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[Listener]

I am evaluating MC 11 and finding the features to be what I need.  However, I regularly experience interruptions in playback.  Sometimes, I hear short pauses and sometimes I hear a pop or a glitch in the sound.

I'm using a Toshiba laptop with a 2.8 G P4 and 512 M of RAM running XP Home.  I'm usually running Thunderbird 1.0 and Firefox 1.06 while listening.  Sometimes I hear an interruption when Firefox redraws the screen.  I have seen an interruption when I change a tag value in MC 11. Sometimes there is no obvious activity at the time of the interruption.

I've tried disabling the laptop feature to spin down the hard disk.  I tried boosting the priority of the MC 11 process to above normal.  I have found anything that makes the interruptions go away totally.

Any tips?

Bill

[JimH]

Try changing your playback options in MC from Direct Sound to Wave Out or vice versa.

[jgreen]

Listener--
MC will perform as expected, but you'll probably have to adjust the default settings somewhat.  In tools/Options/Playback, just below "Output Mode"  Is "Output Mode Settings..."  Here you can adjust the buffer size, which I believe defaults to .5 secs.  Try 1 sec, with Wave Out, or maybe 1.5 secs.

I run MC alongside Mozilla Suite, and I occassionally saw the skipping you're talking about  with small buffer size.  They go away with larger buffers.  Increasing the priority of MC seems to help a little, but decreasing Mozilla instead seems to help more.  I think buffer size is the main thing, though. 

Both MC and Mozilla are great apps that replace incompetent apps (IMO) that MSFT built into the OS.  Running both simultaneaously with Antivirus and Firewall also seems to place a heavy load on multimedia resources within the OS, FWIW.  So if the problem persists, look at your AV settings for options to elevate MC to a more trusted status.

[Listener]

>  Try changing your playback options in MC from Direct Sound to Wave Out or vice versa.
   
I used Direct Sound for awhile.  Then I tried WaveOut.

> In tools/Options/Playback, just below "Output Mode"  Is "Output Mode
> Settings..."  Here you can adjust the buffer size, which I believe defaults
> to .5 secs.  Try 1 sec, with Wave Out, or maybe 1.5 secs.

I am up to 3 sec. for Direct Sound and 4 sec. for WaveOut.

> Increasing the priority of MC seems to help a little, but decreasing Mozilla
> instead seems to help more. 

I elevated the priority for MC.  I'll try lowering the priority for Firefox.

> So if the problem persists, look at your AV settings for options to elevate
> MC to a more trusted status.

OK.

Thanks to both posters for the good advice.

Bill

[glynor]

This isn't strictly related but you should REALLY be running more current versions of your Mozilla software.

FireFox 1.5.01 is out which is faster and more secure.  It also has some really cool new features like Live Bookmarks.

Thunderbird 1.5 is out which is much more secure and also has a bunch of new features (such as an inline spell checker ala MS Word).

[Listener]

Turning off "Auto-Protect" in Norton Anti-Virus seems to help a lot with the playback interruptions I had experienced using MC11.

The Agent newsgroup reader  is one application that can cause an interruption.  It does lots of disk I/O and seems to boost its priority when it is downloading message headers and message files.

I did update Firefox and Thunderbird to the latest versions but I don't see much difference between the new versions and the ones I had been using.

Thanks

[KingSparta]

Turning off "Auto-Protect" in Norton Anti-Virus seems to help a lot with the playback interruptions I had experienced using MC11.

Yes, Norton Wants To Keep Checking All The Files, and with more network access both in and out. norton also slows and interups things

This Was Noted A Few Months Ago.

I had to un-install Norton so I can get the syetm to work correctly, I use something else now.

[GHammer]

I understand that an anti-virus and/or firewall may have an impact on a system.

I think it is not good advice to disable protection, especially with a connected computer.
Here in my little fishing village, I'd bet an unprotected machine would be owned within an hour. I'd guess that's true in your area too.

I'd suggest finding settings for the AV/firewall that don't have quite the impact or changing those tools.

I run KAV here now that I have seen it find things that other tools miss. You can exclude your music tree if you need to. I think most AV tools have the ability to exclude files or directories from the realtime scan.

[jgreen]

LIstener--
You do not need to disable auto-protect for your entire system, although doing so for short periods is not necessarily inviting a problem, IMO. Disabling your firewall is.

You can tweak the Norton AV settings to allow MC a trusted status.   Open the Norton control panel and select options/norton Anitivirus.  In the dialog go to "other" (third panel down on the left), select "threat categories"  and then "exclusions".  Here you can (finally) browsse to the MC executable and enter it.  Some futzing is required, but this should help.

