Topic: Media Center 11.0.45 Alpha Available (Read 3806 times)

Matt · « **on:** July 28, 2004, 06:08:23 pm »

We're just starting work on Media Center 11. We appreciate your feedback on it, but MC11 may not work as expected and we can't yet fully support it. When upgrading from MC 10, you will lose your settings. Some plugins still do not work.

If you want a more trouble-free experience, please download Media Center 10 here:
http://www.musicex.com/mediacenter/download.html

Media Center 11 is available here:
ftp://ftp.jriver.com/pub/downloads/music/MediaCenter110045.exe

11.0.45 (7/28/04)

1. NEW: Updated Remote Server to be more compatible with the newest NetRemote.
2. Fixed: Status bar would not properly update when switching views.
3. Fixed: Action Window pages would not always update properly after changes.
4. Fixed: Collapsing the tree while a smartlist was visible could cause a crash.
5. Changed: Improved pane auto-sizing for some cases.
6. NEW: The Playing Now Action Window has separate drop areas for "Play" and "Add".
7. NEW: Album Grouping uses the day a picture was taken instead of an album tag when performing grouping.
8. NEW: Several changes to the experimental animated file view. (to test, press Alt+3 when going to a Media Library view)

11.0.35 - 11.0.44 - Our theory is that somehow we'll get to release faster by skipping some numbers.

DocLotus · « **Reply #1 on:** July 28, 2004, 06:12:55 pm »

Whoe there... Thats a BIG jump

DocLotus · « **Reply #2 on:** July 28, 2004, 06:37:45 pm »

All those skipped versions and I am still getting an install error in Finalizing Setup...
"Source: C:\Program Files\Media Center\Setup\JROptionsHelper.dll
Destination: C:\WINDOWS\system32\JROptionsHelper.dll"

But other then that, MC seems to be working ok.

Also, I thought that a Windows restart was no longer required but the last three versions that I have installed required a restart.

Sam · « **Reply #3 on:** July 28, 2004, 06:45:34 pm »

I'd like to give this a shot, but can someone tell me what I can expect with this alpha?

Are the basic functions stable enough to use as a permanent media player?

How do I go back to MC10 and recover all my settings?

Do I need to copy any folders (databases, skins, etc.) elsewhere before installing?

DocLotus · « **Reply #4 on:** July 28, 2004, 07:03:19 pm »

Hi Sam;

I have been using v11 for some time (many versions) & it has never caused any problems for me It seems to be pretty stable for some time now.

You may not notice a real difference between v 10 & 11 at first. The main thing is the new database which means you will loose your old settings but just re-import you music & all will be well. Worked great fir me.

Other then the new database there are a lot of little things that you will discover as you use MC11. Most are for the better.

ENJOY

LonWar · « **Reply #5 on:** July 28, 2004, 07:08:03 pm »

Quote from: DocLotus on July 28, 2004, 06:37:45 pm

All those skipped versions and I am still getting an install error in Finalizing Setup...
"Source: C:\Program Files\Media Center\Setup\JROptionsHelper.dll
Destination: C:\WINDOWS\system32\JROptionsHelper.dll"

But other then that, MC seems to be working ok.

Also, I thought that a Windows restart was no longer required but the last three versions that I have installed required a restart.

I've been getting this on the last 2 versions.

JimH · « **Reply #6 on:** July 28, 2004, 07:12:55 pm »

As in the previous version, the animated images won't be there unless you hold Alt-3 when you select a view. Different from the previous version is that this state of animation is preserved until you do Alt-3 select again.

DocLotus · « **Reply #7 on:** July 28, 2004, 07:13:09 pm »

Matt;

"8. NEW: Several changes to the experimental animated file view. (to test, press Alt+3 when going to a Media Library view)"

Don't understand this. Can you give an example ?

JimH · « **Reply #8 on:** July 28, 2004, 07:15:54 pm »

Press Alt-3 and select Images, for example.

DocLotus · « **Reply #9 on:** July 28, 2004, 08:02:16 pm »

Thanks Jim;

I now see the animations that you are talking about.

Only problem is that when I pressed ALT 3 the next itme it just dings at me & the animations are exactly the same as last time.

What am I doing wrong ?

DocLotus · « **Reply #10 on:** July 28, 2004, 08:28:28 pm »

This version has started doing something that no previous version has done.

For some reason that I can't pin down every now & then the music will stop playing & a repeating sound like Da, Da, Da will repeat about 5 times per second or so. It will continue even if I close MC. I have to reboot the computer to stop it.

It seems to happen when I am making changes to MC such as changing the view. It happened when I was trying out the ALT 3 & Views.

Sam · « **Reply #11 on:** July 28, 2004, 09:12:10 pm »

Quote from: DocLotus on July 28, 2004, 07:03:19 pm

Hi Sam;

I have been using v11 for some time (many versions) & it has never caused any problems for me It seems to be pretty stable for some time now.

