INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 23 for Windows => Topic started by: DJLegba on October 20, 2017, 07:27:26 pm
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I'd love to see JRiver hire more coders and throw some resources at JRemote. It's an essential piece of the ecosystem that hasn't seen attention for a long time. In particular, the Android version displays most dates incorrectly on the metadata screen, and lacks the ability to display "extras" like PDF liner notes. The iOS version does both.
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Maybe revise your business model for JRemote to same structure as JRiver?
Make JRemote free on iOS and Android ... but make people buy "plugin" in MC for use with particular version of JRemote (plugin 21 works with all JRemote 21.xx and lower ... but to use JRemote23 need plugin 23) ... then there is iOS and Android plugin ... and Master plugin
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Don't forget free 30 day trial period too :)
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Maybe revise your business model for JRemote to same structure as JRiver?
That's the real issue, isn't it? JRiver can only sell JRemote once in the lifetime to any customer. Whereas they can sell an MC new version to us every year. So obviously they have no financial incentives to add new features to JRemote since they will never earn any additional money from it.
Personally I would be more than happy to pay more for JRemote, and on an annual basis too.
The idea of 1) having JRemote as a standard application sold via the respective app stores on a one time basis, plus 2) a "feature set key" sold via JRiver's web shop makes a lot of sense. The standard application would ask the MC server for its feature set key, and depending on the key, it would offer more or less functionality. The feature set key could be sold at various price points based on the scope of features enabled, and annual version upgrades of the feature set key could be sold too.
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JRiver is a fantastic bit of kit, better than any other media player out there, the jremote on ios is the best gui i have seen as well, the only thing missing is when listening to songs, the song's don't cross fade into each other, this would make jremote flawless, i would suggest people pay for jremote as you will not be disappointed, would just like the cross-fade added
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JRiver is a fantastic bit of kit, better than any other media player out there, the jremote on ios is the best gui i have seen as well, the only thing missing is when listening to songs, the song's don't cross fade into each other, this would make jremote flawless, i would suggest people pay for jremote as you will not be disappointed, would just like the cross-fade added
Another thing that's missing is views that are TV "aware". You can configure a view of guide data, but it doesn't get presented in a useful format and there's no way to do something like setup a recording of something you found in the guide. Similarly, you can setup a view of upcoming recordings, but the data isn't presented in a useful manner where you can cancel an upcoming recording or change settings for a recording (increase before or after padding and so on).
I'd be fine with some sort of annual subscription model for JRemote if it translated to it getting more attention. It's an excellent product, but it does feel like it has been getting ignored for a while now.
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I do not like subscription models ... once subscription run out and you are short on cash ... it's over
Buying new version is better imo ... short on cash then means being stuck with older version ... but still functional version
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Alternatively, contract out a revamped version that adds a few innovative features like offline music caching, call it JRemote Premium, and allow us long-time users to buy it again. :) I would.
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Some subscription models are even worse using a Perpetual license . You pay up , when you run out and do not pay you revert to the version that you bought 12 months ago.
Even though you have paid for the years worth of quarterly updates
Rant over , I am retired and don’t need it these days
Btw it’s called. Resharper
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I agree. JRemote deserves a lot more attention than it is getting. I'd happily accept a subscription model - for the first time ever - if is something else is not possible.
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Maybe revise your business model for JRemote to same structure as JRiver?
Make JRemote free on iOS and Android ... but make people buy "plugin" in MC for use with particular version of JRemote (plugin 21 works with all JRemote 21.xx and lower ... but to use JRemote23 need plugin 23) ... then there is iOS and Android plugin ... and Master plugin
Thinking this over again ... AppStore really makes it hard to implement this ... if user accidentally/automatically update app through AppStore but did not buy new version through JRiver, there is no easy way to go back to previous version
So its either subscription
Or force users to buy new version through plugin in MC that renders previous versions unusable or limit some features
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Hi,
I still think the best way is coupling the mc version and jremote version. Additional 2 Bucks with mc upgrade can be fair, if jremote then improves in the same manner.
Greets,
Thorsten
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Hi,
I still think the best way is coupling the mc version and jremote version. Additional 2 Bucks with mc upgrade can be fair, if jremote then improves in the same manner.
