INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 24 for Windows => Topic started by: JimH on July 15, 2018, 11:58:45 am
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I ran a similar poll on DSD (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,116696.0.html), an audiophile topic.
I'm just trying to understand the interest distribution of our customers.
Thanks for any comments.
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Although I would like to use TV in MC, it just is not usable to me. Setup and usability are not on par with native tools. Hence I voted "Not too important".
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I have no need for the video capabilities of MC, however I understand that many people depend on them so think it should be part of MC. Unfortunately, Not Important is not an option. I voted "Don't understand why JRiver isn't just audio" since that seems closer to no interest than "Not Too Important", since i really have no interest. I think "Not important" would be a better fourth option or at least an additional option.
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JRiver is the core of my home cinema in the cellar.
Playback of files from NAS only.
Also I use it for music in an full active setup in the living room.
BR
Erich
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I never use TV and video, nor photo on JRiver.
Music-Video are just grabage, detract form the music. If video is needed, then music is not any good.
High Quality Audio playing (not neccesarily High Res Audio), Audio Streaming and Internet Radio is what I am interrested in
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It's why I started using Media Center, and still its primary use-case for me even though I also use it extensively for audio management/playback.
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Video is a must-have. While I love it's audio capabilities, without video I'd drop it in a heart beat out of sheer protest. JRiver represents for me the single one-stop solution for my Home Theater needs on a Windows PC.
While I don't use the TV feature (I haven't had cable or even an antenna for many years), but Audio/Video/Photo capabilities combined with the sheer number of formats supported (DSD, MVC 3D, PCM, BluRay menus) is staggering. There simply is no other piece of software that does this as well as JRiver.
The only place JRiver lacks is native device support; until such time - if ever - i remain limited to competitors for nVidia Shield TV and Apple TV 4K (sorry, browsers don't work there and therefore Panel is not an option in spite of its increasing improvements). But we can deal with that...
The home theater is paramount, and JRiver does it all an exceptionally well.
What was the question? Haha.
Video == Extremely important
TV == Nice to have. May get around to it sometime.
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Video yes
TV would interest me but other SW just do this so much better (Subtitles, OSD, multichannel recording, epg, web interface, etc)
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I use JRiver mostly for video. Mostly Blu-ray MKV files with a few ISO.
Video 85%
Music 15%
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I don't use it for tv at all (other than playing files) but it is the main video/audio source in the whole house.
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We use MC mostly for watching Videos and I rank each Media Type as follows in importance for us:
- 1,000 Movies (mostly BD and now UHD BD)
- 2,000 TV Shows Eps
- 500 Home Videos
- 2,000 Music Video Tracks
- OTA/FTA TV
- 10,000 Audio Tracks
- 15,000 Images (though we use it more as a storage area rather than a viewing platform)
MC with ROHQ produces a picture no other HW players can match for HTPC duties. Support for things like BD Menus and UHD BD is outstanding. Streaming services (aka Netflix) is a loooong way from producing a stream that can match a UHD rip played by MC.
OTA/FTA TV is also important to me but these days we use it less than previously as we can get FTA/OTA TV via:
1) HD Home Run: and their native client apps are nice and easy for casual viewing with good EPG and a Finger friendly based UI's for the smaller screens
2) Cable: On the larger screens, we switched to a Cable provider that has re-transmission of most FTA channels as part of their channel line up but that is likely to change over the next year or so. In which case we will be relying on MC again for our FTA consumption on the TV's as well.
On the Audio Front we consume music more as a background / party thing rather than critical listening (eg how much critical listening do you need with Oz Pub Rock!!). On that point, it is the distribution of the content to the whole house that is important and an area that is still hard to do in a user friendly way.
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Playing Movies, Series and Music (Stereo, Multichannel and Highres) from NAS.
No TV or other Things like Gadgets or Weather and so on
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The combination of the DSP engine with BD/uhd support is *the* USP for MC imv.
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I'm hoping to use MC as the backbone of my media server - TV and my video collection being primary.
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My use:
50% TV
25% Video
25% Music
Coming from Win MCE recently and now I use JRiver to all my media.
Worthy replacement because of Microsoft stopped support Win MCE.
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I'm almost exclusively TV and Video.
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Unfortunately, I do not know why, I've never managed to make JRiver work properly for TV. Maybe it's not properly programmed for the Italian TV signal, or maybe I did not do it, the fact is that for TV use DVBViewer starting it from JRiver.
However I use JRiver for the video at 90% (the combined MC-ROHQ-madvr is really unsurpassable) and 10% for the music.
The recent activation of BD menus and compatibility with BD-UHD makes it irreplaceable
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Extremely important.
In my case I use MC for more than a year now, mainly for watching Blu rays with madvr options (I have a 1280x800 projector so I need downscaling options) and also for listening to hi res audio files. Videoclock is the feature that made me buy the software, it's just too good (please never take it out ;D).
So to resume:
50% movies
50% music
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80% Music
20% Movies
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Video is a must-have. While I love it's audio capabilities, without video I'd drop it in a heart beat out of sheer protest. JRiver represents for me the single one-stop solution for my Home Theater needs on a Windows PC.
While I don't use the TV feature (I haven't had cable or even an antenna for many years), but Audio/Video/Photo capabilities combined with the sheer number of formats supported (DSD, MVC 3D, PCM, BluRay menus) is staggering. There simply is no other piece of software that does this as well as JRiver.
The only place JRiver lacks is native device support; until such time - if ever - i remain limited to competitors for nVidia Shield TV and Apple TV 4K (sorry, browsers don't work there and therefore Panel is not an option in spite of its increasing improvements). But we can deal with that...
The home theater is paramount, and JRiver does it all an exceptionally well.
What was the question? Haha.
Video == Extremely important
TV == Nice to have. May get around to it sometime.
I don't like to copy but this sums it up for me as well.
Video and Audio a must - TV couldn't care less.
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We're just trying to understand how our customers use the software. We have no intention of removing anything.
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Hi,
All sort of Music files and Video files.
No Tv.
Thanks,
Oscar
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Hi,
I only use JRiver for watching my Movie/TV Boxsets rips in MKV (MK3D) from my NAS. I don't use it for live TV.
