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Author Topic: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center  (Read 300228 times)

Lespaul

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JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« on: December 16, 2011, 07:12:11 am »

We would like to announce that we will be releasing a new app shortly that will let you control MC from any iOS device running iOS 3.0 or later.
Features include browsing artists, albums ,playlists and videos as well as a dedicated search. In addition JRemote includes a virtual touchpad that will let you take full control of JRiver`s theater view.

Please visit http://www.jremote.net for more information and screenshots.
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)p(

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2011, 11:24:12 am »

Great to see another iOS app...a little competition is always a good thing.
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HTPC4ME

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2011, 11:27:51 am »

will it allow users to play on their IOS devices as well, like gizmo does?
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Matt

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2011, 11:37:07 am »

This is great news!

Good luck and let us know if you need anything.

(p.s. is it built on the web service (MCWS) just like Gizmo?)
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

marko

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2011, 11:41:10 am »

Some more information regarding who "We" are might be nice?

pcstockton

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2011, 11:53:09 am »

Looks cool.  I will try any control app.  Any ideas regarding the release date?

One more question... will you be able to make an appointment with the Play Doctor with this app?

-Patrick
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2011, 02:13:28 pm »

"We" are actually just me and my girl, plus it sounds better than I:)

Matt:
Yes, it is built on the web service like gizmo. Very nice service to work with.
I may actually send you an email regarding a few questions i have.

xtacbyme:
It does not at this time. Will have to investigate how this can be done for a later release.

pcstockton:
Sorry, no doctor in this release, I have noted it down as a feature request.

In this first version we focused on creating a solid platform with fast navigation and predictable behavior.
The other "nice to have" features will appear in upcoming versions.

I can't promise that there won't be any bugs in this first release, Its hard to test every possible situation.
But you can be sure they will be fixed as soon as possible if you find one.

BTW, looks like the app will be available in the App Store within 24 hours according to apple.

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HTPC4ME

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2011, 02:18:31 pm »

Well i've already purchased a ios remote app for GF and her apple devices, if ya beat them in making a playing now, we'll move over to yours. Great to see more options for I users!
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)p(

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #8 on: December 16, 2011, 02:20:43 pm »

Quote
In this first version we focused on creating a solid platform with fast navigation and predictable behavior.

That is always the best approach. I am mostly interested in the first version how fluent it will be with scrolling of large lists. That is the main drawback in basic functionality I see with the my river app when compared to the squeezebox native apps for ios.
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Matt

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #9 on: December 16, 2011, 02:21:12 pm »

You can save Play Doctor lists as "Playcharts" and access them like other playlists and smartlists.  So there's a good chance it'll just work.

It'd be neat to be able to say "Play with Play Doctor" or to type a search and give it to Play Doctor, but this isn't currently supported by MCWS (and by extension Gizmo).
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #10 on: December 16, 2011, 02:46:07 pm »

That is always the best approach. I am mostly interested in the first version how fluent it will be with scrolling of large lists. That is the main drawback in basic functionality I see with the my river app when compared to the squeezebox native apps for ios.

I can seriously say that this is one of the areas I spent the most amount of time on. I think I have implemented every trick in the book. Album images BTW, are downloaded asynchronously and cached in memory, so they won't affect performance. I don't notice any lag on my iPhone4 or iPad.

The only moment you will notice a delay is the initial loading of a new list, after that it will be cached for later use.
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #11 on: December 16, 2011, 02:49:09 pm »

Well i've already purchased a ios remote app for GF and her apple devices, if ya beat them in making a playing now, we'll move over to yours. Great to see more options for I users!

I`m not sure i understand what you mean by "Playing Now"?
If you mean a view with playback controls, cover image etc, It´s already there. Please check the images on our website.

If you meant something else, I`m sorry.
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HTPC4ME

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #12 on: December 16, 2011, 02:56:40 pm »

the ability like gizmo for I users to play anything from there jriver servers on their I devices.
instead of just control them.
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #13 on: December 19, 2011, 03:36:00 am »

the ability like gizmo for I users to play anything from there jriver servers on their I devices.
instead of just control them.

I`m not sure that is possible without DLNA, somebody correct me if i`m wrong.
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #14 on: December 19, 2011, 03:37:06 am »

JRemote is now available in the app store if anyone wants to give it a try
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)p(

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #15 on: December 19, 2011, 04:21:57 am »

JRemote is now available in the app store if anyone wants to give it a try

Ok. I gave it a short spin.

