JRiver Media Center Begins Media Center 17 Beta
JRiver Media Center quietly turned their audiophile PC music player into a full featured media playback application over the last few releases. In the last revision they added Red October (a feature that tames DirectShow codec selection) as well as bringing madVR support to a SAF friendly 10′ UI (Theater View). The latest rev (dubbed B17) brings better TV support and a native support for one of my favorite HTPC DVR features; automatic commercial skipping.
I’ve been playing with the beta for the last few days and am very impressed with the playback engine. WASAPI for bit perfect audio, EVR/madVR for the best PC video experience, and PGS (Blu-ray) subtitle support; plus everything just sorts itself out with the DirectShow filters. JRiver has created something very special! There are still a few features missing when it comes to DVRing, but hopefully they can close the gap as the release evolves.
- Carnac — auto-tagging engine that fills in missing information about files by using the filename, codec, and other known information
- DSD bitstreaming over ASIO
- File system manager that better handles connecting to mapped network drives, detecting missing UNC paths, and more
- Theater View television guide browsing improvements (grid-style view, search, backdrops from TheTVDB, etc.)
- Blu-ray title selection
- Improved DVB TV scanning
- Gapless iTunes encoded MP3 playback
- Expression language improvements (IfElse(…), etc.)
- DVD playback over Library Server
- Image orientation field
- Improved search so that it views more fields and gives better suggestions
- Faster loading of the database
- Commercial skipping
- Television program guide view backdrops in Theater View
I think they are going to
I think they are going to need CableCard capable TV tuner support before they can be taken for serious.
I agree that DCT support
I agree that DCT support would be awesome. I hope that we can sort something out with external tuners.
No Hulu support?
No Hulu support?
Netflix, Hulu and Youtube are
Netflix, Hulu and Youtube are all exposed through the 10″ UI. I haven’t tried anything but Netflix because they suck, but it’s there 🙂
babgvant wrote:Netflix, Hulu
[quote=babgvant]
Netflix, Hulu and Youtube are all exposed through the 10″ UI. I haven’t tried anything but Netflix because they suck, but it’s there 🙂
[/quote]
10 inch or 10 foot UI?
umdivx wrote:babgvant
[quote=umdivx]
[quote=babgvant]
Netflix, Hulu and Youtube are all exposed through the 10″ UI. I haven’t tried anything but Netflix because they suck, but it’s there 🙂
[/quote]
10 inch or 10 foot UI?
[/quote]
LOL – foot 🙂 Guess I was a little trigger happy with the shift key.
Can I still signup for the
Can I still signup for the BETA?
The beta is open now. You
The beta is open now. You should be able to download it from the linked forum post.
It is great to see JRiver
It is great to see JRiver improving in the wake of the SageTV acquisition.
Agreed. Hopefully they will
Agreed. Hopefully they will add the necessary features to compete in the DVR space.
Could be a dumb question, but
Could be a dumb question, but I need to ask. So this is a Windows Media Center alternative. How do I or can I use this with my Ceton card?
Not yet. TV/DVR support is
Not yet. TV/DVR support is pretty limited currently, but AFAIK it is an area where they are putting effort so we’ll have to see how it develops over time.
RePost:
This is the WORST
RePost:
This is the WORST devices I have ever seen… Why you ask? Because from today moving forward, if you do not offer a application for Windows 7/Vista Media Center you are official “THE WORST”.
For the last two years, we have seen applications and devices being born with media center in mind but nothing developed to work natively within Media Center has been developed short of the Netflex application. Come on COMPANY(s) stop just seeking a profit of $75 for a piece of hardware! Ssshhhheeeee, I wouldn’t even mine if I paid $100 and it integrate with Media Center so that I could use it as part of a MC network or just a standalone device. Companies could leverage the device by offering different features based on your install and/or usage.
It’s like imagination doesn’t exist just GREED!
The problem isn’t greed, the
The problem isn’t greed, the problem is that Media Center is soooo far on the main stream radar that unless you have an individual user that invests time and effort into development of applications for Media Center it will never become main stream enough to have support for third party services natively.
The Netflix application was developed by Microsoft internally which is why we see it in Media Center.
-Josh