Microsoft Media Player 10 released...

[Aaron]

I just installed it. Looks very nice.

OK, who's up for a plug-in so I do not need to use JRMC with NR?

Personal opinon note:
I'm not a JRMC fan, I think thier support stinks and the app is more bloated then anything MS puts out. I does all sorts of complex things many do not need while not doing simple things that people want. Sorry, very frustrated that they release a new version every 6 months that has nothing new in it to benefit the end user.. not even stability.

Sorry for the rant.

[avid]

Aaron,

I've already got a plug-in & server for WMP9 for NR 1.0 Pro. It might "just work" with WMP10. And I will certainly be updating it to make sure it does.

Brian

[Aaron]

Brian,
Where?

Shoot me the plug-in and CCF and I'll test today.

alevey AT cox.net


later,
Aaron

[danward79]

Rant Excepted, I agree, I only got it so I could use NR completely.

If it was not for NR I would not have bought it.

Dan

[avid]

I have it. I've paid for it. But I still preferred to write a WMP9 plug-in rather than use it!

Brian

[Jlee]

You know what. For some strange reason I'm starting to come round to this way of thinking too :)

[Mastiff]

But the multi-zone capabilities of JRMC is second to none, and anyway I don't trust Micro$oft, they're to heavily into DRM.

[Cocophone]

I agree with mastiff feeling about Microsoft.

With Microsoft I always feel like I'm buying a car. Some how the car dealer is ALWAYS getting the better end of the deal than me.

[Wilhelm]

I'm with JLee.After yesterdays incident I would like to dump JRMC a.s.a.p.

[Cocophone]

I'm trying to give Jim H the benefit of the doubt.

But, He does have some strong opinions and does not hesitat to let you know what they are.

I image that with such a busy forum you need to maintain a close watch or it could get out of control.

I don't know how Jim has the time to monitor all the message threads.

Maybe he has a bot that looks for keywords.

My thought is I already have enough to worry about in my life.

[Promixis]

I am off to try out 10.

BTW, please keep this on topic.

[Mastiff]

What was the topic again? I know it was about bashing somebody, but was it Micro$ft or ...? :roll:

[Aaron]

ok back on topic...

Mike & Ben,
I'd like to see native support of a free and common media product. I've had it with JRMC (as are many here).
So if there is any way you can natively support WMP10 or WinAmp5 and have it multi-zone that would be great.

My preference is WMP10 becasue of the media management built-in.

but which ever make sense...

[danward79]

Hi

I personnally would prefer it to be winamp. Winamp supports multiple instances. Thsi would allow it to be used for multizone.

Dan

[Mastiff]

No, no, no! Don't even bother! The problem with multiple WinAmp instances is that you have to monitor the computer for each reboot since the sound card assignment changes around 30 % of the time (if I remember correctly), and that makes it totally unusable for any kind of reliable and WA (Wife Acceptable) system.

OK, listen, I've got something to say. It's better to burn out than fade away... :oops: OK, maybe that one's a bit old, but it's still good. Remember the Kurgan using it in the church in "Highlander"? I wonder if Def Leppard or the Kurgan was the first... Or maybe it's even older? But I digress.

Mike, Ben, Ron, whoever who has that authority, if you absolutely have to you can delete this post, but I'd rather you not. It has taken me some time to formulate. Remember english isn't my first languague... :wink:

First of all the short disclaimer: I have no beef with J.River. I love the product, and I use it 24/7. It has been 100 % stable on my systems since version 9 came with multi-zone capabilities, wihch was what made me come to it. They have given me most of the special functions I have asked (perhaps begged and pested) them for, even if it has taken some time every now and then. But I understand that. Some of my requests hasn't been that common in use, I guess. And it's their board, and they are entitled to rule it as they see fit - like it or dislike it. Heavy handed at times? Sure. But still that's their prerogative (I had to look up the spelling of that one...).