John
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100% music here. I may use it for photos in the future, I don't know yet. As for video, I don't need any software to watch programs or stream Netflix and OCS on my TV. I don't buy or download BD/DVD anymore, Netflix + OCS + TV programs are more than enough for my wife and me. I still buy CDs, although not nearly often than before.
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video is important to me ... very important (music is important too)
I found reference to JRiver in forums for natively playing 3D ... fact that it can also do music was a bonus ... fact that it can do both video and audio in highest quality was a winner for me
sure there is Netfix for video … but then there is Spotify for music ... what i am getting to is - i like to "own" my library ... internet where i am is expensive and slow ... so streaming is not an option for me (and even if it was ... i still prefer BD over whatever streaming is offering) ... i have to get my BD from ebay and amazon now as closest shop that sells physical discs closed down :(
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I use MC for Music (90%) and video (10%).
I have not set up TV and don't plan to do so.
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I have no need for the video capabilities of MC, however I understand that many people depend on them so think it should be part of MC. Unfortunately, Not Important is not an option. I voted "Don't understand why JRiver isn't just audio" since that seems closer to no interest than "Not Too Important", since i really have no interest. I think "Not important" would be a better fourth option or at least an additional option.
I agree with this post!
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TV = 50%
Video = 25%
Music = 25%
Ross
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It is essential for me but I am using it less and less for TV as more of the programs we watch become available on streaming. We are only recording a handful of TV shows a week these days.
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Maybe you should have split out Video & TV into separate questions.
For me Video is very important, TV - never have or will use JR MC for that.
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The difference between TV and Video is disappearing.
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I don't use the TV features (I don't have a tuner in my PC) but I use the video features a lot, especially now that Blu-Ray Menus are supported! I love having as many Blu-Rays ripped as my drive will hold so I can fire up any movie any time! That always impresses people when I show them the power of MC.
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I use the Video functions quite a bit, but not TV. I'm interpreting TV as cable or OTA. I use YouTube TV for that content solely now. I do this on a Roku or my laptop.
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With 78 voting, it's about
70% important
30% not
This is very interesting. I take it as an indication that we have more customers focused on video now than on audio. I know that many of the video customers are also audio customers.
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Was there a poll regarding the importance of audio?
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For me - "Video" simply relates to the ability to playback movies (files) in a easy and meaninglful way. Audio of course is my main reason for using MC.
"TV" in MC serves little purpose here in Canada as everything is encrypted and delivered via set top box.
I actually scratch my head wondering how/why the TV fans in here actually use MC in conjunction with a standard TV subscription be it in Alberta or Minnesota. Is everyone out buying antennas and capturing the free over the air HD channels or what?
VP
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With 78 voting, it's about
70% important
30% not
This is very interesting. I take it as an indication that we have more customers focused on video now than on audio. I know that many of the video customers are also audio customers.
I think most ppl who don't care about Video might not even bother with this poll … while almost certainly ppl who care will vote lol
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I think you underestimate the opinions of people who don't care.
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I think you underestimate the opinions of people who don't care.
He didn't underestimate mine.
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I buy JR to have a flexible and powerful blu-ray player that works even (and in the future) for 3D.
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He didn't underestimate mine.
Meaning that you didn't vote?
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Meaning that you didn't vote?
Correct
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I take it as an indication that we have more customers focused on video now than on audio. I know that many of the video customers are also audio customers.
Jim, I use MC about 80% audio, 20% video, and out of that 20% is why I said what I said above.
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I think you underestimate the opinions of people who don't care.
I did not mean to criticize this poll as it votes on feature that's very important to me … just saying people are lazy most of the time for things they even care about … more so for things they don't care … Brexit is a sad example of that
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I use video / tv / streaming radio / local audio in about equal amounts.
I started with JRiver for its audio capabilities but expanded into OTA tv (HDHomerun) and local video (mostly blu ray rips from local NAS). I do occasionally use it to access my photo collection too.
I want it to be my one stop shop for all forms of media and the more I can control it from Theatre View the better.
I really appreciate the "diversification" in v24 and hope it continues although I appreciate it must be getting increasingly difficult to keep up with developing all these new capabilities.
Good job guys!
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We ONLY use TV and Video features. No audio at all. Google Home and Pandora/Slacker do an excellent job of that (for our needs anyway).
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Supporting video files/formats and supporting live TV are two different things.
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I would separate video and TV.
For movies I have the highest quality source, and TV we consume over internet or youtube from our personal devices, or not watching at all.
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I have:
- 13174 Audio files
- 14433 Image files
- 3313 Video files
- 3416 Other files
Video with madVR makes for me the big! difference. MC is for me the only one stop solution for audio, video and images. I also use it to archive my documents.
If MC would be only audio I would go somewhere else ->R*. The price difference would not play a role for me.
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I use MC mainly for Audio with high res quality.
153.000 audio files
12.500 pic
45 videos
0 TV
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I started out using MC for 100% audio, back on version 9 or so. Now, on version 24, I am 99% Video (all pre-recorded; no live TV.)
I do listen to my music library on occasion, but it is now quite rare.
I have MC-provided video output in four places: my Mac workstation, main 4K TV (Windows 10 HTPC), bedroom TV (Android TV box, accessing MC via DLNA through Kodi), kitchen TV (ditto, DLNA through Kodi.)
Of those four outputs, only one (Mac workstation) ever listens to music. The DLNA devices don't even have a Music entry, and while the main TV HTPC does have Music on its Theatre View output, it's almost never used.
So personally I am strongly in favour of future development focusing more on video playback than music, if/when such a choice was being made.
My files break down as follows:
* Video - TV shows, documentaries etc: 8145 files, 7.1TB, 240.6 days
* Video - Movies: 317 files, 510GB, 25.7 days
* Audio - music, Classical: 2395 files, 47.9GB, 8.4 days
* Audio - music, Contemporary: 12039 files, 265GB, 33.1 days
With 95+% of usage coming from the first category: Video - TV Shows.
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We use MC for music and video (files). I have a TV tuner but have not got into it since Netflix.
