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[JimH]

Media Center V9 supports image playback.  Instructions are here:

http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=beta;action=display;num=1036084624;start=0

Are you using it?

What do you do with it?

Can you compare it with other programs you've used?

We're just looking for ways we can improve it.

[NoCodeUK]

I use the image function and find it pretty good.  Here are some of my ideas for it:

• One thing that is essential is that the dsplay for images needs to have specific fields showing for images.  Bit rate, track time etc are irrelevant.  In the same way Height and Width are irrelevant for music!!
  
• I think images need to be arranged slightly differently to music.  For me I have created a custom field called sub album.  So I view by Album/SubAlbum/Name.  This allows the album field to be quite specific and the sub album field to be more general.  As an example I have a Movies album, with Sub Albums for each Movie and then individual files for the name
• It might be nice to have a few other editing features as well as rotate.  I know officially this should be done in an editing prog but a few adjustments like a resize option or basic adjustments might be nice.  I'm not expecting photoshop!!  Irfan view is very good for this kind of thing as it allows basic adjustments and is very fast within the UI
• Conversion of formats - again I remember reading in the past that you thought this should be in the realm of an editor but I think it is on a par with audio format conversion.  I dont wanna have to load up- the bulk of photoshop to convert a bmp to a jpg, I would rather do it in MJ.  Also a bulk convert option would be great and this is not even possible in photoshop.  Highlight a number of files in MJ and convert them in one fell swoop.
• I think some tweaks could be done to the way that slideshows are set up.  I think if the playback engines were seperate things would improve e.g. if music is playing and you double click an image album to add it to playing now I dont think the music should stop playing.  Maybe also a few more slideshow options e.g. how slides change by time or by mouse click and Ive always been a sucker for as many transitions as I can get...I'm thinking something like the Powerpoint animation engine in Office XP only obviously not as complex, giving total control over how the slideshow is set up.  Then again I suppose I could just use Powerpoint XP to do that

Hope this helps...

Adam

[bennyd]

It would be nice to see all fields that my digital cam puts in there like date picture taken etc.

[RemyJ]

Media Center V9 supports image playback.  Instructions are here:

http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=beta;action=display;num=1036084624;start=0

Are you using it?

What do you do with it?

Can you compare it with other programs you've used?

We're just looking for ways we can improve it.

Not using it and don't currently plan to.

By using 2 different programs (ULead Photo Explorer Pro in my case)...:

• Although PEX is a little short in the attribute area, I can view, sort, list etc. images exactly the way I like them.  In MC I can view, sort, list etc. audio tracks exactly the way I like them.  They're not the same.  
  
• I can see image thumbnails in PEX and audio track details in MC.  No switching back and forth.
  
• I can work on image organization and slideshows in PEX and listen to music in MC without them interfering with each other.
  
• PEX allows me to use TIF images.
  
• PEX allows me to adjust image size, color, contrast, etc.
  
• PEX allows me to make HTML slideshows and screen savers.
  
  On the other hand, I'd love to create image slideshows synchronized with music and MC would seem to be a natural at that, but not at the expense of bulletproof music and not at the expense of the good things separation allows.
  
  Wanna improve it?  Split MC into two separate programs.  A solid audio and video program with no images, and a solid image program with no audio and video.   Then loosely couple them so that the 5% of the time you want audio and images together, you can get it.
  
  

[KingSparta]

>> Are you using it?
No

[nila]

Dont use it,  in fact found it a bit annoying so used the search bar to select all images and then deleted all my covers from my db as it was getting really annoying and confusing seeing loads of untagged files then realising they were in fact images.

[jwaters]

YES! I'm using the image features in 9.  (although I'm several beta versions behind)  This is the feature I'm most excited about seeing in the new version.

I really like the way your jpeg tagging works (just like mp3 tagging, with the ability to add unlimited custom fields).  There is virtually NO applications for manage/tagging JPEGS that works well.  I'm not thrilled that you're using a proprietary tagging format, but as long as I can extract all the data about my photos, I'm OK with it.

I've tried what seems like hundreds of image management applications, none of which can meet my needs, which I think are very simple:

1. ability to tag jpegs with custom information (so I can move photos from system to system or share photos and never lose the tagged info)

2. ability to search/sort through all fields.  For example "Show all house pictures" or "Show all pictures of the dog in 2001" or show "all vacation pictures sorted by year".

3. Play a slideshow of these pictures.

I don't need any more advanced image manipulation options. (I'll use photoshop for that)

What I would like to see:

1. ability to overlay text on a slideshow.  For example, a key to toggle a caption on/off while looking at an image.

2. ability to ready IPTC (photoshop metadata) and EXIF (camera information) information.

[MachineHead]

On the other hand, I'd love to create image slideshows synchronized with music and MC would seem to be a natural at that, but not at the expense of bulletproof music and not at the expense of the good things separation allows.

Synchronized how? I know you can get images to play at the same time as music, but am curious as to what you are trying to do. I thought slideshow would do this.

As to the original question. Yes, I have been playing with the image features. But it is limited to cover art at this point. One thing that is a little unnerving is MC taking control of image file types upon installing. Maybe asking instead of defaulting this way would be easier on the user who has carefully filed away images. It may be that I had done this in the past, but can't recall now.

