INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: pickle on June 10, 2004, 05:59:55 am

Title: V11 -- Things we want
Post by: pickle on June 10, 2004, 05:59:55 am
With the numerous database changes you are making can you PLEASE integrate the various media server / client database changes discussed in this thread:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=21894
Title: Things we want in V11
Post by: bennyd on June 10, 2004, 06:15:50 am
and this one:

The Theater View requests:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=21249;start=msg150287#msg150287
Title: Re:Things we want in V11
Post by: LonWar on June 10, 2004, 07:12:47 am
My request is fairly easy....

The ability to change the Tool Tip fonts and colors...
I use the WB skin thunderstorm with the thunderstorm skin and the tool tips are in black with a black background....
Title: Re:Things we want in V11
Post by: Deivit on June 10, 2004, 07:56:20 am
May we have a screenshot of the new "tile view" for music files, please?  :)
Thank you.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: JimH on June 10, 2004, 08:27:24 am
Deivit,
Tile View isn't finished yet, but I started a thread on it with a screenshot.

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=21949;start=msg152967#msg152967
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Deivit on June 10, 2004, 08:57:14 am
Deivit,
Tile View isn't finished yet, but I started a thread on it with a screenshot.

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=21949;start=msg152967#msg152967


Thank you, Jim!
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: pank2002 on June 10, 2004, 10:13:33 am

The following are über important:

Also, is the deskbar still alive? I think the deskbar has the potential to be a powerful part of MC11.

-Rasmus
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Jaguu on June 10, 2004, 10:30:54 am
German translation -  and of course French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Corean and maybe some extraterrestial Klingon dialects.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Jaguu on June 10, 2004, 10:42:50 am
A very old request - from MJ8 days:

Some cleanup of the tag info view - either customizable categories or completely drop them and make tag info view dependent on selected file type, mode or view schemes. The current categories simply don't make sense and their naming is not consistent with the rest of MC10.

Also an old request:

Being able to use the images stored in MC10
1) in a cycling wallpaper app (changing wallpaper on regular intervals with specific image playlists)
2) select image playlists and create specific screensavers (.scr or .exe files)
3) create a playlist (images and music) and store it as a slide show as exe file on a cd.
4) Maybe a read only version of MC to store together with content on a cd (kind of a black box) to give out to friends with possibility to upgrade to a full version


Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: goose on June 10, 2004, 11:14:27 am
A already superior application could be elevated to the ranks of greatness by providing broad support for media receiver devices.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: bjsolem on June 10, 2004, 11:49:17 am
3) create a playlist (images and music) and store it as a slide show as exe file on a cd.
4) Maybe a read only version of MC to store together with content on a cd (kind of a black box) to give out to friends with possibility to upgrade to a full version

YES!!
Add my vote to both of these!
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: PK_NYC on June 10, 2004, 01:23:03 pm

I have been away from the forum for a while, so I am not sure if this has been mentioned. Now that MC is moving in the direction of document handling, it would be great to have intelligently implemented hierarchical categories or keywords. This is extremely useful for both image management, and for document management. The best implementation I know of is in IMatch, a superb, although somewhat difficult to learn, image management program. Basically, you are able to build trees of keywords, so that whenever you assign a file to a keyword that is deeper in the tree, it gets automatically assigned to all the parents. I could, for example, assing an image to category "Greenwitch Village", and it would automatically get assinged to "New York City" and to "Cities". This allows you to create sophisticated searches, but also tag new docs/images very easily. (IMatch, btw, will also let you save groups of categories as a preset, so you can quickly assing a whole set of them to an image or group of images.)

All of this would be extremely useful for document handling as well. I am not sure whether this is possible given the current structure of MC's database, but this kind of hierarchical categorization is a lot more powerful, and a lot more versitile than the current genre model. It also applies to many more document types. And it would be easy enough to subsume genres under it.

Thoughts on this would be welcome.

Pedja
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: rwoods on June 10, 2004, 02:56:51 pm
I would like a pocket pc client so I can stream music to it and use it as a mp3 player.

I also would like to see better support for ripped dvd's. It takes a while for them to be imported to media center once on disk, and it displays a screen of blank chapter images. (I don't care whether it displays chapter images at all, I just don't like the current screen which makes it look like something is wrong.) Also, I wish they were all listed in a ripped dvd section vs video - disk location because I have four separate drives with ripped dvd movies and it is a pain to keep them in alphabetical order.