Ultimately, my solution was to disable Norton AV and install AVG.  Not quite as aggressive in the real-time scanning.

[Listener]

Thanks for the advice on Anti-Virus s/w.  By the way, could you provide product names rather than abbreviations? (AVG and KAV for example.)

I'm on my 13th personal computer now and this is the first one on which I have an Anti-Virus package running consistently.  I had been puzzled about the poor performance of this laptop running XP and now I understand.

I'm careful about threats and have never had an infection.  I got the Norton Anti-Virus s/w to check MS Office documents I recweived from friends or from a website.  So I'll be satisfied to turn off the autoimatic protection.

Bill

[KingSparta]

I think it is not good advice to disable protection

I don't think anyone said that.

And when you turn off "Auto-Protect" in Norton Anti-Virus it still protects you, it just don't test the same file over and over again.

[jgreen]

Listener--

#1.  I hope your trial of MC is meeting your expectations, and more.  For me, MC is the only choice for large libraries.

#2.  As far as I know, AVG is the name of the product.  I found it by searching download.com, which is also where I found MC, originally. I would recommend download.com for info on AV (antivirus) software as well as anti-spyware (no abbreviation in common use) software and firewalls. 

You'll find that Norton is very highly rated, along with AVG and a couple others.  My switch FROM Norton was due to the kind of issues that you're having.  The AVG auto-protect is a lighter process, although a slightly less comprehensive one.  The issue seems to be "heuristic analysis", a fancy way of describing stuff I don't understand.  The upshot is that AVG relies more (although not entirely) on signature comparisions, whereas Norton sniffs everything (repeatedly) for what it views as suspicious behaviors, or opinions.

#3.  While you're there, check out anti-spyware protection, a close cousin of AV (antivirus).  Spybot and Adaware are the top-rated products, both free.  I run a spyware check once a week, although I do NOT autoprotect.  To me, the best protection is staying away from free music or porno sites.  Well, for sure the free music sites.

[Listener]

> #1.  I hope your trial of MC is meeting your expectations, and more. 
> For me, MC is the only choice for large libraries.

I've looked at many players and Media Center looks like the best choice for me.  My music collection is 60+ % classical music so being able to display the Composer tag and sort and select on it was essential. I was able to tailor that behavior in 30 minutes of tinkering.  MC 11 will be a keeper for me.

I'm still trying to understand the logic of some of the UI though.  MC 11 seems to have deep functionality but too little documentation of the details and concepts.  (I understand that as s/w goes, it is pretty good.  Nothing like Foobar2000 though.)

> #2-3 ...

Thanks for the info on Anti-Virus software.

Bill

[GHammer]

I don't think anyone said that.

It has been listed as a possible solution to several problems. Here's one:
"We will take a look at any problem you report, but please disable any third party plug-ins, visualizations spam blockers, popup blockers, virus checkers, etc. that you use while running MC."

And when you turn off "Auto-Protect" in Norton Anti-Virus it still protects you, it just don't test the same file over and over again.

Unless you are manually scanning everything, disabling auto-protect (realtime, continuous, etc) will stop an anti-virus package from protecting you.

From Symantec-
"WARNING: Your computer is not protected from viruses when Auto-Protect is disabled."
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/1997121131456

[glynor]

I'm still trying to understand the logic of some of the UI though.  MC 11 seems to have deep functionality but too little documentation of the details and concepts.  (I understand that as s/w goes, it is pretty good.  Nothing like Foobar2000 though.)

[MC Fanboy Rant]

The documentation could be better (isn't that true of so many software programs though -- as you mentioned)... However, I don't know that the support given on the product, via this forum, could be improved in many ways.  The people here, both users and JRiver employees, are not only willing -- but usually oddly eager -- to help with the most obscure problems.  I've also never seen a development team more willing to take and use constructive feedback from their users before.

Oh, and for the price....

[/MC Fanboy Rant]

[JimH]

I think it is not good advice to disable protection, especially with a connected computer.

Perhaps I should have said, "Pull the Ethernet cable out of the wall first.", but then someone would be telling me not to talk down to our good customers.

[KingSparta]

It has been listed as a possible solution to several problems. Here's one:
"We will take a look at any problem you report, but please disable any third party plug-ins, visualizations spam blockers, popup blockers, virus checkers, etc. that you use while running MC."

As a Test To see if it is the cause, no one said to leave it off.

Unless you are manually scanning everything, disabling auto-protect (realtime, continuous, etc) will stop an anti-virus package from protecting you.

I have Norton Internet Security 2006 (Un-installed) it has NAV in it, it tends to go overboard on protection to the point of grabbing the computer out of the hands of the user and holding it up out of the users reach.

