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[Cereal Killer]

Hello all My first post!!

If these questions have been answered before please forgive me.

I've been using JRMC17 with Gizmo app for about 8-9 months now. Very happy indeed; been running faultlessly since day one.
I was an Apple/iTunes user for many years before but need a true 'Open Source' file format so moved my ALAC music collection to FLAC.
Having a large lossless music collection, (approx 900 albums give or take a few on a monthly basis. I only use the server for 2 channel music BTW) a recently installed a 512GB Crucial M4 SSD inside my Shuttle XS36V, which is a fan-less 24/7 server, I now have a totally Solid State server which runs on Win 7 32bit.

The server has 4GB of RAM; I use 'Memory Playback, WASAPI Event style, and have the USB driver selected which goes to my DAC. All other commands such as DSP, volume controls etc are bypassed as needed for bit perfect audio to my Resonessence Labs INVICTA DAC Pre, which then goes onto my active ATC speakers. (See pics below).

My questions are these:

With MC18, is memory Play still with us?
What are the best OS’s 32 or 64-bit for the above and MC17?
IF, using 32 bit W7 or W8, Is Memory Playback Limited to amount of RAM used by Windows to 2GB?
IS it worth taking my server to 8GB RAM on W7 32-bit?
Are there any known issues with using MC17 or 18 on SSD's?

And another question...large artwork takes up space, sifting through covers of 1000's of albums is no fun!:
Will/can/is there be an option to resize/max album artwork globally with say a max setting of 700x700 pixles?








The server normally sits behind the cabinet the DACs in

[gazjam]

Hi, welcome aboard!
Not long joined myself, the guys here are very helpful.

Hello all My first post!!

If these questions have been answered before please forgive me.

I've been using JRMC17 with Gizmo app for about 8-9 months now. Very happy indeed; been running faultlessly since day one.
I was an Apple/iTunes user for many years before but need a true 'Open Source' file format so moved my ALAC music collection to FLAC.
Having a large lossless music collection, (approx 900 albums give or take a few on a monthly basis. I only use the server for 2 channel music BTW) a recently installed a 512GB Crucial M4 SSD inside my Shuttle XS36V, which is a fan-less 24/7 server, I now have a totally Solid State server which runs on Win 7 32bit.

The server has 4GB of RAM; I use 'Memory Playback, WASAPI Event style, and have the USB driver selected which goes to my DAC. All other commands such as DSP, volume controls etc are bypassed as needed for bit perfect audio to my Resonessence Labs INVICTA DAC Pre, which then goes onto my active ATC speakers. (See pics below).

My questions are these:

With MC18, is memory Play still with us?
YES

What are the best OS’s 32 or 64-bit for the above and MC17?
DONT THINK IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE HONESTLY - JRiver IS A 32 BIT PROGRAM

IF, using 32 bit W7 or W8, Is Memory Playback Limited to amount of RAM used by Windows to 2GB?
WIN32 CAN USE UP TO 4GB

IS it worth taking my server to 8GB RAM on W7 32-bit?
NO, BECAUSE WIN32 WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACCESS MORE THAN 4GB OF IT

Are there any known issues with using MC17 or 18 on SSD's?
NOPE! USED BOTH 17 AND 18 ON MY SSD SYSTEM

And another question...large artwork takes up space, sifting through covers of 1000's of albums is no fun!:
Will/can/is there be an option to resize/max album artwork globally with say a max setting of 700x700 pixles?

NOT SURE IF JRiver CAN DO THAT, BUT ID SUGGEST USING A SEPERATE IMAGE EDITING PROGRAM THAT CAN DO BATCH CONVERSIONS
http://www.irfanview.com/ IRFANVIEW
ALL YOU NEED IN AN IMAGE PROGRAM SHORT OF IMAGE EDITING

If you have the option go with Windows 64 bit.
Unless your using specialised programs that need particular 32bit plugins you might as well take advantage of being able to use more ram.
Its cheap as chips nowadays (for now!) so fit 8GB and forget about it
Hope this helps!

[InflatableMouse]

In 32-bit Windows the user address space is limited to 2GB. It can be increased to 3GB using the /3GB switch (not sure what the Vista/Win7 equavalent is but I don't recommend using it anyways).

Are you playing >2GB files?

[Cereal Killer]

Cheers guys, appreciated

Reason I'm using W7 32-bit is Shuttle say the Intel Atom and NM10 chipset is based around a 32 OS.
See spec here: http://www.shuttle.eu/products/slim/xs36v/specification/
I've just used what they recommended so it's as stable as possible. i have the extra RAM already in 2x4GB modules. Currently just using 1 module of 4GB.

Its on 24/7 so i needs to be as 'light' and stable as can be.

Is MC18 also 32 bit? As mentioned above; the server does nothing more than play FLAC files headlessly so even graphics isn't really needed.

