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[VinBob]

Hello All,

I am new to JRiver MC and am looking for some advice on a couple of things. Essentially, I am looking to use the Media Center application on a NetBook directly attached to a DAC. Question I have, is can the software be installed on a Windows 7 Starter NetBook or do I need the full Windows OS version? Also, is there a companion application I can run on a iPad/iPod to control the media center without having to be at the device to change selections etc.?

Also would appreciate any advice from anyone running this on a NetBook, such as what the minimum specs for such a device would be to perform well.

Thanks in advance!
Vin.

[qdfb]

Gizmo for Android works brilliantly (download from Androd app store).  Now I have remote control in theatre view over my home network to control the Win 7 laptop running Media Centre 17, all from the comfort of my armchair.

Surely more versatile than the latest megabuck musc servers...

QB

[JimH]

... I am looking to use the Media Center application on a NetBook directly attached to a DAC. ... can the software be installed on a Windows 7 Starter NetBook

....is there a companion application I can run on a iPad/iPod to control the media center without having to be at the device to change selections etc.?

Also would appreciate any advice from anyone running this on a NetBook, such as what the minimum specs for such a device would be to perform well.

Welcome to the forum.

There are some solutions for remotes on our Third Party board:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=67831.0

and in the "Remotes" topic on our wiki.

I'm not sure about "Windows Starter".  I don't know of any problems.

[VinBob]

Thanks for the info and feedback. Just need to confirm whether the JRiver MediaCenter will run on the Windows Starter version (lightest version of Windows7) OS which is shipped with the NetBooks I am looking at. I don't seem to be able to find the minimum specs required to run the software so any confirmation on this would be appreciated.

Cheers
Vin.

[glynor]

Question I have, is can the software be installed on a Windows 7 Starter NetBook or do I need the full Windows OS version? Also, is there a companion application I can run on a iPad/iPod to control the media center without having to be at the device to change selections etc.?

Also would appreciate any advice from anyone running this on a NetBook, such as what the minimum specs for such a device would be to perform well.

For audio playback and standard def video playback, MC17 runs very well on my older ASUS EeePC 1000H (actually, I think it is the next model of 1000H, but that was a minor revision).  That has a single core 1.6GHz Atom CPU.

It certainly isn't as zippy as on my much more powerful machines, and I don't use it on that machine often, but I've used it here and there and it is passable for playback duties.  I don't know that I'd want to do heavy library management on it, but that is as much the form-factor as performance.

There is no native iOS app released by JRiver, but they do have the WebRemote function, which works pretty well.  There is also a 3rd party app that people seem pretty pleased with, though I haven't played with it yet, so I can't speak from experience on that.

[VinBob]

@glynor:

Thanks for the feedback. Can I ask what version of Windows you are using on the ASUS netbook as I want to be sure that it will run on the Windows 7 Starter version before I purchase. I will only be using this device for audio playback from FLAC hi-def files so I would assume that something similar to what you have will do just fine. However, I am a little concerned about the library management comment you made. Can you please expand on that as I would like to understand that in more detail and to maybe get a beefier machine to cope.

Thanks!
Vin.

[glynor]

@glynor:

Thanks for the feedback. Can I ask what version of Windows you are using on the ASUS netbook as I want to be sure that it will run on the Windows 7 Starter version before I purchase.

Mine is on XP.

They really do not sell the Starter version in the US (it is typically for "emerging markets only"), so you might have a lot of trouble getting feedback on that.

I would be very surprised if it doesn't work.

Starter edition limitations:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/windows-7-starter-what-are-the-limitations/422801d5-89de-494d-8cc1-6f4fc21c2ac0

The only thing in there I see that could be an issue is that DVD Playback isn't supported on Starter Edition.  So, DVDs probably won't work without additional software or fiddling.  Other than that, you'll probably be fine.  But, your best bet on proving that before you click buy would be to find a nice friend with a Starter Edition netbook and try installing the free trial of MC and testing it.

My guess?  If you are a serious computer user, Starter is going to annoy you in a bunch of ways.  Count on probably eventually doing the In-Place Upgrade to Home Premium.  Pricing on that varies by region, so you'll have to check in your locale.

[glynor]

However, I am a little concerned about the library management comment you made. Can you please expand on that as I would like to understand that in more detail and to maybe get a beefier machine to cope.

Two problems:

1. Atom-based computers are SLOW.  Don't kid yourself.  We're talking between Pentium 2 and 3 era slow (slower in some places, faster in others).  MC performs very well, even on old crappy hardware, but a slow machine is a slow machine.  Many netbooks also have very slow hard drives and crappy RAM, further downgrading perceived performance.

I'd say if you can tolerate any application on a netbook, it'll probably be MC.  I can't really tolerate anything on mine except for light web browsing and playback of stuff.  For example: Mobile Safari on my iPhone is a much faster browser than Google Chrome on the netbook.  Booting takes forever.  Installing things takes forever.

Some of that might be what you're used to, though... The machine I'm typing this on is a 2011 Macbook Pro with 8GB of RAM and a quad-core Sandy Bridge Core i7 CPU at 2.0GHz, and it is one of my slower daily-use machines.

2. More important than the performance issue, for me, would be the form factor issues, which is why I specifically mentioned Library Management.  By "form factor" I mean:

* screen size and resolution.  Many netbooks use 1024x600, which is terrible. Most applications expect 1024x768 at a minimum.  While MC will work, I can't promise that all dialog boxes will fit on the screen correctly, and there may be annoyances (there certainly are with other applications).  But, just tagging things with that low of a resolution would drive me nuts.
* small keyboard with sometimes non-standard key placement makes you crazy the 155th time you hit the up-arrow key instead of shift.  I mistype on it constantly.
* crappy keyboard (my ASUS has one of the better keyboards of netbooks of that generation, and the flex is still annoying)
* the trackpad is tiny and somewhat useless - expect to use an external mouse most of the time or you are heading for RSI

So... Long story short, if you can at-all get an "ultraportable" class notebook instead of a netbook class notebook (something with a CULV Core 2 Duo or newer and something close to a "standard size" keyboard and resolution) you will be much happier with the machine over the long-term.

[VinBob]

Appreciate the feedback and I will take your advice in going with a meatier laptop as I don't want to end up with something that is going to be somewhat temperamental like the Logitech Squeezebox in PC form, which is what I am ultimately trying to avoid!!!

Cheers.
Vin.

[dtc]

Lots of Netbooks in the US come with Windows 7 Starter. I use it on an entry level Gateway netbook and it is fine for MC 17 for audio. I use it as a dedicated MC system, for audio only.   I have basically nothing else running on it, especially not virus software. It is certainly slower than laptops, but it typically runs at less than 5% CPU usage when running MC 17. If you upsample CDs to a mulitple of 44.1 KHz, the load on the CPU is still only 10% to 20%. My DAC upsamples, so I just let it do the upsampling. I have 1 GB of memory, but it is cheap to upgrade to 2 GB. But I usually have something like half my memory available anyway. I do ripping and downloading from a beefy machine with a good CD driver and copy the files to the Netbook. Starter is nice because it is not overloaded with lots of extra processes that you do not need just for audio. I use a M2tech Hiface USB to S/PDIF interface in Wasabi Event mode and play from memory. I control MC 17 either from the Netbook itself or from a laptop with Tremote.  I find the Netbook a very viable solution and I have a 2 year old Atom N270 model.