The positive. List loading is very fast and scrolling very fluent. This one feels like a native app. Good work!

The negative. I have setup custom view schemes under media network for audio and video. They display correctly in my river. In your app under artists I see a list of my tv shows and not music artists. Under Movies I see the list with views from video but when I try to select something it will say loading tracks and then the app crashes.

I prefer my river's setup of audio, images and video instead of artists, albums and movies tabs. That way we can take advantage of one of jrivers strong points...fully customized view schemes.
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Mr ChriZ

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #16 on: December 19, 2011, 04:55:41 am »

I like your website.  It's very clean and professional.

Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #17 on: December 19, 2011, 05:50:48 am »

Ok. I gave it a short spin.

The positive. List loading is very fast and scrolling very fluent. This one feels like a native app. Good work!

The negative. I have setup custom view schemes under media network for audio and video. They display correctly in my river. In your app under artists I see a list of my tv shows and not music artists. Under Movies I see the list with views from video but when I try to select something it will say loading tracks and then the app crashes.

I prefer my river's setup of audio, images and video instead of artists, albums and movies tabs. That way we can take advantage of one of jrivers strong points...fully customized view schemes.

Hi, Thanks for the good information.
I`m sorry to hear about your initial experience. JRemote is made this way to make it more like the iTunes Remote application. JRiver web service kinda forces you into using a splash screen for initial navigation, so JRemote tries to overcome this by doing some extra web service calls when connecting. But i guess the downside is that JRemote expects the regular menu setup in return.

I see now that this is a problem for users like you that like to customize the setup. I`ll look at a way to make this work. The most likely solution is maybe to have two different "modes" of navigation.
Where one mode uses JRiver predefined navigation setup.
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JimH

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #18 on: December 19, 2011, 06:43:40 am »

I`m not sure that is possible without DLNA, somebody correct me if i`m wrong.
Take a look at WebPlay.

Congratulations on your release!  And thanks for your work!
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)p(

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #19 on: December 19, 2011, 07:10:10 am »


I see now that this is a problem for users like you that like to customize the setup. I`ll look at a way to make this work. The most likely solution is maybe to have two different "modes" of navigation.
Where one mode uses JRiver predefined navigation setup.

That would be great. My guess is that a lot jriver users have some kind of custom view schemes. And if you keep them under those 3 main headers like my river does you can still have a logical and clean looking set of tabs for your interface. Also I think if you dont follow the setup under media network then force it to use the default scheme and dont pick up any chances made by the user in mc.
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durufle

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #20 on: December 19, 2011, 07:57:20 am »

Beautiful work so far -- it already feels polished which makes for a nice UX.

Couple things I noticed while I test drove it this morning:

  • As others have mentioned, support for Custom Views would be fantastic.  I have many views setup for classical music as I rarely ever browse by album.
  • When viewing an album, can you add a conditional to hide Artist and the trailing comma in the header if one isn't present? It'll make it cleaner for us classical folk.
  • When viewing an album, most tracks show up as 0:00 and the total album count above is obviously incorrect.

Thats it for now I think.. again, thanks for the effort put into the app -- it shows.
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #21 on: December 19, 2011, 08:34:08 am »

Take a look at WebPlay.

Congratulations on your release!  And thanks for your work!

Will do, and thanks:)



Couple things I noticed while I test drove it this morning:


Thanks for the feedback durafle. Custom view integration is definitely on the priority list right now.
However, the next 2 releases will feature full cover art browsing in grid view, "play now" option dialog and a couple of bug fixes.
Will look at custom views after that.

Strange that duration is not shown correct though, i have not yet experienced that. Anything special about the tracks that are shown without duration?
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durufle

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #22 on: December 19, 2011, 08:48:11 am »

Strange that duration is not shown correct though, i have not yet experienced that. Anything special about the tracks that are shown without duration?

