Topic: POLL: Audio or Video? (Read 12603 times)

JimH · « **on:** December 11, 2013, 11:16:07 am »

We'd like to hear how you use MC.

syndromeofadown · « **Reply #1 on:** December 11, 2013, 01:08:27 pm »

Audio, Video, Images, Books/Comics (with external program), Video Games (with external program).
no TV.

glynor · « **Reply #2 on:** December 11, 2013, 01:26:05 pm »

Just FYI... I voted Video.

I use MC for all of the above and more, but the thing I use every single day is video, so I voted that.

magnust · « **Reply #3 on:** December 11, 2013, 01:27:17 pm »

I put the brand new report tool to use

dean70 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 11, 2013, 03:10:30 pm »

Both video and audio. I would like the best quality of both

fitbrit · « **Reply #5 on:** December 11, 2013, 06:20:28 pm »

I use MC for all my video and audio. However, like glynor, the video is used everyday. Audio is used merely most days. I voted 'Both'.

Vocalpoint · « **Reply #6 on:** December 11, 2013, 06:34:52 pm »

We have 5 main installs here - the install in the "big" room does more video than audio. (Images are also coming to this room in 2014).

However - on the other 4 personal workstations - MC is all about music.

So I voted both

VP

Z0001 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 12, 2013, 05:23:49 am »

I got MC for the audio and how it makes my library so accessible, but at the moment our family probably uses video more. So video

cncb · « **Reply #8 on:** December 12, 2013, 08:17:56 am »

I use it for audio management (not playback) and video playback so I said both. I would really like to use if for Images but for me it will require some work on outstanding usability enhancement requests.

mojave · « **Reply #9 on:** December 12, 2013, 08:42:58 am »

I voted Audio, Video, and Images since it is the only program I use to manage them. However, I use JRiver 80% of the time for Audio.

Al ex · « **Reply #10 on:** December 12, 2013, 08:51:36 am »

Just recently started to use MC also for Video, and it´s great - like for Audio. So from now on: MC definitely for Audio and Video!

mwillems · « **Reply #11 on:** December 12, 2013, 09:31:23 am »

I voted for both, because I use audio and video regularly (no images), but my audio usage is about 70 or 80% of my JRiver usage.

rec head · « **Reply #12 on:** December 12, 2013, 11:09:31 am »

Audio during the day controlled by theater view or Gizmo. Video at night using theater view. Never use images.

rlebrette · « **Reply #13 on:** December 12, 2013, 12:26:38 pm »

A lot of video and listening music as soon as I've time.

DoubtingThomas · « **Reply #14 on:** December 12, 2013, 03:10:51 pm »

Never used MC for anything other than audio. I have little interest in video...

jmone · « **Reply #15 on:** December 12, 2013, 03:14:42 pm »

Quote from: glynor on December 11, 2013, 01:26:05 pm

Just FYI... I voted Video.

I use MC for all of the above and more, but the thing I use every single day is video, so I voted that.

+ 1

MrHaugen · « **Reply #16 on:** December 13, 2013, 02:08:07 am »

I believe that MC has always been more of a audio centric application. I would think that most development time have gone into audio and general functionality, rather than video and images. So, it's pretty obvious it will score better in audio usage. We have a lot of audiophiles here. Perhaps more than any other apps out there? Just saying that I really hope this polls winners will not be used to identify what to spend more time on. Instead I hope that you take into account that people spend the most time on generally, and try to focus on those parts so MC will be just as good for those options.

My personal opinion is that people normally spend much more time in front of a TV watching stuff, than they do in front of a TV, PC etc. only listening to music. People spend a lot of time listening to music and other audio on their phone, but not that much on PC apps for local content I believe. Streaming services are taking a lot of that market. In Norway I don't ever see anyone playing music from local content any more. Spotify and other alternatives like it is all that's used. I think the same trend is happening in most places. However, there's also streaming of video. Opposite of audio, video is actually not so frequently streamed in Europe because of lousy services. But it's coming.

So, adapting to new services (especially streaming) is vital in my opinion. To access those services, there really needs to be third party plugins. It's the only way that you can really free your self from developing and maintenance, get the options users need, and at the same time circumvent many of the restrictions added by the service providers.

MusicBringer · « **Reply #17 on:** December 13, 2013, 03:49:30 am »

Quote from: DoubtingThomas on December 12, 2013, 03:10:51 pm

Never used MC for anything other than audio. I have little interest in video...

