Topic: POLL: Do you use MC for music or for video or for images? (Read 15132 times)

JimH · « **on:** September 28, 2007, 03:10:55 pm »

I made a ten cent bet on this, so help me out.

robydago · « **Reply #1 on:** September 28, 2007, 03:21:45 pm »

shouldn't be like this?

- Music only
- Video only
- Images only
- Video and Music
- Images and Music
- Images and Video
- All three types

I don't get what the "All four types" are...

JimH · « **Reply #2 on:** September 28, 2007, 03:28:28 pm »

Quote from: robydago on September 28, 2007, 03:21:45 pm

I don't get what the "All four types" are...

There are three kinds of people in the world. Those who can count and those who can't.

gappie · « **Reply #3 on:** September 28, 2007, 03:29:22 pm »

Quote from: robydago on September 28, 2007, 03:21:45 pm

shouldn't be like this?

- Music only
- Video only
- Images only
- Video and Music
- Images and Music
- Images and Video
- All three types

I don't get what the "All four types" are...

thats data as fourth.

i use it for audio and images and for organizing video, but mostly not for playing back video.

glynor · « **Reply #4 on:** September 28, 2007, 03:52:26 pm »

I voted four, with the fourth being a few data files. Mostly they're NFO files included with live FLAC recordings and things like that. I do also actually use MC to organize my various Freehand, InDesign, and Illustrator design documents though, which aren't really images so...

My ranking would be this (in terms of importance not number of files, though measured in GB would probably match as well):

1. Video
2. Audio
3. Images (pretty distant)
4. Various Data Types (extremely distant)

PS. I tried really hard not to make fun of the thread title, but "Do you using"?

Me thinks English classes would help!

Marc · « **Reply #5 on:** September 28, 2007, 04:20:44 pm »

I voted "Music Only." However, besides the 19,090 music files in my library, I do have two videos; Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, and a Simpson's episode (Weekend at Burnsies).

If it were easier to rip and manage video, I'd probably use that functionality more (and need more disc space). I use Adobe Lightroom for all my images.

M

JimH · « **Reply #6 on:** September 28, 2007, 04:22:13 pm »

Quote from: Marc on September 28, 2007, 04:20:44 pm

If it were easier to rip and store video, I'd probably use that functionality more (and need more disc space).

Have you tried ripping a DVD with MC12?

steveklein · « **Reply #7 on:** September 28, 2007, 04:24:58 pm »

i just installed the program a week ago and am currently organizing my library...

But my plan is to have my PC boot and have Media Center 12 maximized.

I'll use it for:
Music
Movies
Videos
TV/PVR (would love to do this, but I think SageTV is a better program for that function. Is there a way to somehow integrate a different PVR software into MC?)
Internet (maybe?)
Other Data (maybe)

Marc · « **Reply #8 on:** September 28, 2007, 04:26:18 pm »

Quote from: JimH on September 28, 2007, 04:22:13 pm

Have you tried ripping a DVD with MC12?

Not for quite a while. However, I just threw in my copy of Zoolander (happened to be closest video at hand), and it seems to be ripping! I might have to go back and edit my previous comments...

Marc · « **Reply #9 on:** September 28, 2007, 05:01:32 pm »

50% success rate. Zoolander ripped perfectly. Glengarry Glenross loads and is recognized, but the "Rip" box is greyed out. Neither restarting MC12, reloading the disk, or clicking on "Insert a disc and click here" changes the fact that it won't rip.

Error message tells me to Insert CD - it thinks I'm trying to rip an audio CD, when part of the program recognized I've got a movie DVD in the drive. ?

jmone · « **Reply #10 on:** September 28, 2007, 05:51:00 pm »

Mmmm intersting poll as to me it highlights the different perspectives we are comming from.

For example, on my HTPC I never think about "Audio" or "Video" seperatly as I always do both. The kids even know how to get a Picture slideshow going with an Audio track, I've got the Music DVD's ripped by track (into seperate MPG files) so I can mix and match these with mu audio WMA in playlists. Even it it is an "Audio" only I still use a viz (BlackStar Blue for me). On my HTPC box I use MC in T'View and use it pretty evenly accross the areas below (but images would be last):
=1st - Music / Music Videos
=1st - Movies (including Home Videos)
=1st - TV / PVR (and agree with steveklein this is still not a competitive area for MC)
4th - Images (with and without audio)

On my main PC the use is quite different. This is the box I do the Mgt of my media on, rip disks etc. It tends to be in STD View and on this I will tend to play music in the background as I do other things (like at the moment I'm listening to 100 random songs while I type this up).

