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[kstuart]

Not a disk space issue. Just don't like to see last night's news recording next to today's.

The easiest way to fix this is to change your mind.

Love seeing last night's news recording next to today's.

Since it doesn't make a practical difference, then there is no point to disliking it as it is.

100% serious here.

[RoderickGI]

Or see what happens if you set "Delete After" to zero days.

[DeaneG]

I was just trying to suggest a way to improve the product here with a change that should be simple. I can certainly accept it as is, or head-fake the GUI by subtracting one. But it could be a little better.

[DeaneG]

Would it be possible to add "Convert Format" to the right-click menu of videos etc? The existing conversion function is pretty well hidden in the Tools->Advanced Tools->Convert Format menu. A small window then slips into the lower-left corner of the UI ("Action Window"), which I'd respectfully suggest is a motion unnoticeable on a large monitor. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out why, after selecting a menu item, nothing obvious would happen as a result.

[RoderickGI]

Would it be possible to add "Convert Format" to the right-click menu of videos etc?

It is on the right click menu for video, Library Tools -> Convert Format

Once you have done it once, it will show up at the top of the right click menu, in the Recent Commands list. You can make this list longer by going to Options/Tree & View/Advanced/Right Click Recent Command Count, where you can set it from 0 to 8 commands. If you set it to 8 the Convert Format will stay in the Recent Commands list longer, available to use on the top level right click menu.

Now that you know where the Action Window is, you will remember to look down there in future. If you click on the Options link in that window you will get a large dialogue to play with. If you click on Details, the details of the file to be converted will fill the Standard View pane.

The Action Window is used for many MC functions, so it is good practice to look down there for activity.

[DeaneG]

@RoderickGI: Perfect, thank you!  This is a pretty powerful and complex bit of software.

[stiv32]

Hello,

Please add a search field at each Pane fields, which will discard things as we type.

I am really tired of browsing through hundreds of Names, Albums, Genres etc. to find the one that interests me. And what if it is written with the last name first or what if I remember only the first name. Please, add this search field at the beginning of each field (Genre, Name etc.) it will be really helpful at the Panes View.

Thanks in advance  

[bblue]

In the track linking, the target track is not shown with an index number, whereas the source track seems to have the index of the target track.  That works fine, but it would be nice to be able to sort on the Links field to see all tracks that are associated to any other track.  Couldn't the target track's index number be shown, instead of nothing?  Within the system if the index link is shown, and the number is the same as its index, it is a target, not a source.  Or something like that.  Likewise, the last target of a multi-link is also not shown, but all the others are.

Seems like it would be a trivial change.  Is there more to it than that?

Actually, if the blank target could show its own number followed by some character (like * indicating end of the sequence), it could be logically identified in a sort.  And all sequences would show up in order.

--Bill

[blgentry]

Please add a search field at each Pane fields, which will discard things as we type.

I'm assuming you know that you can click in any pane and just type and it will match as you type to the *first* characters in the list.  Based on what you say below this probably isn't enough for you, but I thought I'd mention it.

I am really tired of browsing through hundreds of Names, Albums, Genres etc. to find the one that interests me. And what if it is written with the last name first or what if I remember only the first name.

The search box in the upper right is context sensitive.  If you type in it while in a Panes view, it will search everything currently chosen in the Panes view.  If you have *nothing* chosen, it will search everything visible in the view.  This includes Genre, Album, Artist, Name, Year, Comments, Keywords (and probably other stuff too).

My collection is small by comparison to most here, but I just did a number of searches in a Panes view and found the item in the Panes I was looking for just about instantly.  Have you tried using the search box in a Panes view?

Brian.

[datdude]

1) Stop the theater view playing now list cursor from jumping when a new song starts playing. I don't see the value in automatically moving the cursor in the first place and it's really annoying when you are browsing and a song switches and the cursor jumps to the currently playing song. Don't assume I want it to do that. If I want to go to the currently playing song, I'll go there manually. If I navigate away and then back into the playing now list, it's fine to jump to the current song, but that is the only time it should do so.  Another option is to just add a long delay (10 seconds or more) for the last time the user manually moved the cursor before it jumps to the currently playing song.

2) When drilling down into a view from the theater view home screen, don't immediately jump the cursor into the file list. Whenever a friend comes over, they always get confused and try to switch views and end just asking me to do it. Pretty much all other interfaces like the Apple TV don't automatically jump to the list inside a view. They let you make that choice.