Greets,
Thorsten
I agree with this. I would rather pay $2-$5 more per year when I upgrade MC and have that go towards supporting JRemote development. Most people who love MC are impressed by how much you get for the money on first purchase and then the reasonable upgrade fees. I think a small hike in upgrade price would be justified to continue JRemote development.
Then again, being an early adopter of each new version of MC, I pay less than most for the upgrade.
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I agree with all the JRemote comments. I know a couple people posting to a web site doesn’t make a business model.
However, I would absolutely pay a relatively large annual fee for JRemote: just show it some love! JRemote is at the center of my MC experience. I use it every time I play my stereo, and I play my stereo a lot.
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I personally have no gripes with JRemote as is. I would hate to see it become a victim of feature bloat, much as has happened, unfortunately, to MC itself. Esoteric features might be nice, but they add complexity for everyone else.
JRemote works fine for me. If there are bugs, of course, they should be fixed. But, I know of none. What cornucopia of added specific features do people want? And, if they are added, will my nice simple experience with my simple custom views start to get needlessly complex. I think JRiver is already too tough for most first time users to grasp due to feature overload. I would hate to see JRemote follow that path.
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You can turn off features in Tools > Options > General > Features.
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The top missing feature for me is the lacking ability to browse my photo library in full screen with swipe and pinch.
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JRemote is superb, a vital part of my system. I rarely use MC directly to play anything. Some development would be great - some kind of panes view, or a more visual equivalent, and a better search would be what I would ask for. Surely improving JRemote is a better use of programming resources that Engen is/was.
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JRemote is working well for me on Android.
However I wouldn't mind an update every now and then and maybe a couple of extra features. For example it would be awesome to have a "transcode only if necessary" option (useful because some of my library is already compressed and very streamable as is). Also when I was using it on my iPhone I remember that I could reboot or shut down my PC remotely - not so with the Android version, the option isn't there. I would be happy to be able to do that again. It was handy for me.
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Surely improving JRemote is a better use of programming resources that Engen is/was.
+1 :)
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JRemote features I’d like to see....Would like assets to rotate on my iPhone (not just visible in portrait). I would also like the ability to remove an item from a playlist. I get the fear of bloatware; but, improvements are possible.
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JRemote is superb, a vital part of my system. I rarely use MC directly to play anything. Some development would be great - some kind of panes view, or a more visual equivalent, and a better search would be what I would ask for. Surely improving JRemote is a better use of programming resources that Engen is/was.
Engen is some of the most interesting development in MC in several years. That being said, I don't have anything against some updates to jremote.
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The top missing feature for me is the lacking ability to browse my photo library in full screen with swipe and pinch.
Yes, please, finally...
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The top missing feature for me is the lacking ability to browse my photo library in full screen with swipe and pinch.
Yup, this, and "play with play doctor" when connected from outside the LAN. Give us these and I would pay again.
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how about make Panel look like jremote? or allow customization (skinning) of Panel?
i’m of course assuming Panel is an html5/css3 app with some js behind it. really if i had the artistic talent i could do it myself since i think MC exposes the needed APIs which we could call from javascript. wish i had more disposable time.... used to code a lot back in the day. though mostly java and c
objective-c is not a fun language. porting it to swift would probably be a bear to do.
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Panel is meant to be an easy to use, touch friendly interface. It may never have a feature set close to that of JRemote.
It is an HTML5 javascript app.
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Although they are sold separately, JRemote is really the "public" face of JRiver Media Center in many homes. The cost to continue JRemote development should be considered part of the cost to continue making Media Center something people want to buy. People who don't purchase MC upgrades will perhaps benefit without paying directly for development, but a really nice app like JRemote will certainly drive new sales of MC.
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I'd definitely pay in a recurring manner for new versions of JRemote on iOS in some way. There are many ways you can do this on the Apple AppStore (I can't really speak to what works well on Android).