But the thing is that even if I had a beef with Jim or any of the other guys at J.River I would still use their product since it's the best at what it does (organizing and playing my music multi-zone). That's just my way of doing things. If something works I use it. I have two examples:

1. As a very good second after terrorists (had to say that, or somebody would for shure have taken given me hell for it if I didn't), my least favourite people in the world are Micro$oft's legal staff. I don't ever let a chance go by me to take a staff to their butts (I don't think that counts as a pun, does it?) and I use all kinds of tricks to avoid their worst inventions (like valid volume licence keys to avoid the activation bull every time I change too much in my computers, which would be every month or so at my rate, and the special no DRM version of Media Player 9). Still I use some of their products, like Windows XP and Microsoft Office, simply because they do the job best. Where I can use other brands I do (for instance I use Forté Agent as my mail/news client and wouldn't touch their E-mail programs with my brother's computer!) but for OS I have no alternative - Linux still has too many quirks and takes to much time, and the home theater support is still a joke. I have tried alternative office packages, but I went back to Micro$oft's since it did the job best for me.

Of course Microsoft bashing is an international pasttime, so if that was the only example I wouldn't impress a flea. But I can do one better.

2. The worst service I have ever encountered was about two weeks ago. Logitech's planners should be hung by their thumbs and whipped with overcooked spaghetti! (Wasn't that one from Dilbert or something? Phil, The Prince of Heck story line, I think. (Quote: "Come to the dark side,
Dilbert. Renounce Engineering and become a manager.")) I bought what may very well be the world's most expensive keyboard and mouse package for general use, their DiNovo dekstop, around 300 dollars here in Norway. Then I spilt some milk on it. I know you shouldn't cry over spilt milk, but the keyboard got spilt as well. It's totally incredible - it's impossible to separate the keyboard film from the keys and the metal backing! They're plastic fused and glued together, and the keys will break if you try to remove them! In other words, if you spill anything on it you'll have to replace the keyboard. Now the thing comes in several parts, a mouse, a main keyboard, a MediaPad (really just a gloryfied numerical keyboard that's detached from the main keyboard and has a few media transport buttons and a built in calculator) and finally the bluetooth receiver/mouse charger. And that was the second shock! They do not sell any of the parts separately, no matter the reason. So what did I do? I bought a full new set. Simple as that. It is the single best keyboard I have ever used, and it makes me more productive. Which is why I swallowed my pride (and a few choice words...) and bought it. To make the most out of it I have taken the extra mouse and Bluetooth unit to the cabin, so I only have to take the keyboard itself back and forth in the summer (the BT unit is actually quite bulky and doesn't fit in my laptop case, but the keyboard does). And I have bought a cheap BT dongle that I have put in my carputer, so the extra MediaPad is now used as a very cool (even my wife thought it was very nice looking and easy to use) replacement for the ATI remote I had before (that one kept falling down on the floor in sharp turns anyway), with two different keyboard plug-ins for Girder, of course!

Now to add insult to injury Logitech sendt me what they call a Gold Pass that gives me a 35 % discount on their official Internet shop. "Oh, but that was nice of them!" I hear you shout. No, it wasn't...because their shop has prices that are close 40 % higher than the cheapest webshop here in Norway!!!! :evil:

OK, so what's the moral? That I have no moral. I will use what's best for every task, no matter what I think about the people who creates it or their service. And as far as arrogance goes J.River isn't even on my long list. They're just trying to get by, so let them! You've got a right to bash them if you want to (the Fifth Amendment in the US Constitution, right?), but don't scare people away from their Media Center, I'm sure that it would fit the bill for a lot more people than the current user base. And NetRemote is and will be a part of their business strategy, I'm sure.

Oh, and for the record: Proximis has the best service and user community I have ever come across. Period. Both the old Girder part, NetRemote and now the combined company have always been incredibly easy to get features and help from, and they do great work. Without them my home wouldn't be the same. Well, it could have been, but that would probably have cost me a million bucks or so... So I suggest we all take a collective bow: 1-2-3-bow! :D And I still say that even if they had the same service and were the same nice guys I wouldn't use their product if it didn't do what I needed it to do in the most efficient way of anything I know of.

