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Author Topic: MC 12 on Home Network  (Read 3683 times)

Gl3nn

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MC 12 on Home Network
« on: February 15, 2007, 10:49:06 am »

Been a long-time user of both MC and MJ.  Solo, 1-PC user only, however.

Is it possible, on a simple 3-PC home network (WinXP), to access and play songs/mp3s on #1 and #2 PC from a 3rd PC at the same time?

IOW - person #1 uses PC #1 and has her own library/ratings/songs.  Ditto for person #2 on PC #2.  Can MC12 access & play both - preferably concurrently but independently would be acceptable - from the 3rd PC?

Sorry for the noob-ish question but I've never tried to do this before... and I'm not really sure how this would work.

Thanks in advance for any help or guidance!
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WolfWalker

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2007, 10:54:26 am »

I am in the same boat as you
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So much music so little time!

JimH

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2007, 11:06:56 am »

You can run Library Server on any PC and connect to it from another PC on your network.

It's under "Services and Plug-ins" in the tree.
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BartMan01

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2007, 11:56:16 am »

You can run Library Server on any PC and connect to it from another PC on your network.

It's under "Services and Plug-ins" in the tree.

But how does this work for multiple libraries?  Can you 'serve' one library while using another on the local PC?  The original question is one that I am struggling with too.  Running 2 libraries from 2 different computers both using the same files.  What is the *best* way to do this?
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John Gateley

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2007, 01:16:13 pm »

Library Server shares the same library to everyone. You can do a lot by making custom fields for each user, such as "John's Genre" and "Joe's Genre" (though you can't make custom fields like "rating").

If you really want everyone to have their own library, the best way might to be laptops - really keep the libraries separate and portable.

j

benn600

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2007, 04:24:40 pm »

I was thinking about this and think I have a good idea for J River to consider.  When creating a new library, you would have 3 options.

1) Normal library.  Nothing changes here from what we are used to at the moment.

2) Database library.  This would be located somewhere and would only contain the database of music, photos, and video.

3) User library.  This would start empty.  When ratings are added, songs are played, etc., new entries in the "database" would be added and they would then be cross referenced with the database library to apply info to certain songs where info exists.

The database library could also contain a list of users (ideally).  So, you would select the type (1 or 2) but if 1 is selected, there would be an additional Left-most view called Users where you could add users, name them, and setup settings for sharing info.

Option #3 would then ask for you to select a user from the available users.  Then, you could have a password, too, and have a checkbox to remember selection (and password).  Then, some changes could be made but not a huge amount.  Depending on server setup, you may be able to add, remove, modify media, etc...  There's a lot of capability here!  I would love to get this rolling because it would be a great feature.  I have lots of ideas and could help figure out how to make this work.
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MrHaugen

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2007, 05:11:30 pm »

I do think you can have more than one library.
I experienced getting 2 libraries when I installed MC on my second computer. At that time I could choose the Library server and the local library. This might only be possible with a local library and one library server.

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Talios

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2007, 06:55:32 pm »

I may be confused about what you are asking but I think there is a simple solution, as long as each person only uses their own pc.  If you just share the folder where all the music is on PC # 3, you can then go to pc's #1 & 2 and when you import music into the library you point to the shared directory on pc # 3.  As long as you make sure the options in mc on the computers don't update the tags if the file changes and vice versa, each pc can rate songs and such independently.  I hope this makes sense and isn't too convoluted...and is what you were asking.
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John Gateley

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2007, 08:15:07 pm »

I do think you can have more than one library.
I experienced getting 2 libraries when I installed MC on my second computer. At that time I could choose the Library server and the local library. This might only be possible with a local library and one library server.

To be clear: a machine can have multiple libraries (some local, some via Library Servers), but can only use one at a time.

A machine that is a library server can only share out the library it is currently using.

A while back (v10?), you could share a different library than you were using, but that is no longer the case.

http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/The_Server

j

Gl3nn

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #9 on: February 16, 2007, 08:32:24 am »

Thank you all for the replies!  I think my question is answered but I'll have to play with it.

Just to clarify what I was asking (or should have asked!  :)):

PC#1 = Person #1 who runs MC and has their own library on that machine.
PC#2 = Person #2 who also runs MC and has a completly different library of music on the 2nd PC.

I'd like either of us to go to the 3rd PC and pull up BOTH those libraries and play that music.  Ideally, I'd like MC to start on PC#3 and display ALL the music - from PC#1 and PC#2 - at the same time.  There will be no music at all on PC#3.

From your replies I take it that it's easy to pull up EITHER #1 or #2 on #3, but not both.  Is that correct?

Thanks again!!
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benn600

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2007, 10:24:09 am »

Here's my solution.  It is the best solution for anyone who wants to do it right.

We have a central server.  It is located at //Server/book1 ...that's the network drive.  Below that, I have a /profiles/Media Center/*user* folder and the media is /music, /video, /podcasts, /pictures.

Now, go to the custom tags section and create new tags called your name + rating, so: Ben's Rating.  Then set it to an Integer with values of 1;2;3;4;5.  Set this to save to the tags of the files.  Add one for each user you have.  Then, edit the Rating tag and UNCHECK save ratings to tags.  Otherwise, user one will rate a song and the rating will replace the other ratings for everyone else.

