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[Ardemus]

I'm evaluating JRiver for use with my high end audio system.  I currently have Bryston SP2 and Amps with PMC FB1s.  I need to replace the SP2, probably with a NAD 187 or a Bryston BP25 and a stand alone DAC.  JRiver seems pretty slick but I'm having a number of problems.  I'll post them separately.  Here is the first:

Reliability is enormously important to me.  My computer is well pruned and extremely stable, but JRiver has crashed 6 times in just two days.  I haven't done much other than what I describe here, so I don't know if it every works without crashing.

1. Importing my media directory (Photos, Videos, and Music).  It crashed at exactly 49,999 files out of about 60k.
2. 4x while skipping or cuing YouTube videos while streaming or after downloading.
3. Sorting / Browsing files.

[JimH]

A crash with tagging was fixed in build 94.  It's on the Download Page.

[glynor]

Assuming it wasn't just a bug in a recent build, there could be a few different causes for this, but this isn't typical.

My best guess is that you are actually seeing two different things (described above):

1. You have a corrupt file in your imported items, which caused MC to crash when trying to analyze the new file.  For whatever reason, there are a few Very Corrupt Files that can make MC crash when trying to import them.  Whenever I've encountered this, I find that the file itself (once I track it down), is completely hosed and unusable (or very badly broken) in anything else.

2. The other two things could be related to Audio Playback settings (perhaps, but I'm reaching on this one).  Are you using WASAPI mode for your DAC?  Did you try WASAPI Event Style (or better yet, ASIO if you have real, native drivers for it)?

I should note:  There is not a good reason to use Kernel Streaming on Windows Vista+ and MC, pretty much no matter what.  You also shouldn't use things like ASIO4All, which is just Kernel Streaming in an ASIO wrapper.

[Ardemus]

Thanks JimH, I updated the software.

Thank you Glynor.  I didn't expect such quick responses. 

1. After it crashed while importing my media I simply told it to import again and it succeeded without issue.  That seems to suggest that it wasn't a corrupt file.
2. I'm actually running the stock Win7 AC97 audio driver, which is about as common and generic as audio drivers get.  I've posted in the sound card/etc. section about a hardware upgrade I'm working on, but for now I'm not doing anything fancy.

It sounds like the crash might have been the bug Jim mentioned.  Do you think I should try to use esoteric audio drivers with the AC97 chip on my motherboard?  It seems like an unlikely solution to me.

[mbagge]

You might want to make sure that you are using the latest chipset and audio drivers from the motherboard manufacturer. You cannot always rely on stock Windows drivers to be the most stable ones.

How do you connect your DAC ? By s/pdif from your onboard AC97 or is it an USB device ?

[Ardemus]

I'm just using the stereo analog out right now.  My pre/pro is on the fritz.  As I mentioned in the section in this forum about pre-amps and DACs, I'm looking into my replacement options.  In the mean time, I'm stuck with my motherboard's analog outs to my older analog pre.

Anyway, it turns out that I have a "High Definition" 889 chip not an AC97 chip.  I'm going to bite the bullet, but I hate to install the Realtek or Gigabyte driver downloads.  The Gigabyte download is over 120MB.  While it was updated in the past couple of months but I don't know if the driver was changed or if it was just changes for other hardware and the associated bloatware.  We'll see if it helps.

[Ancient_Audiophile]

I should note:  There is not a good reason to use Kernel Streaming on Windows Vista+ and MC, pretty much no matter what.  You also shouldn't use things like ASIO4All, which is just Kernel Streaming in an ASIO wrapper.

I think that statement is an oversimplification of the technical details of the situation.

The JRiver implementation of ASIO4ALL support is better than most that I have seen, and in my system, to my ears, sounds better than WASAPI - despite the JRiver implementation of that also being better than most. (YMMV).