Thanks
Nathan

KingSparta · « **Reply #11 on:** September 28, 2007, 05:58:07 pm »

Quote from: JimH on September 28, 2007, 03:28:28 pm

There are three kinds of people in the world. Those who can count and those who can't.

hehehe

I was just counting

rjm · « **Reply #12 on:** September 28, 2007, 06:16:37 pm »

I voted 4.

Files by type in my MC library:
audio 100,000
image 12,000
data 8,000
video 3,000

Family photos/videos are managed with a different application:
images 32,000
video 1,500

I also do not manage my dvd collection with MC.

richard.e.morton · « **Reply #13 on:** September 28, 2007, 07:09:10 pm »

I use it for all but video simply because the overhead on video is too high with my puny little cpu.

R

steveklein · « **Reply #14 on:** September 28, 2007, 08:01:42 pm »

Quote from: jmone on September 28, 2007, 05:51:00 pm

Mmmm intersting poll as to me it highlights the different perspectives we are comming from.

For example, on my HTPC I never think about "Audio" or "Video" seperatly as I always do both. The kids even know how to get a Picture slideshow going with an Audio track, I've got the Music DVD's ripped by track (into seperate MPG files) so I can mix and match these with mu audio WMA in playlists. Even it it is an "Audio" only I still use a viz (BlackStar Blue for me). On my HTPC box I use MC in T'View and use it pretty evenly accross the areas below (but images would be last):
=1st - Music / Music Videos
=1st - Movies (including Home Videos)
=1st - TV / PVR (and agree with steveklein this is still not a competitive area for MC)
4th - Images (with and without audio)

On my main PC the use is quite different. This is the box I do the Mgt of my media on, rip disks etc. It tends to be in STD View and on this I will tend to play music in the background as I do other things (like at the moment I'm listening to 100 random songs while I type this up).

Thanks
Nathan

You said in a post that you used MC for TV/PVR yet you also agreed with me when I said it was relatively uncompetitive with no easy way to set up a good consumer electronics interface, even in theater view.

i'm interested to hear how you've combatted the situation. do you have a different program you use for tv/pvr? somehow integrate a different application like sagetv or anything into j river? or do you just grin and bear it and hope for improvements?

the reason i ask is it is a huge deal for me to bridge the gap between tv and pc and right now i'm not sure i can manage that without an effective, efficient PVR system, full with a great interface, programming data, etc.

edladner · « **Reply #15 on:** September 28, 2007, 08:09:28 pm »

How about music and tv, but images and video only in the sense of what gets synced to my ipod. Your handheld part of the program is the best of crowd by far.

jmone · « **Reply #16 on:** September 28, 2007, 08:12:41 pm »

Quote

i'm interested to hear how you've combatted the situation. do you have a different program you use for tv/pvr? somehow integrate a different application like sagetv or anything into j river? or do you just grin and bear it and hope for improvements?

I've ended up doing a couple of things:
1) Grin & Bear it...well actually it is Hope & Pray but given the current situation I've had to:
2) Upgraded my Cable TV subscription to include their PVR/EPG (we can get all our TV Channels here in Oz from one box) - its arriving in a couple of weeks at which point the WAF/KAF for PVR funtionalty will go up but it will no longer be in the "box"

Ralf (RAYM) & Richard (rpalmer68) have had sucess using Girder5, MC12 and Webscheduler but I'll let them explain how they have got it working.....for me it should be in MC12.

Nathan

datdude · « **Reply #17 on:** September 28, 2007, 11:19:55 pm »

I use it for all 3, but if it wasn't as good as it is for music, I wouldn't be using MC.

So please keep the music development features coming.

benn600 · « **Reply #18 on:** September 28, 2007, 11:20:16 pm »

I manage Music, Images, and Video. Pretty simple. On my desktop workstation, I essentially only view audio. However, I have a remote that when I push a button, will startup MC on a separate monitor (my television) and at that point, it's mainly Video.

But the pictures get thrown in there for obvious reasons. It's so easy to import them.

