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[Osho]

Hi

I posted this query in MC12 forum and I am also posting it here just in case this capability is not available in MC12 but is available in MC13.

If I want to play a bunch of files, I select them all in a Windows Explorer window and then drag and drop them to MC12's Playing Now window. I see a "Analyzing Files..." dialog - which can take a while. Is it possible to not analyze the files but just start playing them (like Windows Media Player) does.

If I select "Replace Play" in Windows Explorer for these files, I do not see the "Analyzing Files..." dialog but I do see a substantial lag before the files start playing. I would like them to start playing isntantaneously (like Windows Media Player).

Thanks,
Osho

[JimH]

Can't you turn audio analysis off in MC?

[darichman]

Osho, are the files already imported in MC?

It might not actually be an actual "audio analysis" issue, because MC says "analysing files" when it is importing them too. Check the options menu (general) for "automatically import files when played"

If you disable that, does it make a difference?

[Osho]

JimH, even if I turn the audio analysis off (I see it is available under Auto Improt setting), MC displays "Analyzing" box and takes time before starting to play media files. This is pretty OK for audio files but sometimes I play video files those are in several hundered MB and the analysis could take upto 30 seconds or more. This is particularly long if I play several big video files from a Windows Explorer folder.

darichman - the files are not already imported in MC.

In the Tools -> Options -> General,

- automatically import files when played is not checked. This is as I intended as I do not want to import these files into library permanently. I just want to play these files. This does not seem to make difference.
- Start playing when files added to Playing Now is checked. However, this does not work when I drag and drop files from Windows Explorer to Playing Now window of MC13. I have to explicitly double-click on an entry in the Playing Now to start playing the media files. This appears to be a bug.

Thanks,
Osho

[Osho]

I just did an experiment.

• In a Windows Explorer window, select 10 video files - each about 500MB. These files are not part of the library.
• Right click on these files and select Media Center -> Replace Play. Or, alternatively, drag and drop these files to MC13 playing now.
• Mc13 takes about 2 minutes to start playing these files. That's too slow.
• If I right click on these 10 selected files, and select to play them in the Windows Media Player - it takes only 2 seconds. That's an order of magnitude faster.

I would like to use MC13 as the default file player for media files that is not part of the library. But, because of this slow start-up - it is impossible to do so.

Thanks,
Osho

[darichman]

I must admit, much of what I drag into MC from explorer is already in MC anyway, so I don't notice the "analysing" part...

This might be a bit of a problem. What does the analysis do? I can understand a delay for import, but for just playback?

[mlagase]

Would you happen to have "Automatically import files when played" option selected under General? Maybe that could be what is causing this to occur.

[Alex B]

Hi

I posted this query in MC12 forum and I am also posting it here just in case this capability is not available in MC12 but is available in MC13.

If I want to play a bunch of files, I select them all in a Windows Explorer window and then drag and drop them to MC12's Playing Now window. I see a "Analyzing Files..." dialog - which can take a while. Is it possible to not analyze the files but just start playing them (like Windows Media Player) does.

If I select "Replace Play" in Windows Explorer for these files, I do not see the "Analyzing Files..." dialog but I do see a substantial lag before the files start playing. I would like them to start playing isntantaneously (like Windows Media Player).

I posted the following reply on the MC12 board before seeing this thread here.

Are you speaking about audio or video files or maybe both?

How many files does your typical "bunch of files" contain and what is the file format? How long does the initial analysis take?

When you add unimported files to Playing Now MC reads the file format and tags. Depending on the encoding format and disk access speed this can take some time, but it should be relatively fast when you add internally supported audio files. Some file formats that are decoded through DirectShow, like video formats, can be slower to check.

The separate replay gain analysis process of audio files is a lot slower because it needs to decode the entire files. (Maybe JRiver could revise the used wording. Something like "Checking file format and tags..." would be better than "Analyzing files...".)

[Alex B]

I just did an experiment.

• In a Windows Explorer window, select 10 video files - each about 500MB. These files are not part of the library.
• Right click on these files and select Media Center -> Replace Play. Or, alternatively, drag and drop these files to MC13 playing now.
• Mc13 takes about 2 minutes to start playing these files. That's too slow.
• If I right click on these 10 selected files, and select to play them in the Windows Media Player - it takes only 2 seconds. That's an order of magnitude faster.

I would like to use MC13 as the default file player for media files that is not part of the library. But, because of this slow start-up - it is impossible to do so.

I suppose WMP does not actually read the file format info when files are added to its "PN" playlist. Probably it checks the file format only when playback is started.

Technically MC does a full import even when files are just added to PN. The format data is inspected, the default library fields are populated and the thumbnailing process is initiated. When/if already "inspected" files are imported to the library MC only quickly changes the files' library status and they become available in the main database.

Edit

When I want to quickly check a newly created video file without importing it to MC I use a small, nicely behaving player, that doesn't have a database, like Media Player Classic or Zoom Player.

[JimH]

MC has an option for whether to import on playback.  Try unchecking it.

[Alex B]

Jim,

The files are always imported to the normally hidden Playing Now section of the database when they are added to PN. The usual "file format analysis" tasks are initiated then. The "import on playback" option does not change this.

If/when the same files are "imported" to the visible library later it is just a flag change. MC marks them to belong to the main database. As an indicator of this, the icon in the "Image (small icon)" field changes from yellow to blue.

[Osho]

The option to automatically import on playback is unchecked. MC13 still display "Analyzing..." dialog. And, I still see 2 minutes or so wait.

The files that I play are usually video files - wmv, divx, mpeg etc. formats. There are usually 5-10 files at a time - each about 500MB or so. Sometimes they are even bigger when I play the files that I have downloaded from my digital HD camcorder (these are .tp files). I do not want all my personal videos in my standard library. So, I do not import them. But, I still like to use MC to play them. For such files, the delay is even longer than for other video files.

Maybe MC can start playing these files immediately and do the "file format analysis tasks" in the background? Otherwise, MC is not a very good player for such cases.

thanks,
Osho