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[Robert Taylor]

If you want to catalog your DVD collection, try this:

http://www.intervocative.com/dvdpro/Info.aspx

I use it to keep track of my 370 DVD collection.

I hope JRiver DOESN'T  try to make Media Center a cataloging tool AS WELL! I think it already tries to do too much (document management etc.) and it's stopped being a reliable enjoyable tool for managing music collections in its latest incarnations (V11).

I wonder what ever happened to the concept of keeping a purely music oriented version of Media Center available for people who don't want "The Microsoft Office of Media Players".

-- Rant Completed in around 28 seconds --

[JimH]

it's stopped being a reliable enjoyable tool for managing music collections in its latest incarnations (V11).

Lunch,
Please be specific about what is unreliable.

Jim

[Jaguu]

it is true, MC11 is quite unstable, it crashes at regular intervals for no appearant reason and it is very difficult to determine why. One reason I could detect the last few hours has been reported to the 11.0.117 thread!

[JimH]

it is true, MC11 is quite unstable, it crashes at regular intervals for no appearant reason and it is very difficult to determine why. One reason I could detect the last few hours has been reported to the 11.0.117 thread!

Have you taken a careful look at other possibilities?

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=24031;start=0

[Robert Taylor]

Jim,

I've been using MC10 for a good time now, and I'm sticking with it because every time I've tried a new build of 11, there have been some sorta problem. It's hard to be specific, because the problems vary so much.

It seems to be taking ages to become a stable product (much longer than 10 did, I think) , and I believe it's because of instead of making core functions reliable and stable, you guys seem to keep adding features and functions, a lot of which are unimportant to me (yes I know I'm not your only customer).

It just bugs me when I see people asking for even more features which I believe are further away from what the original vision for product was (sorry, maybe it was my vision for the product   ), and I had to vent...

I still love the product, and there's nothing that can manage my music collection as well. I'll just have to steer clear of 11 for a while, as I prefer my music system to be stable rather than containing multitudes of esoteric features.

Like I said, just had to rant...

[JimH]

Lunch and Jaguu,
What software do you have in common?  Virus checker, pop-up stopper, etc.  Edit -- any third party plug-ins?

[Robert Taylor]

I use Norton AV 2004.

I have a Linux based firewall running on a seperate machine (SmoothWall).

I have SP2 installed on WinXP.

I don't use pop-up blockers.

I run Ad-Aware to periodically scan / clear spyware etc.

[JimH]

Any third party plug-ins?

[Robert Taylor]

I used to use the Nomad handheld plugin, but that was it...

Nothing else...

[Jaguu]

Well, I do not mind that J River adds new features - I think so far they have done a very good job with MC11, although some features still seem under construction.

Just to mention one of the many things that happen:

About an hour ago I tested the buggy Library Server (getLibrary problem) that John had fixed in version 11.0.118. So I connected my notebook with my main pc and the connection worked flawlessly again. Then I did nothing on the notebook and MC11 was just being around idle as I worked on my main pc.
Then all of a sudden MC11 on the notebook crashed (displaying the Microsoft error screen). Nothing happened on MC11 on the main pc.

I restarted MC11 on the notebook and connected again. While I was working on something else, MC11 on the main PC (which was iconized) and did nothing suddenly crashed (displaying the Microsoft error screen).

So these are the things that happen very frequently.

On the other hand I think one crash was fixed today: When the thumbnails were in the process of being created on the content pane and I tried to delete some media library entry, then MC11 crashed. I have seen such a fix in 11.0.118, but haven't tested yet.

My main applications in the background are Zone Alarm Pro, a German Antivirus app called "Antivir Guard Personal Edition", QuickTime, Webshots, Nvidia Desktop Manager, VirtualDaemon Manager,  Copernic DesktopSearch, Google Desktop Search - the last 3 having been added only recently. MC11 used to crash long before those 3 apps were being installed.

My main apps on the desktops are most of the time Office2003, Outlook2003, IE6 and MC11. I run AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy from time to time (once a month or so).
I run Diskkeeper from Executive Software quite often.

[JimH]

Then all of a sudden MC11 on the notebook crashed (displaying the Microsoft error screen). Nothing happened on MC11 on the main pc.

I restarted MC11 on the notebook and connected again. While I was working on something else, MC11 on the main PC (which was iconized) and did nothing suddenly crashed (displaying the Microsoft error screen).

Is the connection wireless?

[Jaguu]

Yes, I have a Zyxel Prestige 600 Series wireless ADSL router. XP Pro PC is connected to W2K Pro PC through GigaEthernet each one independently through a GigaSwitch Zyxel GS105 (No Microsoft Internet Connection sharing enabled). The notebook is making connection through 802.11b/g Wirelesss.
The router supports only 802.11b.

[JimH]

OK.  We think there are some Microsoft networking "issues" with wireless that may affect our software.

Try locking everything to 802.11b.

Check the web sites for the manufacturers.

If you think I'm smoking my socks, take a look at Lunchmeatvoom's suggestion on "A Network Card Kills Media Server" topic here:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=24031

I'm not trying to rule out a problem on our side, but at this point, I don't think MC11 is as unstable as your experience would suggest.

[Jaguu]

JimH,

Surprisingly today I have spent about 6 hours correcting a few thousand image tags without a single crash!

[Jaguu]

JimH,

just had a crash that I could clearly identify:

MC11 was open and about 20 image tracks were selected when I brought up notepad to the front and wanted to do a search operation inside notepad. At that moment the Microsoft error screen appeared and MC11 crashed.

I noticed this behaviour of MC11 before with interaction with IE6. Was doing something on MC11 when I brought IE6 to the front and clicked on some link. At that moment MC11 crashed.

One reason for crashing in those circumstances  could be that some pending operation in MC11 is  still on (like selected tracks) and you switch to another application. MC11 goes in the background, but it is still doing something!

As I am doing this switching quite often, this could be a reason for all those crashings happening. I also noticed that when working in MC11 all the time without interruption, crashes rarely happen.

Hope this might help figuring out the problem!

[Matt]

JimH,

just had a crash that I could clearly identify:

MC11 was open and about 20 image tracks were selected when I brought up notepad to the front and wanted to do a search operation inside notepad. At that moment the Microsoft error screen appeared and MC11 crashed.

I noticed this behaviour of MC11 before with interaction with IE6. Was doing something on MC11 when I brought IE6 to the front and clicked on some link. At that moment MC11 crashed.

One reason for crashing in those circumstances  could be that some pending operation in MC11 is  still on (like selected tracks) and you switch to another application. MC11 goes in the background, but it is still doing something!

As I am doing this switching quite often, this could be a reason for all those crashings happening. I also noticed that when working in MC11 all the time without interruption, crashes rarely happen.

Hope this might help figuring out the problem!

What were you viewing?  Tile view, thumb view, etc?

Thanks.

[Jaguu]

No, simple detail view. I had made some changes to column view without saving that view!

[Tolga]

I have very positive experience in cataloging DVD's with MC. I actually maintain a library of cover images, with added custom fields about the movies, combined with beatiful MC browser. I am not sure how well MC supports cataloging actual DVD's though. It would be nice to insert the DVD, get the thumbnail, even mark some  scenes, and catalog them.

Tolga