Higginz · « **Reply #19 on:** September 29, 2007, 12:28:02 am »

I mainly use my MC for music.
The occasional video or movie is also played through MC.

bbrip · « **Reply #20 on:** September 29, 2007, 05:20:53 am »

Only Music now. But would love to add Video under MC12 as well (using Zoomplayer today) but MC12 simply ignores my directoshow filters and settings when trying to play back mp4 files and keeps asking for Quicktime... A problem reported a while ago but not fixed yet

craft · « **Reply #21 on:** September 29, 2007, 05:26:49 am »

benn600 · « **Reply #22 on:** September 29, 2007, 09:31:35 am »

If you want to get specific...I don't usually watch video in MC when I'm using the computer. I usually use VLC because it provides an easy windowed mode. It's just more convenient for player + working. I can resize it around and between monitors to the most useful area.

The key is that in the HTPC setup, it does everything I could want as far as playing content. I still have requests (smaller text!)

Magic_Randy · « **Reply #23 on:** September 29, 2007, 10:21:23 am »

I use it for:
1. Audio
2. Video
3. Images

BartMan01 · « **Reply #24 on:** September 29, 2007, 11:17:54 am »

Used to use it for Music and Video, now I just use it for music.
With v12 and the new 'unified view', it is easier (for me) to send video to another player than to try to use MC in a multi-monitor environment. The only 'video' that I now even have in MC are podcasts.

My primary images are camera RAW files. MC doesn't (nor to I expect it to) come close to the dedicated tools for managing/processing these types of files. Currently using Lightroom for these.

modelmaker · « **Reply #25 on:** September 29, 2007, 09:53:04 pm »

Music & Images and a few videos. I expect to start converting my VHS music & concert tapes shortly.

hit_ny · « **Reply #26 on:** September 30, 2007, 10:30:10 am »

music only, videos are easier to just store on dvd and pull out when required.

Images i use other, MC's not there yet for the odd crop here & there.

Deivit · « **Reply #27 on:** October 01, 2007, 03:32:50 am »

Quote from: hit_ny on September 30, 2007, 10:30:10 am

music only, videos are easier to just store on dvd and pull out when required.

I use it for music and music video clips. I started ripping my DVD concert collection into individual video clips (one per song) about a year ago. It's nice to have a session mixing audio and video clips. Media Center works great for me in this scenario.

Thank you.

robydago · « **Reply #28 on:** October 01, 2007, 03:54:33 am »

I use it for:

1) Music and Picture tagging and playing\viewing
2) Video tagging only (still use external player)

JimH · « **Reply #29 on:** October 01, 2007, 10:34:39 am »

Quote from: Deivit on October 01, 2007, 03:32:50 am

I started ripping my DVD concert collection into individual video clips (one per song) about a year ago. It's nice to have a session mixing audio and video clips. Media Center works great for me in this scenario.

The replies were split to a new thread:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=42758.0

dcwebman · « **Reply #30 on:** October 02, 2007, 08:02:01 am »

Kind of looks like everybody uses MC for playing music (no video only votes) and as of right now the higher percentage use it only for music. Interesting.

dcwebman · « **Reply #31 on:** October 02, 2007, 08:03:23 am »

Quote from: dcwebman on October 02, 2007, 08:02:01 am

Kind of looks like everybody uses MC for playing music (no video only votes) and as of right now the higher percentage use it only for music. Interesting.

Always good to know what your customer base is.

glynor · « **Reply #32 on:** October 02, 2007, 09:18:11 am »

Quote from: dcwebman on October 02, 2007, 08:02:01 am

Kind of looks like everybody uses MC for playing music (no video only votes) and as of right now the higher percentage use it only for music. Interesting.

