Topic: MC for Mac and MC for Windows Compared (Read 44246 times)

glynor · « **on:** May 03, 2015, 11:12:04 am »

We get these kinds of questions here from time to time, and I hope this post can help clarify things a bit. One word of warning, I'm a long-time customer and visitor here on these forums, but I don't work for JRiver and I can't see the source code, so I'm going by what I've learned here.*

The first thing to understand is that JRiver Media Center for Windows, Mac, and Linux are all built from the same exact code. JRiver is not so much "porting" MC to Mac and Linux, as they are writing the entire application in a cross-platform way. Unlike many similar efforts you may have seen, they aren't writing the application using a special "cross platform system" (like Xamarin) or language (like Java). Media Center is essentially 100% pure C++ code. They have just written their own frameworks, even for things like Window drawing, and not used OS-specific code and APIs wherever possible (which is really pretty amazing). This process started a long time ago, well before any of us saw any fruits from their labors. However, MC was originally a Windows application, so this process is ongoing. Over time, features which do have serious OS dependencies are re-written, and done so in a cross-platform way, and those features then move to the other versions.

This also means that as new versions of Media Center are released for Mac, the changes list included with each build may not be completely comprehensive. Those change lists include Mac-specific changes and fixes, and they try to include major features developed between builds on the Windows side, but some things might get missed. If you read over the change logs between builds on the Windows board, along with the Mac board here, you'll get a more comprehensive list of changes between versions.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but it should cover most of the major points.

Things that are exactly the same, or functionally equivalent, on the different OS versions of Media Center:
* The entire Library system, including Media Views, Smartlists, Playlists, and library and settings backup.
* The Search Language and Expression Language.
* Library Fields and metadata, file management tools, tagging, and the various Library Tools.
* Zones and Playing Now.
* The audio engine, including DSPs and file format support.
* The Import and Auto-Import systems (including Carnac and Automatic Metadata Lookup).
* Media Network, including JRemote, Gizmo, Webgizmo, Tremote and the entire MCWS API.
* The MC Core Commands automation system, when called from MCWS.
* Standard View, Display View, and the skinning system.
* Handhelds

Things that are not available on the Mac Version:
* ~~Theater View~~ Theater View was added to MC22!
* ~~Video Playback~~ Video support was added to MC20!
* ~~Image support~~ Image support was added to MC21!
* General data file support, including Send To External and Open With External Application support.
* Red October and any third-party DirectShow filters used.
* Media editors
* The COM API, which includes many older third-party plugins and utilities.
* The Command Line launcher (though MCWS can execute these commands, except startup ones, and the entire MC Core Commands system).
* Television
* WDM Virtual Audio Driver and Loopback System
* The File Explorer View under Drives & Devices in the Tree
* Detached Displays
* DVD and BluRay Ripping
* IR and Windows Media Center Remote Control Support

Things that are available on the Mac version, but independent of the Windows version in some way:
* The audio engine is not identical, and is based on Apple's CoreAudio API (as opposed to WASAPI and DirectSound on Windows).
* The video playback engine is not identical or feature-for-feature identical to the Windows DirectShow based system. JRiver is writing an entirely new video playback system for Mac OSX, with the goal of providing high-quality playback comparable to MadVR on Windows, but the task is not yet complete. Video playback works, and is high-quality, but some rendering-based features of the Windows version are not yet available, ~~such as Subtitle support.~~ Subtitle support was added to MC21!
* Only the Cover Art Display Plugin is currently available for audio playback. Others, including Visualizations and Track Info Pages are not currently supported.
* Web Media support, including YouTube - I'm not sure this is identical in every way, but YouTube support works the same. Hold Command and click on YouTube links within MC to get the downloader.
* Retina and High DPI support. This is one place the Mac version of MC is actually a touch ahead of the Windows version, but there are some differences in the way it interacts with the OS here.
* Other things that directly interact with the filesystem, OS, or hardware that need to be unique.

* If I'm wrong on any details, JRiver-folks, please correct my post.

glynor · « **Reply #1 on:** May 03, 2015, 08:47:37 pm »

Fixed a mistake. The Mac version does indeed have Handheld support. I pasted my link into the wrong list.

jimm2 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 03, 2015, 09:31:07 pm »

Is Standard View on the Mac really exactly the same or functionally equivalent to Windows?