I'll double check when I get home from work, but i seem to recall only 1 track per album showing a time, the rest displayed 0:00
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JimH

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JimH

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #24 on: December 19, 2011, 09:30:10 am »

It wouldn't hurt to post a notice on the AVSForum thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1352282

It would be nice if you could start a new thread for your software on that board and link to it from the main thread.  Or link to this thread.
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PeeBee

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #25 on: December 19, 2011, 09:36:50 am »

Great! Very fast scrolling

In Artist view shows nothing
In Album view it shows the list of artists
When I choose video JRemote crashes
Maybe a future wish is folder view possible?
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #26 on: December 19, 2011, 10:09:15 am »

Great! Very fast scrolling

In Artist view shows nothing
In Album view it shows the list of artists
When I choose video JRemote crashes
Maybe a future wish is folder view possible?

probably related to ")p("`s problem, do you use custom view schemes as well?
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PeeBee

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #27 on: December 19, 2011, 10:53:16 am »

yes, only thing that I'd like to see is the alfabet characters to jump back or forward on my pc
but i will try to get back at default see what happens :D
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #28 on: December 19, 2011, 11:27:11 am »

Please do.

I`m gonna have look at the problem with custom view schemes tonight, but I can't promise it will be fixed in the next version.
Worst case it might require quite a bit of work.
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Matt

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #29 on: December 19, 2011, 11:30:54 am »

Please do.

I`m gonna have look at the problem with custom view schemes tonight, but I can't promise it will be fixed in the next version.
Worst case it might require quite a bit of work.

You may know this already, but you should be able to use the MCWS/v1/Browse functions to handle browsing.  This will honor user configured views.
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #30 on: December 19, 2011, 11:43:48 am »

Hi Matt, I do, and thats the web service request I use.
But at the same time i need the menu options to fit it into tabs with artists,albums etc.
I`m looking at options on how to elegantly solve this.
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wombat66

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #31 on: December 19, 2011, 04:56:46 pm »

Here's my wish list before I can purchase/use this:

The ability to see and change ratings from the playing now screen. Also need to see the ratings next to song titles while browsing within albums.

Looking forward!
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #32 on: December 19, 2011, 05:01:23 pm »

Here's my wish list before I can purchase/use this:

The ability to see and change ratings from the playing now screen. Also need to see the ratings next to song titles while browsing within albums.

Looking forward!

Thanks wombat, definitely on my to-do list.
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)p(

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #33 on: December 20, 2011, 02:41:29 am »

I played some more with it. If I revert to the default scheme under media network artists and albums work ok. Movies still crashes for me when selecting an item there on loading tracks.
From further experimenting I learned that you can have your own view schemes under audio as long as the first two are the default ones artist and albums and your first 3 views are audio, images and video.
I think I found a bug. When I press and hold an album link under artists the app will crash.

The search works fine but what I would really like is the same behavior as in the desktop app. When you type something it first presents you with some suggestions of matched tags (artist, album, director) and only then with the long list of files that match the query. I dont know if the api has access to this list of suggestions. If not that would be a great thing for Matt to add to it. It will make search so much more useful on tablets.

As I said before the loading is fast. And it has the look and feel of an ios native app. I especially like the way the list is presented in now playing...nice touch.
Ok thats its from me for now I will come back to it when custom view schemes at least under the main headers audio, images and video work.
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #34 on: December 20, 2011, 12:01:14 pm »

You are right about your observation regarding the view order. I will put up more information about this on the web site.
I´m currently working on implementing a default browse feature that will work with your custom schemes as well.
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)p(

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #35 on: December 20, 2011, 12:18:45 pm »

You are right about your observation regarding the view order. I will put up more information about this on the web site.
I´m currently working on implementing a default browse feature that will work with your custom schemes as well.

Great to know!

Today I also played with the iphone version. All the basics are really well implemented and it looks great. A real pleasure to use.

In the iphone version I saw that you use the default way to change the buttons on the lower button row. If you add that to the ipad you could have an easy way to add buttons for audio, images and video. The user can then have them anyway he/she likes. You could even add some more nice standard views besides artists and albums that most people use. For example for movies and tv series.
If you go that way then I have one more suggestion. Imho the settings button is a little too prominent in the interface. If you make it one of the buttons it could go under the "more" list. And for people that want fast access to it. For example to fast change servers. They can pin it as one of the default ones in the lower row of buttons.
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #36 on: December 20, 2011, 04:08:06 pm »

Hi P, that way to organize tabs is a built in feature of all iPhone apps. Its the same on the iPad if you have too many tabs to fit in the view.
I may add more of those tabs, but they do require that the user has a default view scheme setup.

