JRiver Media Center Owner's Thread - Page 15

Does JRiver play Bluray iso's where the main film is not just a single m2ts file? One of my biggest issues with MPC-HC is that the 10-20% of films that have multiple files for the main film don't play correctly. Of course, figuring out filters and making things play right in general is not fun either

I'm so close to pulling the trigger on this but I just can't wrap my head around the Library. Why oh why couldn't it just have the option to use file structures. Coming from 7mc + MB, I need to have it somewhat the same idea. Closest I can get without tagging each individual file, is all my media subtype (TV for instance) dumped into a single grouping in theater view.
In MB I have TV as a main section with Documentaries, Misc, Series, and Weekly TV as subfolders. Then inside those folders there is more directories with the files inside. In Jriver, I select TV and hundreds of files are just there.
The Playback side of Jriver is so close to perfect (both audio and video) but the Library is unnecessarily complicated. If someone could pull off a mediaplayer with the playback quality of Jriver and the interface of MB I would be in heaven.

You can create a view that will show you the files based on the directory structure just fine.

Any idea how? I've been banging my head off of this thing all day now. I really, really want to like it but I'm so firmly entrenched in the File Structure mindset of MB. I don't need media info, ratings, genres, etc. I just need to know that if I rip The Smurfs season 3 and Place the files in \\\\SERVER\\Kids Movies\\Smurfs\\Season 3, that I will find it without jumping through hoops.
Primarily I want to us Jriver for it's playback quality increase over 7mc, media management is something I prefer to do in Windows Explorer.

One more question about the ISO bluray support: Can the JRiver player play 3D blurays?

Right click on video and choose "Add Library View".

You could also use Library Tools/Fill properties from filename to populate the file tags from your directory structure.

Tagging can be easier than you might expect. You can search for a tag like Smurfs, then select all the results, and edit the tags for all the visible files.

Not currently.

Thanks for the help. Almost there, if I add a Library view and point the path, I am left with the appropiate folder view but there are also "All Locations" and Unassigned" added to every folder. Anyway to remove these?

If you have any blank data fields you will get "unassigned" in the header for that field. In my example below, I have no data filled in for a couple of the TV episodes the "Dimension field" (in the picture those TV Shows missing the data are not shown) so there is an unassigned in that group. If you want to now fill in those missing data fields you could click on the "unassigned" so only those rows with missing data show.

So if I don't fully tag all the files, I'm left with an "Unassigned" category that shows a jumble of all my media no matter where I've navigated to? I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that MB with MPC as an external player may be the better solution for me.
I have no interest in tagging my TV folders. I ditched cable and have a very high turnover of downloaded and ripped shows, I'd rather not spend more time organizing my shows than watching them.
I really see the promise in JRiver and wish they could just implement a file structure system for Theater View that bypassed the whole library database, those of us who are converts from WMC/MB or XBMC seem to be used to that and they could leverage that into some more units sold.

Update: I have been posting about minor subtitle issues over at J River's forum, and Matt, the programmer who wrote their subtitle engine, has been very helpful in resolving these issues. There is a new release, version 16.0.178, which includes these improvements, which was released today.

Now that these minor issues are straightened out, Matt's subtitle engine is the best subtitle engine I have used with ANY program...period! His engine observes the forced flags properly (and I assume the default flags as well, though I will have to make up a special .MKV to test it), it displays both .IDX and PGS subs (other engines I have used support only one or the other), and it has very effective size and shift controls.

Great work, Matt!!

If you have no interest in seeing or sorting-by, that "Tag" you do not bother to put any info in the field, and then don't select that field to show (you may have to "unselect" it so it doesn't show if shows by default. For example, if I do not care about the date the TV Show was recorded, I do not select "Recorded Date" to display/show in the view then I do not get the Unassigned for this column.

The headers at the top (Location, File type, Series, Dimensions, etc.) are all user selectable. You setup the fields (tags) that you want to organize your media with - then when new media is added the fields/tags either fill in automatically (depending on what is built-in to the media you add/import) or you add the missing data yourself. Once you start figuring out all the ways to use this program you will be very impressed with its customability. But that power comes at price - it has a steep learning curve.

+1 on that - great work Matt - and quick too.

Thanks, Bob. And thanks for your help in identifying the problem.

Well done, Matt!