Of course I do like to think that I have a certain role in making NetRemote what it is today, if nothing else than for chasing bugs like crazy, especially in the earlier days, and by suggesting a few features here and there... (And that was the "praise myself" section of this post...)

Thank you, I will go down from my soap box now. If this post is deleted, despite my plea, I will try to post it somewhere else since this is something I feel strongly about and it has taken so long to write it... But like I said I would really like you not to. :roll:

[Jlee]

I'm on record many times saying exactly the same thing as you about MC. My view has always been the selfish one - that if it's the best at what it does then that's what I'll use. I know how a lot of the others have felt about things that have gone on and how they've been treated but it's only recently that I've had first hand experience and it does hurt.

I'm not going to be any part of a campaign against their software. They have a business to run and they'll do it however they see fit. Personally, I prefer the Promixis way of doing things.


Oh, and for the record: Proximis has the best service and user community I have ever come across. Period. Both the old Girder part, NetRemote and now the combined company have always been incredibly easy to get features and help from, and they do great work. Without them my home wouldn't be the same. Well, it could have been, but that would probably have cost me a million bucks or so... So I suggest we all take a collective bow: 1-2-3-bow!
I 100% agree with this.

[Aaron]

Mastiff... that was off-off-off topic! It could not even see the topic with a telescope.

PEOPLE please stay ON topic...

Discuss WinAmp and WMP10 plug-in possibilities, ideas, features, needs, and benefits.

[Mastiff]

And this isn't?



I've had it with JRMC (as are many here).


:roll:

[Aaron]

that was just to set the reason for my asking... not to start a bashfest... my bad.

[Mastiff]

Actually part of my point was against bashing, but whatever. If you just wanted to explain why you wanted something else than JRMC it could have been said a lot more polite (not to mention gramatically correct...). Anyway, I think I have said most of what I have to say. But please note the bottom part of my long post. If anybody disagrees, they better put on their flame proof "jammies", 'cause then bad uncle Mastiff's coming to get y'all! :lol:

[Jlee]

If you just wanted to explain why you wanted something else than JRMC it could have been said a lot more polite
Leave him alone Tor. I think he put it beautifully. :D

I think we all know that JRMC is still the best media player out there at the moment ( :( ). If company policy and attitude was a little more, let's say 'customer friendly' they would surely have a winner (and I have longed for them to be successful). As it is they are regrettably making life hard for themselves which is puzzling and a shame but it's their choice.

Now then I'm off topic again. So all those that disagree with me about how good MC is please convince me that I am wrong and that should start making my beautiful Opus CCF talk to WMP instead. Let's have some pro's and cons about the functionality (forgetting comments about the respective CEO's).

[Mastiff]

Three big cons stands out right away: a nasty habit of trying to go to the Net to look for upgrades, codecs and such (without a possibility to turn this off), multi-zone and library management.

[Wilhelm]

Tor,

I'm not a M$ fan myself, but you can easily stop the codec download and the connection to the internet by unchecking it in the options.
Secondly you could use your firewall to block the internet completely for it. Nevertheless I sometimes find it useful, that it loads a codec that I don't have.
Multizone is something else. :-(
I don't know about Version 10 though, because it's not yet available for German Windows.

[Mastiff]

Sorry, I meant looking for program updates. That you can set to once a month, but you can't stop it completely. As for firewall, yes, but I have had a few crashes because of that on MP9, and that's just not acceptable.

[axe]

I would also like to see a nice alternative player with perfect netremote control. Winamp would be ideal for myself since I don't use multizone, don't care about having a database since I prefer having a good structure on the filesystem level instead, altough that's just me.
The only reason I even bought JRMC was the fact that NR worked with it, so if I could have perfect winamp support + cover art I'd be set.

