Getting desperate... Advice needed on good content streamer ! - Page 2

Sorry XBMC is crap! I tried it for over a year. Sounded like I was in a hole. I just gave up on it. You can try J river Media Center free for 30 days, that means no nagging screens etc. Compare and then you never go back. Of course, you might like listening to compressed MP3's, while I listen to SACD on J river. J river is highly configurable, but it depends on your sound card or DAC.

Dune + Zappiti = Awesomeness

Xbmc is far from crap didn't they just update to support hd audio?

Yes but it all depends what you are going for. No custom install will ever run xbmc as its not up to par with the paid solutions there is a huge gap even more so in multi family/tv isntalls. For basic usage xbmc is awesome.

Oh I see yes custom install is a different mAtter entirely.. Need to shell out serious cash for good stuff sounds like a different ball game

XBMC update is to 24 bit audio engine with 22,000 lines of code. Although, it is still in the nightly builds. So you have a beta copy.

Oh, J river uses 64 Bit audio engine, and you see it listed on HD Tracks. [URL=http://]https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=digital_store[/URL]
Does SACD ISO, Bluray, DVD, etc.

J river even has reviews from magazines.
Here is a link to The absolute Sound magazine article. http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=68169.msg458772

[URL=http://]http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audiophile_Info[/URL]

You can try out J River fro 30 days free trial. I put my whole music collection during the trial, around 2000 cd's. For only $50, this software is a bargain.
If you want the latest version, then download from their forum. (I am just user of the software, but I tried several and this is the best) If you an Ipad/Iphone, then you might like http://www.jremote.net/ (Jremote now has DLNA and very fast)
There is two different apps, but here is the other one. My River http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=67120.0

Howdy! We are probably just as desperate as the OP and have looked at the Dune also. Could you tell me if the Smart H1 (the one we looked at the most) does the following:

1. Slow motion playback - a must for our Martial Arts classes and other sports like tennis, archery etc...
2. Pause and step forward (or frame by frame advance) and backward if possible?
3. A-B or Loop playback feature. Again, used with our various classes. Also excellent for learning other languages!
4. For MKV file playback does it not support subs created with handbrake? Still not getting what that forced flag situation is all about.
We note that all the Realtek 1185 players we tested the subs in our mkv files and even the mp4 files worked perfectly.

We've been told by duneplayer.com that the H1 does #s 1, 2 (I think he said forward only?) & 3 above. Can anyone else confirm this and with which file formats?

The only thing keeping us from getting a Micca player is they don't have the Slow function, unlike so many other Realtek 1185\1186 players.
This would be the bare minimum for use with our classes. Of course the step forward is a huge plus, but we could survive with just the slow mo.
It's too bad we couldn't just use another remote with the "Slow" button to work with the Micca player.

We do not need:
1. 3D
2. Android stuff
3. Wireless
4. Much BD support... maybe in the future tho? Guess it would be nice to have BD support for later.

Thanks for any info!

You might want to give it another chance. It's pretty hard to beat.

philip

Try J river for 30 days, and ask me that question then. I love listening to my SACD's on J river...You can't on XBMC.

You are one of maybe a dozen who actually bother with SACD. This isn't 1999. Pffft, j river. XMBC is vastly more popular and flexible.

Hi Nitro,

I have built an htpc and am trying jriver on it to play my sacd .iso files as well as .dsf and .dff files (dsd files). Everytime I try to play any of these I get the message that it detected 384.8khz 64bit 2 channel audio and cannot play at that rate. It plays all other formats/rates/word depth just fine. Any clue what I could have set up incorrectly? All of my sacd files are 88.2khz/24 bit in reality.

By the way, jriver cannot currently play multichannel sacd files but foobar2000 can.

I tried xbmc on my new htpc but it has a problem with bitstreaming dts-ma on my system. It is only outputting dts core. Jriver on the same exact system outputs dts-ma just fine. Also, xmbc has a problem using the wasapi bitstreaming output for audio and will only output via directstream while jriver is bitstreaming just fine using wasapi output. Wasapi output is necessary to avoid using the windows kmixer audio stack. The kmixer, which is part of the directstream audio drivers, will process and corrupt the original audio.

xbmc will also automount .iso files, where you must configure an external .iso mounter for jriver.

jriver will show raw camera files where xbmc will not natively do this.

XBMC is very nice as a launcher for other programs and is very pretty as a front end, but the insides are a little ugly still.

...just one mans experience and I am still learing...


SACD and DSD audio are still viable formats for music. DSD audio is making a comeback for record production companies as many find that it does a better job at preserving the original sound better in a digital environment. Several download sites are starting to offer dsd instead of or in addition to pcm formats.

I tried jriver about a year ago. I personally didn't like it at the time but my audio tastes do not range into the HD world. I am quite content with basic audio. I am not interested in DLNA and transcoding a whole lot. I wish I could be more specific but I really disliked it. It just seemed very dated. Mind you, interface and portability have become very important for me.

Plex and the ATV3+iPad3 has provided the best fit for us and Eden is what I use on a Mac Mini for XBMC. Our home has Airport Express stations around so most everything revolves around AirPlay.

philip
Edited by pmcd - 6/28/12 at 10:49pm

You can extract the ISO to folders, so you don't have use external iso mounter. I remember PowerDVD changed some features, so you can't do the ISO. The work around was extract them into folders.

Well, J river depends on how you set it up, but it is rather easy. The Jremote makes it rather cool. http://www.jremote.net/ J river does almost daily updates, and is the only software that has 64 bit audio engine. Oh, Jriver is talking about developing a Mac OSX version.