I do have a concern about HTPC in general though. It seems as if UHD Blu-ray (from a disc or disk) is becoming harder to implement in a PC environment if recent posts elsewhere on copy protection are true. This seems to be a bit terminal. If we are really at a crossroads with streaming, I do wonder what investment I continue to make in video. And at a practical sense I do need to replace a broken PC with something.
I love having all our content in one tidy, visually appealing and logical place, available for my family to access whenever they like, and balk at the idea of ugly TV dlna interfaces.
Do others see video files on the PC slipping past the horizon as we move into a 4k world?
Z
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Snapshot with 121 votes:
Important: 65%
Not very: 35%
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Compared to my previous message I though a little more about it, because I am person like many others in this forum who have a history in CD/SACD/DVD/BD. I have purchased about 450 movies and 95 TV Series like 24, Homeland etc. on DVD/BD
I also have 84 music concerts BD/DVD's. Everything is ripped to mkv format.
If I had not make that investment in the past and could start from scratch I would stream the movies and the TV series through Amazon prime or Apple TV. Usually I see 60% of the movies and TV series only once.
Even if I could start from scratch, the music concerts I would prefer to have them locally. The Audio & Video quality is much much better than through streaming. Also I would prefer to have some HighRes Music locally.
Conclusion: Because I would like to have my music concerts locally, video would be also very important to me but the total A/V solution including media server's and media renderers would look much different then my current environment. It would be something like simaudio's 390 Preamp/Networkplayer (has HDMI Input for Apple TV, Qubuz Streaming)+ Apple TV + A Laptop Solution with MC for the relatively small # of local files with external 2 - 4TB SSD + Active Speakers.
Would it make sense to have MC on Apple TV?
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Split Have you considered telemetry? (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,116762.0.html)
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Would it make sense to have MC on Apple TV?
I would like to see MC on Apple TV. However, I do not think this is going to happen anytime soon, if at all.
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I would like to see MC on Apple TV. However, I do not think this is going to happen anytime soon, if at all.
I am happy with MC on my PC ... having full blown MC on AppleTV seems overkill ... but having a simple client that just do Theatre View does not seem far fetch ... manage/tag your media on PC/Mac/Linux ... access media on Apple TV or other client (smart TV or roku)
I know can access MC library through DLNA ... but its ugly as hell lol
While this feature can be nice ... its not necessity for me (yet) ... as can always build silent HTPC, slap MC on it and put next to TV to act as a client :)
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I have been using JRiver as my media hub for many, many years. I use it for TV, video, and audio. I have two HDHomeRun boxes, one OTA and the other cablecard, and use MC as my DVR. MC also contains all of the video and audio files stored on my Synology NAS.
TV functionality probably gets the most use. I expect I will cut the cord on the cable subscription soon but will keep the OTA. I have not used MC as an interface into all of the streaming audio and video services like Youtube and Netflix. I'd like to keep MC as my sole interface, but have found that it is easier to just point the browser on my HTPC to their websites.
My network is setup such than I can stream from the JRiver Media Server to anywhere over the internet through either JRemote or the MC client on a laptop. The lack of the ability for JRemote to download local copies is a blocker though as it forces me to always be connected and to pay data charges when on the cell network. Thus after so many years of MC, I am migrating some of my content to DS Audio and DS Video.
I have no interest in Apple TV or Google and Amazon's equivalent. I like that MC is independent and does not lock me into a particular vendor's walled garden. And I don't want Apple, Google, and others to track everything I play.
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I would like to see MC on Apple TV. However, I do not think this is going to happen anytime soon, if at all.
I'd rather see it on an Nvidia Shield :)
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Extremely important. It's the main reason I use JRiver. I use the TV tuner card feature to watch and record over-the-air TV shows several times a week. I don't even own a regular TV. Just watch TV on my computer attached to a large monitor. It's a SUPER SMART TV! I love how I can watch a TV show in a small corner of a window while doing other work on my computer with the remainder of the screen.
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Let's face it, a Media Center program that didn't handle video and tv wouldn't be a Media Center Program would it?
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I'd rather see it on an Nvidia Shield :)
I would love this. I had been thinking of making a thread on it.
Specifically, I would love an Android version that I could install on one of my Android TV boxes, such as the H96 Pro+ (https://www.banggood.com/H96-PRO-PLUS-Amlogic-S912-Octa-Core-3GB-RAM-32GB-ROM-TV-Box-p-1100082.html?cur_warehouse=USA)
These devices make superb media players: small, powerful (capable of 4K, H264/265, etc), lots of connectivity (dual-band WiFi, 1G ethernet, USB 3, etc), and are very affordable.
I already use two of them to access my MC library, but have to do so via Kodi's DLNA client. It's functional, but metadata doesn't fully transfer, custom sorting isn't possible, and I can't do anything more advanced than Series/Season grouping of my TV shows.
And I'd think it wouldn't be a huge amount of work to port MC to Android, given it already runs on Linux ARM. Less work than Apple TV, anyway (and a lot less hassle in terms of approval/certification/whatever.)
Personally I'd be quite happy to buy a separate copy of an Android version via the Play store, even though I already have a Master license. I'd say having an Android version could open up a new market, given that these Android boxes are pretty popular as media players now. Kodi is OK for some things and very customisable, but lacks all of MC's library management features. So new users finding MC could find a lot they really like, and worth paying for.
(PS. I did try the J River Android client as an alternative to Kodi, but found it limited - in particular it forces transcoding of all files on the server, there's no option to decode on the client, which the Android TV box is quite capable of. I also think I remember it was limited to 720p max.)
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As some others have said, if you were to take video or TV away, I would most likely never pay for another JR upgrade again and move on to other options because they're both extremely important to me. I probably use a mix of something like 45% TV, 45% video, 9% music, and 1% photos. That said, I would pretty much feel the same way about music - take that away and I'd seriously look at other options.
The photo functionality is nice too, but I don't tend to give it much use despite the fact that I have a TON of photos from trips over the years.
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My use right now is literally 100% TV.
Spotify has taken over my music playing.
Netflix and Google Play have taken over my Movie playing.