In the Playing Now view in Windows, you can skin the track info area or add user developed track info skins in the Visualizations/Track Info directory. I don't see this functionality in the Mac version or am I missing something?

glynor · « **Reply #3 on:** May 03, 2015, 09:58:56 pm »

Quote from: jimm2 on May 03, 2015, 09:31:07 pm

Is Standard View on the Mac really exactly the same or functionally equivalent to Windows?

Well, Standard View is the full UI of MC, and encompasses all features (including the Menu Bar accessible Options and everything), so if you interpret it like that, then Standard View can never really be "equivalent" to the Windows version. Same goes for Display View.

What I meant was the important components of Media Center in Standard View, basically as covered in the wiki article. They both have the same Tree, the Panes and Categories work the same way, columns and column presets, view styles, all work identically. They both have the Library Manager, Play Doctor with the Radio buttons, Services & Plugins, and Drives & Devices. I listed it separately, but it also has the same Playing Now system (it has the same conceptual list system, it shows under the tree and Zones work the same way, it has a file listing area and a Display Plugin area). The components of those components aren't all necessarily identical, of course. It doesn't have Images support, so Images doesn't show in the Tree. Same goes for the Skinning Engine. It doesn't have Mini View or Theater View, so it doesn't support those skins either.

Track Info Pages, while accessible via Playing Now, aren't really part of Playing Now itself. They are one of the Display Plugins, and you're right, the Mac version is not equivalent in those. It also doesn't support many available third-party Display Plugins currently, like those from SoundSpectrum. I'll add Display Plugins to the list of non-equivalent things. I realize there is a lot of gray area in here, but that is kind of a separate feature. Playing Now is one way you can access Display Plugins, but they can also appear in the Action Window Display, and in Display View, so they're not really "part of" Playing Now, in my mind. Like I said, it wasn't intended to be comprehensive, and I'm not "the word" down from on-high (I'm just this guy, you know).

But, I agree, that's worth adding. I didn't think of it. If I'm wrong about anything else, or missed anything, please feel free to discuss. By the way, however, let's keep this "clean". Any other discussion around what JRiver should do, or what you want, or whatever, will be moved or deleted.

chriswimlett · « **Reply #4 on:** May 11, 2015, 08:27:16 am »

Thanks for this, a very interesting and useful read.

mwillems · « **Reply #5 on:** May 11, 2015, 11:52:39 am »

You might want to add CD ripping to the list (wherever it belongs). Last I recall it wasn't supported on Mac, but I don't know if that's changed

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #6 on:** May 11, 2015, 11:55:27 am »

I thought CD ripping was supported in the Mac version, but there's some users who can't rip discs due to some outstanding issue.

mwillems · « **Reply #7 on:** May 11, 2015, 12:02:50 pm »

Quote from: Awesome Donkey on May 11, 2015, 11:55:27 am

I thought CD ripping was supported in the Mac version, but there's some users who can't rip discs due to some outstanding issue.

I'll confess I have no firsthand knowledge on the issue (the only apple hardware in my house is a 2007 Macbook running Linux). All the more reason to add it to the comparison list above

chriswimlett · « **Reply #8 on:** May 11, 2015, 01:34:39 pm »

There have been problems with duplicates when ripping CDs, but it seems to be working OK now on the Mac.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #9 on:** May 11, 2015, 01:38:49 pm »

The duplicate issue, as far as I can see in the changelog, was fixed in 20.0.94.

glynor · « **Reply #10 on:** May 11, 2015, 01:42:20 pm »

Quote from: mwillems on May 11, 2015, 11:52:39 am

You might want to add CD ripping to the list (wherever it belongs). Last I recall it wasn't supported on Mac, but I don't know if that's changed

The Mac version certainly does support CD Ripping (and people above confirmed it seems to be working right).

I left that off because:
* I seriously only own around 20 CDs anymore, and I've already ripped all of those, so I've never used it on the Mac version (and probably haven't used it on the Windows version since v18 or so).
* I'm not positive about all the File Conversion stuff.
* I have no idea if the Mac version supports DVD or BluRay ripping.
* My Macbook has an optical drive still (its a Sandy Bridge Macbook Pro 15), but I've never used it (and I keep meaning to pull it out and replace it with an auxiliary hard drive bay).

If someone who knows both the Windows and Mac versions well can confirm that they work identically feature-wise, I'll add it.

mwillems · « **Reply #11 on:** May 11, 2015, 02:27:57 pm »

Quote from: glynor on May 11, 2015, 01:42:20 pm

The Mac version certainly does support CD Ripping (and people above confirmed it seems to be working right).