3) Similarly when moving the cursor left on the left edge of a theater view list, the cursor jumps to the top level row instead of the secondary roller. This again causes frustration in my friends who try to switch views and up getting lost and give up. Its like MC doesn't want you to use the secondary roller... Since the secondary roller also allows you to click left and eventually move up back to the top roller, you can still easily move back to the home screen. I don't see the harm in a few extra clicks o get back to home, with the positive trade off of the user having an experience that is more intuitive rather than the cursor jumping around and assuming it knows what the user wants to do.

These might be controversial, but to me they would be easy to implement and are easy to understand their benefits in making the user experience simpler and more intuitive.

[neFAST]

What about a nice shadertoy-like visualiser?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhbEt3iBc18

[stiv32]

I'm assuming you know that you can click in any pane and just type and it will match as you type to the *first* characters in the list.  Based on what you say below this probably isn't enough for you, but I thought I'd mention it.

Hello Brian,
thank you for replying. Yes, I already know about this. The problem here is; if you search i.e. "Bryan Adams" and you type "Adams", you won't find what you are looking for.

With the solution I propose, the first entry in each pane field is the search box. When you type there "Adams" it will come up with all the artists that have those letters in their name. Its much easier. Especially if you don't remember exactly the name.

The search box in the upper right is context sensitive.  If you type in it while in a Panes view, it will search everything currently chosen in the Panes view.  If you have *nothing* chosen, it will search everything visible in the view.  This includes Genre, Album, Artist, Name, Year, Comments, Keywords (and probably other stuff too).

I also use the search field in the upper right corner, and the truth is that you can do with that almost everything a pane does. The thing is that Panes are there to make our lives easier. Also some custom fields you might not want them to be search oriented i.e. the field "Mood". Lastly, it is much distinctive and easier to control a search at each field.

It is truth that as our music database grows, it gets harder to do fast and effectively some things that otherwise are simple. That's why we need the necessary tools to make our lives easier.

The Search Field at the top of each Pane Field, I believe is fast to implement, while it will make everybody's life a bit easier and for people with large databases it will make their lives a lot easier.

Thanks again

[Matt]

Quote from: kstuart on November 07, 2014, 02:34:38 pm
An Option with default to current behavior, to:

Not change Standard View display to "Recently Imported" playlist after an Import.

(That would save me from having to click BACK after every Import, in order to return to what I was doing.)

Do this or similar

but was never entirely done... a change occurred which only did half of what was originally done (which did make it easier).

The Recently Imported playlist is only shown if you click 'Details' after the import in the summary window.  That seems pretty unobtrusive.  Is it showing in some other scenario that I'm not catching?

[RedJ]

I'm coming to the party pretty late, so apologies if this has already been suggested between the first page and this post:

A very simple to implement (I believe) way to make MC more globally digestible to the novice user would be an Easy Mode that could be chosen upon first install.  Some Android flavors come with the ability to use an Easy Mode interface that strips off a lot of the complexity and puts the core functions people use most up front and with less clutter.

1) The Easy Mode would hide all but the most used features, and install MC with the most user-friendly skin and view scheme (which of those qualify is up for debate, I guess).
2) There could be a Toolbar button that switches between Easy Mode and Full Mode so the user could see and access what they're missing, allowing them to dip their toes into the water and gradually get deeper with MC if they wish.  The button would be there by default if installed to Easy Mode.

BTW- Party Mode might be better served showing a similarly slimmed down interface by default as well.

[blgentry]

RedJ:  That's a nice idea that I think has been expressed by others from time to time.  I don't think it's anywhere near the qualification of "too easy" though!  But still a good idea.

Something very similar is being discussed in the Pretty Face thread, which you might enjoy reading:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99290.0

Brian.

[RedJ]

I don't think it's anywhere near the qualification of "too easy" though!

My line of thought is that this would be akin to going into Options->General->Features and deselecting all but the most core of features that would newcomers would want to use.  I think this would probably be scriptable in the installer, but I may be underestimating.  One of the great things about MC is it is a bit of a kitchen sink program- there are tons of features- but that's also one of the things that's immediately overwhelming to new (and sometimes veteran) users.  I've been able to (mostly) keep up with the incremental changes since MJ6 or 7, but I don't know what I'd think if I was just starting out trying to wrap my head around the feature set of version 21.

Something very similar is being discussed in the Pretty Face thread, which you might enjoy reading:

I had looked at that thread.  My concern about the initiative is that it continues the trend of fracturing the way MC is interfaced and used, which I think will tend to have the opposite consequence from what's intended. 