I get'ya point re file size. from what i understand, each track is buffered into RAM when playing from Memory Playback, so NO, theres no file bigger than 200MB so 2GB spare to play music is more than ample. Is this still all the same in MC18 playing on Windows 8 though?

[Vincent Kars]

From the release notes (build 17.0.47)

4. NEW: From memory audio playback will use up to 1GB instead of 256MB (after 256MB it checks against available memory to avoid using swap).

As far as I know this has not been changed.

MC is 32 bit

[Cereal Killer]

Cheers, So my server is as good as it needs to be to run MC17 or 18.... Anything else would be over kill or redundant, right? 

This image size software; http://www.irfanview.com/ can it find the JPEGs within the FLAC files??

[gazjam]

re: irfanview.

No, it wouldn't do that.
My coverart is stored as an image "folder.jpg" in each album folder.

[Cereal Killer]

Get'ya, I've got all the artwork embedded into the metadata....

[glynor]

In 32-bit Windows the user address space is limited to 2GB. It can be increased to 3GB using the /3GB switch (not sure what the Vista/Win7 equavalent is but I don't recommend using it anyways).

This is correct.

On a 32-bit OS, no individual application can use more than 2GB (without the /3GB switch).
This address space can be increased by using the /3GB switch in the boot.ini file, but this is not universally supported by all drivers (particularly graphics drivers), and can be flaky.  This switch is still available on Windows 7.

On a 32-bit OS, total system RAM is limited to 4GB.  This is often reduced if you are using an onboard Graphics device, because some of the RAM is allocated for the GPU's exclusive use.

On a 64-bit OS, individual 32-bit applications can use up to 4GB of system RAM.
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit can use up to 16GB of RAM total.
Windows 7 Pro (and better) 64-bit can use up to 192GB of RAM total (server editions can go up to 2TB depending on the licensing).

64-bit OSes have other advantages over just RAM utilization, but one major benefit is that even if every single piece of software you are running is 32-bit, each one can have its own 4GB "pool" (assuming you have enough system RAM).

[glynor]

By the way, Cedarview (the Atom CPU in your machine) DOES support Intel's 64-bit extensions.  However, the BIOS and motherboard need to also support 64-bit for the OS to work.  My guess, since they mention 32-bit support only, is that they don't support the 64-bit extensions in the BIOS, or they're too lazy to look and test all of their drivers with 64-bit support, so they just say it isn't supported.

HOWEVER... You may want to check and see if they have a BIOS update that says "supports 64-bit OS" in the change notes.  They might just not have updated their marketing page.

It might work with modern driver revisions and an updated BIOS.  Running Windows 7 64-bit is generally Just Better, for a variety of reasons.

[gazjam]

Also,
make sure your running This:
http://www.windowsxlive.net/fidelizer/

far more impact than 32 vs 64 bit windows

[Cereal Killer]

Thanks! Fidelizer looks to be a fantastic li'll bit of software. Will give it a go this evening. IIRC theres also JPlay; both seem to do the same thang?

The Bios I'm running is the latest, I've udated it 4 times since, the note have never mentioned the use of 64 bit OS. If MC is to remain 32bit and Memory Play maxes out at 1GB, i can't see need for 64-bit/8GB RAM. Ti does nothing more than play FLAC files.

PS, I'm also a member of an audio forum called www.pinkfishmedia.net Lots of Computer based Audiophools on there.

[JimH]

Thanks! Fidelizer looks to be a fantastic li'll bit of software. Will give it a go this evening. IIRC theres also JPlay; both seem to do the same thang?

Jplay is a very bad idea. Try a search here and at hydrogenaudio.

[Cereal Killer]

Will do, I've no intentions of using JPlay though. The website looks to be full of BS, and I'm simply not paying that much for tiny bit of software...

[gazjam]

Jplay is a very bad idea. Try a search here and at hydrogenaudio.

Run, run as fast as you can!
Avoid.

Fidelizers good though, AND its free.

[windowsx]

Expect a new version of Fidelizer this year. I've been too busy to update it but should be done in next months I guess.

[gazjam]

whoa..thats great news!
Any chance you could set it to run at startup without affecting the homepage?  

I'd pay a few bucks for that?

[windowsx]

I used to add autorun feature in 1.1 and people complained about removing it so I took that off to fix their confusion. For browser nag and default homepage is counter-measure against companies trying to take advantages of Fidelizer. It's not like I want my website to be famous as they're well known from other projects already but I have my pride to keep free stuff being used for free.

To goal of Fidelizer is to make daily use machine sounds good like music server so people who use daily machine can enjoy music more without modifying system in anyway. I may release commercial version later for those who want to build their own platform without annoying stuff and more features with permanent tweaks stuff.

[gazjam]

Agree with you here, the fact we're getting something like this for free is fantastic.
thanks.

[Cereal Killer]

whoa..thats great news!
Any chance you could set it to run at startup without affecting the homepage?  

I'd pay a few bucks for that?