I left that off because:
* I seriously only own around 20 CDs anymore, and I've already ripped all of those, so I've never used it on the Mac version (and probably haven't used it on the Windows version since v18 or so).
* I'm not positive about all the File Conversion stuff.
* I have no idea if the Mac version supports DVD or BluRay ripping.
* My Macbook has an optical drive still (its a Sandy Bridge Macbook Pro 15), but I've never used it (and I keep meaning to pull it out and replace it with an auxiliary hard drive bay).

If someone who knows both the Windows and Mac versions well can confirm that they work identically feature-wise, I'll add it.

I only suggested adding it because I've seen two or three recent threads with folks complaining about being unable to rip on Macs, and I wanted to help, but realized I had no idea whether it was even supported.

cupboy · « **Reply #12 on:** May 20, 2015, 12:39:41 pm »

As for ripping CDs I simply use iTunes. I use iTunes for all the redbook stuff, and the few MP3 files I have. Is there some advantage to using JRiver for redbook?

Matt · « **Reply #13 on:** May 20, 2015, 12:58:59 pm »

Quote from: cupboy on May 20, 2015, 12:39:41 pm

Is there some advantage to using JRiver for redbook?

Well, MC has secure ripping mode which is a pretty huge deal (at least to me).

Bisiar · « **Reply #14 on:** June 02, 2015, 06:54:21 pm »

What about Burning a playlist to CD on OS X? It seems you can in Windows and not on Mac.

al1947 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 13, 2015, 12:18:52 pm »

One minor, but annoying, difference is that the Windows version ships with a large assortment of pre-made smartlists, while the Mac version only comes with just over a half dozen. Don't see any reason other than laxity that the same bundle doesn't come with the Mac version. I spent a fair amount of time searching for guidance on Interact to find instructions for creating my own smartlists that are just variants of the prefab Windows ones.

Another problem is with some Android-based media players, notably Astell and Kern. That's on A&K (iRiver), not JRiver.

While Windows will mount A&K memory as drives, Mac does not. Unlike Pono, which bundles a MC20 variant with its player for smooth syncing, A&K leaves its Mac customers with only a mediocre Android File Transfer utility that cannot link up with MC20. So the Windows version of MC20 will sync with A&K players but the Mac version does not.

blgentry · « **Reply #16 on:** July 19, 2015, 10:26:31 am »

Quote from: al1947 on July 13, 2015, 12:18:52 pm

One minor, but annoying, difference is that the Windows version ships with a large assortment of pre-made smartlists, while the Mac version only comes with just over a half dozen.

I believe the Mac version ships with a large number of stock smartlists. I deleted mine when I first got JRiver and later regretted doing so because I wanted to see what they all did. Luckily, you can recreate the 50 or so stock smartlists very easily.

Just right click on Playlists in the left navigation pane. Then select "Add Stock Smartlists". That should give you all of them.

Brian.

al1947 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 19, 2015, 01:47:21 pm »

Quote

Just right click on Playlists in the left navigation pane. Then select "Add Stock Smartlists". That should give you all of them.

Doh! I have been using Media Center for two years and never saw that. Thanks.

However, my installation experience has been that the stock lists are automatically installed on Windows, but not on Macs. Not sure why that is.

danfl75 · « **Reply #18 on:** July 26, 2015, 09:53:02 pm »

This list is very helpful and ought to be officially maintained and kept up to date. Someone in a doc thread said it's too hard to maintain a complete user manual. I accept that, but I think we need a complete and up to date, basic user manual. This community spends a lot of time answering basic questions.

shAf · « **Reply #19 on:** September 11, 2015, 05:55:31 am »

Quote from: danfl75 on July 26, 2015, 09:53:02 pm

This list is very helpful and ought to be officially maintained and kept up to date. Someone in a doc thread said it's too hard to maintain a complete user manual. I accept that, but I think we need a complete and up to date, basic user manual. This community spends a lot of time answering basic questions.

I agree ... Along side features development, the wiki should be kept up to date

glynor · « **Reply #20 on:** September 11, 2015, 07:12:03 am »

This thread is a perfect example of why it is sometimes useless to do so.
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Default_Smartlists

It doesn't help if people don't read it.

conib · « **Reply #21 on:** September 12, 2015, 11:25:18 pm »

Quote from: mwillems on May 11, 2015, 02:27:57 pm

I only suggested adding it because I've seen two or three recent threads with folks complaining about being unable to rip on Macs, and I wanted to help, but realized I had no idea whether it was even supported.