[vulture_g7]

Posted this on another thread, but I feel it suits this better:

Another one that shouldn't be hard to implement. When Playing from memory is enabled, maybe there should also be a switch to set the upper limit in MB, ie if a flac is 210mb in size and the user has put the limit to 200mb, the file won't be played from RAM. Of course, the usual -1 switch should also be there for unlimited size.

[kstuart]

The Recently Imported playlist is only shown if you click 'Details' after the import in the summary window.  That seems pretty unobtrusive.  Is it showing in some other scenario that I'm not catching?

It's the same result at the end.  I always want to see the Details when I do an import.  The Details comes up in a dialog box.... so why should the Recently Imported Playlist come up, instead of whatever view one was using?

I can see the utility to some people, but others have mentioned that it is an annoyance to them.  So an option would serve everyone.

Thanks!

[JimH]

Maybe a "Don't show this again." could be added.

[kstuart]

Maybe a "Don't show this again." could be added.

But the dialog box - with the results of the import - is what I want every time.

What I don't want is the Main View changed to "Recently Imported Playlist" from the Panes view that I was previously using.

So this would require a checkbox (either in an "Advanced" list or else under "Import") saying "Don't change the view to Recently Imported Playlist after an import".

[Matt]

Would it be possible to make the window's default focus be on the Analyze button? That would move it in line with other windows, like the Clean File Properties one.

Hey, good idea and too easy!

Next build:
Changed: When the Analyze Audio dialog opens the keyboard focus will be on the "Analyze" button.

[mojave]

Volume requests:

Volume change after pause
There are many times at home that I will be listening to something fairly loud then then pause. Later I lower the volume and then continue playback. The volume initially starts where it was previously before dropping to the new volume. I think a buffer needs to be flushed on pause.

Volume fade-in after pause
When listening to music or Blu-ray loud and then pausing for a break, phone, etc. it is very jarring to start playback at the same volume. A fade-in option would be helpful.

Volume fade-out fade-in on Video
I've created Particles for songs in Blu-ray concerts. I eliminated the talking between songs. When playing a playlist of Blu-ray concert songs, the transition between songs isn't smooth. Can Video have "track change" settings like Audio?

[Matt]

Volume change after pause
There are many times at home that I will be listening to something fairly loud then then pause. Later I lower the volume and then continue playback. The volume initially starts where it was previously before dropping to the new volume. I think a buffer needs to be flushed on pause.

I don't seem to be able to reproduce that.

I play something loud, pause, turn down the volume, unpause and it starts quiet.

[mwillems]

Volume requests:

Volume change after pause
There are many times at home that I will be listening to something fairly loud then then pause. Later I lower the volume and then continue playback. The volume initially starts where it was previously before dropping to the new volume. I think a buffer needs to be flushed on pause.

I don't seem to be able to reproduce that.

I play something loud, pause, turn down the volume, unpause and it starts quiet.

Mojave could convolution be involved?  I know that there's sometimes a lag in changes when I've got the convolver running.

[pschelbert]

Microdynamics measure of track (in addition to macrodynamics measure as of today)

"Dynamic Range (R128)" measures the macrodynmacis range according to standard AES/EBU, fine.

Microdynamics (liveliness) of a recording cannot be measured in JRiver today (nor in any other program).
"DR (Dynamic Range)" is also not suitable as many people noted.

Here a proposal how to calculate, very close to standard AES/EBU (not inventing the wheel again...):

1) Take the "Dynamic Range (R128)" algorithm (already built in JRiver) and make the RMS-window size instead of 3seconds, variable. It should be possible to put values from 25ms to 3seconds (3 seconds is today). Value in the settings.

2) The Window-size would then be a parameter: 25ms-3seconds

3) The parameter may be named: "Dynamic Range (R128-50ms) for a window of 50ms, a tag field to choose from.

I am not sure if other internal parameters must be adjusted to account for the changed RMS-window size.

Benefit:
Would have a measure to judge if compression (overcompression) was done or not. If liveliness is in the track.


Why this should work:
Read the paper of "Esben Skovenborg, TC electronics": Audio Engineering Society, Convention Paper 8616, 2012 April 26-29
http://www.tcelectronic.com/media/3363942/lra-design.pdf

The tip came from Uli Brueggemann:
http://www.aktives-hoeren.de/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=5570&start=15

[mojave]

I don't seem to be able to reproduce that.