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As some others have said, if you were to take video or TV away, I would most likely never pay for another JR upgrade again and move on to other options because they're both extremely important to me. I probably use a mix of something like 45% TV, 45% video, 9% music, and 1% photos. That said, I would pretty much feel the same way about music - take that away and I'd seriously look at other options.
The photo functionality is nice too, but I don't tend to give it much use despite the fact that I have a TON of photos from trips over the years.
Just to be clear, we're not thinking about taking anything away. This is just research.
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The video features in JRiver Media Center are important to me when the audio quality of the video I'm watching is important to me. For things like concert videos the audio quality (and the ability to do DSP if necessary) is very important to me. I also consider the audio quality important for movies. One of the very neat abilities of JRiver for video playback is the ability to use DSP plugins like Waves Nx that allows for playback of surround sound over headphones. So awesome (Waves Nx is awesome)! JRiver can do that. Other video players cannot. The video features in JRiver Media Center is one of the reasons I like it so much over the alternatives.
The vast majority of my use of JRiver is for 2-channel music listening using headphones. Very little video use. But for those times that I do want to use JRiver Media Center for video the video/audio features are very important to me. Especially for concert videos. And for movies when I want to experience the movie in surround sound over headphones (for that I use the Waves Nx plugin).
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I'd rather see it on an Nvidia Shield :)
We've been using MC for 9 years as our mainstay HTPC app. We have 30TB of movies ripped to mkv, not including similar backup in iso. This is mostly Blu-ray movies of what I call "Classics" that we will watch again, several times . We have a few UHD Blu-ray discs that I got just to test my computer hardware, but I don't have a 4k TV yet.
These days we increasingly go to Netflix through our HTPC for TV series and kids content. If we want to watch a movie we are streaming a rental typically using the Microsoft Films & TV app.
The HTPC is now broken so I am looking at whether to continue the investment which is probably a $2000 cost for a 4k machine, or move to a streaming rental platform.
We use MC for music as well however, and I have spent a lot of time building our library of all our CDs. Music has a sentimental value and I am not prepared to accept a quality any less than the original disc. We do use Spotify, but mainly for discovering new music.
My strong preference would be for a single platform, (fewer wires in the lounge!). Happy to navigate different apps but as I'm not sure about the future of keeping UHD physical content on a HDD, I'm wondering if it's time to look at alternatives.
For that reason the idea of a MC app on an Apple 4k TV or Nvidia Shield that maintains the high-quality audio and video of the Windows MC app we love would be great. I understand Plex and Kodi are on these platforms, though I have never used them and know nothing about them. The MC library could be managed from any PC or a dedicated library server, not necessarily needing a dedicated lounge room machine, with the HDDs either on the network or inside the server.
Does a MC Apple or Android client app with a 10' interface make sense and would it be straight forward to imement? To me it seems it would transition MC into the platform world and provide a very rich user experience and open up the high quality reproduction to a whole new audience.
We also use MC for TV and photos but less frequently
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The HTPC is now broken so I am looking at whether to continue the investment which is probably a $2000 cost for a 4k machine
Surely nothing like so much? I realise for full 4K UHD playback off a disk the specs are somewhat higher, but from what I've seen you don't need a special GPU, just a special CPU with SGX instructions. Such as the i5-6400 which is about $200. Same again for motherboard, $100 for the special 4K UHD drive, and then usual cost for case, PSU etc. No more than about $800 I'd think?
And such a machine would of course be more than capable of playing downloaded 4K content, H264/H265 etc - a $50 Android box can do that.
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I'm hearing a GTX 1060 6gb is needed which is $400+ you add it all up with a HiFi form factor case and it gets close
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There are many different suggestions above. I started a topic to try to define the boundaries of what we can do.
Media Platforms (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,116773.0.html)
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I'm hearing a GTX 1060 6gb is needed which is $400+ you add it all up with a HiFi form factor case and it gets close
I don't believe so. In fact, if Cyberlink PowerDVD is used, it is a requirement that you must use Intel Graphics - any other GPU installed cannot be used to play a UHD disk.
I don't know the full details, but the threads I've read on the net suggest it's the processor that's important. It's not a GPU acceleration type thing. It's for playing games at 4K that you need a high power GPU.
Cyberlink's requirements for watching 4K UHD BluRay on a PC (https://www.cyberlink.com/support/faq-content.do?id=19144)
AnyDVD now supports ripping 4K UHD DVD, which would allow conversion to H264 or H265. That's what I'd do, rip every disk to H264 and then it could be played back with very low specs (like just an Android box, as previously mentioned.) Though ripping disks might be a moving target, given it requires that certain BluRay players are used, ones that have not been patched to block out the leaked decryption keys. Right now there's a list of certain drives that work, and should continue to work so long as they are not firmware updated. More info on that (as of Dec 2017). (http://uk.pcmag.com/news/92563/anydvd-now-rips-uhd-blu-rays-with-unbreakable-aacs-20)
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Just to be clear, we're not thinking about taking anything away. This is just research.
Understood, I was just giving you an indication of just how important video and TV are to me - they're must haves.
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I don't believe so. In fact, if Cyberlink PowerDVD is used, it is a requirement that you must use Intel Graphics - any other GPU installed cannot be used to play a UHD disk.
I don't know the full details, but the threads I've read on the net suggest it's the processor that's important. It's not a GPU acceleration type thing. It's for playing games at 4K that you need a high power GPU.
Cyberlink's requirements for watching 4K UHD BluRay on a PC (https://www.cyberlink.com/support/faq-content.do?id=19144)
AnyDVD now supports ripping 4K UHD DVD, which would allow conversion to H264 or H265. That's what I'd do, rip every disk to H264 and then it could be played back with very low specs (like just an Android box, as previously mentioned.) Though ripping disks might be a moving target, given it requires that certain BluRay players are used, ones that have not been patched to block out the leaked decryption keys. Right now there's a list of certain drives that work, and should continue to work so long as they are not firmware updated. More info on that (as of Dec 2017). (http://uk.pcmag.com/news/92563/anydvd-now-rips-uhd-blu-rays-with-unbreakable-aacs-20)
It has been said in a number of places that MadVR HQ requires a high end GPU. I suspect this is more for playing content that requires deinterlacing and scaling than playing native 4K content though. But in the general sense, you're going to have a mix of 4K and non-4K content for a while.