CD ripping did not work for me in version 20.0.122. I reported the issue in that release's thread (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=98313.msg680069#msg680069) but received no response. I attempted to uninstall JRiver 20.0.122 and install an earlier version that was said to be able to rip CDs, but unfortunately the result was the older version displayed a popup that said that my demo install had run out of time (when I actually still had 20 days to go) and refused to run unless I paid for the app.

The failure of the feature combined with the lack of response to the bug report and the subsequent failure of the demo timer was a deal-killer -- I did not purchase MC for Mac.

If someone at JRiver is willing to test whether a commercial CD (red book audio) can be ripped on MC21 for Mac, *and* would be willing to report to this thread the results of their test, that would be great. Certainly it would motivate me to attempt to install it and try the app again.

(As an aside: a commercial CD still can't be ripped on MC for Linux; I have to wonder if the problem is somehow related. In any case, not being able to rip a commercial CD is also the deal-killer w.r.t. my purchase of MC for Linux.)

blgentry · « **Reply #22 on:** September 13, 2015, 07:50:45 am »

I've just successfully ripped my first CD with MC21 for Mac. I normally use a third party program to do CD rips on Mac. It interacts with MC very well; I've ripped hundreds of discs with it.

That said, MC seemed to do a fine job. It's different than I'm used to but that can be said for any new program.

Even if it doesn't work on your machine that shouldn't even slow you down in terms of evaluating and purchasing MC21. It's so fantastic in it's other features that I personally don't even care if it can rip discs or not. The other (free) options do a fine job if, for some reason, you can't get ripping working inside of MC on your machine.

Good luck,

Brian.

conib · « **Reply #23 on:** September 13, 2015, 01:11:47 pm »

Quote from: blgentry on September 13, 2015, 07:50:45 am

I've just successfully ripped my first CD with MC21 for Mac.

Thanks for your post.

Can you also please post which Mac you used to rip the CD (model and year), which version of OSX it's running, how your optical drive is connected (integrated in the chassis, or external via USB, Firewire, TBolt, or ...), and if it's an external drive, the drive's manufacturer and model?

IIRC, the problem occurred with external optical drives only -- that those whose drive was integrated in the chassis had no issues ripping CDs. (So it seemed to me that the issue was possibly somehow related to SATA versus USB interfaced drives.)

blgentry · « **Reply #24 on:** September 13, 2015, 04:07:39 pm »

We should really move this to another thread if it goes any further, but here you go:

Late 2011 Macbook Pro 15"
OS X 10.9.5 (Mavericks)
Super Drive in the chassis

Have you tried a third party utility to do CD ripping? Three letters. Starts with X.

Brian.

conib · « **Reply #25 on:** September 13, 2015, 04:24:44 pm »

Quote from: blgentry on September 13, 2015, 04:07:39 pm

Late 2011 Macbook Pro 15"
OS X 10.9.5 (Mavericks)
Super Drive in the chassis

Okay, you've confirmed that MC's latest Mac release can still rip a CD mounted in an internal optical drive.

Hopefully someone will post whether they've been successful using MC21 for Mac to rip a CD mounted in an external optical drive.

bobkatz · « **Reply #26 on:** September 21, 2015, 02:55:15 pm »

PC vs. Mac behavior:

When switching between MC20 and MC21, the two do not interact. I make a new zone in MC20, it doesn't show up in 21 and vice versa on the Mac but it does on the PC. On the mac we have to do a library export/import. OK... so the idea is to upgrade to 21 and stay there....

Same for keystrokes. I have a custom keystroke for volume up and down by 1 dB increments. Now I have to remember where that is filed and why it's not in MC21....

Current missing functionality:

Advanced Dither (TPDF) is not yet enabled in Mac

glynor · « **Reply #27 on:** September 21, 2015, 03:44:02 pm »

Quote from: bobkatz on September 21, 2015, 02:55:15 pm

When switching between MC20 and MC21, the two do not interact. I make a new zone in MC20, it doesn't show up in 21 and vice versa on the Mac but it does on the PC. On the mac we have to do a library export/import. OK... so the idea is to upgrade to 21 and stay there....