1. Probably the best method is to release it as a limited free app with a subscription to unlock some set of the feature set. A simple target for this would be playback (the free-only version is truly just a "remote" unless you pay), though you could go for other things. This is the best, IMHO, because it is simple to understand, and on the Apple AppStore, you get 85% for subscription revenue after the first year (so you get more money too). Lots of "pro-quality" apps in the App Store have and are moving to this model.
2. A free app with an external required subscription or unlock on the "MC Side" of the equation (the mobile apps only work with the "Mobile Pack" add-on for MC, and otherwise you must use Panel). Ala Office 365, Adobe's apps, and Plex. This is more confusing for customers because they can't purchase the "fix" to the app from on the device, but... People are used to it for those other apps, and in this case, you have the benefit that you're already selling MC to customers each year. Even better, then you get to keep 100% of the funds (less your existing transaction fees). This will probably hurt adoption overall compared to option #1, but it probably fits with JRiver's overall current business model and "viewpoint". Plus it has the customer benefit of being able to keep old versions working without having to continue the subscription. And, there is competition doing basically the same thing in the same space. So...?
3. Do the same as #1 above, but with yearly in-app purchases to enable playback (and/or other features) with the new major version of desktop MC. This is less good than the previous suggestion because of the revenue thing and it'll be more confusing for customers. But, the upside for the customer is that you can stop the upgrade train if you want and stick with what you've got (like MC on the desktop works now).
4. Release new versions each year, tied to the major version of MC that they work with. I think this is a bad idea, and will make customers grumpy, but it's an option.
If I could have offline playback and improvements to avoid having to use a separate app to stream video to my devices, I'd definitely be in for any of these options. As it is, I'm strongly considering going to Plex. Over the past 18 months or so, a LOT of our media consumption has moved to mobile devices. This is, honestly, my biggest concern about my JRiver-based setup right now. I still use the HTPC, but for basically everything else (which is a lot) I'm using AirVideo HD (which is unsupported and annoying) and a smattering of streaming apps (which I don't really like, but they work).
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I find the inconsistency between licence models slightly irritating in that MC is buy once, use anywhere at home, upgrade each year whereas jremote is buy once per device account. On that basis, I'd probably vote for option 3. I'd also vote for jriver opting into allowing family library use for jremote for purchases before the cutoff date (july 2016) on android.
I also find the current price for jremote rather high though compared to the price of MC itself given the feature set of jremote relative to gizmo. It doesn't seem good value to me.
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I also find the current price for jremote rather high though compared to the price of MC itself given the feature set of jremote relative to gizmo. It doesn't seem good value to me.
Apple gets a chunk. I think it's 30%.
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Apple gets a chunk. I think it's 30%.
that is a hefty chunk. I wonder whether you'd be better off making it free and adding a bit to the price of MC itself instead then?
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Matt is saying to shift cost from AppStore to MC ... so JRemote becomes free in AppStore/GoogleStore ... but MC price goes up to account for that ... so in a sense JRemote becomes standard package for MC that causes its price to go up
It will suck for people who do not use JRemote though
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or more people will use JRemote.
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I have no idea what percentage of MC users use JRemote, but it would probably make sense to keep it as an extra cost optional item. But either way, making the app free in the app store with the purchase to activate the functionality being done directly through JRiver should shift that 30% slice that Apple currently takes in the right direction.
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Looking at the direction JRiver seem to be headed - which seems to be creating your own personal 'cloud' for media streaming, making JRemote free seems like the way forward.
If necessary, perhaps there could be an add-on license for Media Center to support JRemote connections.
I don't agree with raising the price for JRiver as a whole to support it, as not everyone uses or intends to use the app.
I'm not entirely clear on whether Panel is intended to replace JRemote, but if it is, it has a long way to go to catch up.
With the app being free, that opens it up to loading the app on family & friend devices so that they can remotely connect to a server.
However user accounts and permissions would have to be integrated first. I'm not opening up full server access to all.
There are many different ways that I'd like to see JRemote improved too.
AAC streaming (would FLAC also be possible?), options to only transcode when necessary instead of on/off, the ability to apply DSP server-side (and possibly switch presets via JRemote) and more.
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JRemote isn't going to be free.
Panel won't replace JRemote. Panel is a lightweight solution for network access and control of your media. Take a look at what drmimosa said about it today (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,112883.msg780710.html#msg780710). He nailed the purpose of it.