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It has been said in a number of places that MadVR HQ requires a high end GPU. I suspect this is more for playing content that requires deinterlacing and scaling than playing native 4K content though. But in the general sense, you're going to have a mix of 4K and non-4K content for a while.
OK, yeah I guess if you want to upscale everything to 4K then that will require some GPU power.
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It's not only upscaling to 4K but also downscaling resolution, deinterlacing and resampling HDR<->SDR.
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It's not only upscaling to 4K but also downscaling resolution, deinterlacing and resampling HDR<->SDR.
Yeah, essentially anything that requires any sort of heavy lifting. Everything I've seen suggests that CPU performance really doesn't matter that much and all the heavy lifting happens in the GPU, so that's where the money should be spent.
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I use JRiver only because it works both with my music and video collection. If you quit video support there are many options to choose from, with better and more user friendly interface.
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I think the poll should ask about:
1. Music only
2. Music and video
3. Music, video and tv
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I use JRiver only because it works both with my music and video collection. If you quit video support there are many options to choose from, with better and more user friendly interface.
There are no plans to end video support. This poll is "just" fact-checking.
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My use:
As a HTPC for video in theater view: 95%
Music in theater view: 4.9%
TV in theater view (I have a TV tuner card): 0.1%
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I don't believe so. In fact, if Cyberlink PowerDVD is used, it is a requirement that you must use Intel Graphics - any other GPU installed cannot be used to play a UHD disk.
I don't know the full details, but the threads I've read on the net suggest it's the processor that's important. It's not a GPU acceleration type thing. It's for playing games at 4K that you need a high power GPU.
Cyberlink's requirements for watching 4K UHD BluRay on a PC (https://www.cyberlink.com/support/faq-content.do?id=19144)
AnyDVD now supports ripping 4K UHD DVD, which would allow conversion to H264 or H265. That's what I'd do, rip every disk to H264 and then it could be played back with very low specs (like just an Android box, as previously mentioned.) Though ripping disks might be a moving target, given it requires that certain BluRay players are used, ones that have not been patched to block out the leaked decryption keys. Right now there's a list of certain drives that work, and should continue to work so long as they are not firmware updated. More info on that (as of Dec 2017). (http://uk.pcmag.com/news/92563/anydvd-now-rips-uhd-blu-rays-with-unbreakable-aacs-20)
Cyberlink requires specific Intel processors for their ability to run in protective environment ... so decryption key cannot be stolen (fat good did it do with Intel vulnerabilities).
For all we know Cyberlink does not do any upscaling at all (chroma upscaling) and let TV handle upscaling ... probably have to do chroma upscaling to monitors as these do not handle upscaling, but quality of upscaling to monitor can be low as monitors are not so large as TV and low quality chroma upscaling wont be so notisable.
What separates MadVR ... is its ability to use complex upscaling algorithm where your GPU processing power is the limit to upscale 4:2:0 to 4:4:4 (chroma upscaling)
Whats nice about MadVR ... it also have less complex scaling algorithm that requires less computational power ... so choice of GPU is your acceptable scaling quality (and depth of your wallet)
Whether quality of complex upscaling is worth it ... that's subjective and specific to each user
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For overall time spent I do mostly video but probably sit down and just listen to music 4 or 5 times a week.
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There are no plans to end video support. This poll is "just" fact-checking.
A poll is a questionable way to assert or check a fact. 8)
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Yes, you're right. It gives a rough (we do not know the population) idea on voters preferences. I should have chosen my words more wisely :)
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Both extremely important
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Split CC Support (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,116795.0.html)
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Don't use TV but video is a must. MC is the only player I can depend on to always play any type of video.... 1st time everytime.
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MC is the only player I can depend on to always play any type of video.... 1st time everytime.
SSA/ASS subtitles rendering is not so good at the moment ... while SRT dominate movies subtitles (i do mine with OCR from DVD or BluRay) ... SSA/ASS dominate anime (mostly done by fans) ... SRT are rarity here as many anime series dont even get release in English ... straight conversions from SSA/ASS to SRT are troublesome as fans utilize nearly all features of SSA/ASS which have no equivalent in SRT
Unfortunately I have to skip MC and use other players when it comes to anime ... trying to nudge developers to relook at their SSA/ASS implementaiton with no success so far :(
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I recognise, though I don't understand why, that many people use it for video and that they have bought JR and are entitled to use it. For me I'd be happy if an audio only fork was available. Video/TV has less than zero interest.
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I recognise, though I don't understand why, that many people use it for video and that they have bought JR and are entitled to use it. For me I'd be happy if an audio only fork was available. Video/TV has less than zero interest.
People often start out one place and end somewhere else. Here, for example:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,116724.msg807204.html#msg807204
But, if it bothers you, you can simplify the interface:
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Simplified_Interface
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Audio and Video of the greatest importance .
TV holds no interest for me.
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I use MC for Audio and playback from NAS mainly. TV is not important to me. I would welcome a better interface with the existing streaming services like Netflix, HBO, Viaplay but I understand that this is not so easy due to commercial reasons
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Very important. I am aware of the difficulties of supporting/improving the non-US systems, but the TV part needs more attention and seems a bit behind the rest of MC's features.
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J-river should work on tidal/spotify/apple music/qobuz integration to add feature other free software do already like vlc.
VDM driver work very bad, not able to use tidal through wdm, glitch ... no buffer changed work.
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For me Video is of lesser importance, and TV is zero. My MC use is Music 49%, Photos 49%. When I started with Media Jukebox 6 it was 100% Audio, but once Photos were added that quickly grew because MC is so useful for organizing images, far far far better than the expensive products from Adobe.
I would love to use MC's TV stuff but that is impossible because where I live there is no way to receive TV over the air. I know there are flat places, even in California, but I always seem to live in the coastal mountains. So, no TV.
I'm sure the DVD features are wonderful, but not my thing.
The only videos that show up in my MC come from cameras. I pull all my photos into MC and at times that includes short videos too. Nice that MC can show them but not a priority.