Thanks - PS I love this product, and have recommended it to several friends. They all think it is the coolest thing in the world that i can sit on the back deck and pick what songs to play off of my pocket pc (netremote) and have them play outside through zone 2 of my stereo.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: nadroj81 on June 10, 2004, 04:07:02 pm
I would really like to see a spectrum analyzer plug in that is actually a screen saver. When the monitor goes to screen saver a full screen spectrum analyzer would start that would represent music being played by MC
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: JustinChase on June 10, 2004, 04:20:15 pm
Having the ability for MC to 'serve up' a screen saver has been requested more times thatn I can remember.  many people have made different suggestions, mostly the visualization acting as screen saver, but also, an image list (kinda like the 3d picture cube option), or analyzer as suggested above.

Is there any chance of this happening?  Or should we just forget it, and quit asking?
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Matt on June 10, 2004, 04:32:09 pm
Having the ability for MC to 'serve up' a screen saver has been requested more times thatn I can remember.  many people have made different suggestions, mostly the visualization acting as screen saver, but also, an image list (kinda like the 3d picture cube option), or analyzer as suggested above.

Is there any chance of this happening?  Or should we just forget it, and quit asking?

There's a good chance that one will be in version 11.  Stay tuned.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: grahamk on June 11, 2004, 08:26:59 am

Please look into better support for mapped network drives. In particular, please look into ways to improve the speed of tagging on a mapped network drive.

Thanks,
 Graham
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Magicland on June 11, 2004, 09:39:26 pm
Make "List Style" preferences changeable between album covers and lists depending on location. I know a lot of other users want this. When viewing Genre or Artist/Album, album covers is fine, but many people would like the ability to display the tracks as a list without the album cover art.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: paulr on June 12, 2004, 01:47:59 am
First off, I am glad to see MC moving to a relational database.  This should make new features easier to implement, and allow for more flexible tagging.

Things I'd like to see:

Gamebreaker
1.  A good ablum gain solution

Really want
2.  Autosave the securerip.log file into directory music was ripped to
3.  Calculated tags that use simple math functions (+,-,*,/)
4.  A way to 'join' two or more songs together in playlists and keep them 'joined' even after a shuffle or randomize operation.  This has been discussed before. (could be done with tags or by allowing playlists to show up as songs in the Playing Now pane)

Nice to have
4.  The ability to create custom print layouts for images (2 and 4 per page are included, but I'd like to be able to specify other configurations like 6 per page, etc.)
5.  There's been talk of document handling - maybe this could be extended to file handling.  I'd like to be able to annotate my zip/rar file archives with comments so that I can search them for specific keywords  (There was a program that would allow you to add comments to files back in the DOS days, and it was great!)
6.  The ability for MC to use WindowsBlinds skins
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Topper on June 12, 2004, 04:17:03 am
Paulr, just a suggestion but you may want to have a look at the following link as I think it could be something similar to what your looking for.

http://www.filenotes.com/


Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: pank2002 on June 12, 2004, 07:15:02 am
I just came to think of another must have feature:
  - bookmark. It would be so nice if MC remebered the position of the songs when exiting. It would be even better, if you could have multiple bookmarks.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Bendra on June 12, 2004, 09:29:38 am
I want to be able to view all the rules I put into a playlist at once, without scrolling; like, in a window.  
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: IanG on June 12, 2004, 09:38:43 am
5.  There's been talk of document handling - maybe this could be extended to file handling.  I'd like to be able to annotate my zip/rar file archives with comments so that I can search them for specific keywords  (There was a program that would allow you to add comments to files back in the DOS days, and it was great!)

You can manage them in MC now, though maybe not the way you're looking for.  E.g. create a playlist called Archives and create 2 playlists inside it called rar and zip.  You can use windows Search facility to locate all the files and drag and drop them into the appropriate playlist. After that, you can annotate to your heart's content.

Ian G.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: paulr on June 12, 2004, 10:27:01 am
Thanks Topper and Ian.

File Notes looks exactly like what I was describing.  But if I can do something like this in MC, all the better!  I will play around with both.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: grahamk on June 12, 2004, 10:55:41 am
4.  A way to 'join' two or more songs together in playlists and keep them 'joined' even after a shuffle or randomize operation.  This has been discussed before. (could be done with tags or by allowing playlists to show up as songs in the Playing Now pane)


Yes - please keep this feature request at top of mind. This is a feature that I think a *lot* of people would really like to have, and would be something that MC (AFAIK) would have (yet another) exclusive on....