You may not notice a real difference between v 10 & 11 at first. The main thing is the new database which means you will loose your old settings but just re-import you music & all will be well. Worked great fir me.

Other then the new database there are a lot of little things that you will discover as you use MC11. Most are for the better.

ENJOY

Thanks Doc.

Sam · « **Reply #12 on:** July 29, 2004, 01:27:39 am »

Very cool effects. I think the animated thumbnails are good for browsing a huge library of photos.

It'd be nice to be able to selectively zoom pictures even more - in a couple of increments.

Perhaps as a separate feature, I'd like to preview a picture I select without switching to Playing Now - maybe a separate window that updates when I click on a new thumbnail.

When you resize the thumbnail area, the animated reshuffling is very cool.

But the initial flying-in of thumbnails is painfully slow on my PC (1.8 GHz). A fast scroll in could work.

Can the Playing Now have a thumbnail view? Perhaps that's what the "bin" was... I don't see a bin, so I assume it was removed.

If you want these thumbnails to represent groups of photos - e.g., albums arranged by month - then I think you'll need some labels...

And they could replace the panes, or could be another version of a pane.

This may be asking for much, but when I browse through albums, I'd like to see all the thumbnails instantly, rather than waiting for the PC to search a database and fill in the image placeholders. This would make a huge difference when browsing through photo albums. Imagine the animated thumbnails (each representing an album) on the top third of the screen... as you go from one thumbnail to the next, the entire bottom of the screen flashes a new album of thumbnails instantly. Would it help to store each screen of thumbnails as one image? Or do I have to wait for a 25 GHz Pentium to get this?

Another idea for how to implement animated thumbnails... I have 8,000 photos. Show them all on one page, grouped by year. Each thumbnail would probably be a 3x3 pixel icon. I click on a year. The other years disappear, and the photos of the selected year expand and rearrange by month (or whatever the next category is). I can zoom any thumbnail by passing the cursor over it. I click on a month, and the selected thumbnails grow again, and rearrange into the next groupings. etc. At any level, you can select thumbnails and drag them to another group to retag.

NoCodeUK · « **Reply #13 on:** July 29, 2004, 03:51:20 am »

I like the idea behind the new view but have a few suggestions.

If I drag an album to playing now when the display is showing a list of all albums I would expect the whole album to play/be added. Currently only the first track is added.
If I select an artist who has only one album instead of getting a single thumb for that album I get a thumb for each track on that album. If the artist has two albums I get two thumbs. One for each album. It would be more logical at the album level to always show one thumb.
Sometimes I want to play a whole album, sometimes I justwant to play particular tracks. Both methods should be easy and intuitive to do

Just a few random thoughts. This could be quite a powerful but also very astethically pleasing view mode. Great Work!

Adam

Matt · « **Reply #14 on:** July 29, 2004, 05:00:24 am »

Thanks for the feedback on the animated view everyone.

Just to make sure people know, drag and drop of items works.

You can click an item to go into an album. To select multiple tracks in an album, click them inside the album and then drag. Clicking outside the picture list will go back.

There are a few bugs with clicking and what files are selected that'll be shored up in a coming build.

Make sure you try the new album grouping logic for images. On my library, it made a huge usability difference since I have a lot of random camera images that don't have an album assigned.

Keep the ideas coming.

AoXoMoXoA · « **Reply #15 on:** July 29, 2004, 09:33:25 am »

1- After making tag and/or filename changes within MC11, when importing files MC reports:
"Updating Library to Match External Changes"
Is this just an mis-statement or is MC not doing something correctly when the tag changes were inatially made by MC11? It can take a good deal of time making these 'corrections' during import if alot of changes were made.

2- On numerous occaisions I have discovered empty folders which MC has neglected to remove for some reason (possibly user caused).
Is it possible to add a function to "Remove Empty Folders" as part of the Import / Update process?

Sam · « **Reply #16 on:** July 29, 2004, 10:56:10 am »

I got a better feel for the photo grouping logic. It definitely has potential to be valuable.

One thumbnail can represent a single photo, or 150 photos. Maybe showing the size of the "stack" behind the thumbnails would help - like a deck of cards.

This automatic grouping is fine for a default, but I'd like to be able to modify it. One example is where I have several individual photos I received from a friend, and they're each a separate thumbnail. I'd like to group them together. Another example is where I scanned a bunch of photos on one day. They're grouped together, but they should be several different groups. It would be good to be able to label the groups as well. I guess that goes back to the folder metaphor then, but without the folders.

I actually have my photos already grouped into folders on my hard drive. It'd be nice if MC11 recognized that logic by default.

The faded thumbnails are a nice effect, but it's hard to browse photos to select when they're faded. Maybe the zoomed thumbnails can be unfaded? The old version of highlighting thumbnails without the fading works fine too.