What isn't on the survey list is Photos, the personal media type probably created by most MC users (and prospective users) who also need to organize, manage and "play" their Photos. (Media types Music, DVD, TV are typically acquired, not personally created; as they migrate to streaming, photos will remain uniquely local and personal.) Seems like Photos should be on the survey too. Perhaps MC users haven't tried it, but the value is huge.
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Music 60%
Ripped Blu-rays 40%
So very important. In fact, since starting to use JRiver, I cut the cords and went JRiver -> DAC -> Amp. The JRiver is my only source. My feature request has long been native DVD and Blu-Ray support. It would be nice to stick a disc in the drive and be able to play it immediately. I would gladly pay a premium for this if it were an option.
Right now I have to rip it first which is slow. For this reason I keep a Blu-ray player direct connected to the TV.
The next feature I would love to see is Airplay and Cast support (audio and video). These would make it an even better solution.
I don't use the TV functionality at all.
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My feature request has long been native DVD and Blu-Ray support. It would be nice to stick a disc in the drive and be able to play it immediately. I would gladly pay a premium for this if it were an option.
Right now I have to rip it first which is slow. For this reason I keep a Blu-ray player direct connected to the TV.
Just get RedFox Any DVD HD to decrypt discs first and it can be done. I watch Bluray discs regularly via JRiver MC.
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JRiver is the only media center and player in my home, for several years now. No (more) stand alone blu-ray players or media players, no sacd, cd players and so on. Every (multi)media file goes through my pc when I use it as HTPC, and is handled and played by JRiver. More than 100 TB of data, from video (4K, 1080p, DVD) to music (DSD - not a fan, but... -, high sampling - again, not a fan but... - flac, mp3...) to photo, etc. So, the video quality and features (I use madvr only) are as important as the audio ones. As well as the possibility to manage all the media files, all the library, with a single excellent software.
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My vote was Don't understand why... which isn't really correct but closest. I realize some use the video functionality, but I'd really like to see an audio-only option, hopefully at a little lower cost, or at least not with new versions as frequently.
Or, to put it another way, I don't mind paying for updates, provided they offer something valuable for audio-only users.
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My vote was Don't understand why... which isn't really correct but closest. I realize some use the video functionality, but I'd really like to see an audio-only option, hopefully at a little lower cost, or at least not with new versions as frequently.
Or, to put it another way, I don't mind paying for updates, provided they offer something valuable for audio-only users.
The wiki has a topic called Simplified Interface.
Most of our work now covers both audio and video. It wouldn't reduce our costs to split the program.
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For us TV and Video are the main reason we started using MC. When I cut the cable and went OTA antenna I bought a HTPC with Win 7 and WMC and used that until Microsoft dropped support for it. I then wasted a couple of years with Kodi and all of its issues. I finally loaded MC and have not looked back. I have all of out DVD and BluRay's copied to hard drives and selecting and viewing them is effortless. We use the DVR features of MC to record and watch TV shows like we did when we had a cable DVR. Again it just works. I am in the process of copying all of our music to a hard drive so we can start streaming it. But TV and Video use is our highest priority at this time. It is a very great product at a very great price. Please keep up the good work.
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99% audio playback (75% DSD, 25% other audio formats)
1% video playback
0% TV, and probably never TV for me
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Good afternoon, good morning, good evening, everyone.
As a consumer/user, I can only guess that integrating PCM High-Res, DSD
(and more) and Blu-ray (or more), VR(?), with increased or increasing data
and features, into one app can be a strain for the team at JRiver.
Anyway, my personal reasons to start using MC some years ago were:
MC was a (the) quality app that enabled music and video and photo listening/viewing
in a one-stop fashion - emphasis here on "quality" and "one-stop."
Priorly, I used a combination of F**bar or iT***s and M**** P**yer or some vid app.
(as a trivial aside, I think, but am not sure, the word "app" was non-existent then.
Something "Payed" and something "Free" -w/ hidden sponsors, making money in
unclear ways- should be distinguished, no? Sure, things can get blurry. I recall how
I disliked how some (a 100USD+) app would constantly ask me to "share" data).
I suppose there are some apps that perform better with specialized tasks
--I haven't done any research or tests lately, since I'm satisfied with MC.
If you require specialized quality, and there are apps that provide them,
then you'd have a different opinion.
In my case, and although it depends on my mode or mood for listening or viewing,
I want to keep as few apps open at one time, not having to shut one down
and activating it again later.
So there it is: "Quality" and "One-stop."
MC is still the choice for me!
TT
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JRiver is the hart/core of my HTPC system. Without TV support and Video support you will lose me as a customer. I do have some music but if I'm honest with myself I don't spend the time really listening to it. It is just on in the background when doing things around the house so I'm not critically listening. However, JRiver is my sole source for TV watching (via HD HomeRun cable card) and moving watching via DVD/Blu-ray disks). The awesome audio to watch movies.
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I started with MC back around MC10 or 11 and for high quality music playback and library management.
MC became the critical backend library management for all my media. (Music, Video, Podcasts, Audio Books and hopefully when I get time all the photo's that have yet to be sorted out) (25k+ music, 6K + video)
The Audio server capabilities with multi-channel and multi-zone is in use every day.
TV OTA was in use, however the TV guide service for recording just became easier in other applications and eventually I stopped using it around MC20. Maybe it has changed or been updated since? I cut the cable a decade ago, using OTA for a small number of shows and then streaming services for everything else.
MC still manages the local video library, however I don't use it on the front end as I've never managed to overcome the WAF or get a decent integration with the streaming clients (Roku, Pi's) that are used for Netflix, Amazon, YouTube etc. for which I'm finding I use more and more for our video needs and less and less for playing BD or DVD, to the point I cancelled my Netflix disc subscription and can't remember the last time I purchased a video disk, unless it was to rip the multichannel soundtrack for music (life performances typically). The ability to tag and manage the "views" seen by the clients is a must have for MC in my current setup. As the quantity of media continues to grow, being able to quickly find stuff is the biggest challenge which MC addresses because of it views, tags and display filters. Kids get there view, I get mine, wife gets hers. We can all be happy!
The User interface is the critical part for the rest of the family and hence JRiver clients or the client-server capabilities is what drives my use. Without JRemote on the iPad, MC for music may get relegated to library management.
