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[glynor]

I've been thinking about this for a little while... It was mentioned by someone else in another thread recently, but this thread made me think of it again...

I don't currently have MC associated with anything in Windows Explorer.  Obviously it is my media application of choice, but the reason I don't is because if I open a file from Exporer, I typically want a much more lightweight client.  Basically just a "viewer".  When I open MC, it's for playing media "for real" (watching a show, listening to music, or whatever).

But when I want to just quickly look at a picture, or listen to that voicemail message WAV file (I have Vonage and they email your voicemails to you), or quickly check through that movie file I just encoded...  I just want a quick and dirty viewer app, which loads quickly, can have multiple instances open easily, and has a very simple UI.  So, I use Media Player Classic for most media files, and IrfanView for pictures.  This works but I don't like how none of my controls work as nicely as MC, and the hotkeys are all different, and I have to use a few different apps for different media types.

What I'd really like is a lightweight MC "Viewer" application, which worked (play controls, hotkeys, etc) just like MC, but was more of a Viewer Only standalone application.  Then, you could include some options right in the Viewer to import the files into your Library, launch the file in "full" MC, and maybe do some very simple tagging or edit operations (rotate pictures, add artist/album/genre/track # tags to music, etc).  I'm sure there are lots of other ways this viewer could integrate into the "full" MC too that I'm not thinking of (maybe replace the Mini View with it or something?)...

I'm sure they could probably even re-use much of the code in the display portion of MC to do it.

I'm not thinking so much of something that they would "sell" or offer separately from MC, but maybe just a separate "utility" program that you get along with MC.  In fact, it could be one of the value-added features of the "full" MC rather than the free MJ.

What do other people think?  Is this something that would be useful if JRiver did it?

[Magic_Randy]

Interesting idea.  I used to have MC set as the default for everything, but as you mentioned, it takes too long to load up when you click on a file.  So now I have it as a default for music only.  If there was a viewer, I would use  it.  If this could be done mostly through packaging of existing code, it could work. 

[Matt]

We've done a lot of work to make Media Center play fast when launched as a viewer.  It takes about one second from a cold start on the machine I'm on now from double-clicking a JPEG to seeing it fullscreen.

You might post the first few hundred lines of a log here if your mileage varies too much.

[Magic_Randy]

We've done a lot of work to make Media Center play fast when launched as a viewer.  It takes about one second from a cold start on the machine I'm on now from double-clicking a JPEG to seeing it fullscreen.

You might post the first few hundred lines of a log here if your mileage varies too much.

Matt, part of the delay for me may be the PC itself.  I'll be upgrading soon which may solve everything.  If the new one is not fast, I'll post a log.

[dcwebman]

I have to agree with glynor. I often use WMP or IrfanView to do that quick view. One reason is the longer load time of MC. But even if MC is running I might be listening to music and don't want to interrupt my music listening to view an image. When wanting to view a quick video, I don't want to mess up my playing now list as I'd rather hit Pause and then view that video separately. I have a lot of file types associated with MC but probably should change that because I'm always having to do an Open With for these other apps for those quick views.

[benn600]

We've done a lot of work to make Media Center play fast when launched as a viewer.  It takes about one second from a cold start on the machine I'm on now from double-clicking a JPEG to seeing it fullscreen.

You might post the first few hundred lines of a log here if your mileage varies too much.

I have solved it.  The problem is that you are usually listening to music with MC so you don't want to interfere with it!  I use VLC almost exclusively when watching DVD movies because I will often pause my song in MC and then I want to resume right back where I left off when I'm done.  I also have nothing assigned to MC.  VLC gets every association I can give it.

A mini player with multiple instances would be really neat.

[hit_ny]

So long as you don't have an ongoing to-listen queue in playing now

Otherwise that queue will get replaced by what was clicked on. This is the expected behaviour and i can't see a way around it. In this case having a light 3rd party viewer for any media is still quite useful.

[benn600]

But it's obvious that MC can handle what I want--different zones, playlists, etc.  VLC just works so nicely and I'm accustomed to using it.

[RacheRock]

This is a request which I had previously brought up ...

