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[Shasta Mike]

The M0 4Media app was working great for me until I upgraded my Id from MC29 to 30.  Now, the app on my Android and the wife's iPhone will not stay connected to the Id.  At most it stays connected for a song or two and then disconnects but usually only a few seconds.  It reconnects easily about 75% of the time but then disconnects again.  Sometimes it takes 3-4 tries for the app to reconnect.   

I've reached out to Id support but no fixes on that side.  The Id connected through RDP is acting fairly stable - wifi staying  connected but does have latency issues from time-to-time with keyboard buffering problems sometimes.  But, overall the Id on MC30 and the newer Linux engine is working ok and similar to MC29. 

Anything I can try on my end?  Unfortunately right now the app has become sort of useless with the constant disconnecting.  Forgot to mention that this is occurring at home on the home wifi system with everything connected through the same router.  We are basically using the M0 4Media as a remote to skip songs, adjust volume, load playlists, etc. on the Id.   

[DJLegba]

Are you using a mesh WiFi system? I've noticed that since switching to Amazon's eero, MO 4Media will stop playing when I move around and my phone switches access points.

[Shasta Mike]

Are you using a mesh WiFi system? I've noticed that since switching to Amazon's eero MO 4Media will stop playing when I move around and my phone switches access points. 

No - it is the hardware my cable company provided.  A single Eero and modem.  I got them a few months ago when going to a 1gb internet speed.  The app worked fine until upgrading the Id to MC30 though whether that is coincidence or not - IDK.   

[JimH]

The M0 4Media app was working great for me until I upgraded my Id from MC29 to 30.  Now, the app on my Android and the wife's iPhone will not stay connected to the Id.  At most it stays connected for a song or two and then disconnects but usually only a few seconds.  It reconnects easily about 75% of the time but then disconnects again.  Sometimes it takes 3-4 tries for the app to reconnect.   

I've reached out to Id support but no fixes on that side.  The Id connected through RDP is acting fairly stable - wifi staying  connected but does have latency issues from time-to-time with keyboard buffering problems sometimes.  But, overall the Id on MC30 and the newer Linux engine is working ok and similar to MC29. 

Anything I can try on my end?  Unfortunately right now the app has become sort of useless with the constant disconnecting.  Forgot to mention that this is occurring at home on the home wifi system with everything connected through the same router.  We are basically using the M0 4Media as a remote to skip songs, adjust volume, load playlists, etc. on the Id.   

That sounds like a network problem.  You might start a new thread.

[Awesome Donkey]

I got a new phone (Motorola Edge+ 2023) that I've been putting through its paces for a week, and wanted to post a couple thoughts and ask a question or two.

As expected, the app works beautifully with all bit-depths and sample rates, from 16/44.1 to 24/192 and everything in between. No more weird issues with certain sample rates not working like I had a few years ago. In fact, it's all a pleasure to use. That said, I've noticed a few things...

1) Is it possible the app could support the new music notification panel that Android 13 supports? I mean, I can understand how this could not be a priority (or even have a device running Android 13), but I thought I'd ask about it since it could be interesting. I can say that JRemote2 supports it though it has an issue where it displays pixelated/low quality cover art in the notification and I haven't checked Gizmo but I assume it likely wouldn't support it. I did find the developer guide info for the new music notification panel here: https://developer.android.com/media/implement/surfaces/mobile

2) The other thing is purely superficial and is probably going to be hard to explain. This phone has a 165hz screen (which is amazing if you guys never seen a screen like this, everything feels fast and smooth as butter) but I've noticed when scrolling down my list of artists list of 1,200+ that the scrolling is mostly smooth but does appear to 'hitch' or 'hiccup' at times during scrolling quickly which kinda breaks the illusion of smoothness. It seems like the frame rate, assuming there is one, drops and it's noticeable. From what I can tell, it seems to happen most when scrolling very fast and the app is loading cover art images. Scrolling back up through the list that already propagated the cover art for is better, but once you get a certain ways it does seem "frame drop" again and cause a noticeable of hitching (or whatever you want to call it). Maybe it's cached to a certain point or something? Maybe it's a thread thing or something? I can't honestly tell. I can say that even with a 60hz screen it can be noticable too (as I have noticed this before, but it's more apparent on a higher refresh screen), if you scroll fast enough through a large enough list.