[JimH]

This is helpful.  Thanks.  Keep it coming.

Anyone use the right click on image/send to /tools/external tool to send to an image editor?  Drag and drop also works to get it into an editor.

[Cmagic]

Well I have started playing with images in MC9 but think I will still use my present
image organizing software (imatch www.photools.com) for several reasons :

- MC9 does not understand IPTC (photoshop) and EXIF information from cameras
- TIFF files and Canon (RAW) or Nikon (NEF) format not suported in MC9 (losless image format)
- Cannot make a standalone slide show with music to send to my Mum with MC9
- Cannot generate web pages for my images
- MC9 does not have a batch processor to easily resize, convert or rename group of images
- MC9 can't generate a Contact Sheet
- and many other reasons mostly tied to the fact that MC9 comes from the musical/video scene and
has still a long way to go before it becomes attractive for hardcore digital photography addicts.

Anyway I was primarly a hardcore digital music addict and I'm happy so far with MC9.
Also I'm quite sure that in a version or two MCx will have many of the feature I have mentioned above.

Christian

[zevele10]

i do not use it yet ,just after 2 days
But ,yes i will use it

but not that much as a 'picture jukebox manager' than link with music.
To be able to save pictures  show in SlideShow when on the web would be a very nice feature

[urlybird]

Is "images" supposed to replace the "Slideshow" plugin ?
I have installed the plug-in and everything works fine except it forgets it configuration settings.

[nila]

That's what I was afraid would happen if MJ did images.
All the time and effort would start going into adding features like the ones that Cmagic suggested that are needed in order to make it a worthwhile image browsing program for most people. They will want basic image editing features as all the image browsers now offer. This 'basic' feature set is also constantly expanding these days too.

The problem is that these features will add nothing to the audio part of MJ and will instead simply drain the time of the programmers and so the development on the audio side of MJ will totally slow down while features that I already have provided perfectly for me by my image browsing programs are added. MJ is by far the best Audio Jukebox available and is constantly adding new features and making MJ even more perfect. I'd hate to see this stop as loads of time is put into adding features that are already covered in depth by image browsing software (acdsee, compupic pro, etc).

[JimH]

Most of the work we're doing with images also applies to audio.  Database and tagging are our strengths.

[nila]

Good   Good   Good   Good   Good   Good   Good   Good  

LoL.

I was really worried that you were gonna start focusing on image features which are already all provided amply by other programs.

That's the reassureance I was hoping for to make me not worry so much about images.

[lee269]

Im using it, but Im still figuring out how (and why) I should use it. Im new to images, and Ive not used any other photo organisation software. From what I have learned, I think that NoCode, bennyd and jwaters have pretty much summed up the way MC should go. I still see MC as primarily a music organisation/playback tool - mainly because I havent yet managed to converge all my media devices onto my PC (if only I could afford to ).

If its going to be a hub for your radio/TV/photo album/music collection, then as far as I can see MCs strength is in its database and organisation facilities, thats the key feature and also where the niche is - no need to add too many image editing/manipulation features.

[patdevlin]

I am Using Image as a back ground slide show when listening to Music.

I was using Slideshow with MJ 8 and I thought it was great.  

Unlike slide show where you just told slide show what directory to us for your pictures, you now have to import the pictures into MC 9.  This could have some benefits because I can now organixze my pictures using the fields in in your database.

In MJ 8 slide show I could set it to random and it would select pictures at random.  That is a feture I whis that you would at to images.

[JHC]

I am new to Media Center and have been playing with it for a total of four days (purchased yesterday).

The most exciting part of this software for me, is that it offers a particularly powerful way to tie in all the things I want to do with my Home Theater PC. I particularly love the first look at the Hairstyle stuff.

So the Images functionality for me is very useful -- a way to whip together slide shows, tie them to music and display them on the TV.

I'm not sure what particular suggestions to make at this point except that I love the direction this software is taking.

BTW, the JPG tagging (I'd assume) is not going to harm the Camera info etc that is already embedded in there right?

Thanks,

Jonathan

[JimH]

BTW, the JPG tagging (I'd assume) is not going to harm the Camera info etc that is already embedded in there right?

No, it won't interfere.

Thanks for your other comments.  Suggestions and ideas are always welcome.  We really want to make it work right for HTPC users.

[JHC]

JimH,

Thanks for the response regarding tags.

And not to belabor the point, but the software is most impressive and the company's attitude towards upgrades and support is nothing short of incredible.

In addition to playing with the software, I have spent a number of hours reading back through a great many threads and JRiver's pride in the product and concern for the users shows through consistently -- if only every software vendor would have the same passion and attitude.

Jonathan

[Griff]

Hi JimH

Anyone use the right click on image/send to /tools/external tool to send to an image editor?  Drag and drop also works to get it into an editor

Yes, neat feature.

I agree with the people above on burning a slideshow with music.
But I would also like to see this with voice overlays for each slide.

I would also like to see a keyboard comand to sw. from slide show to visul., in full screen mode. (For HTS via remote)

Thanks
Griff