This doesn't work on Windows either. Well, sort of, but not the way you described. When you first install a new major version of MC on Windows, it imports your settings (where possible) from old versions it finds. When going from MC20 to MC21 the settings import is pretty thorough, though in the past there were things that didn't pass over completely, and if you "skip versions" (from MC18 to MC21, for example) then the import is likely to be incomplete.

However, this only happens one time when you first run the new copy of MC21. The settings do not "unify" as you described between the MC20 and MC21 installations.

You are, however, correct that there is a difference here: On Mac, it does not import settings from older versions at all, and you must manually restore them via a Library Backup.

bobkatz · « **Reply #28 on:** September 21, 2015, 03:59:38 pm »

Aha.... Glynor. I assumed that there was synchronization. But even so, that automatic settings import sets the PC version above the Mac version from my point of view.

Quote from: glynor on September 21, 2015, 03:44:02 pm

This doesn't work on Windows either. Well, sort of, but not the way you described. When you first install a new major version of MC on Windows, it imports your settings (where possible) from old versions it finds. When going from MC20 to MC21 the settings import is pretty thorough, though in the past there were things that didn't pass over completely, and if you "skip versions" (from MC18 to MC21, for example) then the import is likely to be incomplete.

However, this only happens one time when you first run the new copy of MC21. The settings do not "unify" as you described between the MC20 and MC21 installations.

You are, however, correct that there is a difference here: On Mac, it does not import settings from older versions at all, and you must manually restore them via a Library Backup.

glynor · « **Reply #29 on:** September 21, 2015, 04:07:01 pm »

Agreed. I suspect the reason it doesn't is that on Windows it is the Installer that does that. On Mac, there is no installer.

bobkatz · « **Reply #30 on:** September 21, 2015, 04:23:15 pm »

Here's another difference:

On the PC I can drag and drop a file from Explorer into JRiver's window and it will copy it into JRiver's representation of whatever folder it is looking at. I cannot do this on Mac.

I'm having difficulty getting JRiver to see a bunch of files that are in a folder and refresh is not showing them. Still working on finding the library tool to fix this....

blgentry · « **Reply #31 on:** September 21, 2015, 04:30:52 pm »

Quote from: bobkatz on September 21, 2015, 02:55:15 pm

Same for keystrokes. I have a custom keystroke for volume up and down by 1 dB increments. Now I have to remember where that is filed and why it's not in MC21....

Key mappings are in the Resource.xml file. For MC20 you can find the file at:

<your user directory>/Library/Application Support/J River/Media Center 20/Data/Custom Resources

MC21's directory is the exact same, except for the 20. It's now 21. Copy your Resource.xml from MC20 directory to MC21 directory and restart MC and your key mappings should be back.

Brian.

bobkatz · « **Reply #32 on:** September 21, 2015, 04:41:48 pm »

Thanks, bigentry. Yup, I figured that out right after my post. It burns me every time I have to revisit something that I figured out six months ago because I will have forgotten half of the details. That's what happened with the resource.xml file. I couldn't remember its name nor where it was located. Same thing with programming languages. I learned Linux scripting a long time ago but I haven't touched a script in 8 months so you know it will be like pulling teeth to maintain that script when something new comes up. :-(

We're all human.

Quote from: blgentry on September 21, 2015, 04:30:52 pm

Key mappings are in the Resource.xml file. For MC20 you can find the file at:

<your user directory>/Library/Application Support/J River/Media Center 20/Data/Custom Resources

MC21's directory is the exact same, except for the 20. It's now 21. Copy your Resource.xml from MC20 directory to MC21 directory and restart MC and your key mappings should be back.

Brian.

blgentry · « **Reply #33 on:** September 21, 2015, 04:51:44 pm »

Quote from: bobkatz on September 21, 2015, 04:23:15 pm

I'm having difficulty getting JRiver to see a bunch of files that are in a folder and refresh is not showing them. Still working on finding the library tool to fix this....

Glad you found the Resource file. This other question above... I'm not sure what you mean, or what you are trying to do. Something to do with files that are NOT in the Library yet? Or... ?

Brian.

glynor · « **Reply #34 on:** September 21, 2015, 05:11:34 pm »

Quote from: blgentry on September 21, 2015, 04:51:44 pm

This other question above... I'm not sure what you mean, or what you are trying to do. Something to do with files that are NOT in the Library yet? Or... ?