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JRemote isn't going to be free.
Well - I have a bunch of money to give you for a reasonably up to date version of JRemote. :)
Take a look at what drmimosa said about it today (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,112883.msg780710.html#msg780710). He nailed the purpose of it.
Fair enough. But I cannot see any member of my family trying to open Panel on a browser on a tiny iPhone screen.
This part in the Panel instruction set pretty much sums up how "simple" this is:
Instructions
You can open Panel from a web browser by entering this URL:
http://[IP_Address]:52199 (changing [IP_Address] to your own IP address) Example: http://192.168.0.13:52199
localhost:52199 will do the same thing when the browser is running on the same machine as MC.
Simple if you are me. But to my wife this would look like like she is being asked to write code before listening to an album etc
It's all about form factor and what works. JRemote on the iPhone is the defacto control center for MC here. Would be nice to see it get a fresh coat of paint once in a while.
VP
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I cannot see any member of my family trying to open Panel on a browser on a tiny iPhone screen. It's all about form factor and what works.
What's different about using JRemote on the phone?
You can also use Panel on a tablet or computer.
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JRemote isn't going to be free.
People aren't asking for JRemote to be free, they're asking for it to be licensed on the server rather than the app.
Make the app free, but require a server-side license to use it - possibly with a 30-day trial like Media Center.
Then family & friends can use the app, instead of having to use Panel - or more likely just having to pass around a single device for control.
This part in the Panel instruction set pretty much sums up how "simple" this is:
http://wg.jriver.com/your_access_key needs to be updated, and have a way to save account credentials so that it automatically connects.
I need an URL that I can give to people which just connects automatically no matter what network they're on.
But again: user accounts and permissions need to be a thing if this is the direction that JRiver is headed.
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What's different about using JRemote on the phone?
I answered that above. Just the basic task of entering the url to get to the server in a browser would kill movie night instantly. JRemote requires nothing. Press a button and go. I mean - I shouldn't have to tell you how easy JRemote is - right?
You can also use Panel on a tablet or computer.
Well - we have iPads and JRemote is even better on those. But I do not have some clunky PC sitting in the corner of my media room.
Again - any member of the family can whip out their iphone (we all own JRemote) - spark up JRemote and have a movie going in 10 secs on the big screen. Doesn't get any easier.
Does anyone really want to deal with this
http://[IP_Address]:52199 (changing [IP_Address] to your own IP address) Example: http://192.168.0.13:52199
To enjoy their media?
My wife can't even be bothered by saving a bookmark on her phone let alone dealing with that URL above. I feel you guys are making a lot of assumptions when you claim Panel is "easy". More like "easy" ("If you have a tech savvy person living in the home").
I like the idea but 99.9% of people would have no idea how this works.
VP
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http://wg.jriver.com/your_access_key needs to be updated, and have a way to save account credentials so that it automatically connects.I need an URL that I can give to people which just connects automatically no matter what network they're on.
As I suspected - even more tech stuff :).
At my house - all I would need is for this to fail but once and I would have chaos on my hands.
JRemote works 100% of the time whether I am there or not - and that's the key for us.
To be clear - I have zero interest in Panel (I am sure you can tell) and I (and probably many others) want to give JRiver Inc. more cash for a "once in while" refresh of JRemote.
Not sure how that can be so difficult.
VP
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As I suspected - even more tech stuff :).
At my house - all I would need is for this to fail but once and I would have chaos on my hands.
JRemote works 100% of the time whether I am there or not - and that's the key for us.
VP
I just set up a shortcut using the outside IP address. Firefox does that trivially on Android. It remembers my sign-in information. At most, it asks to confirm it. Or you can set up a bookmark in a browser. Once set up, the user can connect from anywhere from a desktop icon or bokmark. Pretty straightforward.
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Pretty straightforward.
Totally - straightforward - if you are me.
But you do realize that most of us have others in our lives that like to enjoy media via MC - sometimes when the primary "tech daddy" is not there.
If we are talking about my wife - it's not straight forward. And it will never be straight forward. And there is nothing I can do to change this fact.