+ 1

Arindelle · « **Reply #18 on:** December 13, 2013, 04:14:10 am »

It might be interesting to add a secondary question -- for those of you that put "both" as an answer (or define both at 60/40% ?)

I'd think that mwiliams at 80%/20% would be primarily audio. I use it for both too.

@MrHaugen -- wouldn't worry about the outcome, doubt the poll is about winning or losing and subsequent resource allocation. This forum is very active, but it is difficult for me to think that the people who respond are really representative of the majority of the people who use jrmc. I know at least 20 people that use jriver and they have never even lurked here. And even in the forum you have a bunch of different types of people -- couch potatoes that want to just plug and play to dedicated geeks who like to "pimp" their ride so to speak (so they can become the ultimate couch potato, maybe

); people that just come to ask questions, others that contribute in discussions etc.

However, you bring up some great topics, MrHaugen. I think by responding to them though I'd go off topic -- could you copy post and start a new thread?

MrHaugen · « **Reply #19 on:** December 13, 2013, 05:36:07 am »

No discussion needed. That's not why I brought it up at all. It's just difficult to understand the underlaying reason for these polls sometimes

Just wanted to point out something that I believe is important to consider, IF the results are going to be used for what it could be.

kstuart · « **Reply #20 on:** December 13, 2013, 12:41:26 pm »

I came to use JRiver MC for audio - and it is the best audio player available - both in features, and because it sounds a little better than any of the free players (despite the fact the some at JRiver refuse to believe this because they won't read an article by an electrical technician explaining why).

I was using MPC-HC for video (famously used by Saul to watch Brodie's video on his laptop), but I tried JRiver MC on video (simply because the audio portion would then be optimal).

I discovered that visually JRiver MC was a little better than MPC-HC (I don't know enough about video to say where that improvement comes from).

Later, I discovered that JRiver MC's playback of video over a LAN is much better than any other software I have tried.

mstan · « **Reply #21 on:** December 13, 2013, 12:58:07 pm »

I voted for both but I do a little more audio than video. I play music in the morning and evening but only do video at night. But they are both important. And it is very important for me to have both functions on the Mac version.

jctcom · « **Reply #22 on:** December 13, 2013, 05:49:57 pm »

Voted Audio.

Purchased it for Audio. Now starting to get into Music Video as I Rip BLu-Ray Audio and Music Videos especially since I figured out a way to attach the Videos to the Audio CD's they may go with.

I will probably start using it a bit for Video but I don't watch Videos on the computer but on my PCH-A-400 instead. I just find it to be better especially for the various Audio tracks and getting true DTS-HD Audio (Seems to crash when I try to get it on JRiver).

But I like it when looking at an album and being able to also see what videos I have that are attached to it directly. (Bonus DVD's, Media Video tracks, Combo CD / Blu-Ray / DVD / DVD-A packages etc...

The main reason I don't use it for Video, (Might start using it for trailers etc...), is that I don't Rip all my video to digital (Don't have hard drive space for 1400 DVD's and 500+ Blu-Rays) and I can't add Blu-Rays etc... based on barcode.

Carl.

brureid · « **Reply #23 on:** December 13, 2013, 06:00:31 pm »

I use it for Audio and images only, no video.
Wonderful program, recommended to everyone who asks!

JimH · « **Reply #24 on:** December 13, 2013, 06:12:45 pm »

Thank you.

)p( · « **Reply #25 on:** December 14, 2013, 12:49:20 am »

I now use it mainly for tagging and organizing my audio and video files. No longer for playback with the exception of video playback in our Hometheater.

astromo · « **Reply #26 on:** December 14, 2013, 01:03:26 am »

Quote from: JimH on December 11, 2013, 11:16:07 am

We'd like to hear how you use MC.

Voted. Haven't really delved into the still image management functionality so far.

For the future and when you and Matt have nothing better to do, you could feature in a usage function (in the same way the Benchmark feature was included). That way when you ask this question, you could get hard data. Some options could be percentage break down and hours per day/week/month/year for each mode. You could tack it on to the library database and provide a mechanism for users to review their usage patterns for their own info and yours.

Depending on your data quality requirements, programmed usage tracking will give a better answer than a user poll.

Castius · « **Reply #27 on:** December 14, 2013, 01:09:18 am »

I do everything audio in MC
I use mkv and xmedia encoder to rip video
Watch video through gizmo on gtv
Primarily use picasa for images but would like to use jmc more
Will be setting up emulation for gaming
Probable use theater view more soon as well

marko · « **Reply #28 on:** December 14, 2013, 03:30:21 am »

It irks me that images don't get more love and attention.

