INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 19 for Windows => Topic started by: fitbrit on March 05, 2014, 01:31:09 pm
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1) I'd like to request (again) that the audio source in video files be shown in the OSD like it was in MC16 / MC 17 (?) and before. Now it's only shown if there is more than one choice, but I think it's still useful and easier than right clicking and going to audio path just to check whether a movie is DTS or DTS-HD MA. This is especially true for those who are not using a mouse or MadVR in exclusive mode.
2) The first thing I see in the OSD is Playing Now, which tells me e.g. that I am playing file 14 of 26 in the current list. If I press the right arrow, it will advance to the next file if the file doesn't have chapters. If the file does have chapters, it will advance to the next chapter. However, if the file has chapters, there is a Chapters screen in the OSD. I feel that it would be more consistent if right and left arrows advance and go back to the next and start/previous file respectively when in the OSD's Playing Now screen - regardless of whether the video files has chapters or not. Leave the Chapters screen for advancing chapters, and the Playing Now to go to the next video file in Playing Now.
Type of video file OSD mode Right Arrow action
Has Chapters Playing now Next file in list
Has Chapters Chapters Advances to next chapter
No Chapters Playing Now Next file in list
No Chapters Chapters disabled N/A
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1) I'd like to request (again) that the audio source in video files be shown in the OSD like it was in MC16 / MC 17 (?) and before. Now it's only shown if there is more than one choice, but I think it's still useful and easier than right clicking and going to audio path just to check whether a movie is DTS or DTS-HD MA. This is especially true for those who are not using a mouse or MadVR in exclusive mode.
IMHO, this seems like rather pointless info to 99% of the users, which is why its not shown anymore. Why care in display view about such things, especially when its already playing, when all you're supposed to do is enjoy the movie.
The OSD is mostly about control, not information as such.
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IMHO, this seems like rather pointless info to 99% of the users, which is why its not shown anymore. Why care in theater view about such things, especially when its already playing, when all you're supposed to do is enjoy the movie.
Because MC still can't tell us how many audio channels a video has if it has DTS-HD MA; my 7.1 videos show up as 6 channels in the auto-populated field. I like this info included when I tag and name videos, so I've created my own field. Sometimes the only way to tell what you're listening to is to right-click, go to audio path. Then stop. Then tag.
It's as useful as the 'Display' information button on my Onkyo AVR remotes; they tell me useful information, that is important during setting up and trouble-shooting.
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I would be doing that from Standard View, with a mouse in my hand, and accessing audio path seems easier for that then the OSD really.
I'm hestitant to add data/new pages to the OSD which isn't useful to a whole lot of people and just adds more steps to page through.
I'm already not a big fan of the "Playing Now" line which comes up first in the OSD. On videos its nearly always 1 of 1 and doesn't hold much info at all.
Maybe we can squeeze audio path info in there? /me ponders. Would that work for you?
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Maybe add a second line of text to Playing Now, and also offer the ability to customize whats shown with expressions? (While making audio path info available in variables)
That seems like a decent idea which could make everyone happy.
The only question that plagues me, where would one go in the options and expect to find the configuration for this?
New section in "Tree and View" is what I would be thinking.
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Thanks for the replies.
I'm also loath for you to add features just for me. Actually, I'd love that, but it's not fair. :) However, I am sure that if the audio path were added to the OSD with Playing Now, a few others would appreciate it too.
As for Playing Now in OSD, I usually play TV series from Standard View. When it goes to Display View, usually the whole season shows in Playing Now, and it enables quickly skimming through episodes until we find the one we want to watch.
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I investigated a bit, and making it configurable with expressions might be slightly more complex then I initially anticipated because of how the logic is separated, and the OSD doesn't have direct access to the library and all its fields.
Showing the audio path info would be possible though.
I did a quick hack into the Playing Now screen, but not sure it really fits into there properly.
The Audio Path always prepares this full string and right now doesn't give access to the individual values.
Like this:
(http://i.imgur.com/4VjXdLL.png)
Not sure its a great idea, it feels out of place. Maybe I should shrink the text slightly, that may reduce the out of place feeling a bit.
Re: TV Series and the OSD, don't you also feel it would benefit from showing more than [Name] for TV Series episodes? Like [Series] [Season]x[Episode] [Name]? (ie. Show 1x01 Name, instead of just Name)
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Just a thought - you can customize the display info at the top of standard view screen with library fields - maybe something similar could be done for theater view OSD display?