This is not to say that I find JRMC to be a bad product(except for that evil online activation), it's just not my cup of tea.
Sorry if this went a little OT, doesn't really have anything to do with WMP which I think is plain crap to be honest, IMHO that is. [/rantOff]

[Ben S]

Just FYI for everyone - You might have noticed that the JRMC plugin was renamed "MediaBridge" recently.

The reason for that is that we're writing a server application (called MediaBridge) that will have plugins (eventually) to control iTunes, WinAmp, WMP (and others). The application will handle the communication with NetRemote, so a change from JRMC to iTunes, or from WinAmp to JRMC, etc. should be virtually plug-and-play.

Some features may not be available with all Media applications, but the goal is to do as much as possible with all.

[Hesse]

Has Meedio been considered as one of these applications? Right now I use both JRMC and Meedio. The only reason I bought JRMC was for the integration with NR. But it would be awesome if NR worked the same with Meedio as it currently does with JRMC.

Jesse

[Chas821]

I'm not about to start bashing MC. It looks pretty good but I probably would never use all it's features. And (a big plus) WMP is FREE! As far as "MediaBridge Server" with associated plugins......since we haven't seen the released verion of 1.0 Pro yet, I would say this is so much "vapor-ware" at this point. Give me something I can use now without having to pay for yet another media player.

Avid: Can you tell me if your plugin for WMP will work with 1.0 Pro and WMP10? If so, steer me in the right direction to your plugin. I would love to give it a try!!!!


Chuck

[Mastiff]

Be polite, boy! I've been using that "vapor-ware" all summer, helping ironing out bugs. Do you want Promixis to do like Micro$oft always does with every new product, and just push it out there to please the financial managers, while leaving the regular users to be involuntary beta testers, or would you like to have a product that right out of the download (no box involved...) has both the functionality and stability that every program should have? :x

Headmaster Mastiff has spoken.

[Chas821]

Mastiff,

I'll not take issue with your comments nor your experience with NR 1.0. My comments about "vapor-ware" were about the promised MediaBridge Server with associated plugins. If this will give me the functionality with WMP instead of MC10 I say hurrah. As I said, my limited experience with MC10 tells me that it's way too much for my needs. WMP is fine. I just want NR 1.0 (which I have paid for, by the way) to work with it rather than MC.


Chuck

[avid]

Avid: Can you tell me if your plugin for WMP will work with 1.0 Pro and WMP10? If so, steer me in the right direction to your plugin. I would love to give it a try!!!
Yes to both. If you already have NR 1.0 Pro and access to the pre-release forum, you will find the download near the start of the "Three 1.0 Drivers" thread.

Brian

[Ben S]

As far as "MediaBridge Server" with associated plugins......since we haven't seen the released verion of 1.0 Pro yet, I would say this is so much "vapor-ware" at this point.

I wouldn't say it's -complete- vapor-ware at this point. I would say if you need WMP control now, definitely use Avid's current WMP plugin.

However I'm working with Avid on getting his WMP server code into the MediaBridge so all ccf's are compatible with all media players (free and otherwise). Post 1.0, of course, as we're not holding back Pro for this functionality.

Regarding Meedio and other media players - Yes! If the API is straightforward, adding support to the MediaBridge for them should also be very straightforward.

[Promixis]

Cool ;)

[Mastiff]

Mastiff,

I'll not take issue with your comments nor your experience with NR 1.0. My comments about "vapor-ware" were about the promised MediaBridge Server with associated plugins.

I gotta remember not to answer forum messages after a long movie night, just before I go to bed... I didn't see that "Server" part of it, I read it as the Pro version was "vapor-ware"! Anyway, the essence still stands: If anything's not out from these guys it's because they haven't gotten it perfected yet.

[Chas821]

Avid (Brian),

Thanks for your reply. I look foward to trying the WMP plugin.

Now, if I can get Ben to allow me access to the prerelease area........!?


Chuck

[Chas821]

Ben,

THANK YOU!!!!

Chuck

[Ben S]

No problem, Chuck. I apologize for not adding you before.