Jim even neglected to put them in the poll subject.

MC does pictures too you know, and does them really well.

Fangio · « **Reply #29 on:** December 14, 2013, 06:07:52 am »

I use it for all three. Looking at my photographs whilst listening to music is most enjoyable. I look forward to MC becoming a user friendly TV/PVR solution.

6233638 · « **Reply #30 on:** December 14, 2013, 06:24:46 am »

I voted video, but thinking about it some more, I should probably have voted for both audio and video.

The main thing that got me interested in Media Center at all was when I was asking Hendrik for ReplayGain support in LAV Audio, and he said that it was really a feature for the player rather than the decoder, and directed me towards Media Center.

It was the video library management features and tight integration of LAV Filters/madVR/VideoClock which got me to buy Media Center though. Prior to that I was just ripping discs to ISO images in folders, and letting Windows' Libraries feature handle things.

There are other convenience features on the video side which I find very useful, such as automatically downloading videos vis RSS (including sites which require a login) analyzing them, and placing them correctly in my library on its own is a huge thing for me as far as convenience is concerned. (if only it supported YouTube RSS feeds...)

I do use it more for video than audio, but it's probably 60/40 now.

Media Center has got me to take music library management seriously, which has resulted in me spending far more time listening to music and building up a music collection since I bought it.
My library has grown in size considerably due to the amount of music I'm listening to now, and that's likely to continue as I start to take advantage of the zones feature to send audio all around the house.

Quote from: marko on December 14, 2013, 03:30:21 am

It irks me that images don't get more love and attention.
Jim even neglected to put them in the poll subject.
MC does pictures too you know, and does them really well.

Until it supports color management (which would also be useful for album art) I can't use Media Center for photo viewing.
I haven't used a point & shoot camera in almost a decade at this point - none of my photos are sRGB.

Even with color management support, I'm not likely to move away from Lightroom for photographs that I've taken myself though - I'm clearly not the audience JRiver are targeting with their image support. (though I'm pretty sure consumer apps like iPhoto do have color management support)

What I'm actually most likely to use the images feature for is slideshows when music is playing - there are a few Tumblr sites I pull the images from which would be good candidates for this, but Media Center needs animated .gif support for that to be worthwhile.

JimH · « **Reply #31 on:** December 14, 2013, 07:48:08 am »

Quote from: 6233638 on December 14, 2013, 06:24:46 am

Until it supports color management (which would also be useful for album art) I can't use Media Center for photo viewing.
I haven't used a point & shoot camera in almost a decade at this point - none of my photos are sRGB.

Even with color management support, I'm not likely to move away from Lightroom for photographs that I've taken myself though - I'm clearly not the audience JRiver are targeting with their image support. (though I'm pretty sure consumer apps like iPhoto do have color management support)

What I'm actually most likely to use the images feature for is slideshows when music is playing - there are a few Tumblr sites I pull the images from which would be good candidates for this, but Media Center needs animated .gif support for that to be worthwhile.

Could you move this to another thread? I'll delete it in a day or two to keep this thread on topic. Thanks.

You could use MC to edit the picture on the left. I think Adjust is the tool to use.

JimH · « **Reply #32 on:** December 14, 2013, 07:52:29 am »

Quote from: astromo on December 14, 2013, 01:03:26 am

For the future and when you and Matt have nothing better to do, you could feature in a usage function (in the same way the Benchmark feature was included). That way when you ask this question, you could get hard data. Some options could be percentage break down and hours per day/week/month/year for each mode. You could tack it on to the library database and provide a mechanism for users to review their usage patterns for their own info and yours.

Depending on your data quality requirements, programmed usage tracking will give a better answer than a user poll.

That's an excellent idea. Thanks.

6233638 · « **Reply #33 on:** December 14, 2013, 08:20:25 am »

Quote from: JimH on December 14, 2013, 07:48:08 am

Could you move this to another thread? I'll delete it in a day or two to keep this thread on topic. Thanks.

You could use MC to edit the picture on the left. I think Adjust is the tool to use.

