JRiver Media Center Owner's Thread - Page 2

Upgrades are $20 to $27, depending on whether you buy early or late.

Just want to put my support in for this program- I originally wanted to use boxee for my media collection ripped onto hard drive from bluray- but the more I used it, the more issues i ran into.
Ive tried everything to get a system that gives me the best audio and video quality and every other option has eventually failed after HUGE amounts of setup time invested. Either the video wasnt particularly smooth or the audio caused issues or anything other than 1080p uncompressed video was awfull.

Not only did JRiver play well out of the box, just ticking the setup to 'red october HQ' created a player that has left everything ive ever used in the dust in terms of picture quality.


Well done, and thankyou JRiver team.

I just want to clarify that Jim means upgrades between major versions, ie MC15.x to MC16.x.
Upgrades within a version, e.g. MC16.001 to MC16.148 (yes, 148 builds) are free.

I've been waiting on an answer for this as well for quite some time...

@Jriver - Is it possible to have a temporary workaround that allows you to launch other TV programs (DVBViewer for example) from within JR MC to watch TV, and switch back into JR MC when you want to play music / watch movies?

In MC16's Theater View options, you can add a button that opens an external program.

You can also arrange it so that any filetype you specify is opened by a certain program always. So then it's a simple matter of launching a file within MC and having it open in another program, whichever view you're in.

It even works for documents (e.g.Microsoft Office) etc., allowing one to rename bunches of docs in one go using the tagging features of MC. Some people use MC as more than just a media manager, but for more general document management too.

I've used J.River a while for music. It's been great and J.River listens to the audiophile community.

Just tried the newest version recently and briefly compared the DVD quality with PowerDVD. Ok I didn't fool around with much of the settings in J.River but from what I saw, the picture quality didn't compare to PowerDVD at all. Am I missing out on something?

To use a program for all the decoding and only have a soundcard connected to power amps would be a dream (because the sound quality is better). Even my Marantz processor, which is quite expensive, is a bottleneck. Going directly from a Lynx Two-B soundcard has superiour sound quality. But I can't see how this could work for settings like delay, level matching etc. Nice if someone could share in detail what they have done.

You might try Red October HQ in Options > Video. That will use madVR and high quality deinterlacing. This should provide the best picture quality available from a DVD.



You might start here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Setup

To set levels in Room Correction, it's helpful to have a decibel meter, but you can even use your phone in a pinch.

Matt, does MadVR work with DVD video now?

Sorry, you're right.

madVR doesn't work with DVD because madVR doesn't currently support multiple input pins, and this is required for the overlays (menus, etc.) that DVD requires.

I've talked to madshi about this, and I believe it's on his to-do list to support multiple input pins someday.

It's still good to use Red October HQ for DVD if your machine is fast enough since you'll get better deinterlacing.

Can someone define what is fast enough. The minimal CPU & GPU required as well as memory.
I have a somewhat beefy HTPC with a GTS450 and I still cannot get smooth playback from madVR. Ive read numerous tutorials and have tried everything but nothing works for me yet I see others with smaller cards having no issues.
I guess that is the risk using a HTPC there are so many different combinations to work through there is no simple answer. For starters knowing you have the right hardware at least eliminates part of the process of elimination helping to narrow down what is wrong.

Thx.

Alan, are you using LAVCUVID as a video decoder? You ought to, since you're running an nVidia GPU. This will allow hardware acceleration of video decoding, while running MadVR (something DXVA cannot do). Further it'll allow MadVR to tap into more of your CPU's power as well, I believe.

J. River MC16 will autoconfigure all this for you if it recognises an nVidia card in your system.

Using MPC at the time I downloaded LAVCUVID but it failed to register, never had a chance to try it.
If J.River auto configures some of these filters that is a big help. I will have to revisit their trial player again. Thanks for the heads up.

It will not just autoconfigure them, but download and install them for you as well. If a new version of the filter comes out, it'll get that also in the next J. River build... and if the new filter version proves to be buggy, it'll revert to an older version in the following J. River build if the bug becomes known.

That's been the pattern so far, but do remember that the team is only human! It's been a godsend. I love messing around with settings, but I must say, I was getting tired of it with respect to filters. Red October, J. River's auto-config thing has allowed me to enjoy my media again - without crossing my fingers each time I launch a hight bitrate 1080p video with lossless sound, for example!

Just remember to choose RedOctober HQ mode to start with, and you should see LAVCUVID work as the decoder and MadVR as the renderer.

BTW, what is the 'beefy' CPU you have?

As mentioned by fitbrit, you don't have to download anything - ever again with JRiver. JRiver does all the program updating for you. If you select HELP>UPDATE CHANNELS>LATEST JRiver program will automatically keep MC updated with the vatest versions of LAV, MadVR, etc.

Regarding smooth playback, with my system (Core 2 Duo E8400 withNvidia GTS450) I find that RO+HQ with Addtional Filters (LAVCUVID) works best for me when I set Audio to WASPI-EVENT (I Bitstream to my AV Receiver), and set MadVR to run Full Screen Exclusive Mode. I also set MadVR to Chroma downscaling "Catmull Rom", Luma upscaling to "Softcubic 50", and luma downscaling to "Softcubic 50". Then I creat a custom resolution in the Nvidia control panel to get the 23.977 (see Renethx thread for details). So far this has worked very well for me.