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That was proposed earlier in this thread, but the way the OSD is built makes that non-trivial, as you won't have access to the full library data.
It may result in more questions why a lot of information isn't available to be used here, and some expressions simply don't work or fail rather mysteriously.
I could make it configurable with a limited number of variables, but not sure thats going to be all that helpful.
The big issue is that the OSD is part of JRPlayer, and the database is not accessible here - and expressions need the database.
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Not sure its a great idea, it feels out of place.
I agree.
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Thank you very much for giving this a go. The full audio path is good info to have, but I agree it's cumbersome. However, I may have been unclear in my request. All I really want is just the information that appears when there are multiple audio tracks, and you can choose between them; the codec and number of channels. Except, I want that info even when there is just one track. When you can choose audio streams, it tells you simply:
DTS-HD MA 7.1 AC3 5.1
It would be nice to have. I think it wouldn't be too awkward to have that info in Playing Now, or in the audio stream section, which currently doesn't appear if there is no choice.
Thanks again for looking into this.
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I think it would look better if the formatting was updated, but if that's a lot of work I would prefer to leave it as it currently is.
There are quite a few changes I wouldn't mind seeing made to the OSD, but they would probably be a lot of work.
One of the things that I've seen people complain about on other forums, which I agree with, is that it's not very easy to select chapters with a remote for concert DVDs where there might be 20+ songs and you want to hear a specific one.
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I agree that the OSD could use some work.
I would be open to hearing ideas, maybe some low hanging fruits can be added now, other things later.
For the stream thing, I could just enable the selector page, but that might feel awkward.
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I don't know how easy some of these are.
1. It would be nice if the progress bar had chapter markers on it. (both the fullscreen OSD and regular one)
2. And if the progress bar showed up when you skip chapters.
3. And if the OSD would display the current chapter name in the upper left as you skip through.
It doesn't solve the problem of being able to quickly select a specific chapter, but at least lets you know where you are as you seek through the disc.
Something like: Chapter: 2/23 ‒ Chapter Name
Or just: Chapter: 2/23 if there are no chapter names.
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2) The first thing I see in the OSD is Playing Now, which tells me e.g. that I am playing file 14 of 26 in the current list. If I press the right arrow, it will advance to the next file if the file doesn't have chapters. If the file does have chapters, it will advance to the next chapter. However, if the file has chapters, there is a Chapters screen in the OSD. I feel that it would be more consistent if right and left arrows advance and go back to the next and start/previous file respectively when in the OSD's Playing Now screen - regardless of whether the video files has chapters or not. Leave the Chapters screen for advancing chapters, and the Playing Now to go to the next video file in Playing Now.
Type of video file OSD mode Right Arrow action
Has Chapters Playing now Next file in list
Has Chapters Chapters Advances to next chapter
No Chapters Playing Now Next file in list
No Chapters Chapters disabled N/A
I wanted to comment on this as well, as I've encountered this as well and thought it was odd.
The "Next" key (Ctrl+N I think) works the same way. If you have no chapters, it skips files, if you have chapters, it skips those. It feels kinda inconsistent to me.
I would be fine with changing the Left/Right arrow behavior on the Playing Now OSD page, always skipping files, since it even shows the number of files in the playlist on that screen, but has no mention of chapters.
Before I cause a public outrage again and break everyones workflows, anyone care to object?
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That seems like a more logical way of handling things to me.
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1) I'd like to request (again) that the audio source in video files be shown in the OSD like it was in MC16 / MC 17 (?) and before.
+1
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I would be fine with changing the Left/Right arrow behavior on the Playing Now OSD page, always skipping files, since it even shows the number of files in the playlist on that screen, but has no mention of chapters.
Before I cause a public outrage again and break everyones workflows, anyone care to object?
That would be great!
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I would be fine with changing the Left/Right arrow behavior on the Playing Now OSD page, always skipping files, since it even shows the number of files in the playlist on that screen, but has no mention of chapters.
Before I cause a public outrage again and break everyones workflows, anyone care to object?
So to skip through chapters, you'd have to up/down to the part of the OSD that lists Chapters, and then Left/Right?
Just to make sure I understand...
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it. That would be more consistent, but then it would essentially mean that my wife can't skip chapters anymore (or won't, anyway). But, first, I want to make sure I understand the suggestion.