Otherwise, the app runs great and if any of you ever have the chance of using a higher refresh rate screen phone, I highly recommend taking advantage of it.

[cncb]

1) I thought about doing this before but it would not work when playing to an MC zone so I thought it might be strange having different notifications based on what zone you are playing. I am also not sure if I can do the set rating stuff in the system music notification. But I will look into it some more.

2) Sorry, I cannot think of a way to fix this.  May I suggest using the “jump to” feature? 

[markf2748]

• Is there any way to have MO 4Media play audio files which are stored locally on my phone?
• Can MO 4Media be made the default audio player on the phone?

When I select a music file with a file viewer on the phone, I get 5 different "OPEN WITH APPLICATION" choices (BubbleUPnP, Files by Google, Sound player, VLC, foobar2000), but MO 4Media does not show up as an option.  (Aside:  JRemote2, JRiver Panel, and Gizmo do not show up either.)

If I go to the phone's Settings > Apps window, I don't see any options for setting default apps in my oldish Android version.

Uninstalling / re-installing MO 4Media from Google Play Store did not change matters.

Phone:  Samsung Galaxy S9 Model SM-G96RU1 - One UI version 2.5 - Android 10
MO 4Media v1.11.6

[cncb]

Is there any way to have MO 4Media play audio files which are stored locally on my phone?

It cannot be used as a system audio player.  The only local files it can play are ones that you download within the app.  The JRiver for Android app can do what you want.

[Awesome Donkey]

1) I thought about doing this before but it would not work when playing to an MC zone so I thought it might be strange having different notifications based on what zone you are playing. I am also not sure if I can do the set rating stuff in the system music notification. But I will look into it some more.

Ahh, yeah, it kinda makes sense that it would be different for a MC zone versus playing on the device. But I'd be fine with that, personally, as I rarely use MC zones outside of This Device. And it's something that can be made a note of here in case anyone asks about it.

2) Sorry, I cannot think of a way to fix this.  May I suggest using the “jump to” feature? 

Being indecisive is bad sometimes. Basically doom scrolling through the list, hahaha.

[cncb]

Ahh, yeah, it kinda makes sense that it would be different for a MC zone versus playing on the device. But I'd be fine with that, personally, as I rarely use MC zones outside of This Device. And it's something that can be made a note of here in case anyone asks about it.

Good news, I was able to get this to work for MC zones too.  Seeking is also working within the notification.  Pretty cool, now I can control an MC zone with my Samsung watch!  I have a few more things to do, but it should be available in the next few weeks.

[cncb]

Too bad.  I just tested out Plexamp too for the hell of it and it also sends cover art over to the car.

I think/hope I have this fixed for the next release which should be ready soon.  At least it is showing on my watch connected via bluetooth now.

[Purecut]

Hi cncb,

I just noticed that the current version doesn't read chapter information from a movie (assuming the movie has a chapter file). Instead of the movie chapter file, general chapters are displayed with a time interval of 5 minutes created through MO 4Media. It would be desirable if the film included chapters that they would also be displayed in MO 4 Media instead of the default 5 minute chapters. I noticed it because I edited several series together and put start chapters, end chapters, etc. in each one. Other media players display these chapters correctly. If the movie is played through MO 4 Media all these chapter information are gone.

[cncb]

I just noticed that the current version doesn't read chapter information from a movie (assuming the movie has a chapter file).

See the Android TV section of the first post.