Yes, on both accounts; auto bootup in preferred settings would be a very good addition IMHO.

Do you have a beta version of the new ware?

[rick.ca]

And another question...large artwork takes up space, sifting through covers of 1000's of albums is no fun!:
Will/can/is there be an option to resize/max album artwork globally with say a max setting of 700x700 pixles?

MC displays thumbnails it builds for that purpose (small, medium and large). I don't believe resizing the original images will make any difference to any operation involving displaying multiple covers (i.e., "sifting"). Even with covers embedded in the files, there's little reason to be concerned about space. A good quality compressed JPG will not use much compared to the size of it's FLAC host.

I generally look for 1000 pixel covers—just to make sure no quality is being sacrificed with respect to my current display. In doing so, I find I have to be vigilant to avoid poor quality images that have been resized upwards. Unfortunately, there's no reliable correlation between quality and the dimension or file size of a compressed image. So globally resizing images wouldn't be helpful—unless you're already sure all the images were of sufficient quality.

[Cereal Killer]

It's more to do with the larger artwork files compiled in the 1200x1200+, not to upscale small images but rather downsize the big ones. IIRC some albums which I've downloaded have had 1-3MB sized artwork. When this is embedded into each track, say a double album with 25-30 track, it can start to take up some decent storage space.

[rick.ca]

It's more to do with the larger artwork files compiled in the 1200x1200+, not to upscale small images but rather downsize the big ones. IIRC some albums which I've downloaded have had 1-3MB sized artwork.

I wasn't suggesting you would upscale the images, only that you can't be sure what you're getting when downloading from the Internet. A 600x600 image might be of a much better quality than a 1200x1200 of the same thing (although you'd likely notice that in the file size). But yes, it's normally safe to assume the sort of images you're referring to are original scans and much larger than necessary (for displaying on a monitor). I normally use a tool included in my file manager to resize those to 1000x1000, then use Add from file... in MC. I could just as easily open a view of my download folder in MC, and use it's tool to resize.

[ths61]

64-bit OSes have other advantages over just RAM utilization, but one major benefit is that even if every single piece of software you are running is 32-bit, each one can have its own 4GB "pool" (assuming you have enough system RAM).

Would there be any advantages of having a 64-bit binary build of MC running on a 64-bit OS ?

I know there was a lot of performance issues with 32-bit applications thunking down to 16-bit (APIs/libraries) years ago, but don't know if such issues exist between 32 and 64.

[Cereal Killer]

Thats an interesting question.... IIRC MC 17 & 18 are both 32-bit, so many keeping a 32-bit OS would be best as it keeps the system less intensive.

[Zhillsguy]

My First Post As Well!!

I have been running MC17 for a few months and love it. One biggie that got me on board was the DSP processing......I use a 4th order HPF for running my 'pro' ported subs. Great software in general, runs every audio and video file known to mankind, very customizable and user friendly.

My experience has been that MC runs much better on the x86 (32 bit) platform.

With my middle-of-the-road rig, watching uncompressed blu-rays (Disney's 'Oceans', Joe Satriani's 'Satchurated', The Art of Flight, etc), takes about 25 -35% cpu with Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

With Win 7 Ultimate x86, 5-10%.

Since cpu usage doesn't decrease when minimizing, the processing burden is not related to video "display".

My Rig:
AMD Athlon II x2 631 Quad Core
8 gig ram
Gigabyte Mobo
AMD Radeon HD 6570 128 bit card

Just my 2 cents.

[booaaaa27]

May I know what speaker you are using there? How do you like it so far?

[windowsx]

As I promised here, Fidelizer 3.0 is now released

http://www.windowsxlive.net/fidelizer-3-0-merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year-2013/

[Ancient_Audiophile]

windowsx wrote:

Those who don’t favor Fidelizer in their music server machine due to website nag after optimization and try this on their own. Sorry but this is my way to protect my pride in free software from audiophile companies taking advantages to make their Windows based music server’s price $xxxx higher because of stuff I made for free.

Sorry, but if you don't drop the website nag nonsense, then your software will never get the respect of enough people to ever get to the point where audiophile companies even know you exist.

The reason is that your software does a lot of tinkering with the internal guts of people's computers.  People have to have a high level of trust for them to allow software to do this.

The whole "website nag" thing automatically disqualifies your software from being trusted.

[windowsx]

I understand your concern but I just want to share it to those who can accept my piece of software the way it is. I know computer geeks are quite sensitive and having this in dedicated computer audio machine is a big trouble for them but the goal of Fidelizer is to improve daily use machine not dedicated computer audio ones. Those people who use Fidelizer in their daily machine are not nitpicking about nag screen at all as it's hardly a trouble for people who use it as common computer. Some even moved me from their appreciation mails.

FYI: I found a few companies tried to integrated Fidelizer secretly but failed. Some are good enough to propose a deal with me for their specialized version (and there's very popular ones among that).....though I turned them all down later.