The zoomed faded thumbnails appear to be on top of some other thumbnails, but behind others. They should probably always be on top.

When you click on thumbnails, the zoomed versions shift a little, so sometimes you end up clicking on empty space - where the thumbnail used to be. That feels a little weird.

Regarding a preview window, I'd like to be able to preview the slideshow without leaving the thumbnail page - again with a separate window - like the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in XP. And the music player controls don't feel right to me in a slideshow. I'd like to have the Next and Previous buttons right under the photo. The slider bar probably would be more useful if it applied to the slideshow rather than to each individual photo.

I'd like to treat my photos completely separately from the music album covers. I don't want them mixed. It took some work to create a separate view scheme to do that. I think MC11 should differentiate between them by default. Perhaps look at file location, and maybe image dimensions.

That's all for now. Good work!

Matt · « **Reply #17 on:** July 29, 2004, 11:02:17 am »

Quote from: AoXoMoXoA on July 29, 2004, 09:33:25 am

1- After making tag and/or filename changes within MC11, when importing files MC reports:
"Updating Library to Match External Changes"
Is this just an mis-statement or is MC not doing something correctly when the tag changes were inatially made by MC11? It can take a good deal of time making these 'corrections' during import if alot of changes were made.

It's based on the file's last modified time. Is it possible something did change them since MC last updated its info?

I'm not able to reproduce any unnecessary updates with my library. If it keeps happening, a step-by-step to reproduce it would help a bunch.

Matt · « **Reply #18 on:** July 29, 2004, 11:06:51 am »

Quote from: Sam on July 29, 2004, 10:56:10 am

The faded thumbnails are a nice effect, but it's hard to browse photos to select when they're faded. Maybe the zoomed thumbnails can be unfaded? The old version of highlighting thumbnails without the fading works fine too.

They only fade if you start selecting individual files. That's optional. You can also drag the file you're looking for without selecting it.

Quote from: Sam on July 29, 2004, 10:56:10 am

I'd like to treat my photos completely separately from the music album covers. I don't want them mixed. It took some work to create a separate view scheme to do that. I think MC11 should differentiate between them by default. Perhaps look at file location, and maybe image dimensions.

The best bet may be to not import your album covers at all -- just associate them with the songs so they show for the audio albums.

Thanks!

AoXoMoXoA · « **Reply #19 on:** July 29, 2004, 11:13:37 am »

Quote from: Matt on July 29, 2004, 11:02:17 am

It's based on the file's last modified time. Is it possible something did change them since MC last updated its info?

There is nothing that I have done to change them aside from the changes made within MC11. And I have seen this message repeatedly and fairly consistantly.
I use MC for all my tag and filename changes, which is why I cannot understand the message received that there were 'outside changes' to be updated.
If it was a Windows thing doing it I imagine this would be a universal occurrance.

?

ps, how about the empty folder removal idea? do-able?

DougHamm · « **Reply #20 on:** July 29, 2004, 12:56:36 pm »

Can someone please confirm that playing videos using the Windows Media engine is broken? It doesn't work on both my computers (audio plays, no video), but both are running the latest ATi Catalyst drivers and I want to rule them out. DirectX engine works fine.

-Doug

Marra · « **Reply #21 on:** July 29, 2004, 01:04:54 pm »

I updated to directX9 as instructed but only a few thumbnails appeared using v 11.0.34.
This version no images appear - all white squares.
Tried resizing of window - no change. Any other thoughts.

Also setting the paths to search to import files is not working for me.

Dragyn · « **Reply #22 on:** July 29, 2004, 04:15:40 pm »

Quote

I updated to directX9 as instructed but only a few thumbnails appeared using v 11.0.34.
This version no images appear - all white squares.

Same thing here.

Media Center Registered 11.0.45 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 11\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 805 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 151 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1514 (xpsp2.040109-1800) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1556 (xpsp2_gdr.040517-1325) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive E: TEAC CD-W54E Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive F: Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive G: Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive H: Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive I: Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive J: Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / Drive E: TEAC CD-W54E Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:4 MaxSpeed:4 BurnProof:No
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: No / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

cattani · « **Reply #23 on:** July 30, 2004, 05:27:37 am »

Play Results shortcut ( Shift + Enter) don`t update order of file you search.
But if you click on Play Results, the order is update.

I think is a bug, need to be fix the Shift+Enter shortcut !!!

AoXoMoXoA · « **Reply #24 on:** July 30, 2004, 02:20:28 pm »

When hovering over an album thumbnail MC is reporting the song count and size incorrectly . . . .
instead of reporting how many tracks are in that particular album, it is reporting how many tracks and GB are in the Parent directory (named for the Artist).

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Media Center 11.0.45 Alpha Available (Read 3806 times)