Btw, here are the details for the next version (1.02) that has been submitted to Apple for review:

Added:
- New browse tab. Navigate your media the way you are used to
from inside JRiver Media Center.
- Touch and hold an album or track to access a play option dialog.

Fixed:
- Zero track duration bug
- Various bug fixes

As you can see, the regular way of browsing has now been added. That should help quite a few people.
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)p(

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #37 on: December 20, 2011, 04:20:15 pm »


As you can see, the regular way of browsing has now been added. That should help quite a few people.


Thanks. That was fast :)

For fun I tried the remote functionality tonight in our theater with the htpc there. No problems there, it worked as advertised.
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dummy

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #38 on: December 21, 2011, 12:29:25 pm »

Hi P, that way to organize tabs is a built in feature of all iPhone apps. Its the same on the iPad if you have too many tabs to fit in the view.
I may add more of those tabs, but they do require that the user has a default view scheme setup.

Btw, here are the details for the next version (1.02) that has been submitted to Apple for review:

Added:
- New browse tab. Navigate your media the way you are used to
from inside JRiver Media Center.
- Touch and hold an album or track to access a play option dialog.

Fixed:
- Zero track duration bug
- Various bug fixes

As you can see, the regular way of browsing has now been added. That should help quite a few people.




Hello LesPaul,

Will the play option work the same, with just more options, with the future update of the play dialog? What I really REALLY like in your remote is the ability to just touch the song and It plays and no need for a option window to choose to play. I really like the fact that I just can touch and play song 6 (or whatever) and the following songs keeps playing afterwards even If I go to other apps or browse in Safari on the iPad. With PlugPlayer, If I "close" It and go to other apps, after the song is over It just stop If I haven't done a playlist prior. I know It is a detail but It bugs me so much that I don't use It anymore because of that. Same thing with My River, always the need for the open play option window to play anything. Drives me crazy!

So bottom line, If I just touch the song and don't hold, will It work just the same way It does now? I am okay with more options If I decide to hold but If I don't (hold) I would much prefer It stays the same as It is now.

Just my 2 cents here...

Thanks!

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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #39 on: December 21, 2011, 07:20:23 pm »

Hi Dummy, if you just touch a song or album, the behavior will be the same as before. You need to hold for a second to display the play option dialog.
If you didn`t know about it, you would`t know its there.

BTW, The new version is now available in the app store so you can try it yourself.



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dummy

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #40 on: December 21, 2011, 08:41:24 pm »

Hi Dummy, if you just touch a song or album, the behavior will be the same as before. You need to hold for a second to display the play option dialog.
If you didn`t know about it, you would`t know its there.

BTW, The new version is now available in the app store so you can try it yourself.






Thanks LesPaul!

The new version is up and running... You're right, It works just like the "old" one. GREAT!!! With the new hold option, I may even finally try to learn how to do playlists... But for now I am VERY happy that It works as before and as with MC.

A few questions... When cover browsing will be available, will It work just like MC works? Cover Artist/touch/All cover art for every albums/touch album/song list?

That's what I never liked with Apple's Remote: Artist/touch/album list. My Bjork folder has 84 albums so it's a lot of scrolling when I want Volta! Much faster with all cover art albums. Hence why I always preferred MC logical layout.

Also, not that I am using It that much but, when using search, If I write Bjork, all songs appears in a manner that I don't quite understand the logic. Would perhaps prefer seeing all albums then touch to choose whatever I'm looking for. Just a suggestion. Like I said, I don't use It often anyway but might be convenient for guests looking for something more broad.

Also, not really your problem/expertise per see but, do I always have to set MC each time to server mode? So far, every time I reboot my pc, I have to open MC at first then set server mode for It to connect the first time around. Am I doing something wrong or is it just the way It works?

Lastly (about time, huh?!), any idea about a release time for cover art browsing? A few days, weeks, months? I am curious... and I just can't wait!

Have I told you how much I LOOOOOOVE JRemote?!

You're DA MAN Monsieur!

Keep up the great work.







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)p(

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #41 on: December 22, 2011, 12:46:27 am »

Hi Dummy, if you just touch a song or album, the behavior will be the same as before. You need to hold for a second to display the play option dialog.
If you didn`t know about it, you would`t know its there.

