next folder (posted in this thread's predecessor) i gave it a go...

fantastic. In 1 hour i moved all 5000 photos - labelled and categorised. Now, although it may be possible to do this in other programs, i am really set on a single solution for all my media needs.

for my (albeit basic) image needs mc is ideal

thanks

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cascius

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Re:Some Thoughts on MC as an Image Manager...
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2004, 07:57:56 pm »

Yeah compupic has always been one of my favorites. I've been using it for maybe 3-4 years now. It has many many functionalities related to image managin, editing... The thing is though, i would never use anything else than photoshop for editing images. Nothing gets even close to the quality and performance of photoshop.

My point is that lately i realized that the only need i have of an image manager is to view thumbnails, prepare slideshows and organize them in a database.

All this can/ is done very smoothly in media center.

So while i understand what you're saying by comparing file managers/ acdsee/ media center, I think media center is a great choice.

-Cascius
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gpvillamil

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Re:Some Thoughts on MC as an Image Manager...
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2004, 08:02:44 pm »

i had always shied away from using MC as my image manager in the past. mainly because i didnt know all the relevant functionality. But also because my photo directories are quite a mess. Well after reading jim's post on how i could point to a single file then import its contents, clean them up, then move to the next folder (posted in this thread's predecessor) i gave it a go...

fantastic. In 1 hour i moved all 5000 photos - labelled and categorised. Now, although it may be possible to do this in other programs, i am really set on a single solution for all my media needs.

for my (albeit basic) image needs mc is ideal

thanks

Can you post the link to Jim's thread?

I'm actually really impressed with MC's image tagging. Tagging mode really shines with images.
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pipsqueak

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Re:Some Thoughts on MC as an Image Manager...
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2004, 08:07:14 pm »

gpvillamil

its not actually jim's thread, more one where he commented on. look at reply 21 or 22....

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=19639
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