Graham
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Mastiff on June 12, 2004, 11:13:26 am
What would such a tread be without a wish from the multi-zone tsar (tm)?  ;) Since 10 has solved all my issues with IR remote control (I don't think there's anything left of my original list) what I wish for now is related to NetRemote: I would like the ability to control zones without changing the active zone!

I have no idea about programming (I can hardly spell the word!), but I have a suggestion as to how it could be handled (but of course I don't know if it's humanly possible to implement, allthough I would really appreciate one of you high priests of code (JRiver people for those not in the religion) to say if it's possible:

Under each zone there could be a separate entry for "run remoteserver.dll on port..." and then we could just set different ports for each instance. Could that be done? It is after all possible to send playlists directly to a zone! And yes, I'm very satisified with that one!

On the NetRemote side we'd just have to run several instances of the driver, one for each zone. I'm pretty sure that's possible.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: kiwi on June 12, 2004, 12:03:46 pm
I'd love to be able to sync playlists/libraries to a "folder/directory" on my computer.    This would let me mount my laptop and sync the music that I'd like.  And/or perform a smart backup of my music to an external drive.

kiwi
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Nolonemo on June 12, 2004, 12:13:50 pm
I'd like to see improved support for handhelds before big changes to the core app.  For example:
-  the ability to choose which MC tag field to map to the predefined handheld fields
-  the ability to display the handheld contents using the same hierarchical view scheme available in the library view (i.e., with genre and artist columns, when a genre is selected in genre column, only artists in that genre show in artist column)
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: IlPadrino on June 12, 2004, 03:19:00 pm
This is like "deja vu"...  I remember the wishlists of both v9 and v10.  Now we're repeating lots of the same stuff for v11.

JRiver:  If you really want to separate the wheat from the chaff, why not create a master list of new features (or get one of us users to do that heavy lifting) and create a way for users to either rank-order or top-ten them?

It's frustrating to repeat the same things over and over.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: pank2002 on June 12, 2004, 05:50:16 pm
Here's another one; album shuffle, like on the iPod. This could be build together with the request for a playlist-file by Paul (I think.)
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: pickle on June 12, 2004, 08:06:05 pm
Please look into better support for mapped network drives. In particular, please look into ways to improve the speed of tagging on a mapped network drive.

Thanks,
 Graham

This issue could be solved by using Media Server and the various database / client / server suggestions we have made here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=21894
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: WickedEwok on June 12, 2004, 08:12:28 pm
Under each zone there could be a separate entry for "run remoteserver.dll on port..." and then we could just set different ports for each instance. Could that be done? It is after all possible to send playlists directly to a zone! And yes, I'm very satisified with that one!

That would work from NetRemote, but would truly work -best- (and excuse me for being technical) would be an MJZoneAutomation object that had it's own mixer, playback, and current playlist. Then each client could get a reference to the zone they want, and not impact any other zones.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Mastiff on June 12, 2004, 08:15:18 pm
I bow down for the wizard of NetRemote - whatever he says, guys!  ;D
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Rands on June 13, 2004, 12:00:57 am
Here's a couple of other "oldies but goodies":

1. CUE/APL support
2. CD ripping to a single file
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: MGD_King on June 13, 2004, 12:22:27 am
Here's a couple of other "oldies but goodies":

1. CUE/APL support
2. CD ripping to a single file

I second that, and add

3. Ripping two or more tracks as one file (apart from entire disc as 1 track)
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: onlyconnect on June 13, 2004, 06:43:38 am
Top priority for me is a music server that supports other clients. Either create clients for the obvious ones - Pocket PC, Mac, Linux - or publish a cross-platform API so we can make them :-)

Tim
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: GHammer on June 13, 2004, 10:03:24 am
Here's a couple of other "oldies but goodies":

1. CUE/APL support
2. CD ripping to a single file


Hear, hear!
And compressed file support. Play from within a RAR file.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: kranium256 on June 13, 2004, 01:17:13 pm
better handheld sync

like mc could have 2 columns - one for the comp library and the other for the handheld library ... and then it could compare file-wise or folder-wise which ones are orphanes or not ... if it is, it could be highlightened and then i could individually choose whether to copy the file/folder to the other side ... similarly if a file/folder was deleted the same could happen on the other side ...

right now i have to make a playlist and then sync with it ... what i'm asking for is something like the software "beyond compare" ... check out http://www.scootersoftware.com

and hey .. great software!
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: grahamk on June 13, 2004, 03:34:11 pm
Please look into better support for mapped network drives. In particular, please look into ways to improve the speed of tagging on a mapped network drive.