BTW, The new version is now available in the app store so you can try it yourself.





Browsing my views works perfectly. A few suggestions:
-One thing you probably know on the track level it does not show thumbnails. It looks great as it is for audio files. But for video and image files I would expect to see thumbnails there.
-The browsing doesnt seem to use the sorting as setup in the views. For example I have a view that uses sort by random and it is displayed alphabetically. It shows correctly in my river.
-I would love to have the alphabetical index for longer alphabetically sorted lists and the dotted one for longer other lists for browsing my views like you have setup for the artists and albums tabs.
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BrianD

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #42 on: December 22, 2011, 06:41:57 am »

Quote
For fun I tried the remote functionality tonight in our theater with the htpc there. No problems there, it worked as advertised.
I just downloaded JRemote and I think it's fantastic.  I will be keeping a close eye on this one.

I have found that the "remote" option seems to work correctly in theatre view when the screen is in display view. i.e. playing a video or showing music playback visualisations. i.e. swiping left/right/up/down on the pad navigates the options correctly BUT as soon as I go back to the theatre view menus (playing now, Audio,Video etc. I cannot navigate up/down through the items.

I am assuming that this functionality is supposed to work like the big 5 buttons on a standard IR remote. i.e. <,^,>,v, Enter.

Is this a problem with the App, my MC PC or a setting somewhere.  I am running MC17.0.50beta.
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Lespaul

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #43 on: December 22, 2011, 02:53:04 pm »

Dummy, cover art browsing will come, but its quite hard to do well. I can't promise when it will be there, but we are talking weeks at most.
Regarding "Media server mode" always on, i`m looking for a way to do this myself, maybe some JRiver staff can answer.

Search options are limited by what the web server returns. I would like an option to at least group results into artists, albums and tracks. This is not possible with the web server, as it will only return a list of tracks. I could group the results myself, but it may potentially be very slow if there are lots of tracks returned. Will look at this later.

Also, Thanks for the kind words:)

P:
- About thumbnails, they will be there in the next version.
- this must be a problem with the JRiver media server, since i only display what is returned. I can do some tests myself on this.
- I`m sorry about missing indexes for the browse tab, I realized this the day after i has submitted the app to apple. It will be there in the next version for sure.


Brian:
Glad that you like it. I have not experienced problems with the remote myself, I´m using v17 as well. Are you saying the remote only works in "display" view, and never in "theatre" view?

BTW guys, I would like your input on something for the next version.
Is it OK if I remove the artist and album tabs and replace them with an "Audio" tab? The content will be the same as if you go to the "browse" tab and press audio.

By doing this it will no longer be required to have artist and album listed as the top two items in "customize Views" in MC. I don't like to force people into changing their preferences for JRemote to work correctly. It would then be a separate tab for "Audio", "Video", "Images" and "Playlists". This would also make the browse tab unnecessary.

This is pretty much the same way other JRiver remotes work.

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)p(

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #44 on: December 22, 2011, 03:39:01 pm »

Brian:
Glad that you like it. I have not experienced problems with the remote myself, I´m using v17 as well. Are you saying the remote only works in "display" view, and never in "theatre" view?

I used it today on another htpc in our living room and it worked ok switching between theater and display view.
The one thing that I miss is a way to emulate having the arrow keys pressed for fast scrolling. Not sure how that could be elegantly done. In the ipad the rectangle is large enough to make the outer section a key down when pressed. Or maybe when you make a flick and then hold the finger down that it keeps scrolling until you release it.

Quote
BTW guys, I would like your input on something for the next version.
Is it OK if I remove the artist and album tabs and replace them with an "Audio" tab? The content will be the same as if you go to the "browse" tab and press audio.

By doing this it will no longer be required to have artist and album listed as the top two items in "customize Views" in MC. I don't like to force people into changing their preferences for JRemote to work correctly. It would then be a separate tab for "Audio", "Video", "Images" and "Playlists". This would also make the browse tab unnecessary.

For me that is my preferred setup for jremote to have  "Audio", "Video", "Images" and "Playlists" as the standard tabs. So yes. And the best argument is indeed that its the way jriver itself is setup by default. Having artists and albums as main tabs makes most sense for audio only gui's. But really I think you should go for what you think is best for the way you intent this gui is going to be developed. We only are a few first adapters ;)

Quote
Search options are limited by what the web server returns. I would like an option to at least group results into artists, albums and tracks. This is not possible with the web server, as it will only return a list of tracks. I could group the results myself, but it may potentially be very slow if there are lots of tracks returned. Will look at this later.

