Hi guys. New user here
I just wanted to say after 48 hours with MC17 I am completely blown away by it. I have been a serious HTPC "hacker" for over 10 years using a varying but always horrible combination of tools to try to get the job done.
Over that time I have been uisng myHTPC, then Meedio, then MeediOS as my front-end - for a long time hacking my own screen files to get near what I wanted. I have repeatedly tried XBMC and MediaPortal (maybe even JRiver years ago?) and always switched back as none of them had the flexibility and power I needed. On the other hand Meedios has always been a pig to maintain and has never had decent players.
For video I have for a long time been using mpc-hc for most and TMT(now 5) for the rest (DVD and Blu-ray). I have been a serious Reclock-nut - trying and 'just about' succeeding in getting smooth playback of everything from PAL DVD, to mkv and Blu-ray for the last 5 years or so, but boy has it been a pain!! I've played with MadVR for years, but as an AMD user needed GPU accelerated video I was never able to really use it. I had a lot of discussions with Madshi at the time he was incorporating Reclock style features to madVR.
A combination of things made me try JRiver (again?):
- I really do not have the time anymore to keep up with MeediOS!!
- I was excited by the prospect of being able to use MadVR with LAV Video and of switching to all internal players.
- I am sick of the problems getting GUARANTEED smooth playback with TMT5. I think it is basically impossible! It works much of the time, but it is not IMO dependable. I am sure others are lucky enough that it just works for them, but it is not IMO resilient.
I am astounded by the:
- staggering feature set
- ease of use
- configurability and customisation if you want it
- solidity
Despite the immense feature set it really does seem to do what it says - bug free and without the usual gotyas I have got so used to over the years
This is true not just of the main app, but also your DLNA server, which is the best of about half a dozen I have tried. It can even re-encode my blu-rays to play on my Samsung SmartTV in the kitchen!
In a little under 2 days I have completely transitioned 4 very large libraries (images, audio, movies and TV).
This product deserves more recognition and, IMO, blows all the competition, especially the much better known XBMC, out of the water. Well done all, I am staggered!!
I do have some comments. I am sure i will have more over time, but let's leave this post here.