DLNA audio support so I can integrate with the clients that are also used for streaming services. (single box client solution for WAF) With Direct connection (SPDI/F or USB) as a zone to a DAC.
I would also like to state that the other critical part of MC is the ongoing development and the support of the Interact forums. So many other applications have abysmal support or have come and gone as developer interest dropped of a cliff. MC is still one of a very (and I mean VERY) small handful of applications I continue to use over decades and purchase an upgrade license (Master) even if I'm not yet going to deploy it to support the company.
As I rebuild my house and fully update the whole house media systems, I will spend more time looking at latest developments and other options to see what has changed and before I break what is currently working fine for a god number of years.
In summary, for me Music is important for playback, however all media is important for library management and enabling other clients to find and access.
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Video and especially TV are extremely important to me as my screen name might suggest. While I have my music ripped as Flac and have on occasion listened to streamed music via MC at my desktop it is my HTPC and home theater use with a projector that dominates at probably 99%+. My HTPC with TV decoder card and Blu-ray rom drive has acted as DVR, DVD, and Blu-ray player as well as pre-amp with analog outputs from a sound card directly fed to a power amp. I switched to MC to simplify after using a number of separate programs tied together via the Win MCE interface. I had plans to get into convolution etc but never got around to it. In any event, I will now be changing to bitstreaming and a separate AVR in order to get ATMOS decoding for in ceiling capability, and to a lesser extent Dirac Live room correction.
My TV usage is exclusively over-the-air and almost all public service broadcasts. Everything I watch is recorded first, even news programs, as I find even the lead-ins on PBS to be tedious in the extreme and watching athletics, or frankly anything on any of the big three TV channels live, is intolerable due to the frequency and duration of adverts.
My plan is to upgrade the HTPC to be capable of playing 4K UHD. I don't currently plan to access any 4K streaming services. That may change although I would always prefer the higher audio and video quality of discs.
I am quite interested to see how ATSC 3.0 roll out goes and how that enhances OTA capabilities.
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Hi, and greets from Down Under!
I use Media Center purely for audio. I always switch on VIEW -> AUDIO ONLY MODE. Files and Database are on a Synology NAS. NAS runs a Virtual Machine running Windows 10 containing Media Center Server. I also open the database locally on my PC for all tagging operations (the Windows VM is no racehorse on the NAS, but it's just fine for server duties).
I use this to stream music to all other locations in the house, either on Windows PCs or using the Gizmo Android app. I use Gizmo to stream in my car, as well. Now Gizmo could use an update, that's for sure, but it works pretty well most of the time.
I use the PLEX server on the NAS for all video - rips of TV shows, Movies and Documentaries. Plex seems to play all my files, and is very good at gathering the metadata associated with the files as well (once you learn the quirks of PLEX's file naming conventions. It kind of forces you to be pretty organised in your file structure).
I hardly watch any free-to-air TV, let alone record it.
I've been using Media Center since version 9 (and when it was called "Media Jukebox", and really was just an audio only tool if my sieve-like brain remembers clearly).
My 2c inserted in slot...
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I rarely use JRiver for playing video files.
If I was voting on JRiver features and enhancement projects, I would vote for increasing JRiver's UPnP/DLNA and bluetooth capabilities to make it the absolute standard for music playing in a wireless environment across the various platforms (Sonos, Windows, Apple, Linux, etc). That is the immediate need and the way people are going. Get rid of wires. Make interfacing different devices using the various available methods as easy and seamless as possible while minimizing program crashes and providing better feedback to users when the supporting systems (bluetooth, wifi) have their own issues.
Today, JRiver is too difficult to set up for the regular person who wants an easy interface. JRiver today is great for those who want and need to set many various attributes for very specific needs. But, it needs to be more like an OS with the main features important to most people on a top level and the current long, long list of program attribute settings at a 2nd and 3rd level down.
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Make interfacing different devices using the various available methods as easy and seamless as possible while minimizing program crashes and providing better feedback to users when the supporting systems (bluetooth, wifi) have their own issues.
Please start a thread with details on any crashes. Most crashes with video are because of bad video drivers or over-eager antivirus software.
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Excellent question Jim H,
Both audio and video are very important for me even though the system is used mostly for music.
One piece of (professional) and reliable software to do both! Personally "TV" weather, youtube and such like are of no interest...
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I voted for "Extremely".
While I am first and foremost an audiophile, truth is I (and the family) spend more time watching TV/Video.
There are other audiophile players but it is the promise of 'one stop shopping' multimedia capability that has attracted me to MC from the beginning. To that end better streaming capability that works for example with netflix would be great (eg using firefox ...... chromium or IE doesn't work)
If it ever achieved the user interface friendliness akin to Kodi or Roku and added a dedicated remote control, MC would rule the world ( Yes, there is theater view but little configurability and no automatic carry over of settings made in standard view)
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I'm trying out MC after being away from it for a few years and I hope you make some TV and video improvements. To stay on topic video and TV are must haves, and there are some simple things you can do to improve the overall experience. To name a few, coming from WMC, I really miss having more than four grid cells on the TV guide. Four just doesn't seem like enough when you have about 80 channels. I would say probably a second huge improvement you could make is implement some kind d of miniguide where one could be watching a TV channels, and scroll through a small guide at the bottom of the screen to see what else might be on. I think of your going to be serious about TV then you probably need at least one of those two, if not both
EDIT Figured out how to increase grid cells but a miniguide is still a great feature to add
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For me - "Video" simply relates to the ability to playback movies (files) in a easy and meaninglful way. Audio of course is my main reason for using MC.
"TV" in MC serves little purpose here in Canada as everything is encrypted and delivered via set top box.
I actually scratch my head wondering how/why the TV fans in here actually use MC in conjunction with a standard TV subscription be it in Alberta or Minnesota. Is everyone out buying antennas and capturing the free over the air HD channels or what?
VP
I'm in Canada and I use both Over the Air and a Satellite Set Top Box working with a Hauppage Colossus and JRiver. It works like a charm. It's not perfect and it hasn't been a smooth ride...I did spend hundreds of hours (probably thousands...) setting this up and providing the MC team feedback to make the whole TV experience better over the last 6 years and I can say now that it works better than a lot of TV software out there thanks to the relentless effort of the MC Team...