I would say your reading of the statistics is a little skewed... Right now, the results are:

64.6% of responding users use MC for more than just Audio (some combination of Audio, Video, Images, and Data)
35.4% of responding users use MC for Audio only

So, a large majority (well more than the approx 50% Jim predicted in the other thread) are using MC for more than just audio. In fact, what I find interesting is that even when you group the users who use MC for "Audio and Images" with the Audio-only users, the "Video Users" are still in the majority by a fairly sizable margin:

Audio-Only or Audio & Images: 45.5%
Using MC for Video (and other stuff): 54.5%

I was actually surprised by the number of users who are using MC for video (I would have guessed those results would have been exactly the other way around -- 45% video, 55% audio and images). I suspect that all the changes to video support in MC12 have made a big difference in this regard!

robydago · « **Reply #33 on:** October 02, 2007, 09:24:58 am »

With 99 voters the situation is the following:

Music: 100,00%
Video: 54,50%
Images: 50,50%

glynor · « **Reply #34 on:** October 02, 2007, 10:24:17 am »

Quote from: robydago on October 02, 2007, 09:24:58 am

Music: 100,00%
Video: 54,50%
Images: 50,50%

Ummm... Check your math. Video can't be 54% to 50% because that would equal 104%. We now have more than 99 voters, but when it was still at 99 (I still luckily had that page loaded in another tab), it was:

Music Users: 100% (as I would expect)
Video Users: 54.5% (which leaves 45.5% non-video users)
Image Users: 50.5% (which leaves 49.5% non-image users)

I would also say that, of course, this poll is going to be somewhat skewed based on the fact that it is "responding" users, not "all users". Of course, the people who frequent this forum and respond to this type of poll are going to be skewed to the power-user sect, rather than an accurate picture of the full user base. Still, the results are surprising to me!

One thing that isn't surprising to me at all is the Video-Only at 0% (and it wasn't a choice but I'd guess Images-Only would be 0% as well). I'd guess that anyone who, like me, has a large library of video files and is using MC to organize them and manage them, would quite likely be at least somewhat of a "digital collector" and would be exceedingly unlikely to have no music files at all. That, plus the fact that for pure-video-playback-only there are plenty of free players out there that could handle the task quite well, and MC excels at Music organization above-all-else... So, if you (A) have a digital music collection, and (B) you have MC and use it to organize your video collection, then why wouldn't you use MC to also manage your Music files??

prod · « **Reply #35 on:** October 02, 2007, 10:28:19 am »

Good poll, interesting. I wonder how many people purchased MC for music alone and then later realised it would do the rest as well? I'm definitely in that category, rather than MC growing with my needs, my needs grew "into" MC.

prod · « **Reply #36 on:** October 02, 2007, 10:30:52 am »

Quote from: glynor on October 02, 2007, 10:24:17 am

Ummm... Check your math.

Commas are used commonly in europe in place of periods.

glynor · « **Reply #37 on:** October 02, 2007, 10:36:19 am »

Quote from: prod on October 02, 2007, 10:30:52 am

Commas are used commonly in europe in place of periods.

Oops. My bad. I knew that, and forgot. Sorry.

(And that makes a lot more sense now... I couldn't figure out why he bothered to type the other "half" of the ratio.)

Cmagic · « **Reply #38 on:** October 02, 2007, 02:42:12 pm »

Hi,

Mainly use it for Music like in the good ol'time of mediajukebox.
I've never used any other music player since I stumbled upon MJ 6 years ago.

Marginally use it for video but I'm not into videos anyway.
And don't use it for photos althought I think MC has recently made significant progresses in this field (IPTC/XMP support)

But for me the real thing is music,

keep swinging guys !

Christian

Chan Kong-sang · « **Reply #39 on:** October 02, 2007, 07:35:57 pm »

Well, i use it for music and video only. For images i use FastStone products and for watching tv ChrisTV ('cause MC isn't supporting my tvcard...).

dcwebman · « **Reply #40 on:** October 03, 2007, 07:38:13 am »

Quote from: glynor on October 02, 2007, 09:18:11 am

So, a large majority (well more than the approx 50% Jim predicted in the other thread) are using MC for more than just audio.

I don't understand why my comments keep getting misinterpreted. I never said that I believe that MC is used ONLY for audio. I said: "I can guess that the largest percentage of MC users are using it for audio." No where in there does it say ONLY. I even use it for more than just audio. There isn't a Poll option of Images Only but I would say that right now 100% of the users are using it for audio which means I get my 10 cents.

glynor · « **Reply #41 on:** October 03, 2007, 07:59:23 am »

Quote from: dcwebman on October 03, 2007, 07:38:13 am

I don't understand why my comments keep getting misinterpreted. I never said that I believe that MC is used ONLY for audio. I said: "I can guess that the largest percentage of MC users are using it for audio." No where in there does it say ONLY. I even use it for more than just audio. There isn't a Poll option of Images Only but I would say that right now 100% of the users are using it for audio which means I get my 10 cents.