[Awesome Donkey]

Just tried the beta version for testers, and the Android 13 integrations work! YAY! The notification controls and cover art displayed look pretty nifty if I say so myself (and you can see which zone is used and I presume the zone can be changed too? Haven't tried yet...) There are two things to note though;

1) The lock screen controls that appear while the screen is locked and I pick up my phone works nicely with cover art and seekbar, but it has no play/pause button like JRemote2 has. I'm not actually sure how those controls work and if additional buttons can be added like previous and next buttons, could be something to look into, maybe. Very minor regardless, it's actually pretty neat to see that level of integration with Android now.

2) When changing artists/albums, the app is randomly crashing. Had this happen on both my phone and Android TV box. All I basically do is play an album by an artist (play all selected for the album) then let it play a few minutes then go find another album by another artist (play all again used) and repeat if needed and eventually the app crashes. I haven't pinned down a method or pattern as of yet, just in case it's not already a known issue, I'll keep messing with that as time permits.

Great work as always!

[cncb]

You can't change the zone with the button in the notification.  If you are playing to the phone, you can tap that and connect to a bluetooth device.

1) There should be a big play/pause button on the right side.  Not sure why you are not seeing it.

2) I will have to check into this.

Thanks.

[Awesome Donkey]

1) There should be a big play/pause button on the right side.  Not sure why you are not seeing it.

It's not the notification, I do see that (and it looks fine). It's when the phone is off and I pick it up, it can display controls for a media player without unlocking the phone. It seems like it's feature called Peak Display with my Motorola phone that uses an app called Moto Display, which I can't find a single bit of information about. So this one can probably be ignored.

[cncb]

It's not the notification, I do see that (and it looks fine). It's when the phone is off and I pick it up, it can display controls for a media player without unlocking the phone.

Oh, my Pixel shows the full notification on the lock screen.  Maybe there is a setting for that on the Moto?

[cncb]

2) When changing artists/albums, the app is randomly crashing.

I have not been able to reproduce this.  Are you playing to the device?  If so, what conversion settings and player (Exo or system)?

[Awesome Donkey]

Yes, to the device. Conversion is disabled for audio and it's using Exo. I'll try switching to Android system.

EDIT: Okay, with Android system the app doesn't crash but it disconnects from the server (displaying the cannot reach the server dialog with reconnection options). With Exo it straight up crashes after displaying the disconnect dialog for a split second. I can get it to happen on command now, by playing the first track of the album then rapidly going to the next song, then the next, then the next, etc.

[cncb]

Yes, to the device. Conversion is disabled for audio and it's using Exo.

That's what I have been testing.  Make sure you have the newest version of the beta (there were 2 recently).  Let me know if you think I should hold off on releasing this.  Thanks.

[Awesome Donkey]

Yes, it's the latest beta. I can reproduce this by rapidly changing tracks with both Android system and Exo, e.g. by starting to play the first track of an album then switch to the next track, then the next, etc. in rapid succession. Eventually it'll either display the disconnected from the server dialog for a split second then crash (with Exo, rarely with Android system) or display the disconnected from the server dialog, which allows me to reconnect.

[cncb]

Well, don't mash on the next button .  I don't see this.  Is playing different albums still causing a crash?

[Awesome Donkey]

Eventually, yes... at least with Exo. With Android system it just disconnects from the server but I can reconnect. I can live with that.

[cncb]

Eventually, yes... at least with Exo.

Haven't seen it yet but will keep my eye out for it.  I went ahead and released the new version.

[cncb]

v1.12.0 is now available.  It adds an option to use the system media notification/control introduced in Android 13 and (hopefully) fixes missing artwork over bluetooth.

[wheel54]

Wow, cover art works!  I can now make this (well MediaCenter) my primary player in my car again, thanks!!!

