Ok, I installed MC on the weekend, and I thought I'd post my results here for anyone who is wondering.
I'm actually really impressed, the thumbnail view blew me away with its cleverness and after 2 days I'd already hate to be without it!
I didn't uninstall MJ but I have created new libraries for MC.
My videos are all of varying sizes, lengths and qualities and from a variety of sources. All are playable in at least one application although I haven't found an app yet that will play all of them. Media Player Classic and ALShow seem to come closest, but MC does pretty well.
MC imported 3887/3949 total video clips (98.4%), the breakdown being:
.ASF: 76/76 (100%)
.AVI: 345/360 (95.8%)
.MOV: 37/37 (100%)
.MPG: 2536/2548 (99.5%)
.WMV: 892/892 (100%)
.RM: 0/35 (0%)
.QT: 1/1 (100%)
Of all files imported, 100 movies (2.6%) failed to display thumbnails or play properly and were removed manually:
.AVI 47/345 (13.6%)
.MOV 2/37 (5.4%)
.MPG 25/2536 (1.0%)
.WMV 26/892 (2.9%)
(All of these files were checked in Media Player Classic and seemed fine).
Of the files that failed to be imported, the following were actually identified by MC as failed to import:
.AVI 15/15 (100%)
.MPG 5/12 (41.7%)
.RM 0/35 (0%)
Which leaves the following files unidentified and 'missing in action':
.MPG 7/2548 (0.3%)
.RM 35/35 (100%)
I have Real Alternative installed, but apparently MC is unable to recognise or use its codecs. I refuse to install Real's poxware so this is a bit disappointing.
To put this another way, ignoring the RM files for now, MC was able to find, import and then subsequently successfully play the following:
Total: 3658/3914 (92.6%)
.ASF 75/76 (98.7%)
.AVI 295/360 (81.9%)
.MOV 34/37 (91.9%)
.MPG 2388/2548 (93.7%)
.WMV 865/892 (97.0%)
.QT 1/1 (100%)
This is pretty good IMO, given that many of these files are not in perfect order, although it's a bit frustrating to know that other apps can succeed where MC has failed. Mildly annoying also is the fact that had I not done this analysis, I wouldn't know that 7 mystery MPG files are sitting somewhere in my video collection, unloved and unplayed. Even so, there is no easy to way for me to find them - short of manually comparing folder contents between windows and MC, and narrowing down the field folder-by-folder, as MC refuses to even acknowledge they exist.
On the whole though I'm actually really happy with it, it's by far the best application I've found for managing a large video collection and I don't mind weeding out a few 'suspect' files if it can be done easily (the lack of a thumbnail being a pretty good guide) in order to create reliable playlists. I realise its probably a bit soon for me to offer a 'review' but these are my initial thoughts:
PositivesAfter 2 days it's already indispensable
Easy to use, especially after using Media Jukebox or iTunes
Video thumbnail view is incredible, and amazingly useful - especially for music videos and short clips. Doesn't just use first frame - usually skips opening seconds.
Plays most clips, and easy to 'weed out' problem files to create a reliable library (if you can see a thumbnail, it will play)
All the field editing and playlist options that you love from MJ, made even better
Easy to spot duplicates even if different file size / date / name etc
Bugs / annoyances (please let me know if there's a solution to any of these):
Unable to play Real Media (without first installing the festering pox that is Real Player)
Struggles with some video files that other apps can play
Playback does not disable Windows monitor power control
Cannot seem to 'maximise' video window in external monitor (window must be resized manually, leaving title bar visible at all times)
Cannot delete or perform advanced actions on files from 'playing now' or playlist view (this annoyed me a bit with MJ too - it is easy to use playlists to narrow down groups of files to 'work' with (ie, remove duplicates etc), but you have to go back to the full library view and try to find the files in question to actually perform any actions or delete them)
Episodes of a TV series generally have identical 'opening credits' thumbnails.
Anyway, I hope this data and my thoughts prove useful to anyone else wondering whether MC is worth downloading - it is