As I suggested before I think the best idea is talk to Matt directly. The way the desktop client generates organized search suggestions is very fast. If he could expose those same results to the api you are all set and have something very useful. I use the search all the time on the desktop client.

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dummy

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #45 on: December 22, 2011, 04:00:44 pm »

Dummy, cover art browsing will come, but its quite hard to do well. I can't promise when it will be there, but we are talking weeks at most.
Regarding "Media server mode" always on, i`m looking for a way to do this myself, maybe some JRiver staff can answer.

Search options are limited by what the web server returns. I would like an option to at least group results into artists, albums and tracks. This is not possible with the web server, as it will only return a list of tracks. I could group the results myself, but it may potentially be very slow if there are lots of tracks returned. Will look at this later.

Also, Thanks for the kind words:)

P:
- About thumbnails, they will be there in the next version.
- this must be a problem with the JRiver media server, since i only display what is returned. I can do some tests myself on this.
- I`m sorry about missing indexes for the browse tab, I realized this the day after i has submitted the app to apple. It will be there in the next version for sure.


Brian:
Glad that you like it. I have not experienced problems with the remote myself, I´m using v17 as well. Are you saying the remote only works in "display" view, and never in "theatre" view?

BTW guys, I would like your input on something for the next version.
Is it OK if I remove the artist and album tabs and replace them with an "Audio" tab? The content will be the same as if you go to the "browse" tab and press audio.

By doing this it will no longer be required to have artist and album listed as the top two items in "customize Views" in MC. I don't like to force people into changing their preferences for JRemote to work correctly. It would then be a separate tab for "Audio", "Video", "Images" and "Playlists". This would also make the browse tab unnecessary.

This is pretty much the same way other JRiver remotes work.




Thanks LesPaul!

I can't wait for cover art browsing but It will come when It will come... One thing that might be good is, like in My River, to have the choice to do cover browsing and/or list browsing. Having both options could be fun although cover browsing is premium for me. Then again, maybe It's just me!  ?

Like Brian, the remote only works in Theater Mode here also. It will switch to regular view and display view but the "mouse" doesn't work with those 2. Only on Theater View does the mouse work. MC16 here though. Not that I care that much since I only try It for fun and Its not really an important feature for me. Still, I understand It might be important for others.

One very small glitch I have here, and It is somewhat trivial but just so you know, having a few albums in different incarnations (regular, remastered, special edition, etc), I saw today that If I switch between different editions of the same album, playing the same song, the info title will stay the same.

I have 3 Kate Bush Hounds Of Love. The original one, the remastered one and the 2011 edition. All are tagged differently for the title (original, remastered, 2011). If I switch between the 3 playing the SAME song, the title will stay the same for each. But I can hear the difference in sound, so I know It's not the same album. Yet If I switch between editions AND songs, It works fine and the title changes. A bit odd but really no biggy. I did try with a few different editions I have and the same thing happened.

...

As for the change you want to make in the audio/artists tabs, I am fine with that as long as the one you decide to keep will still have the A-Z/up/down small list on the right which I use  a lot and that is the only thing missing for me with MC so far. Artist/Albums have It now but not the new browse tab.

There you go Monsieur. I do hope you take my suggestions as such, just suggestions. It is your project and not mine. I hope I don't come too foward. Its just that It's the first time that I am REALLY excited about a remote! I've been waiting forever for this and I just can't believe how great and fuc*** convenient It is already even without cover art browsing. The speed is truly amazing and that little dark background detail is just brilliant for me! I know It's a detail but... I really like It. The whole thing is so darn visually appealing for once!

Thank you Monsieur.

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PeeBee

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #46 on: December 23, 2011, 08:51:25 am »

For me that is my preferred setup for jremote to have  "Audio", "Video", "Images" and "Playlists" as the standard tabs. So yes. And the best argument is indeed that its the way jriver itself is setup by default. Having artists and albums as main tabs makes most sense for audio only gui's. But really I think you should go for what you think is best for the way you intent this gui is going to be developed. We only are a few first adapters ;)

I do agree with above quote
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BrianD

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #47 on: December 25, 2011, 06:08:44 am »

Quote
Glad that you like it. I have not experienced problems with the remote myself, I´m using v17 as well. Are you saying the remote only works in "display" view, and never in "theatre" view?