I'm not sure either... My list above is not intended to be an absolutely comprehensive list (it is supposed to get major features, not every little nook and corner). That said, I've meant to add the special File Explorer view (under Drives & Devices) to the "not supported" list above, and now I've done so. I suspect this is what Bob means, but I'm not sure.

I will say this... If that is what you meant, the File Explorer view is occasionally handy on the Windows version of MC, but honestly, I probably use it once every other year. If you are using it regularly, you almost certainly would be better served using a combination of Auto-Import and Rename, Move, and Copy Files.

If you have more questions on this, please start a new thread on the topic.

bobkatz · « **Reply #35 on:** September 22, 2015, 08:28:29 am »

I'll try to explain the issue...

I have audio files located on an NAS which is mounted to the Mac via SMB. The same NAS is also mounted on the PC via SMB.

On both the Mac and the PC the NAS volume is in the library. On the PC the NAS volume is also available via "Drives & Devices" with Explorer showing. This has proved to be a bonus on the PC when stubborn media files do not appear in the library view, available via Audio/Files/Volumes/Thecus Audio.

On the PC I can change over to Drives and Devices/Explorer, drag and drop files from Windows Explorer into the right hand JRiver window and explorer will make a copy. Maybe I should try the "move" choice instead of "copy" but it's ironic because the file is already in that folder but JRiver is not seeing it. It isn't even aware that I'm "copying" or "moving" from a folder to itself!

Anyway, I just want to listen to the wav!

Now I'm trying to explore the same situation on the Mac and I see that there is no equivalent to the Finder in Drives and Devices on the Mac side.

It's fair to argue that we don't really need an equivalent to Finder within JRiver, and I agree that in principle we should not need it, but that assumes that the library function is working well, and in this case it is not for me since refresh does not reveal the file. Remember, I often have that issue with both Mac and PC... should I blame my NAS, which is a Thecus?

Now I'm faced with how to make the stubborn file appear through library tools, when the refresh icon does not show it. This happens a lot, both on PC and Mac. Could be the Thecus NAS is not implementing SMB that well... I'm not necessarily blaming JRiver for the cause of this issue. I just want to play a WAV!

Please forgive me if I'm not doing something right using the library. I must admit I'm not well-versed in the library tools. When on the Mac or PC a refresh does not reveal the file, "File/Library/Import" is a very clunky and time-wasting way to refresh, don't you think? When the folder has already been imported and supposedly being watched by JRiver. So maybe we need a more powerful refresh button on both PC and Mac?

blgentry · « **Reply #36 on:** September 22, 2015, 09:13:16 am »

What you're describing sounds a lot like Auto Import NOT being triggered by adding files. MC needs to see a "file system event" to trigger auto import. *Some* NAS devices don't support them properly and auto import won't work. There are ways to automate it but I haven't explored them yet.

I know that triggering auto import manually seems to work in every case I personally have heard of. Tools > Import > Run auto import now. If that works for you, we (just speaking for myself) could look into trying to automate that process to run once every X minutes. Or maybe there's a file system events workaround for your particular NAS.

If running auto import manually does NOT pick up files that are clearly in an auto import monitored directory, I'd want to look at the auto import options to make sure that the file type (and extension) you are trying to import is listed and NOT excluded. Finally, I'd want to look at the files themselves to make sure there isn't something wonky with the files. I'm just saying this last part for completeness of the logical troubleshooting chain.

Brian.

bobkatz · « **Reply #37 on:** September 22, 2015, 09:55:26 am »

Thanks for the thorough advice, BigEntry. I'll print out your advice and follow it through the next time I have a missing item. I have used the "Run auto import now" before, but I had forgotten that this was located in the tools/import structure. Some library tools are under File, some under Tools, some under library tools, so I easily get confused.

Quote from: blgentry on September 22, 2015, 09:13:16 am

What you're describing sounds a lot like Auto Import NOT being triggered by adding files. MC needs to see a "file system event" to trigger auto import. *Some* NAS devices don't support them properly and auto import won't work. There are ways to automate it but I haven't explored them yet.

snip

bobkatz · « **Reply #38 on:** September 22, 2015, 09:58:06 am »

This question moved to a new thread. Sorry about that...