I have Commercial Skipping, Subs, Audiophile grade music listening so truly a full All-In-One solution for all my TV, Video and Music needs for the whole family...Something that no other STB or service provider in Canada will ever offer me...(Well for that cheap anyway!!!)
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I'm trying out MC after being away from it for a few years and I hope you make some TV and video improvements. To stay on topic video and TV are must haves, and there are some simple things you can do to improve the overall experience. To name a few, coming from WMC, I really miss having more than four grid cells on the TV guide. Four just doesn't seem like enough when you have about 80 channels. I would say probably a second huge improvement you could make is implement some kind d of miniguide where one could be watching a TV channels, and scroll through a small guide at the bottom of the screen to see what else might be on. I think of your going to be serious about TV then you probably need at least one of those two, if not both
EDIT Figured out how to increase grid cells but a miniguide is still a great feature to add
Not a full miniguide but -> Up Arrow on your MCE remote or keyboard while in theater view then left and right to see what is playing on other channels while watching the current one.
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Not a full miniguide but -> Up Arrow on your MCE remote or keyboard while in theater view then left and right to see what is playing on other channel while watching the current one.
I didn't know about that either, although a mini guide would still be a good addition. Thanks for letting me know though.
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I actually scratch my head wondering how/why the TV fans in here actually use MC in conjunction with a standard TV subscription be it in Alberta or Minnesota. Is everyone out buying antennas and capturing the free over the air HD channels or what?
VP
Forgot to comment on this..YES Over The Air Big time! You get your money back in less than a year or 2. I get pretty much all I want as far as News, TV shows, etc... on Broadcast Television. I must admit I'm still dependent on Satellite for Sports Events (Well...Hockey mostly ...) but it works seamlessly with my OTA... I can record 5 shows at the same time, transfer to PDAs, phones...Stream from one room to another sky is the limit...
I have to admit I'm fortunate as I get both all the Canadian and main US channels with my Outdoor antenna so it's definitely worth it!!!
Ironically I get a lot of hockey games from NBC in the US on OTA!!!
And the money I save is for my Netflix account...
It's a shame how the Canadian government didn't publicize this at all compared to what was done in the US in the early days of HD OTA...
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I still have 4 usb tuners hooked up to my HTPC but with a new 4K TV and chromecasts around the house and 2 x cable DVRs I just don't need them.
I get all my TV via cable TV DVRs and stream my movies collection from JRiver server around the house.
The new main 4K TV in the house has Apps for just about everything I need built-in. I don't like the DLNA interface to my JRiver library from my TV and most of the time we prefer to pull video to the TV, not push it from a mobile. Especially since the TV has all streaming apps built in via Android TV.
The TV built-in Apps have completely replaced the lounge HTPC because it's easier to use and the apps are nice to navigate, nice to look at and the quality for direct streaming from my library is perfect, and HDR is intact without any fiddling.
I've installed another TV app for accessing my library that supports direct streaming without conversions so video and audio meta-data stays intact for automatically triggering various native HDR and sound modes on the TV.
(I have another server product installed along-side JRiver in my main server for this TV App specifically for this purpose)
I would love if JRiver developed an Android TV 10 foot interface app that natively interfaced with my JRiver server. (a port of JRemote, Panel or TheatreView from MC)
I guess I could try sideloading a couple of JRiver android apps and see how usable they are on the TV, but without a theatreview mode I think it just wont feel right.
I would value a quality native Android / Android TV Theatreview WAY ahead of any TV tuner features.
I still play all my music and multi-channel concerts through JRiver in my theatre room, but that gets a small amount of use compared to the new 4K TV in the family room where a JRiver 10 foot interface natively built-in to the TV is sorely missed.
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I discovered JRiver with version 21 so I could play hi-res music.
Since then I only run it in "audio only mode"
frankly I find all the rest simply too complicated and couldn't be bothered.
edit: I should add I do not subscribe to any kind of TV service, paid or free, so I know I obviously am a minority
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I use JRiver Media Center primarily for Video and recorded TV*. When Windows Media Center was abandoned by M$, I did an extensive search for a replacement. I found that Emby (AKA 'MediaBrowser'), Kodi, and JRiver were the only contenders. Emby was too unstable and buggy (the old MediaBrowser plugin for WMC remains a favorite of mine). Kodi did everything I wanted, but was overwhelmed by the size of collection. JRiver did everything I wanted and allowed me to organize my collection the way I wanted to see it.
* I rarely watch live TV. I record favorite OTA programs to view later (...and skip commercials).
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I have over 180 days of DVD/Blu Rays (movies and TV shows) saved on NAS drives, and JRiver powers my home theater in 2 rooms of the house. Video is a crucial feature. If JRiver didn't have video, I'd have to use something else.
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Essential for audio and video in our home theater.
Preferred for remote music playback.
Main photo storage and management software.
Not used for TV, and no plans so far.
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90% for Movie watching
9% for TV recording (never Live viewing)
1% for Audio and Images
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Forgot to comment on this..YES Over The Air Big time! You get your money back in less than a year or 2. I get pretty much all I want as far as News, TV shows, etc... on Broadcast Television. I must admit I'm still dependent on Satellite for Sports Events (Well...Hockey mostly ...) but it works seamlessly with my OTA... I can record 5 shows at the same time, transfer to PDAs, phones...Stream from one room to another sky is the limit...
Cool. Here in Calgary - there are just 6 over the air channels "out there" and none of them would hold much interest for the family. So there is little point in investing in an antenna in this market.
And I still do not get how one could plug a set-top box into a PC TV tuner card and actually see anything that is not encrypted.
VP
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Split What's Left to do for Audio? (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,117357.0.html)
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I don't use any of the TV features but one of the most compelling aspects of JRiver for me it's ability to inventory and play all of my media in the highest quality way possible - including video (bit-perfect for Audio). I've sold my friends on the fact I've yet to find an audio or video format it doesn't play - multi-channel DSD, DTS, Blu-ray, FLAC, ALAC, everything! And it can convert every file type into practically every other file type. The best media manager on the market!