Correct.  When I am in display view the remote allows me to flick up/down & left/right to utilize the ff & rewind volume, change visualisations etc.  All of the buttons (on the ipad remote screen) to go between the main menu items work (I.e. audio, video, playing now etc. but when I get to that location I am stuck and the flick/swipe functionality just simply doesn't move the selection on the TV.  I assume it should.

My other question/hope for this app is that it will one day support streaming of all media content from the server to the device (iPhone and iPad). I have both and would love to be able to stream server music to my phone and video (recorded and live) to the iPad.  I am not a software guru but I am assuming this could be relatively easy  by making the app a DLNA renderer (I may be being relatively naive thinking this though).

Anyway, great work and I look forward to upgrading to the next release.
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hdplex

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #48 on: December 25, 2011, 02:49:38 pm »

I purchased this program yesterday and like it very much.
It is solid and fast, never missing a cover art. I especially like the Playing Now UI for the music and its native support for foreign characters. Now Playing Button on the top right corner during browsing for extremely easy access is heaven as well. I was originally using iPad+Splashtop RD+MC Theater view for remote control. Now will use this native app for sure. ;D


If there is a dedicated iPad version in the future. I have some suggestions (or biased/selfish demand in disguise ;D), wish it could help.

Current UI brings user to "Browsing" Section upon start which leave most of the iPad screen blank. I would add an option to let program jump directly to the category user last browsed.  Small icon and text combination works well for iphone browsing.


Bigger icon or pure text looks better on iPad, IMHO. My mockup below. Program could choose random artist/album cover art and movie poster to be on the browsing page. Recently Added section might help fill the blank too.

Would bottom row be fully configurable in the future?
For me,I would put Audio, Movie, TV Show, Play List, Images,Radio on the bottom row.

Current Artist view UI is iTunish and very fast. Since I have large collections of classic music. I want something different. :P Below is my mocked up UI for the artist view for iPad. It utilize JRiver unique features which allow cover art for Artist and artist biography field. This is a purely selfish feature request ;D since it is not easy to realize this view under MC.



In MC Theater view, user could create a Category to combine Album Artist, Conductor, Band, or any custom database field.



This function is very useful to organize Audio.  In the case of Artist browsing, I could create a category name “Artist” as an umbrella for Conductor, Band, Orchestra, Violinist, Album artist etc,. field. It would be much easier to locate an artist comparing to rely solely on an album artist field.
By combining field with similar nature together under a single category, it would also make a simpler UI.

For the album view, current cover art thumbnail is perfect for iphone/itouch browsing but too small for Ipad browsing. My mock up below. Album is filtered by the Genre field.



I would recommend author disable the "Tracking Number" column before the movie/video titles.
Add "Year" field or IMDB rating field after the movie title would help as well.
 


Movie UI could be more fancy for iPad if utilizing cover art and fan art feature.
IMHO, XBMC Constellation iPad remote’s movie UI is well done.  User could even access IMDB/youtube trailer page directly.




The Playing Now UI for movies need to have Subtitles and Audio Track Control Button. Movie Fanart, plot, rating, tech details could be shown in the cover art space. If bookmarking and trailer feature could be added in the future, that would be fantastic. ;D I know I ask too much. :P





BTW, maybe it is only me but during browsing Artist and Album, I was always trying to get to the previous category or screen by mistakenly click the “Settings” on the top left corner.
Is it possible to configure that button to function as previous category and move the Settings button to the bottom row?
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hdplex

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Re: JRemote, a new native iOS remote for JRiver Media Center
« Reply #49 on: December 25, 2011, 04:33:52 pm »



- Touch and hold an album or track to access a play option dialog.



Thank you so much for this feature.
I am wondering if it is possible to let user configure the default behavior when click a song in an album?

Here's my wish list before I can purchase/use this:
The ability to see and change ratings from the playing now screen. Also need to see the ratings next to song titles while browsing within albums.
Looking forward!

Access and change song rating directly from iPad remote and an option to disable showing of All Albums(Artists,etc,.) are also very welcomed features. ;D

Thanks again for this great app!


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