If you have the data organized with a logical folder structure and filename, all it takes is a few clicks. My process is import, group tag the subtype and remove date and album tags, fill properties from filename, and I'm done.

And thanks to CountryBumpkin for providing the FTP site to allow this all to happen...

Indeed. I have spent alot of time (and still am) learning this program, and it will be well worth the time once I have the basics mastered. I love to learn new things so I don't mind the learning curve.

Some people like simplicity, some prefer a different method. So far I am enjoying using JRMC and will enjoy it even better once I build the new i5 system. I will for sure drop WMC to MC for most things but for now will still have to use WMC to watch cable TV on my Ceton card.

Thanks for the kind words Bob (I'm Matt at JRiver and monkey here). Thanks also for all your help.

There's a little more about the subtitle engine here for anyone that's curious:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=65418.0

Whatever happened to the guide? Us noobs need it. Green Eyez??

That is not possible today I think. Even with skinning.


That is possible. It's called info panel. It's highly customizable. Check it out under Theater View configuration in Options.


This is not possible yet. You can only change the appearance of covers in playing now with the More option.

A while back I started getting Video stuttering and dropped frames on one of my three MC machines. i couldn't figure out why - or what changed. This weekend I spent some time going through the settings again and it now looks like smooth sailing.

The difficulty in solving this type of problem is not knowing what all the settings do, and the fact the the "video adjustments" are spread around throughout the Tools>Options section.

If anyone can expalin what the following do - or confirm whether or not I have things setup right - it would be a help to all MC users.

Here's what I found/did to fix my stuttering in BD movies:

1)In Theater View>Full Screen (Display View, Theater View, etc.) > changed "Resolution" from "Desktop" to 1920x1080x32.

2) In Theater View > Advanced > Frame rate > is set to 60fps (did not change this - but what is it for?

3) Video > Display Settings > "Enable Auto Display Settings Changing". This is a no brainer (check the box).

4) Video > Display Settings > FILM (23.976): "Desktop Settings" - changed this to 1920x1080x32x23.
--- I did the same for the other selections in this group "FILM (24 fps)", NTSC (29.97/59.94)" -- these where all set to Desktop Resolution. I changed these to the 1920x1080x32x*** that best fit the fps. I think this change is what fixed my stuttering. What is the purpose/value of having this default to "Display Resolution"?

So far I have not dropped a frame - so (fingers crossed) I have all my MC systems running flawlessly again.

Most TVs that were made before the 120Hz trend were 60Hz only, or 50 Hz in PAL countries. In fact, many cheaper TVs still are. In those cases your desktop refresh rate would be 60 Hz or 50 Hz and you wouldn't be able to change this without screwing up the signal getting from HTPC to TV. The desktop resolution/refresh settings are a default if your display isn't able to change refresh rates on the fly.
My media room TV is fixed at 60Hz, so I cannot use 24 or 23.976 Hz. My basement projector handles from 48 fps to 96 I think, and will double the frame rate for 23/24 fps signals. For the projector, I've changed the default rates to the corresponding fps; for the TV everything is at default desktop settings.

The TheaterView settings only apply to TheaterView itself, not to the videos played from it. i.e. How well the graphics are rendered when displaying cover art etc. You should keep this at u highest settings your video card can handle easily.

I understand now about the settings in Theater View.
I think the fix for me was changing the Tools>Options>Video >Display Settings from "Desktop Resolution" (step 4) to the actual film resolutions (FILM (23.976): 1920x1080x32x23 etc.).
I would have thought the setting to "Enable Auto Display Setting Changing" would have changed my display to match the media but it doesn't appear to have worked that way.

Or maybe it was just another ghost in the machine - well its gone now.

Although my system was working well I tried what you noted... in my case it introduced stutters that I didn't have before... mystery.

it might be a fix - or a break - depending on the specific capabilities (brand/model) of the monitor its connected to. In my case I have a Samsung 40" LCD (650 something model).

On my main set I have use Pioneer 5080HD and an Onkyo AVR. And I don't need to use these settings on that system to get smooth playback.

But I still have not played enough movies on the Samsung system to know for sure my posted settings fixed anything.

Clarkdale or Sandybridge system?

Any News if there will be a guide?

Anything you're having trouble with? You should be able to install MC and let if find your video (and other media). It should then let you play.

Automated metadata is on our short list.

Great to have that confirmed!

Thanks Jim.

Rod