Glad you got it figured out, I did miss this program.  I will leave you with my thanks and two more requests:

- The swipe to switch panes - is there a way to turn this off or raise the sensitivity on it?  I honestly think at least 25% of the time I attempt to push the play button or tap a star to rate a song, it thinks I'm swiping over to library (I swear, I've used phones for 10+ years, it is a tap) and then I have to go back and try again, sometimes it even happens 2x in a row!

- the double confirmation on stars.  I know you disagree with me - but again, plexamp and others let you set your star rating merely by tapping on the star you wish to have it be.  Plexamp even splits the stars to a 10-scale and I can reliably tap precisely on the 1/2 or full star I want. and you can also just slide you finger over the star area too if you miss and get 2 instead of 3, just slide a tiny bit and you'll have 3 stars.

To me the double confirmation is reduntant.  I don't even like it for seeking, though I understand the unique UI for it that comes up may be of use, I'd honestly just prefer to have it be tap and rate and tap and seek without any confirmation screens.  Frustrating I can't convince you to make it an option!  Would be so nice for me.

And I also see you added a lifetime purchase option, that's welcome as well!  I didn't mind the subscription because it's the only app that does what it does with MediaCenter, but having the one-time purchase is a lot more consumer friendly!  Thanks for that.  Consider having a tip option as well, it's kinda like a subscription honor system that way if you don't already. 

That's all!  Really just wanted to say I appreciate the cover art update! 

[wheel54]

2 Requests / Questions:

- Cross Fade?  I didn't see anything on this, I don't suppose it's an option?  I set my server to use S Curve 5 seconds, but nothing really happens that makes me think it is working on the app.

- Any chance for the ability to re-order the play next list you see when playing back song in the lower half of the screen simply by holding on an upcoming song for a few seconds then being able to slide it up/down to easily re-order the list?  Also a simple swipe from right to left on a song usually is a nice fast way to delete one off the list. 

[cncb]

There is no cross fade available currently. I will look to see if there is anything available for the player.

Sorry, I don’t plan to implement any in-place editing for Playing Now. For a lot of edits, see the editor accessed in the playback controls menu.  Also, if you double-tap a file it will perform the last action so you can use this as a shortcut for delete after you select it in the menu once.

[Purecut]

If you are looking for Chapter Support in MO 4Media on Android TV go to this link and you will find a Step by Step guide.

MO 4Media Movie Chapter Support on Android TV:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,119267.msg955155.html#msg955155

[cncb]

v1.13.0 is now available with the following changes:

- Add single touch option for seeking and setting rating.
- Add button to show/hide calculated tags in Tags page.
- [ATV] Fix reading of chapter times in xml chapters file.

[markf2748]

v1.13.0 is now available with the following changes:
...
- Add button to show/hide calculated tags in Tags page.
...

Thanks!  This is a really great feature, well done and beautifully presented.

However... I'm puzzled why it works, so far, for all of my tags, calculated and not-calculated, except for one String data, Standard edit type field [Date Acquired] which always takes on the value 12/31/1969 4:00 PM  (see attachments).

I raised this as "Tag Issue 2" in my previous post for v1.12.0 and MC 31.0.87:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,119267.msg955094.html#msg955094
and it remains the same for v1.13.0

As before, MO 4Media gets it right for the related calculated field, no issue:
[Date Acquired (raw sortable)] = ConvertDate([Date Acquired])

Win 11 Pro 23H2 (64-bit)     MC 32.0.6     MO 4Media v1.13.0 on Android phone

[cncb]

If you can rename “Date Acquired” to contain parentheses it will treat it as a string and work.  For example, name it “Date Acquired (original)” or similar.

[markf2748]

If you can rename “Date Acquired” to contain parentheses it will treat it as a string and work.  For example, name it “Date Acquired (original)” or similar.

Worked a charm!