The reason you want [Ben's Rating] is because then you create a playlist called Rating: Incorrect.  Here, I can tell you the string which I've already made...when I get home...but it shows all songs where the Rating does not equal [Ben's Rating].  Then, you can VERY quickly update [Ben's Rating] by simply showing the column and then click the first song under [Ben's Rating], F2, then type the rating arrow down, etc.  This will write your ratings to the songs (thereby saving them) and other users will be able to add this column to their view.

One last suggestion: make sure to change Display to B (for Ben's Rating).  That way, it won't show B... or simply ... or worse yet, expand to fill Ben's Rating.  I put A and B right next to Rating so I can see my stored rating and another user's rating.  You can still use the stars--those won't transfer.  But the Ben's Rating column lets you save them to the files, lets other users see them, and since you don't merely uncheck store ratings in tags, you aren't relying on MC's database.  If that got corrupted you could lose all your ratings.

I'm still wondering about a play count transfer but that isn't nearly as important.  Finally, the neat thing about this is that another user can rate your songs for you by changing Ben's Rating.  BUT, the Rating: Incorect playlist will show ALL songs where either your star rating or Ben's Rating was changed, so you have a backup to stop others from making stupid ratings.  You can simply reverse the process:  Don't update the Ben's Rating column with the stars rating--update Ben's Rating with your star rating (which may be NULL at the moment).

Lastly, I exported the MC registry settings to a .reg file.  Then, all I have to do is import the reg file to the registry on other computers and certain settings like encoder, filename scheme, etc are imported so you don't have to manually set all those settings on every computer.
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John Gateley

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #11 on: February 16, 2007, 10:24:44 am »

From your replies I take it that it's easy to pull up EITHER #1 or #2 on #3, but not both.  Is that correct?

That is correct: but while you are at #3 you can listen to music from #1, then when the other person is there, they can switch to the music from #2 quickly.

If you are really interested in combining the libraries, you could have a server with all the music from 1 and 2, and then at each
machine, 1, 2, and 3, you would see ALL the music.

j

Talios

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #12 on: February 16, 2007, 03:33:46 pm »


I'd like either of us to go to the 3rd PC and pull up BOTH those libraries and play that music.  Ideally, I'd like MC to start on PC#3 and display ALL the music - from PC#1 and PC#2 - at the same time.  There will be no music at all on PC#3.

From your replies I take it that it's easy to pull up EITHER #1 or #2 on #3, but not both.  Is that correct?


The easiest answer in my opinion is just to share each music folder on PC's 1 and 2.  Then in MC on PC 3 just import both (or all if more) shared folders, you can even set both up as auto import so if any music is added to either it will automatically import on the 3rd PC. 

This way you have all the music from both PC's on the 3rd.

Hope this helps.
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benn600

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #13 on: February 16, 2007, 06:23:12 pm »

I prefer having every song on one server (so it's always available...not just when other computers are on).  I also like having every song in one library because I just rate the bad ones and use playlists to remove the songs I'm not interested in but another family member likes.
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Gl3nn

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #14 on: February 17, 2007, 09:48:58 am »

Thanks for the detailed info, Benn!  Interesting.  I'm going to try this.


Lastly, I exported the MC registry settings to a .reg file.  Then, all I have to do is import the reg file to the registry on other computers and certain settings like encoder, filename scheme, etc are imported so you don't have to manually set all those settings on every computer.

Could you please explain how to do this?  This would be very useful!

Thanks!
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Gl3nn

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #15 on: February 17, 2007, 10:02:43 am »

I played with this yesterday and very quickly got it to work with our current file setup scheme!  MC continues to impress!  :)

I think we'll be able to live with this.  It's not that big a deal to switch libraries on the 3rd machine, and this way we both still have our own libraries on our own machines with no need for any tweaking.  That's good.

A couple of more questions, if I may:

What's "media server"?  I looked but I'm unsure of this.  Everything I did involved the use of "library server".

And is there a way, on machine #3, to create a desktop shortcut to a) start MC and b) pre-select a library (assuming, of course, that it has been made available by the 1st or 2nd machines)?

Thanks again for all the help!
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John Gateley

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #16 on: February 17, 2007, 11:19:28 am »

Media Server is a way of running Media Center without the user interface, just as a server:

http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/Media_Server

It also is what Library Server used to be called.

j

Gl3nn

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #17 on: February 17, 2007, 01:42:11 pm »

Media Server is a way of running Media Center without the user interface, just as a server:

http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/Media_Server


Thanks John.

I just read that link twice.  I guess it's not pertinent to my original post but... why would you want to do that (run MC without the UI)?
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ThoBar

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #18 on: February 19, 2007, 04:59:49 am »

So you can have the libraries served by MC (in a variety of ways eg uPnP), and the scheduled tasks run too I think, without have to have MC running as a visible program, just so its small, out of the way, and not taking up space on your task bar.. It also runs without GUI components loaded (AFAIK), reducing system resource load.

Cheers,
C.
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Gl3nn

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Re: MC 12 on Home Network
« Reply #19 on: February 24, 2007, 11:07:06 pm »

I see.  Thanks for the clarification!

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