Even the mere suggestion of discussing URL's, bookmarks and IP addresses causes major angularity.
If you have been married 20+ years - you may know what I am talking about :)
Or you may have a super tech savvy wife (or S/O). If so - you rock.
Me - I thank my lucky stars daily that my wife "gets" JRemote. It's easy, makes sense to her and keeps my tech support to an absolute minimum. That my friend - is like gold.
VP
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This made my day :D
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The admin (you) just saves a link. Call it Movies. Call it whatever you want.
The user (your wife) clicks on the link. Panel appears.
The user experience of starting Panel is identical to that of starting JRemote. Only the name has been changed.
I do understand and sympathize with the problem you're describing. It is exactly the problem we're trying to solve. Click, click, play.
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Totally - straightforward - if you are me.
But you do realize that most of us have others in our lives that like to enjoy media via MC - sometimes when the primary "tech daddy" is not there.
If we are talking about my wife - it's not straight forward. And it will never be straight forward. And there is nothing I can do to change this fact.
Even the mere suggestion of discussing URL's, bookmarks and IP addresses causes major angularity.
If you have been married 20+ years - you may know what I am talking about :)
Or you may have a super tech savvy wife (or S/O). If so - you rock.
Me - I thank my lucky stars daily that my wife "gets" JRemote. It's easy, makes sense to her and keeps my tech support to an absolute minimum. That my friend - is like gold.
VP
Completely understand.
So, you set Panel up for her once. Then it is done.That is what I do for my wife. She has used Gizmo for years and has no idea what an access code does and never has to worry about it. I guess you probably set up JRemote for her. So, just set up Panel for her.
Panel is simpler than JRemote for someone who just wants to play albums or playlists. JRemote has things like metadata that Panel does not and it has a better overall user interface than Panel. It is a more sophisticated product. But for the technologically challenged who don't need the metadata, Panel is perhaps preferable. The UI could use some improvement, but, given it also is meant to serve PCs, will probably never be as sophisticated at JRemote, although they could probably do that if they wanted to. Note I am only talking about Audio - I have no idea about images or video.
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I do understand and sympathize with the problem you're describing. It is exactly the problem we're trying to solve. Click, click, play.
Thanks Jim! I know you guys are always working hard.
But the reality is - (from a customer perspective) - you already have a defacto interface (JRemote) that LOTS of people love and it is already Click Click Play.
We simply want to give you more money to give that interface (JRemote) some regular TLC.
I understand your need to stay busy and develop new things - but as a customer - I simply do not see Panel as necessary when I already have JRemote. And have the family trained on it.
VP
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The user experience of starting Panel is identical to that of starting JRemote. Only the name has been changed.
While I don't agree, what leads you to the statement that the user experience is the same?
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Note I am only talking about Audio - I have no idea about images or video.
Understood. My wife's main interaction with MC is strictly for big screen movie action. It simply has to work when she wants to fire up a movie and I am not there. For audio - she uses Spotify now (on her Phone and PC) and there is no going back.
VP
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Understood. My wife's main interaction with MC is strictly for big screen movie action. It simply has to work when she wants to fire up a movie and I am not there. For audio - she uses Spotify now (on her Phone and PC) and there is no going back.
VP
We have automated my wife's movie watching in a different way. She picks out a DVD or Blu Ray - you know, an actual disk - I press a button to open the drawer on the player, she puts it in, I close the drawer, and I start and stop the movie as she requests.
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While I don't agree, what leads you to the statement that the user experience is the same?
Concerning startup. Please re-read what I said.
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The user experience of starting Panel is identical to that of starting JRemote. Only the name has been changed.
Not on my devices. I have to log in and set my zone every time I open it, and the non-native scrolling doesn't behave nicely (no momentum) or breaks entirely.
I've only been testing locally, since there's no easy way to connect remotely if your IP isn't fixed.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/FYn5S_zkr3U
Panel is simpler than JRemote for someone who just wants to play albums or playlists.
I don't agree that less information is always simpler.
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We have automated my wife's movie watching in a different way. She picks out a DVD or Blu Ray - you know, an actual disk - I press a button to open the drawer on the player, she puts it in, I close the drawer, and I start and stop the movie as she requests.