I play something loud, pause, turn down the volume, unpause and it starts quiet.

I just tested again. It only happens with video files.

[Vocalpoint]

What I don't want is the Main View changed to "Recently Imported Playlist" from the Panes view that I was previously using.

+1

This is massively annoying to me. I already know exactly what I imported - because I already imported it . A simple checkbox to not show this would suffice.

VP

[Matt]

I'm not really understanding this one, but I'll add it anyway.  Next build:
Changed: Added the option "Show 'Recently Imported' when clicking on 'Details' when an import finishes" to optionally not show the recently imported playlist.

[Vocalpoint]

I'm not really understanding this one, but I'll add it anyway.  Next build:
Changed: Added the option "Show 'Recently Imported' when clicking on 'Details' when an import finishes" to optionally not show the recently imported playlist.

Matt,

Like kstuart - I WANT the dialog box with the details of the import that just happened.

But this is my issue with some areas of MC - sometimes clicking "details" does exactly what it should - shows me a "details" dialog when I ask for it.

But other times - like this case - it does something "extra". Not only do I not need it (having just looked at the "details" of the import in the dialog) - it then breaks my workflow by taking me somewhere I did not ask to be and then makes me have to click around to go back to where I was. I fail to see how this is valuable in any way.

VP

[Matt]

Vocalpoint, so that means my addition should work perfectly for you, right?

Thanks.

[Vocalpoint]

Vocalpoint, so that means my addition should work perfectly for you, right?

It should. And I thank you for offering this option!

VP

[BernhardS]

A way to customize the width of the individual panes would be useful

[wolffe]

Hi!
   If this feature is already available, I apologize in advance.

   I'd like the ability to have a separate username/password login to an existing media network that enforces a *read only* policy at the server.  The use case is allowing the other people in my household free access to the media network without them having any ability to screw up the library by erasing files, renaming/retagging, etc.

   While the client connections would be read only (based on login credentials), the library itself should be able to be updated/modified/synced either locally or via a remote administrative user (again, based on login credentials).

----- These don't count as Too Ease, but would be nice
   Bonus points for having more than the two (Administrator, ReadOnly) accounts and allowing ratings to be stored per user without modifying the original file.  At this point, a multi-user rating combined score would be cool.

   Super bonus points for LDAP/Active Directory/Other user management integration.

[fitbrit]

I'm not really understanding this one, but I'll add it anyway.  Next build:
Changed: Added the option "Show 'Recently Imported' when clicking on 'Details' when an import finishes" to optionally not show the recently imported playlist.

Thanks, Matt. I've wanted this since 2007!

[DeaneG]

In Theater view, on the Video->Shows->Series screen, it would be nice if each series tile had a number displayed (maybe in the top blank area above the picture) which tells many shows are present (recorded etc) in that series.  For a cleaner look, the number "1" could be omitted on those tiles which only represent one show.

[RoderickGI]

In Theater view, on the Video->Shows->Series screen, it would be nice if each series tile had a number displayed (maybe in the top blank area above the picture) which tells many shows are present (recorded etc) in that series.  For a cleaner look, the number "1" could be omitted on those tiles which only represent one show.

You could do that now by inserting an expression into the Thumbnail Text. Start a thread asking how, and someone may be able to provide the required expression for you, or research MC's Expression Language to work it out.

Editing Thumbnail Text is easy.

For Standard View, just hover over the "Series" tab and a menu will drop down. Hover over "Thumbnails", then select "Thumbnail Text".
For Theatre View, select Options/Theatre View highlight the Series item under Shows, select Edit, then put the required expression in the "Expression to Display" box.

[jjazdk]

Easy lip-sync adjustment, aka hot keys and of course it should work from JRemote as well.

[flight16]

1. Write import and tagging events to a log file that I can inspect.

Right now, after an import, if I accidentally click "X" and close the "Import Summary", I won't be able to see what changed.  Same with tagging.  I want to audit and verify I haven't accidentally been writing tags to files when I didn't mean to.  It doesn't even have to be fancy as long as there was a text file I could open sitting in some directory.

2. Also an option to prompt for *all* tagging events would be nice.

I'm paranoid I'm going to fat-finger something, and since MC slickly runs the tag actions in the background, it's not always obvious if I accidentally tagged something.