Sorry, it seemed relevant to marko's point. Editing is the last thing you want to do. The issue is that Media Center expects all images to be sRGB rather than reading the embedded color profile. (ProPhoto RGB in that case)

It's not a bug, and it may not be something you even want to address, but it does prevent anyone shooting JPGs with a DSLR (Adobe RGB by default) or raw files (typically exported to ProPhoto TIFFs) from using Media Center to view them without performing a conversion first.

franswilco · « **Reply #34 on:** December 14, 2013, 08:47:19 am »

My primary use is audio. But I also use it for video a lot. My primary video player now is Plex, but I like using JRiver as well.

mb1 · « **Reply #35 on:** December 14, 2013, 09:35:56 am »

Hi. Audio and movies. TV continues to be a frustrating experience. JR TV experience keeps me looking for options. MS TV just works and is very very easy to use. The skip commercial plug in just works.I hope Microsoft keeps TV with windows as I really like JR audio.

Listener · « **Reply #36 on:** December 14, 2013, 11:19:38 am »

Audio has been my reason for using MC for 7+ years. I don't use MC for video and probably never will.

I am starting to use MC for image library management and for image editing workflow.

Bill

akira54 · « **Reply #37 on:** December 14, 2013, 12:37:17 pm »

Quote from: Fangio on December 14, 2013, 06:07:52 am

I use it for all three. Looking at my photographs whilst listening to music is most enjoyable. I look forward to MC becoming a user friendly TV/PVR solution.

+1 (to be used with an external sat receiver)

hulkss · « **Reply #38 on:** December 14, 2013, 10:38:45 pm »

I used to do mostly audio. Now I'm hooked on concert blu-rays. There are hundreds of really good one's and ripping them to MKV with loss-less multi-channel audio works great. Just need Media center to automatically make particles from chapters (song titles) for thousands of music videos.

renpetra · « **Reply #39 on:** December 15, 2013, 05:13:03 am »

Hey Jim

I use it for 85% for audio every day.
In the weekends for movies and serie.

Like the program use it for some years now and its getting better with the years.

Like to see audio only version.

Greeting from netherlands.

Rene

Arcturus · « **Reply #40 on:** December 16, 2013, 07:04:17 pm »

I use it for all of my media playback in and out of the house. As far as video quality goes I find it one of the best and I pretty much tried every other app worth trying. ROHQ is great and the audio playback and features of course is excellent.

dean70 · « **Reply #41 on:** December 16, 2013, 08:29:40 pm »

+ dont forget TV

stiv32 · « **Reply #42 on:** December 18, 2013, 06:31:16 pm »

I have three main libraries. One for audio, one for video and one for images.

I mostly use it for Audio and Video, and rarely for images. For images I usualy prefer another program because most of the times I need to do some editing there that I can;t yet do it with JRiver.

jmone · « **Reply #43 on:** December 20, 2013, 03:36:56 am »

So Jim - has the profile changed over the years?

glynor · « **Reply #44 on:** December 20, 2013, 06:30:21 am »

A smidge:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=42725.0

MrC · « **Reply #45 on:** December 20, 2013, 12:18:51 pm »

It was curious to watch this poll's numbers change over the days. So now it would seem MC gets used for Audio by approximately 60% of the users (assuming equal usage amongst users who use MC for more than one purpose):

Audio: 35.4
Both: 38.3/2 =19.15
All: 16/3 =5.33
=============
59.88

And that would imply for video about 34.78%. The would leave image usage at a lowly 5.34%.

glynor · « **Reply #46 on:** December 20, 2013, 12:47:42 pm »

Yeah, I don't know if those numbers are really representative, though...

The question asked by the poll was: "Which is your primary use of Media Center?"

I answered it that way (by answering Video). Now, does that mean I'm a video-only user? Heck no! And, it depends on what you "count". I'd say that, of my audio usage of MC, half to two-thirds of that use is via JRemote now. I don't "use" MC often to look at photos, but when I do, it is important, and it imports, tags, and stores my new photos every day.

Usage share is very difficult to estimate.

Listener · « **Reply #47 on:** December 20, 2013, 01:49:25 pm »

Quote from: MrC on December 20, 2013, 12:18:51 pm

The would leave image usage at a lowly 5.34%.

Not proven by the poll. The poll didn't include a choice for audio+images. That would have been my choice.

Bill

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #48 on:** December 20, 2013, 03:55:42 pm »

Im in the minority!

Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Video, Audio, Video

jmone · « **Reply #49 on:** December 20, 2013, 03:58:36 pm »

I read it the other way CB, only 65% use MC for more than just Audio.

INTERACT FORUM

Poll

Which is your primary use of Media Center?

Author Topic: POLL: Audio or Video? (Read 12603 times)

rlebrette