Hi all. I'm thinking about purchasing JR 16 after using the trial. I've been using HTPC's in many forms form many years so I'm no newbie. I come from the old Meedio arena, and have played with XBMC, WMC, and a few others. All seem lacking in some form or other, and others have incredibly strong points. Meedio is so fully customizable that anyone can just about create a theme that looks awesome, while XBMC is just so difficult to use and set up that even myself, with all my experience, have given up on it several times. WMC, while it "just works", is so difficult to use because of it's unfreindliness to cusomize that I hate seeing it. Now I've tried JRiver and am so very impressed. I don't know why I didn't try it earlier. Still, it isin't without it's issues - and boy are they big issues.
I have basically 2 types of systems at home that I need a solid front end for: my main family HTPC that houses about 5 terrabytes of ripped DVD's and Blu Rays and must be used by my wife and kids, and 2: my music only system that houses about 2 terrabytes of FLAC and some MP3 music and is touchscreen controlled and connected to my Krell for decoding and playback. From the get-go JR has fit the bill to handle this to an *almost* perfect T. But I have a few issues.....Skins. Where are the Theater skins? I've seen just a handfull of them and I'm not impressed. Obsidian seems to be the only usable one, but where is the development for more? I certainly don't want to code any. I'd rather pay someone to do that. But should I have to? I assumed the forum members would have used their vast resources and as a community shared skins of their design - like in the Meedio community. But it seems that the Theater view skins here are like a red-headed stepchild. Will JR program and release new Theater skins and/or release the tools to the community so that we can design and share skins? For me, having a polished front end is every bit as important with having a working front end, especially when you have XBMC, WMC, and many more that offer this. I know JR isin't as expensive as other front ends and maybe I should'nt expect more out of the product, but I feel that JR is so good as a front end - doing everything almost perfect - that not polishing the "look" part of it is a big shortage. So my 1st question is again, can we expect to see more polished theater view skins or have the tools made available?
The second question is the JR media player. It looks a lot like iTunes. Is it? Did JR just modify the code base and give it the hi-end audiophile qualities?
Thanks all, Jimmy