If I wer you I would reinstall LAV CUVID again using the latest rev. I saw the bug myself with MCP-HC. Reinstalling fixed it. Lav CUVID sometimes does not pefrom as expected. I have had strange things go on at the different version levels.

I was watching live TV in WMC last night. It was PSB and Charlie Rose. It was generic 480i and the deintelacing was terrible, simply terrible. I launched Win7filtertweaker and surprisingly the MP2 decoder was set to LAV CUVID, which was correct and as I expected. I just don't know why it looked so bad. I switched to the Cyberlink 10 PDVD MP2 decoder and the same material was deinterlaced perfectly. I did not have an opportunity to delve into why LAV CUVID was doing so awful with SD content. I have not seen that one before.

I have not configured LAV CUVID since the last install - I don't remember any pertintent settings that would casue that. There is a toggle for auto or two different field orders which I suspect is film mode, and video mode. Perhap that is not set to auto.

Quick update! Ive only spent about 30 minutes so far from a fresh install but I am up and running with smooth playback using madVR via RedOctober HQ. I cant believe it.
You guys were correct J River did all the configuration which made everything a breeze. To date I have never been able achieve smooth playback using madVR with any other player, it had to be my configuration.
I am still finding my way around, looking forward to ck out some of the settings, lots to learn here.
Love "Theater View" by the way.
Hats off to Jim & J River and crew and thanks for the help so far from everyone in this thread. My head will be buried in my HTPC for the next few hours!!

Glad to hear. Now do a system image and set a restore point - before getting into the tweaking stage. Good luck!

Done. Another nice feature.
Where would I confirm I am using LAVCUVID. I see madVR and lav splitter but nothing else. Thx again.

Jim,

When are you guys going to be releasing a hardware extender to run with JRMC?

My SageTV system is now floating all alone out in the middle of a big, dark ocean and I'm frantically checking for holes in the life raft

If I could have a hardware player that does what Sage did, *plus* allow me to queue and manage audio playback via an android tablet so the TV/PJ could remain off in the various rooms, I'd buy 3 at $200 a pop.

FWIW, I'd be willing to help out beta test hardware if you're looking for local testers...

-Suntan

Maybe you've already tried this:
While a video is playing, right-click on the screen and check what appears on directshow filters. It may take a couple of attempts if MadVR is in exclusive mode to get the pop-up menu. You could try pausing the video first.

Keep the pressure up.... I've wanted something like that for years from them.
To be honest though, even an ION box runs JRMC well, including 1080p videos with LAVCUVID.... I use one as a kind of JRMC extender, but with the ability to do a lot more. They don't cost much over $200 these days. I know it's not the same thing as a dedicated extender, but worth considering.

I know that is always a fallback option, but to be honest, after removing the HTPC from front line activities and using hardware extenders at each screen, I have *very* little desire to go back to that again for so many reasons. The least of which being that a man just shouldn't have to use a word like, LAVCUVID in his lifetime, let alone know what it means or fight to get his computer to do it.

-Suntan

I was successful registering lav cuvid filter and it now shows up in the directshow filters list however if I choose madVR as the render lavcuvid disappears. It seams I can only use one or the other but I was under the impression I could run madvr along with lav cuvid.
Which will give me the better image quality.

Thanks again.

Edit: Figured it out. In madVR under "Decoding" I had mpeg2,VC1,h264 all ck. After un checking them I now have both madVR & lav cuvid working together with smooth playback. Im in heaven

Just downloaded the trial and whenever I try to select theater mode jriver crashes. Any thoughts?
win 7 64
i5 2500k
8 gb ddr3
gtx 460

Hi Alan,

Can I ask how does PC source using madVR compare to SoC player like OPPO?
Are you connecting PC to video processor via HDMI using RGB spec?

Larry

I can let you know after this evening. All my setup is done on a flat panel. I will move the PC to my theater later this evening for testing on the big screen FP.
I have the Oppo 95, Dune Center media player and my PC which I have always preferred due to flexibility but now that I am using the best video render and filters it will be an interesting comparison. I will try the PC direct to the projector as well as through a cinema processor. Thx.

Very glad you got it all working. I just got home and my email only showed the original post, without the edit. I was about to run a bunch of tests and get back to you, but fortunately all is well. However, you may want to go back to plain RO+HQ, without your registered LAVCUVID; that way, you won't have to update future versions of LAVCUVID as MC16 will do it for you.

Go to Options and examine the Theater view settings. Start with low settings and hardware acceleration and see if that works. Do you have the latest drivers from nVidia? Often, the theater view issues are with graphics card drivers or the settings. It should work just fine with maximum settings in your case, though, at least with hardware acceleration.

Also, check your anti-virus settings too.

I've found J. River Media Center to be extremely stable, provided my PC was in good shape to begin with. When I had an iffy PC, it would crash more often. Starting with a cleanly installed OS, I've had very few issues at all.

Do not register any of the Filters. JRiver sets everything up itself and runs independant of Windows. http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=64277.0


BTW, you should see LAVCUVID in the DirectShowFilters display (right click screen when running movie and highlight DirectShow Filters): At this point you can click on the filter to open/adjust its properties.