Amazing how this always works. Still love my discs as well.
VP
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this is a fascinating thread.
we have a bunch of customers arguing jremote is preferred interface to MC but no indication of what the future holds for jremote.
ultimately i think all anyone wants to know is whether or not jremote will see any updates outside of recompiling to support the next version of ios. panel for sure has its uses. but not in my family.
we all use jremote on our iphones and ipads. we have several. we love what it does
i use it in my car as well. in fact the only reason i came across jriver is because an audiophile friend of mine introduced me to jremote and streaming from mc to his dac (ps audio). loved the ui and features. from there you had my money
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In conclusion...
JRemote is great. It won't be abandoned.
JRemote won't be free.
Panel isn't meant as a replacement for JRemote. It has a different purpose. If you're interested, you could read about the beginning of this work here: Pretty Face (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99290.0)
We will focus more on web apps. You may not get what you want.
I will let this thread run overnight and then close it tomorrow.
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My conclusion is that your customers love JRemote and would love to see more resources devoted to fixing current bugs and making it better, but your focus is on other things right now. Not giving customers what they want is a risky business strategy.
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Thanks for letting me know that. We do what we can.
Part of my responsibility is to look further into the future and guess what you might want 5 years from now.
JRemote uses our Web Services interface.
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DevZone
You could always take a crack at building something better, or convincing someone else to do so. For now, it's pretty exceptional.
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Lots of people seem to be making a straw man out of Panel here, probably because they like JRemote and don't want to see it neglected. I like JRemote too, it is a great app with an interesting history.
Put that concern aside and take another look at what Panel achieves.
Over the past six years, many threads appear saying JRiver is too complex for beginners. Panel solves that problem. It's a game changer in the JRiver ecosystem.
Here is JRiver's Id Panel, posted a few weeks ago by JimH.
http://idtest.jriver.com:52199 (login: first password: second)
Share the link, click, and you have complete control of the JRiver library playback. Setup is all behind the scenes. Many advanced features of JRiver (transcoding, zoneswitch, power up, view customization, smartlists, etc) can be set up behind the scenes to be accessed by Panel.
No explaining views, simple universal search results, very little options. Click and it works.
Send the link via email or SMS, easy one click share.
From an iPhone, you can click "Add to home screen" on a browser. Single click from this point forward. This means direct access to your JRiver library on every iPhone, included in the purchase price of JRiver.
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This means direct access to your JRiver library on every iPhone, included in the purchase price of JRiver.
JRemote could be included in the purchase price of JRiver, or, if you want to go that way, Panel could be sold for $10 in the app store. Here is a comparison of the "playing now" screens in Panel and JRemote.
Panel
(http://www.micropod.com/images/PanelPlayingNow.jpg)
Panel never did manage to indicate the track that was actually playing or the time left to play. Sure, these things can be fixed, but why put in the effort on a no-charge item when a better alternative that actually generates revenue already exists?
JRemote
(http://www.micropod.com/images/JRiverPlayingNow.jpg)
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I think you may be using an older version of Panel. Mine shows cover art.
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I think you may be using an older version of Panel. Mine shows cover art.
I just tried Panel. Shows none of my MKV videos? All I got is 4 test rips I did in MP4 a few months ago?
Am I missing a setting or something?
VP
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I think you may be using an older version of Panel. Mine shows cover art.
I'm using the "stable" release, 23.0.73. There are other bugs, which I reported in the Panel thread. If the album sort is random, clicking on an album produces a randomly sorted track list, which no one would ever want. I know you can fix this, but it's going to take a huge amount of effort on your part before I'd recommend Panel to anyone.
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Lots of people seem to be making a straw man out of Panel here, probably because they like JRemote and don't want to see it neglected. I like JRemote too, it is a great app with an interesting history.
From an iPhone, you can click "Add to home screen" on a browser. Single click from this point forward. This means direct access to your JRiver library on every iPhone, included in the purchase price of JRiver.
Unfortunately I don't have time to write out a full response to this right now, but I do plan on writing out something more tomorrow if I have the opportunity.