And I'd like to add another few, like a quick view window, so that if an image file is associated with Media Center and I double-click it from Explorer, it can open up in a Media Centre Quick Viewer, without opening the whole Media Center program.

... takin from the original post ... http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=43251.0

An example of another viewer which has developed "quick viewers" so that a person can associate all the files with it, but without having to open the whole program is the new Acdsee.

If I JUST want to view one image file or one audio file, it is too much hassle to do it with MC. It takes time to open, then close the display viewer, ... and then STILL having to close the whole MC again.

Acdsee now has an independent "quick viewer" that opens alone, has a few navigation tools, and works very quick.
But I'd like to JUST use MC and not any other viewer.

I think a very good example of what it could be is what cosmicfx but on his post with this example image
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=43534.0

[Doof]

If I JUST want to view one image file or one audio file, it is too much hassle to do it with MC. It takes time to open, then close the display viewer, ... and then STILL having to close the whole MC again.

I finally got one of my friends to try out MC and this was the only thing he complained about. He didn't understand why clicking the close button in Display View didn't close the program. Neither do I for that matter. There's a big Close Display button right there. Display View isn't a seperately spawned window of MC, so clicking the close button should close the app, not just the window. This does make using MC as an image viewer kind of a pain, no matter how quickly MC starts up.

[marko]

Doof, I know where you're coming from, but we'd need more. I reckon the majority of the time I hit that close display button, I don't want the app to close, just the display, probably because most of the time, the app comes before the display view

acdsee gets around this by closing the viewer if the close button is clicked, but switches to the organiser, focused on the last viewed image, if you double click on the image that is open in the viewer...

[cosmicfx]

Hi Marko,

Acdsee has in it's new edition a separate quick viewer.
This is taken from "what's new in acdsee"

View photos faster: 
See your photos instantly on screen with the Quick View mode. Whether opening an image attachment to an e-mail, or double-clicking on a JPEG from Windows Explorer, the Quick View mode is a fast, sleek, and efficient addition to ACDSee’ powerful viewing tools. Pared down to include the viewing and browsing essentials, it displays your photos with greater speed than ever before

Can't MC have a separate viewer that work for just opening images fast from an external source?
Or, if it is really neccessary to open the whole MC, then what about 2 separate close buttons , one to close just the viewer, and one to close the entire rpogram from the fullscreen disply.

[AoXoMoXoA]

How about a different approach:

A separate PLAYER, so you can have your image views or video previews without mesing up your Playing Now queue PLUS perhaps then tagging and updates will not interfere with playback either?  Unless perhaps two instances of MC can be run together.

I am also one who does not associate any files with MC due to the above cited reasons. MC does open fairly uickly, unless you have a large library and/or have it set to open to the last view and it was one which requires sorting/drilling into the tree.

[Doof]

Doof, I know where you're coming from, but we'd need more. I reckon the majority of the time I hit that close display button, I don't want the app to close, just the display, probably because most of the time, the app comes before the display view

acdsee gets around this by closing the viewer if the close button is clicked, but switches to the organiser, focused on the last viewed image, if you double click on the image that is open in the viewer...

I think you're misunderstanding me (unless I'm misunderstanding you). I'm not suggesting that the behavior of the Close Display button change. I'm saying that the window's close button (the X in the top right) should close the app instead of exiting to Standard/Theater View as it does now. The result is that when you double click an image file from Explorer, MC's Display View opens and you can see the image. You then close the window and instead of finding yourself back in Explorer, which, IMO, is the expected behavior, you now find yourself in MC.

If Display View were a seperate window spawned by MC, then it would make sense for it to behave as it does now. But Display View isn't a seperate window. It's still just MC. So why does the X button exit to Standard/Theater View when the Close Display button that's right there below it already does this? Why do we need two buttons within a few pixels of each other that do the exact same thing? The X should quit MC. The Close Display button can exit back to Standard/Theater View like it does now.

I think that if MC really does open up as quickly as Matt claims (I say claims because I haven't been able to test it - my PC has been down for a few days now and I'm stuck on a work-provided Macbook ), and if Display View would close the way every other program in the world does, then we don't really need a seperate viewer. But even if MC does open within a second. the way that Display View behaves currently makes using it more of a hassle than it needs to be.