JimH · « **Reply #39 on:** September 22, 2015, 10:07:16 am »

Please move off topic discussion to a different thread.

roller · « **Reply #40 on:** October 08, 2015, 05:40:06 am »

Hi!
MC for Mac is a great program! But, I can´t use it in a professional way, because I need the possibility to show the current playing titel with a beamer. Like in MC for windows. Please add it to MC for Mac.

athasdf · « **Reply #41 on:** November 22, 2015, 04:39:33 pm »

This is very helpful, thanks! Does anyone know whether detached display is available in the Mac version of MC? I'm not having any luck setting my Mac to play video to my projector while still having the main MC console available on my Mac display. Here's the reference to detached display support: http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Detached_Display

Thanks.

glynor · « **Reply #42 on:** November 30, 2015, 06:56:34 pm »

Quote from: athasdf on November 22, 2015, 04:39:33 pm

This is very helpful, thanks! Does anyone know whether detached display is available in the Mac version of MC?

I don't think so. I'll double check when I have a minute, but I suspect not.

EDIT: Yeah, confirmed. I'll add it above.

You can, of course, move the MC window to the other desktop and then it'll go fullscreen on your projector when you enter Display View. There's a nifty little tool available for Macs called SizeUp that gives you handy keyboard shortcuts to quickly move applications around on different monitors. You might want to check it out:
http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/

GeorgeBoles · « **Reply #43 on:** December 15, 2015, 11:01:11 pm »

Good Afternoon.

I currently have JRiver for Mac 20. As far as I can tell, it doesn't have an Images function or the capability of running a slideshow whilst playing an album.

Is it possible to set Mac JRiver 21 up so I can pull up scans of my album art and study in high detail the old covers ... you know, who is who on Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, or read the credits or lyrics booklets while the music is playing?

Thanks,
George.

JimH · « **Reply #44 on:** December 16, 2015, 02:00:27 am »

MC21 for Mac does support images. You can download the trial to confirm that it works for you. Both MC20 and MC21 can co-exist until you decide.

GeorgeBoles · « **Reply #45 on:** December 16, 2015, 03:04:00 am »

Thanks Jim.

I am trying to get my head around JRiver for Mac. It is a huge program and I continue to struggle certainly with Macintosh and probably with JRiver - I have only just found a list version of albums and artists (cunningly hidden in the tab at the top of the normal view) as an example. The other problem I have is apparently duplicate albums where I don't have any, and also how to catalogue various versions of the same album. I know it has been gone over before a couple of times, but I still can't identify why it is occurring with my little music collection.

I will battle on this Christmas - because it is too hot to go outside.

Having those album covers viewable will be a pleasant improvement in musical enjoyment when I get that organized too.

Regards,
George.

blgentry · « **Reply #46 on:** March 22, 2016, 02:55:37 pm »

A couple of more additions to the "not in the Mac version" list:

1. IR Remote control configuration and integration.
2. You mention the WDM driver, but it's not super clear whether or not this also covers the ability for MC to take an analog audio input from a line input on a sound card and route it through MC for processing, control, distribution, etc. Seems like a separate function to me and it's not in the Mac version.

Brian.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #47 on:** March 22, 2016, 03:07:37 pm »

IMO, WDM driver shouldn't be mentioned on Mac or Linux since it does nothing there.

blgentry · « **Reply #48 on:** March 22, 2016, 03:14:16 pm »

^ When I said "mentioned" I meant that he has listed WDM as being "not available" on Mac in his master post above. It just isn't super duper clear that "WDM" also means "analog line input routing" also. That's all.

Brian.

glynor · « **Reply #49 on:** March 22, 2016, 04:05:56 pm »

Quote from: blgentry on March 22, 2016, 02:55:37 pm

1. IR Remote control configuration and integration.

Added.

Quote from: blgentry on March 22, 2016, 02:55:37 pm

2. You mention the WDM driver, but it's not super clear whether or not this also covers the ability for MC to take an analog audio input from a line input on a sound card and route it through MC for processing, control, distribution, etc. Seems like a separate function to me and it's not in the Mac version.

I'm not clear on the details of how this works on Windows either. I don't think this has much (if anything) to do with the WDM driver support, which is about playing audio from other applications through MC. But, I haven't ever used the Line In support, and frankly, last I knew, this was discontinued in MC some time ago. I think there might be some kind of sideways "hacked" way to pull it off with either the ASIO or WDM driver support, but I don't remember all of the details.

In any case, I don't think this is a "fully supported" area on the Windows version either, and therefore isn't appropriate for this list. If you can find recent links that prove me wrong, I'll add it.

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Author Topic: MC for Mac and MC for Windows Compared (Read 44246 times)