1) Add new, more descriptive custom library field [Date Acquired (string)] which in name "parallels" [Date Acquired (raw sortable)].
2) For convenience, add this new field to my custom section ("Primary Audio Fields") in the tag Tree.
3) Select all albums, then use old data to mass initialize in the Tree: Date Acquired (string) =[Date Acquired]
4) Update the expression for [Date Acquired (raw sortable)] to use new field.
5) Quickly confirm dates are OK for every file using a few custom Audio Task Smartlists.
6) Delete old field.
7) Select all albums, then Library Tools > Update Tags (from Library)
8 ) Confirm working in MO 4Media.
9) Clean up the fallout:  replace old field with new field in Customized Views, Thumbnail Text, Smartlists, and Expression Fields as needed.

It's nice that Library Tools > Update Tags (from Library) re-writes the entire Vorbis Comment Block, so I didn't have to worry about removing the old tag from my music files after it was deleted from the library!

  Thanks. 

1/24/2024 Add Step 9) for completeness

[Purecut]

Hi cncb

some of the functions from MO 4Media in (Android phone) are missing in MO 4Media for Android TV.

Show/Hide calculated fields
Enable / Disable Spotlight
Star Rating

and also I have noticed that when you have enabled in Shield (srt subtitel) with white font color and black outline, that MO 4Media only plays the subtitle in the color that you selected (in my case white) but with no black outline.
This can be sometimes very frustrating when the subtitle be displayed on very bright senses.

Is it possible to change this?

Greetings

[Awesome Donkey]

Speaking of Android TV, I've been using MO 4Media on my Android/Google TV boxes more lately and come across three things, and I have a nice QoL idea too.

1) I think there should be an option to have/swap Play All as the first/default option instead of Play Single. More times than often I rather playback an entire album (starting with the track I'm trying to listen to) and this would eliminate 2 extra remote button presses. Encountering this is kinda jarring and kinda breaks the flow for me when trying to play a song. Maybe a default action toggle or something?

2) This is probably the biggest longshot here as I know this kind of thing has been asked before (but for phones mainly), but I think on Artist and Album (or whatever else) views, there should be a vertical alphabet on the left side (e.g. like apps like Emby have), which can be used to quickly jump to/navigate to the first entry of that letter.

Yes, yes I know. I'm well aware you can simply type in the first letter into search to jump to the letter you want but honestly this won't be intuitive to most users, especially those using only remotes for navigation on Android/Google TV. If I'm being honest, I feel the type in the first letter into search to jump to the letter method really works best on touchscreen devices like phones and tablets where it's quicker to perform this action. On a TV interface using a remote control for navigation, this actually slows things downs and makes it a bit more cumbersome. So I feel it makes sense on a TV interface, not the phone/tablet touch interface.

This would come in handy for those users and users coming from Kodi/Emby/Plex who are used to having that sort of alphabet on the side navigation option. Plus it could come in handy for very large libraries, especially large video libraries.

3) Okay, maybe another longshot, but adding a list view in addition to the default thumbnail view? On my Android phones and tablets, there's indeed a list view but on Android/Google TV there's only a thumbnail view. I'm not a fan of thumbnail views at all, and this is probably as big of a jarring, flow breaking experience as the Play Single/Play All thing. In my mind, thumbnail views work best for things like movies and television shows, and not really for music. I have a lot of different editions/masterings of the same album in my library, and some of them have pretty long album names which when using a thumbnail view can be cut off and hard to read. If there was a list view, it could display longer song title/artist/album/etc. names.

The QoL idea? Okay, how about this...

4) On now playing view, have it where with a remote you can press up to view the cover art on screen without any overlays. Right now the default view the track info/progress bar overlay covers up the bottom part of any cover art. Pressing up on now playing currently doesn't do anything so this could fit in very well there and it'd fit nicely with with the action of pressing down to see the queue. So on now playing pressing up on a remote would be cover art only view and pressing down on the remote would be the queue.

Thoughts?

