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[Two Wire]

 Because I use an external media player for my video files I have them all set up as data files (Media Type = Data). I restored my MC 12 library to MC 13 and all is well in Standard View. However, the only way I can get these files to appear in Theater View is to change them to video files (Media Type = Video).

Matt, is this ability going to be a part of the refinements to come, a bug, or am I doing something wrong? If it is the latter then perhaps a forum member can help me out.

[jmone]

This has been noted as an issue with the new Theater View schemes (I take it you "Video" files are ISO) where you can tag them as DATA and but they don't show up in the Theater View Video Veiw (but do in STD View) OR change then to "Video" but then they will not launch.  While JR works out what to do with these files I've created a Playlist for my ISO's so I can at least see them AND launch them from TheaterView - the downside is they are listed under "Playlists" not "Video"
Thanks
Nathan

[Two Wire]

Thanks, Nathan for the response. It appears this is an issue with MC 13. But, for the record (for JRiver's benefit), my files are ifo,vob, mpg, and avi.

[bil1010105]

Yep, same issue here with MC13 (not 12). All 'normal' video files don't show up in Theatre View even when you specify the media type as 'Data' in the 'Select items to include' dialog.

This would be a showstopper for any upgrade for me.

[Matt]

I'm not sure videos should not be set to a media type of data.  That's confusing, at least to me.  If external playback is desired, it seems better to allow independent configuration of this.

However, could you help us better understand what types of files this is desired for, and why you're using an external player for them?

Thanks.

[Two Wire]

I'm not sure videos should not be set to a media type of data.  That's confusing, at least to me.  If external playback is desired, it seems better to allow independent configuration of this.

You are right. External configuration would be a more sensible way to do this, but MC 12 did not offer this option. Media Type = Data was the only way I could use an external player. A disavantage of doing this, which to my knowledge, was never posted, was that I had to switch the file back to Media Type = Video to add cover art. Once this was done I reverted back to Media Type = Data.

However, could you help us better understand what types of files this is desired for, and why you're using an external player for them?

I use an external player (WinDVD) because I like what it does. It just plain works right out of the box. I like the way it fast fowards, reverses, takes snapshots, video controls that always work, etc. I seem to always have trouble using MC's video playback, finding the right filters, pauses, stutters, video controls often greyed out. However, I have not found another program that offeres the organization and database potential of MC. So I combine the two programs for a perfect solution. I do, however, use MC exclusively for organizing and playing back my audio library

I have seen big improvemts to video playback since MC 11 and I have no doubt the JRiver team will perfect this. But, approaching 70 years of age I want to spend more time time enjoying my old B/W movies and home videos and less time fiddlen' around.

[bil1010105]

I'm not sure videos should not be set to a media type of data.  That's confusing, at least to me.  If external playback is desired, it seems better to allow independent configuration of this.

I agree - that would be ideal. It's just one of the many quirks in MC12 that we have to get around... an option to automatically play videos with an external player would be far better. It would also save all the faffing about with changing media types to assign cover art etc.

However, could you help us better understand what types of files this is desired for, and why you're using an external player for them?

AVI, MPG, MKV. Or basically anything that is identified as "video" in MC. I use BSPlayer for all my video files. The reason I use this is because it has a configurable 'network buffer' feature which prevents delays & skipping when playing over my slow network connection (Powerline ethernet, which is quite slow for media).

[jmone]

Couple of comments:
1) In MC13 you can now add Coverart to "Data" files without setting to Video First.
2) I dislike that the "two" views areas behave differently as I think they should behave consistantly - eg. When I add "DATA" to the "Media Type", in the STDView ViewScheme I see my ISO's integrated with my Video files and they both play just fine (the Video Files internally and the "DATA" files externally) YET if I do the same with the TheaterView ViewScheme the "DATA" "MEDIA TYPE" is just ignored.
3) The solution to me (as alluded to my Matt) is to allow files to be tagged both as to what View they should appear in VIDEO, AUDIO, IMAGE, DATA etc and also how to play the files, eg Internal or External.  This allows for you to have these files appear where they should in the Library AND play accordingly, eg:
   - ISO:  As these are disk images they need to be mounted by a virtual drive at which point the OS will determine it it is a Video, Audio or Data disk and it will then play in what ever program you have set as the default
   - Files:  As the OP stated there may be some file types that you want to keep in your library but play in another prog

Thanks
Nathan

[bil1010105]

Couple of comments:
1) In MC13 you can now add Coverart to "Data" files without setting to Video First.

That's fabulous - saves one step for me anyway. I normally use a screen grab from the movie as cover art, so when I add something to the library, I play things temporarily in the internal MC player (by setting the file type to video) and get to a good point, pause it, right click and 'Use screen grab as thumbnail'. I can do that in BSPlayer, but its a bit more of an effort. Nothing JR can do about that though. 

2) I dislike that the "two" views areas behave differently as I think they should behave consistantly - eg. When I add "DATA" to the "Media Type", in the STDView ViewScheme I see my ISO's integrated with my Video files and they both play just fine (the Video Files internally and the "DATA" files externally) YET if I do the same with the TheaterView ViewScheme the "DATA" "MEDIA TYPE" is just ignored.

Me too. Stuff like that makes me wonder what else it's controlling for me behind the scenes that I don't know about... makes me nervous. If I set up a view with sorting etc, I want that view to be ubiquitous - no matter how I choose to display that view in the graphical sense.

3) The solution to me (as alluded to my Matt) is to allow files to be tagged both as to what View they should appear in VIDEO, AUDIO, IMAGE, DATA etc and also how to play the files, eg Internal or External.  This allows for you to have these files appear where they should in the Library AND play accordingly, eg:
   - ISO:  As these are disk images they need to be mounted by a virtual drive at which point the OS will determine it it is a Video, Audio or Data disk and it will then play in what ever program you have set as the default
   - Files:  As the OP stated there may be some file types that you want to keep in your library but play in another prog

Good suggestions.

I think any file should be configurable (ISO, AVI, whatever) as to where it is played... why not let the operating system handle that part of it? I love the organisational features of MC. I love that I can have all my videos & music catagorised & tagged in the same library. But I just can't get on with the internal video player - I've tried, and decided that I don't want to have a degree in post video production to understand all the nuances of the various filters etc to get the right results (just want the things to play without skipping) - so I use BSPlayer Pro for everything and with MC12 it works well. Not great, but well enough.

One (simple?) way of achieving this would be a tag to say 'Use default player for file type' on the file. BSPlayer is set up on my system as the default player for certain types of files - in MC12 that tag was setting the media type to 'Data', which is confusing as Matt says. Maybe a special tag for that purpose would be better and can catch whatever you want to add to the library.

Edit: an additional feature to this which would be very useful for assigning cover art would be to have two 'Play' options when you right click on a file. One to play in the internal player, and another (which can be set as default as per file type / file) to play in the "default" player. That way, you don't have to change tags at all once you've set up a file as being played externally, and I can still use my "assign cover art" trick above.