Just to explain.... In the comment you quoted, I wasn't reacting to your initial comments in the other thread, I was reacting to (as I quoted), this:

Quote from: dcwebman on October 02, 2007, 08:02:01 am

and as of right now the higher percentage use it only for music.

That statement simply wasn't true, and certainly did include the word "only". It was clearly a simple mis-reading of the results, but an important one. The higher percentage of users (by far) use it for more than just music. As I explained, the higher percentage of responding users reported using MC for Video (and other stuff).

As I said, I'm only explaining why I said that you were skewing the results. I agree wholeheartedly that most (I would say all, actually) users of MC probably use it for music. For me, that's not my "primary" use (video is) but it is certainly nearly equally important.

dcwebman · « **Reply #42 on:** October 03, 2007, 12:49:37 pm »

Quote from: glynor on October 03, 2007, 07:59:23 am

Just to explain.... In the comment you quoted, I wasn't reacting to your initial comments in the other thread, I was reacting to ...(the above post)

Sorry, my misinterpretation.

MP101User · « **Reply #43 on:** October 04, 2007, 08:07:27 am »

I voted Video and Music.

If anybody could help me (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=42749.0) then I'd increase my vote to Video and Images and Music!

M.

tunetyme · « **Reply #44 on:** October 04, 2007, 08:38:43 am »

Music, Music, Music, Music. Now I've voted for all four.

I chose MC for the music capability and the apparent commitment to stay on the leading edge. The database features are great. I couldn't find anything else that could compare with MC. As for video, it requires too many resource to be practical at this time. As for images, I've been using Adobe for some time and do not see any reason to change.

Noman · « **Reply #45 on:** October 04, 2007, 08:59:59 am »

For music MC is almost perfect.

I would love to use it for my images but I haven't found a good way to organize them.
(I use Photools iMatch for images but would like to integrate them to MC)

robydago · « **Reply #46 on:** October 04, 2007, 09:14:51 am »

Quote from: tunetyme on October 04, 2007, 08:38:43 am

As for images, I've been using Adobe for some time and do not see any reason to change.

Just out of curiosity, with Adobe can you tag files using user defined fields or create smart playlists as you can do with MC? Because that's what I use a media manager sw like MC for; I know that many other programs have better editing capabilities than MC, but most of the time I view (and mainly I use smart playlists based on my tags) my pictures rather than editing them.

glynor · « **Reply #47 on:** October 04, 2007, 09:45:08 am »

Quote from: robydago on October 04, 2007, 09:14:51 am

Just out of curiosity, with Adobe can you...

Sorry. Personal pet peeve. Adobe is a software company, not a product. Adobe makes a TON of different programs, each of which is quite different. You would not use Adobe On Location or Adobe In Design to manage or edit photos.

What Adobe application are you guys discussing? There are even quite a few that handle image editing and management...

1. Photoshop
2. Lightroom
3. Photoshop Elements
4. Bridge
5. Photo Album

robydago · « **Reply #48 on:** October 04, 2007, 09:56:51 am »

Quote from: glynor on October 04, 2007, 09:45:08 am

What Adobe application are you guys discussing?

The one tunetyme is using...

Ok, i'll rephrase my phrase: is there any Adobe apps with tagging\smartlists capabilites comparable to MC?

glynor · « **Reply #49 on:** October 04, 2007, 09:59:53 am »

Quote from: robydago on October 04, 2007, 09:56:51 am

The one tunetyme is using...
Ok, i'll rephrase my phrase: is there any Adobe apps with tagging\smartlists capabilites comparable to MC?

Comparible? Well, no...

Do they have any applications which allow tagging and organization? Certainly. I actually like both Bridge and Lightroom quite a bit. Lightroom has quickly become my go-to application for photo-manipulation, selection, and printing. For organization? MC still has it beat by quite a formidable margin, once you get a workflow set up in MC.

Bridge is a nice browser, which I use a lot on my Macs, but MC beats it for most serious heavy-lifting organizing tasks.

INTERACT FORUM

Poll

Which media types do you use MC with?

Author Topic: POLL: Do you use MC for music or for video or for images? (Read 15132 times)

craft