[cncb]

and also I have noticed that when you have enabled in Shield (srt subtitel) with white font color and black outline, that MO 4Media only plays the subtitle in the color that you selected (in my case white) but with no black outline.
This can be sometimes very frustrating when the subtitle be displayed on very bright senses.

Is it possible to change this?

I think someone requested before that I remove the black background. I will look into it.

[cncb]

Speaking of Android TV, I've been using MO 4Media on my Android/Google TV boxes more lately and come across three things, and I have a nice QoL idea too.

1) What about having Play all first only when you are at an audio file?

2) This only makes sense when the view is sorted alphabetically but the app does not have view sorting information.

3) This would be lot of work so I don’t think I will be doing this anytime soon.

4) Yes, this should be doable.

The things you find “jarring” seem pretty mild so maybe you should take up meditation or something?

[JimH]

I need the same class. 

cncb, How about putting the last used Play Option at the top?  MC does that in some cases.

[Awesome Donkey]

1) What about having Play all first only when you are at an audio file?

Works for me!

4) Yes, this should be doable.

Thank you.

The things you find “jarring” seem pretty mild so maybe you should take up meditation or something?

Really wish it was that simple...

[Purecut]

I think someone requested before that I remove the black background. I will look into it.

I do NOT mean a black background. That can be done with the shield settings. Oh no not that, I mean a black OUTLINE round a white font! You can also select this in shield, but the settings will not be used by MO 4Media.
MO 4Media will always display a white font without a back outline no matter what you have selected in the shield settings.

I have added a image how it could be shown. A switch in the seetings for enable / disable outline in srt font subtitles.

[wheel54]

We finally got single tap seeking and rating!  Thanks so much for coming around on that, I know you didn't want to!  But it really makes my use of the product a lot easier and less error prone! 

There's really not a whole lot left I could ask for at this time, so thanks!

[Purecut]

@cncb

any news to my question?

[cncb]

We finally got single tap seeking and rating!  Thanks so much for coming around on that, I know you didn't want to!  But it really makes my use of the product a lot easier and less error prone!

You're welcome! 

[cncb]

any news to my question?

Have not looked at it yet.  Hopefully soon.

[cncb]

I have added a image how it could be shown. A switch in the seetings for enable / disable outline in srt font subtitles.

I would prefer to not add another setting.  Is there ever a case where you would not want the black outline?

[cncb]

So on now playing pressing up on a remote would be cover art only view and pressing down on the remote would be the queue.

Do you want the text in the top corners to hide to show just the cover art or do you want the top text to still be visible?

[Awesome Donkey]

All text hidden, just cover art.

[rvonder]

Hi -
I recently bought a 2021 Mazda CX-9 with Android Auto, and would like to use MO 4Media to access and play audio from my home MC server. Using your app on just my phone (OnePlus 7 Pro) works fine - I have a large music library, and response time to display and scroll even long lists of artists, albums, etc. over a 4G cellular connection is almost instantaneous.

The problem comes when I connect to Android Auto. When I start MO 4Media, the app appears quickly, but from there it takes a long time (maybe 20-30 seconds) for even the top-level selection list (Audio, Images, Video, etc.) to display. If I select Audio followed by any choice on the next-level menu (Artist, Album, Recents, Genre, Composer, etc.), I get nothing beyond the dreaded spinning circle. I tried Genre, figuring that list would be smaller than the others - but even five minutes later, I still see only the spinning circle.

Why does the app work perfectly in standalone mode, but not in AA? Any suggestions would be welcomed!

[JimH]

Can you play the same filetypes with another player on the head unit?  They may not be supported.

MC can convert when serving if necessary.

[cncb]

This is likely due to memory issues with Android Auto.  It can’t handle big lists.  Go to the settings tab in MO 4Media on the Android Auto screen (at the top of the “home” screen for MO).  There is a setting there for the maximum number of list items to avoid this.

It would be better to create views for AA use that group items by letter to reduce the list sizes since when you are driving it limits the amount of scrolling you can do.