Thats what a scan does it checks the files, every time you access a file NAV scans it again before it gives control back to the OS, so your always waiting on NAV to check it, thats why the delay.

It also happens With NAV when a computer tries to access a port like ftp, http etc... so it slows that down too.

At any rate Microsoft One Care Beta uses Symantics Virus protection without it slowing down your computer like NAV does.

there are other programs that slow the system down but symantics has always had a bad rep for slowing your system down with alot of overhead.

You will find that NAV is not on the top of the Anti Virus programs top picks list for many reasons but mostly because it has too much overhead.

I recently tested about 20 Anti Virus programs for a review they all have there own problems however.

[Listener]

[MC Fanboy Rant]

The documentation could be better (isn't that true of so many software programs though -- as you mentioned)... However, I don't know that the support given on the product, via this forum, could be improved in many ways. 

[/MC Fanboy Rant]

I meant to say that MC 11 is much better than Foobar2000 for documentation.

I did not mean my post to be critical of JRiver or of this forum.  I'm busy trying to see how to make MC 11 fit my needs.  However, MC 11 could use more documentation on concepts and more how-tos. 

Bill

[glynor]

I meant to say that MC 11 is much better than Foobar2000 for documentation.

I did not mean my post to be critical of JRiver or of this forum.  I'm busy trying to see how to make MC 11 fit my needs.  However, MC 11 could use more documentation on concepts and more how-tos. 

I didn't take it that way.  I agree completely, some HOWTO's and more conceptual documentation would be extremely helpful.  I'm sure the JRiver crew would agree, but they have precious few resources to devote (and many of us experienced users would rather them target functionality improvements)...

I'm sure if, once you do become an "expert-user", you took it upon yourself to write up some more advanced documentation, you'd be heralded as a champion for all time.   

I, myself, am too lazy and busy with ... you know ... life.

The only point I was making was that all is not lost.  If you have a question, just ask, and one of us will answer pretty quickly (if an answer exists).

[KingSparta]

However, MC 11 could use more documentation on concepts and more how-tos.

That Is sometimes hard due to the amount of changes that go into MC each and every time there is a new version.

I think they are giving Lisa food scraps from the dinner table for her to write the docs files or maybe JimH sent her some maple syrup. Not sure, but she did include some samples in the updated docs for smartlists.

Normaly when there is a final release Lisa gets on and asks for imput to the help file from users. MC11.1 may have updated docs. note there is FAQ and Help On The Website and then also some help in MC under Help they may or maynot be the exact same help documents.

You can also do a search in the forum, and normaly that is only needed when your trying to do something complex.

[Listener]

> note there is FAQ and Help On The Website

I found both some time ago.  The FAQ doesn't have much depth.

I compared the contents list of the website MC help to the help file that comes with MC 11.  The content seems to be much the same.  The website help has some text "first version of Media Center" and Media Center 9" that made me wonder if it was up to date.  The "Contents    Index    Previous    Next    MC Forum" buttoms don't work in my Firefox 1.5 browser.

> and then also some help in MC under Help they may or may
> not be the exact same help documents.

I've been through the help pretty thoroughly.

> You can also do a search in the forum, and normaly that is
> only needed when your trying to do something complex.

I have been searching the forum messages.  I've found useful information but some threads that seem relevant are some heavy with abbreviations and jargon that I can't make much of them.   For example, one recent thread was about a proposed breadcrumb mechanism.  Another thread talked about "PN" without any explanation.

Bill

[jgreen]

Speaking for myself, I use abbreviations and jargon to hide how dimly I understand what I'm saying.

BTW, PN=Playing Now

BTW, BTW=By The Way, FWIW.

oops.

[glynor]

a proposed breadcrumb mechanism.

FWIW... 

breadcrumbs - it's a common  "navigation system" style used in computer applications.  If you are viewing the "Tiles View" of a View Scheme and you click on the View Header (at the top of the Tiles/file-list area) where it says Panes/Artist/Album/etc.  You see how as you navigate down the "path" to your files it changes to always allow you to go back one "step" at a time as you select different View Schemes or Tiles?  That type of system (and ones similar to it) are commonly called "breadcrumbs".

Google Directory (and the old Yahoo) uses a similar system, horizontally at the top of the page.  As you click on a topic to open it, it shows up at the top so you can always go back up a "tier".

It's from the breadcrumbs left behind by Hansel and Gretel so they could find their way back home.

[Listener]

> breadcrumbs - it's a common  "navigation system" style used in
> computer applications.

Thanks for the explanation.  In 30 years working as a software engineer, I don't recall hearing that use of the word breadcrumbs. 

Bill