I don't dislike Panel because it's not JRemote. I dislike it because I've yet to find a case where a web app has offered an experience comparable to a native app, and Panel is no exception.
I do dislike that JRemote has been neglected, and even if it's not intended to be a replacement, that's where the development resources are going rather than improving JRemote. JRemote is certainly not perfect either.
Panel needs to get native scrolling implemented, and fix whatever allows the whole UI to be dragged around when scrolling.
That immediately leaves a bad impression when using it.
You're right about its simplicity, but that also includes the interface in ways which are not positive.
Presentation is an issue. Information density and richness is poor.
I need to go more in-depth about this, but in half the size, the JRemote status bar displays the same amount of information, the current track's artwork, progress, and both pause and skip controls.
Conversely, when listing tracks Panel condenses Name, Artist, and Duration into a single line rather than displaying it over multiple lines like JRemote does, and does not display any album art.
Attached is an image that shows five different tracks but I have no way to identify them in Panel.
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There's much Panel comparison going on in this thread, and many times I've read that's so simple to get into, and that the browser will remember you, and so on and so on... but this is not my experience???
The login prompt for user/password pops up on top of the page. The Browser does not offer to remember the details, and during the session, I get multiple login prompts. For the record, I am only interested in using it externally, so all testing is carried out on an iPhone 6s+ using Safari and a 4G data connection.
As for JRemote, the 'Playing Now rotation' (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,108201.msg751360.html#msg751360) bug is still ever present, and ever so annoying :)
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Only JRiver knows % of users that purchase JRemote (I will eventually purchase it ... I am not big fan of interfacing through browsers ... one of first thing I looked when choosing media management is integration with smart phone). I think most ppl who purchase JRemote don't mind paying something that continues JRemote development ... suggestions of making it free were just proposals for different business models that can get JRiver more funds from us (the users). I think JRemote is an important part of JRiver mission ... particularly "anywhere" part
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I'm using the "stable" release, 23.0.73. There are other bugs, which I reported in the Panel thread.
Of course there are bugs. It's under development.
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I don't dislike Panel because it's not JRemote. I dislike it because I've yet to find a case where a web app has offered an experience comparable to a native app, and Panel is no exception.
Five years ago, I would have been on your side about web apps. That's no longer the case. A good developer can do almost anything with a web app now. There is a performance gap, but that is closing as devices get faster.
Google, one of the most successful companies on this planet, began many years ago to replace OS specific applications with web applications. I think they have done a pretty good job of that.
A web app lets us do things once instead of once for each OS.
It's not a replacement for JRemote or Gizmo. It's just an additional, always present, easy to understand, interface. You can give it to a child and know it will work.
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A web app lets us do things once instead of once for each OS.
Well, sort of. Instead of OS specific differences, you have to deal with browser specific differences which include different versions of the "same" browser. I'd agree that this is probably still less work overall than native apps for each OS, but it's not always trivial either.
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Simple if you are me. But to my wife this would look like like she is being asked to write code before listening to an album etc
This is true. Jim, how about a free App on iTunes/Google Play that only installs an icon/link to access Panel, and just asks for the JRiver Access Key to make the connection? I guess it would need a User ID and Password as well. But most users understand and could handle that, as they do it on their phones for all sorts of Apps.
The Access Key can be looked up reasonably easily in MC, and for someone who has no clue, it could be set by SMS to their phone by whoever runs MC at home, for a simple cut and paste into the icon setup, along with the User ID and Password. It could probably even be simplified more with some extra thought. Perhaps set up a "Share Panel" function in Panel itself, which an Administrator could use to send a structured SMS to a new user, and the icon setup could automatically read the SMS and set up the icon for them. I have been setting up a new Android phone and lots of Apps can now send or read an SMS to automate stuff.
I for one, having just switched to Android on my phone, would pay for JRemote if it matched the functionality of the iOS version, and there was a demonstrable commitment to maintenance and development of it.
But on the other hand, while Panel may be a lite product now, HTML5 can be used to make some amazing applications. If Panel was developed to match JRemote features I would pay a little extra for the JRiver ecosystem to always have a current version available.