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One other thing I've noticed is when a chapter is advanced, the OSD does not update in real time. Or if it does,things get very funky if you change chapters back and forth rapidly. The timestamp on the displayed chapter often does not jive with the actual position in the movie, or indeed of the current chapter being played.
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So to skip through chapters, you'd have to up/down to the part of the OSD that lists Chapters, and then Left/Right?
Just to make sure I understand...
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it. That would be more consistent, but then it would essentially mean that my wife can't skip chapters anymore (or won't, anyway). But, first, I want to make sure I understand the suggestion.
Yes, that is the suggestion.
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Thats correct. If you wanted to skip chapters, you would have to go to the Chapters view. Or use the "Next" button, which i guess maps to some remote control key as well (although it suffers from the same inconsistency)
One compelling argument "pro" is, as I see it, the "Playing Now" screen doesn't show any chapter info, so you have no clue where you are, or where you are going, or if the file even has chapters (because if it doesn't, it skips immediately to the next file) - so worst case you end up on the next file without even knowing. You cannot predict what the key will do from the info that is shown.
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I agree, and I don't have that many files where I have chapters.
However, on my remote, I have discreet next/prev Track buttons, and my wife uses these to skip forward/back through tracks. And, I have (what I'll call) Fast-Forward/Rewind buttons (the arrows without the line) which are programmed as 30-ahead/10-back buttons.
I've, in the past, told her that to navigate chapters (on the few files where we have them) you just use the arrows instead of these, and that works. Usually she doesn't care about going to a particular chapter. It is a way to "fast forward" faster than the typical 30-ahead/10-back.
But... This isn't used frequently at all in my house. I do wonder about people who actually use MC to play optical discs, though, as the expected behavior there would be to skip through chapters (that is the standard behavior of a DVD/BluRay remote control, when you use the >>| buttons).
I don't know. I don't have strong feelings, but it brings up a vague disquiet. Like I said, it is more consistent, which is usually good. But in this case, it is really "burying" a fairly important (to some people, I image) function under a menu. And, to work around it, you'd really need a remote with 3 sets of discreet FF/RW buttons: one for "true" FF/RW or x second skipping, one for Track Forward/Back (the arrows), and one for ONLY chapters.
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Note that this only affects the left/right buttons, and only if you previously used up/down to even show the OSD.
When you just press left/right without the OSD up, they should by default map to +30s/-10s, at least mine seem to. So the functionality was already in a menu of sorts, except that it was never documented or shown anywhere.
And the skip buttons shouldn't change in functionality at all.
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The system Next/Prev track buttons work for skipping chapters here.
Hendrik's proposed change is to pressing the left/right arrow keys (navigation) when the OSD is displaying "Now playing (x of x files)"
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The system Next/Prev track buttons work for skipping chapters here.
Hendrik's proposed change is to pressing the left/right arrow keys (navigation) when the OSD is displaying "Now playing (x of x files)"
Thanks. Now I fully "get it" (sorry, as I said, I don't use them much). My concerns above are retracted.
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Hi Hendrik. I was just wondering what you'd decided and whether we'll see any changes soon? Sorry for being OCD about the OSD. :)
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I'll change the arrow key behavior soon.
Still not sure what to do about the audio details. Somehow I feel the OSD could use an overall visual refresher, which may give us more options to show information.
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I agree, it might be nice to see an updated look for the OSD used during playback.
On the subject of OSDs (perhaps this should be in its own topic) it would be useful to have some way of displaying the chapter name in the Standard View display.
I can't seem to find anything for that in the Variables list and it would be a big improvement for MKA playback.
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I'll change the arrow key behavior soon.
Still not sure what to do about the audio details. Somehow I feel the OSD could use an overall visual refresher, which may give us more options to show information.
Thanks for the update. A new-look/functionality OSD would probably be well-worth waiting for.
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Hi all.
I will like too to view the Audio Path and Blue Icon in OSD.
My connection with the AVR is by optical cable and I like to know if the audio is in Direct Connection or if it has been modified.
I use the Theater View most of the time (controlled by a IR Remote Control).
S2
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I would like a quick way to turn it off/on using a remote control.
Sometimes (often) when viewing image slideshows, the OSD is really an unwanted distraction, other times, we find the info really useful.
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+1
Some shortcut which can be mapped on the remote.
I use the flirc IR Receiver so itīs easy for me to map any key combination. I donīt know how easy itīs with other remotes.