[Hendrik]

Audio indicators that act as mute buttons on tabs playing audio, like web browsers. http://www.ghacks.net/2015/07/31/finally-audio-indicators-and-muting-arrives-in-firefox-nightly/

Tabs don't play audio, zones do, and you get indicators in the tree for that - they turn green when they play.

[Humbledore]

One thing I think is not user friendly is the very light, hardly visible highlighting color when using Quick Search in an album thumbnails view. At least in the Noir skin theme it takes way too long for your eyes (mine anyway) to discover what item is in focus, especially if you have a lot of albums on your page... I guess this could be changed and improved in a pretty easy manner.

Thanks!   

[kstuart]

1. Write import and tagging events to a log file that I can inspect.

Right now, after an import, if I accidentally click "X" and close the "Import Summary", I won't be able to see what changed.  Same with tagging.  I want to audit and verify I haven't accidentally been writing tags to files when I didn't mean to.  It doesn't even have to be fancy as long as there was a text file I could open sitting in some directory.

+1 !!

[mwillems]

1. Write import and tagging events to a log file that I can inspect.

Right now, after an import, if I accidentally click "X" and close the "Import Summary", I won't be able to see what changed.  Same with tagging.  I want to audit and verify I haven't accidentally been writing tags to files when I didn't mean to.  It doesn't even have to be fancy as long as there was a text file I could open sitting in some directory.

2. Also an option to prompt for *all* tagging events would be nice.

I'm paranoid I'm going to fat-finger something, and since MC slickly runs the tag actions in the background, it's not always obvious if I accidentally tagged something.

+1 as well.  Two weeks ago I accidentally initiated a tagging event for all 60K+ of my files inadvertently (must've misclicked or leaned on the keyboard or something).  I had no idea what happened to cause it, what changes were being applied (or whether they were deletions or what), and because I didn't manage to stop it until a few thousand changes had already been applied, I didn't even know which files had been affected and which hadn't.  I write tags to files, so the files were actually changed on the disk.

Because there was no log of what was actually changed, I couldn't manually reverse it, and I couldn't be sure that there weren't file deletions in there as well. So I wound up restoring a library backup and then restoring my entire music collection from backup for assurance, which was an enormous pain in the behind.  Logging would've saved me the trouble, and if I hadn't had a full backup logging would've allowed me to reverse the changes in place.

[TheGreatBiguini]

Add an option to always play everything in a specific zone.

[flight16]

+1 as well.  Two weeks ago I accidentally initiated a tagging event for all 60K+ of my files inadvertently (must've misclicked or leaned on the keyboard or something).  I had no idea what happened to cause it, what changes were being applied (or whether they were deletions or what), and because I didn't manage to stop it until a few thousand changes had already been applied, I didn't even know which files had been affected and which hadn't.  I write tags to files, so the files were actually changed on the disk.

Because there was no log of what was actually changed, I couldn't manually reverse it, and I couldn't be sure that there weren't file deletions in there as well. So I wound up restoring a library backup and then restoring my entire music collection from backup for assurance, which was an enormous pain in the behind.  Logging would've saved me the trouble, and if I hadn't had a full backup logging would've allowed me to reverse the changes in place.

I'm sorry to hear that.  That's a perfect example of why this is needed.  It's 1 part prevention (dialog to prompt before any tagging happens), 1 part recovery (logging)

[lepa]

Rename, Move, & Copy Files setup window could show which preset is currently active (name of the preset ). Small thing that would help a lot people with multiple presets for the tool.

[Antoine.]

• Podcasts:
  
  • (Optional) Auto-deletion of read episodes.
  • Have MC remember where each Podcast episode playback stopped last time.
• Webradios:
  
  • Implement it as a Media sub-type (in order to set zone rules) and in the left column as one of the media groups (Audio, Video, Podcasts, Playlists, Webradios).
• File tags:
  
  • Add a "Sorting Name" field.
    

[kstuart]

FYI - "Webradio" is only used en français.

Generally "Internet Radio" in English.

[flac.rules]

And "offline-mode" where all filters and so on are downloaded when you update the program, had another plae-trip where MC had downloaded an update, updatetd on opening the program, and then started looking for filters on the plane (with no internet)

[Antoine.]

FYI - "Webradio" is only used en français.

Generally "Internet Radio" in English.

Duly noted 

[DeaneG]

Would be nice if pressing the MCE remote's "Guide" button while watching TV took you to that channel in the Guide rather the first channel (same comment as Daveyravey). Also, would be nice while viewing live TV if the MCE remote's "Info" button displayed an on-screen overlay of TV program information.