Go to their forum and download the latest version of J river. You can post your questions over in J river's interact forum. They answer it rather quickly. I suspect it is this though, (384.8khz 64bit 2 channel audio) I am not sure if there is a DAC that can do 64 bit. You also have to import the SACD iso's, so they will play. Yes, it can play Multichannel SACD. You need to download the version out of their forums. If you go to their Download link, then you get this version. JRiver Media Center 17 Ver. 17.0.147. (That one can't play SACD) Link to the latest version http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=73001.0

While I agree that J.River is a very competent audio package, that is all it is in my opinon. First, most people are not ripping SACDs. You can of course obtain them from various means and you can always go to HDTracks and get their high resolution versions of the album, but lets face it, the average to above average media center user is not doing that. I have a couple terabytes of HR/SACD music so I understand where you are coming from NItro67, but the OP did not mention the need for SACD playback in his post so I am not really sure where all of your push for J. River comes from. That said, the new AudioEngine build of XBMC is a very substantial improvement on the audio side and what little I have used it at this point I like. No, it will not resample your audio to the pont of oblivion like J. River can, but the audio purist side of me says that you don't want to do that anyways. In the OPs case, either a dedicated media box (e.g. Dune) or a dedicated HTPC running XBMC is the best solution. Both have their pros and cons, but both are a more "complete" solution than J. River.

XBMC only offers you a free solution. I tried it over a year, and gave up on it. I couldn't stand the library updating every time, a new version was released. Never could get the right version of the movies, and you couldn't drag a drop a cover like J river. XBMC is based on 24 bit audio engine, and they consider it new? J river uses a 64 bit audio engine. Dune sounds like a great option, but it is a bit dated on the specs. The HDMI spec is 1.3a, which is fine back in 2008. Although, the future (September 2012) will be 4k video and you will need 1.4a. The original poster wanted a high definition audio, so an HTPC with J river is the best option. If you can't afford $50, then you need to quit the audio/video hobby.

I fail to understand your 64-bit audio engine argument in J River. The only place that helps you is if you are using the digital volume control within the application. 24-bit or 16-bit audio remains just that even through a 64-bit engine. The additional bits in the J Rivers engine are only there to allow volume stepping without truncating actual audio bits in the source. If you are using an external processor or DAC then it should be a pretty moot issue as you would use the volume control on the external device. The price of J River is not the concern, it is the terrible interface that does. As I previously mentioned, J River is fine for music, but that's it and that's all. The original poster wanted HD audio (i.e. Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD Master Audio, etc) for movies, not SACD playback. Give it a rest.
Edited by Balthazar2k4 - 7/2/12 at 7:45am

And even 24 bit is far more than enough for volume control since the truncated bits would be several orders of magnitude below the noise level of even the best audio equipment.
It makes some sense to go from 16 to 24 bits for digital volume control but anything beyond that has no impact and is just snake oil

I was replying to

There are some Digital Extreme Definition DXD audio files that are 32 bit, but I never seen a 64 bit DXD file. Although, you posted your reply regarding XBMC, which is not even related to mlknez question. The OP left this thread long ago... Anyway, J River does audio and video. (Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD Master Audio) The interface of J river is fine. I use Jremote with the ipad, and it is rather easy to use. Then you butted in and started bragging about XBMC new audio engine. So you give it a rest!

Actually Nitro67, your plugging of J River started at post #30, well before mlknez even posted. Also, I am not bragging about XBMCs new audio engine. I am simply stating that XBMC is much better suited for video than J River. Audio Engine is still in beta and has some teething issues; therefore, it isn't stable yet and not recommended for 100% use yet. That is all I am going to say on any of this.

Video on XBMC for DVD is choppy, but I don't have that problem for J river. I have a Denon 5308, and it has very expensive realta chip to do upconvert to 1080P, so the video shouldn't be choppy at all. Ok, here is an idea and this is my approach. I tested out the competition, because I wasn't happy with the results that I got from XBMC. I gave XBMC plenty of time to improve their code. Audio engine is still in beta, it is July. They released the code in May, but was nightly builds.

I have a Pioneer Elite VSX-32 - a much lower end device, with a much less expensive video chip. My video for DVD on XBMC is not choppy. Go figure.

When I was testing was in the beta stage of Eden, which went on for several months. If the audio is beta now, that means you need to wait to December to get out of beta. Then XBMC switches to another format, and starts the cycle all over again. You can always compare J River to XBMC for 30 day free trial. Just can't do SACD or netflix on XBMC

You can do Netflix with XBMC.

Philip

Hmm, might not be recommend due to security issues.

XBMC is the most versatile solution i used. I guess if your actually still playing sacd, then its a different story. I use foobar however along with xbmc.

Xbmc new nightly build with 24 bit audio is everything I need for my flac collection

But i care more about just music playback, I love the skins, addons, and options.

I also use tmt 5 as an external player launched from xbmc, i really have no complaints. If you dont care about menus xbmc internal player, plays any bluray stream without being choppy. Its actually incredibly smooth and reliable in my experience.

Also i have been using netflix in xbmc for a little while. I decided i didnt care for the quality however of streaming services so i cancelled. Not sure what you mean by security issues.

J river has that all built in. You have to use 3 different programs, while I use one. Flac is supported in J river, among several other formats as well. SACD ISO, and the other SACD-r format. I only have maybe about 50 blurays on my server, but it plays rather smooth. Bluray's play better on my (3) Sony 7000ES megachangers. I have around 900 Blurays, but that is best place to play them. Much cheaper than hard drives, when I bought them last year. No problems with audio track, that I experienced in XBMC. Skins, and addons are available in J river's forum. Actually, you can make your own. There is a tutorial showing on how easy it is..