Thanks,
 Graham

This issue could be solved by using Media Server and the various database / client / server suggestions we have made here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=21894

The media server is not an option (for me) until all the client systems can update the tags.

The problem I have is that all my files are on a network server - AND - I like to be able to change tags from any machine on the network. Changing tags on a mapped network drive from MC is very slow. 10-100 times slower than on a local disk. Then updating the library from tags is also very slow on a mapped network drive compared to a local disk. With a library of over 50,000 selections an "Update Library from tags" command with files on a mapped network drive can sometimes take over 24 hours, it's becoming unmanagable.

It's really just my choice of how to run things, but if you are looking for suggestions, better mapped drive support is a BIG issue in my book.

Thanks!
Graham
 
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: ph_bradley on June 14, 2004, 08:16:04 am
i just want performance and usability enhancements! the database seems like a step in the right direction, but having the ability to play music files that are inside a .RAR archive?   that's a real 'niche' feature.

I respect people asking for these things but you've got to ask yourself, is it something over 90% of MC users are going to appreciate?

here's a feature that every handheld user (surely a large fraction of the usebase) would LOVE: bi-directional synch'ing. Like the Briefcase feature in Windows, it tells you which files need to go in which direction.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: GHammer on June 14, 2004, 09:38:31 am
i just want performance and usability enhancements! the database seems like a step in the right direction, but having the ability to play music files that are inside a .RAR archive?   that's a real 'niche' feature.

I respect people asking for these things but you've got to ask yourself, is it something over 90% of MC users are going to appreciate?

here's a feature that every handheld user (surely a large fraction of the usebase) would LOVE: bi-directional synch'ing. Like the Briefcase feature in Windows, it tells you which files need to go in which direction.

Not everyone has a hard drive based portable, much less one that would play the format I choose to store my music in.

I think more than a few people use MC as an excellent update to the idea of a CD changer.

As for making requests that 90% of the users would like/use, I'd wager that the percentage wanting document handling is far less than that. I'd bet that most who use MC actually want to have the best way to play their songs and videos.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Herakles on June 14, 2004, 10:13:48 am
Importing files running in it's own thread and using the action window to show the progress!
My database is often changing and it's always such a pain to wait for the import to finish since we can't even minimize the window once the import is started...

On top of that, automatic scan and import of files in a list of directories would be nice too!
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Zoner on June 14, 2004, 03:15:12 pm
Quote
I would like the ability to control zones without changing the active zone!
Here, here.  This has been requested over and over again.  MC doesn't really support multi-zone until it has this feature.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Jaguu on June 15, 2004, 10:36:09 am
Better Zone Management:

Although it is possible to run a slideshow on one display by using zone1 and a different slideshow on another display by using zone2, the set up for this is rather awkward and one has to fiddle quite a bit to get it.

A more comfortable zone management is required for this. There should be the possibility to bind a display to a certain zone.

The basic idea behind that is the following: As we can have music in different rooms by using different zones, we could also run different slideshows in different rooms all driven by one single application on one PC

With large LCD monitors and beamers getting cheaper and cheaper, we can have a house with different picture frames that display ever changing images throughout the home or in other words - run our personal online gallery.

The technology is already implemented, it simply needs some refinement. Probably a big quick win! Little effort for a real innovative feature!

 
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Jaguu on June 15, 2004, 01:54:27 pm
Another feature that has been asked many times before:

Adjustable pane width!

It was presented in one or two releases, then dropped again. The equal size of the panes makes the look for certain fields not so pleasant.

Fields such as date fields take up very little space and require only a pane with a short width, while other fields (in my case a field named gallery with values such as "The Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY") are trimmed on the right and are not displayed at full length.

The panes should be adjustable according to certain rules (not necessary the longest value of a field, but a certain mean value) or there should be 2-3 different panes width (small, normal, wide panes)

Haven't seen this request much lately, but it was heavily asked in the past!
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: bjsolem on June 15, 2004, 02:22:52 pm
Adjustable pane width!

