Dear All,
Jim H suggested I start a new thread on this subject as I had originally posted it in MC15 Feature Requests. My Post there was as follows;
Hi, firstly MC is certainly, from an audio point of view, the best media player / management application around and certainly worthy of audiophile use. As someone who's business is in high end AV and systems integration, I'm pretty convinced of this.
From my point of view, I would like to see development on never ending 'features' reduce before MC turns into a bloated desktop application.
What would be an upgrade is for attention to be paid to a rewrite or significant extension to the existing API. People have been asking for better remote control functionality from TCP/IP devices for a long time now and not much has happened. Web Remote is not an answer. Far from it. A better API opens up MC to be used with third party control products properly so people can search media libraries and make use of MC's unique functions like multi-zone audio and synchronising of outputs.
In my world, media servers are now common place and the market is shifting to clients using 'PC' products for this purpose rather than waste money on proprietary offerings. However control of these devices by iPhones, UMPC's and with control products from companies like AMX and Crestron is of the utmost importance. Crap like iTunes can be controlled via third party software, as can WMP and Windows Media Center. MC is so poor in this regard as to make the existing API useless.
I really think this is a priority.
Now I don't claim to be an out and out expert on what MC can and cannot do, but there seem to be some holes in its functionality. Jim has suggested the Web Service offers some of my required functionality, but I don't see where and in any case, browser based control looks terrible and is only relevant to this device, not as part of an interface for an integrated system. An API would really open the program up. The amount of people who have asked for an app, iphone or otherwise, will never get one that offers full control unless the API is expanded. Using MC commercially (assuming JRiver want to appeal to this market) is a bit of a non starter as systems like Crestron, AMX and the growing band of iPhone / iPad based control systems can only talk to it in a very limited way. All these systems need a 2 way command structure sent to an IP address and port.
I imagine with quite a bit of work a separate application sitting on the PC could insert itself into MC, monitor it and provide a control interface from there in much the same way as Autonomics MCS does for Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player and iTunes. Given that, that application is $500-1000 a go, it would be more attractive to have the API in the core software in the first place, plus its also much simpler. Having said that we (and an ever growing Media Center system builder base) use that software because it turns Windows Media Center into a superior alternative to the likes of Kaliedescape, Imerge, Sooloos and other overpriced proprietry Media Servers etc.
Just to reiterate on some of the functions that make MC so attractive as a potential Media Server product;
1) It sounds fantastic - It really is in audiophile class.
2) It supports every type of sound card I have ever tried with it. For instance MC is the only 'media player' I have ever tried that works with this product
http://www.esi-audio.com/products/gigaporthd/ - A very neat and good sounding way to get multi zone audio from an ITX sized PC
3) It syncs to any portable easily including iPods and provides the massive benefit of converting files from quality to portable quality. There is even an iPhone solution.
4) It has multi-zone audio and more importantly synchronised multi-zone audio. This allows us integrators to do away with multi-room matrix switches. I really can't overemphasize the benefit of this.
5) Theatre View is also a great benefit and gives us a 10ft remote or touch screen GUI, even if some functions disappear, but that comes back to the API again.
So please, if anyone else wants the kind of functionality MC, so very nearly offers already, please add to this topic and maybe the developers will take notice.
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Topic: MC15 Third Party Control Functionality (Read 2855 times)