[marko]

ah, 'twas me misunderstanding you when you said "clicking the close button", I thought you were talking about MC's own 'close display' rather than the window control button. You are crystal clear now and making perfect sense, I agree with you too.

cosmicfx,
does the reality match the claims they make in the acdsee hype? I want to leave acdsee behind so haven't been keeping up to date with it, though it's still a well used MC send to, erm, shortcut for me, despite consecutive versions becoming more and more bloated. I think I stopped at version 8.

-marko

[cosmicfx]

cosmicfx,
does the reality match the claims they make in the acdsee hype? I want to leave acdsee behind so haven't been keeping up to date with it, though it's still a well used MC send to, erm, shortcut for me, despite consecutive versions becoming more and more bloated. I think I stopped at version 8.

Hi again Marko

I agree, the last few versions of acdsee have been a serious disappointment.

I find MC to be the best all round (audio,image,video) organizer and obviously my favourite, and that's precisely why I am here in this forum.

However, there will always now and then be certain features in other products which are newer and sometimes work better than at present, and which users would like to hopefully see in such a wonderful program as MC, ... and in this case is the "quick viewer" of the new acdsee of which I had mentioned.

I will often try out trial of new version of many software to find interesting new features.  The mention of acdsee's new quick viewer is only used as an example to explain of a new requested feature.

No comparison is meant, and once again MC is the best for me.

I never expect MC to try and be as good as any other product ( e.g. acdsee ) , I only expect and know it will be better. 

[Matt]

I'm saying that the window's close button (the X in the top right) should close the app instead of exiting to Standard/Theater View as it does now.

We had it that way for a while, and I watched over the shoulder of several users get flustered.  I don't think it's the right thing to do most of the time.

However, if the player was just launched (so the last UI mode was "not running" instead of Standard View) perhaps it should be a special case.

[Doof]

However, if the player was just launched (so the last UI mode was "not running" instead of Standard View) perhaps it should be a special case.

I could go along with that. I'm a firm believer in sticking to standards. It may take some users longer to learn those standards, but they will be better served in the long run. In this case, I can see where the confusion comes in. Display View feels like a seperate window spawned off of MC (when you've actually switched to it from Standard or Theater View), so you'd expect to see MC when you close it. Unfortunately that same behavior gets in the way when you're trying to just view a file from Explorer or an attachment.

And if the minimize button were added in, like what's being discussed in another thread, it would help even more because you could double click an image, view it, minimize Display View, double click another one, etc. and save yourself the time it takes for MC to start up.

[glynor]

Can't MC have a separate viewer that work for just opening images fast from an external source?

That is precisely what I was asking for... But not just for images.  The same external viewer application that can be used for Images, Audio, and Video.  Basically, anything MC can play should be able to be played in the exact same way in this separate viewer.  However it would:

1. Let you easily have multiple instances open simultaneously.
2. Have separate "jump on play" type options (so you can choose fullscreen vs. a smaller playing now like display).
3. Have nothing to do with the full-MC Playing Now playlist.  Maintain it's own Playing Now playlist on a per-instance basis.
4. Not have any file browsing capabilities other than File --> Open File.  It should allow you to open playlist files (any of those that regular MC can play).  It would also be nice to have the option in regular MC to right-click (on any file object or playlist type object) and choose Send to --> Lightweight MC.
5. Have a better name than Lightweight MC.

Matt is right.  MC does "launch" quickly.  However, it is still not lightweight.  Once it is open, it has to do a lot of housekeeping.  If I want to open the app, look at a picture or listen to a 5 second wav file (as my voicemails often are) or scan through a movie quickly, then close it and keep looking through Windows Explorer or my email or whatever... It isn't quick in this sense.  Once I open MC, my system is slower to respond, at least for the first 40-60 seconds MC is open.  After that it's fine of course, but I'm talking about having 3-8 windows open easily (by double clicking in Windows Explorer) and closing them just as easily.

Basically, a MPC that handles images and which works like (and as well as) MC's display view/playing now.