Yes! Please?
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: AoXoMoXoA on June 15, 2004, 03:33:46 pm
Any chance of integrating the R4 visualization as was G-force? It is a totally awesome viz.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: BigAl on June 15, 2004, 06:42:38 pm
Some things to make my MC life easier.

1. Database links to physical files
- ability to "point" multiple instances of a song to one physical master file
- eg. many songs appear in an album and a "best of"
- maintains album listing integrity
- would save space for us APErs

2. Option to "second stage" on rip
- for those of us who maintain two libraries for home/portable listening
- Primary stage as per normal (eg. to APE)
- After rip, automatically convert/copy to secondary format (MP3)
- automatically import secondary file into second library
- maintain relationship between primary (APE) and secondary (MP3)
       o Tag changes to primary automagically applied to secondary

Sadly, this will make my life complete  :)
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: InfinityAz on June 16, 2004, 10:54:11 pm
Great program but how about adding the ability to catalog CDs (i.e., make them searchable, be able to export info about them, etc.).
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: sdgrizdan on June 16, 2004, 11:06:17 pm
Ability to automatically detect a DVD, display the corresponding cover art for the movie and info regarding the movie, and name the chapters their appropriate names. This is nicely demonstrated in Windows Media Player  8)
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: jeffspl311 on June 17, 2004, 02:34:38 am
Better Zone Management

Here is another Zone related request...

In the same way that Playback Options are configurable on a per Zone basis, I really need the Behavior selections of the General Options panel to be configurable per zone as well.

Here is the scenario:

I'm using MC to DJ at a dance. I've got one zone (Live) playing in the club, and using a second zone (Audition) going only to my headphones. When I'm in the Live zone, I want tracks that I double click to be added to "Add to Playing Now (to end)", and when I'm in the Audition zone, I want tracks that I double click on to "Replace Playing Now (all)".

Thanks!
Jeff
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Cindy_B on June 17, 2004, 09:18:09 pm
This is like "deja vu"...  I remember the wishlists of both v9 and v10.  Now we're repeating lots of the same stuff for v11.

JRiver:  If you really want to separate the wheat from the chaff, why not create a master list of new features (or get one of us users to do that heavy lifting) and create a way for users to either rank-order or top-ten them?

It's frustrating to repeat the same things over and over.

I agree.....   :-\

Hummmmmm...... I wish....... that the "wishlist" would be taken more seriously. ;D
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: rogereye on June 18, 2004, 06:21:36 am
Could we have back that feature from V9 where the Action Window could be detached from the main MC window, and resized and shaped and placed wherever convenient?  In that way, we didn"t need to have the whole MC window open (which eats up a lot of screen real estate), while we select from playlists and do other routine tasks.  Please, please, please!
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: IanG on June 18, 2004, 07:38:31 am
Could we have back that feature from V9 where the Action Window could be detached from the main MC window, and resized and shaped and placed wherever convenient?  In that way, we didn"t need to have the whole MC window open (which eats up a lot of screen real estate), while we select from playlists and do other routine tasks.  Please, please, please!

That would fit nicely with document management - rather than use a built in viewer, use the native programs and drive things from the Action Window.  Mind you - I haven't worked out how to select from a playlist in the Action Window, yet :-[

Ian G.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: benrad on June 18, 2004, 08:54:24 am
Here's another one; album shuffle, like on the iPod. This could be build together with the request for a playlist-file by Paul (I think.)

I asked for this this other day...try this (in 10):

[media type]=[audio] ~sort=[Random] ~n=50 ~a ~sort=[Album]

That does it for about 50 records...I'm not sure if that (~n=50) needs to be in there, but it works.
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: pickle on June 19, 2004, 12:19:31 am
how 'bout making this thread a "sticky" rather than people starting new topics each time they have a suggestion?
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Stebajo on June 19, 2004, 06:57:19 am
I would like to have "Find CD & Artist Info" up and "Playing Now" down,  but in the same view to make 'copy & paste' of tags on fly.  :P
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: iCamp on June 19, 2004, 09:18:49 am
I'd like Media Center 11 to replace Windows XP as my OS.  :)
Title: Re:V11 -- Things we want
Post by: Absurrrd on June 19, 2004, 12:43:58 pm
Greetings and Felicitations,
I asked for this in 10,  :'(  Thanks for the windows media output, but extending the DSP effects for video
would be really fantabulous 8)
                                                          Best Fishes,
                                                            Chris