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Media Center (software application)
Encyclopedia
Media Center, or formally, "JRiver Media Center" is a multimedia application that allows the user to play and organize various types of media on a computer running Windows.
Media Center is a "jukebox"-style media player, like iTunes
, which usually uses most of the screen to display a potentially very large library of files.
Regular, usually daily beta builds are posted on the Media Center Interact forum implementing requested features and fixing reported bugs. The forum has an active user community, more than 25,000 users as of 2011.
Also available for Media Center are an Audioscrobbler plugin, and G-Force, a popular visualisation.
It can also rip CDs, and burn them. MediaCenter also supports static and dynamic playlist
s.
Information relating to media is imported into the library including meta data for media files and the path to the media files. The media files themselves are not contained in the database, but cataloged within the libraries.
Version 12 of Media Center added support for auto-importing of media, whereby Media Center continually watches designated directories for changes in media. If a new file is dropped into the directory, Media Center will add the file to its library. Each library can contain any type of media, video, audio, images etc.
The view system is very powerful and fully customizable. For example, a view could be made which shows only audio files in MP3 format which are longer than 3 minutes, or images taken in Africa in the year 2006.
For ease of use, several default views exist which show files of a specified type only, including: audio, images, or video.
Various View Items, or panes, can be moved to the top, left, right, or in dropdown menus, that can be used to further filter results. For example, one of the default views, artist/album, allows selecting a specific artist or album, or both, and shows files from that album or artist only.
Once a view is created, it is automatically saved in the library and can be opened in the various user interfaces, and searched using a real-time search box. The searches are very customizable, possible on any field or tag in the library.
s. It also can export playlists as M3U or ASX,
An added benefit of a smartlist over a standard playlist is that a smartlist is dynamic; it will update itself whenenever new files that meet its criteria are added to the library. For example, one could create a smartlist to show all tracks with the genre tagged as Indie Rock. If a new album were added to Media Center's library that had the Indie Rock genre tag, Media Center would automatically add those files to the smartlist.
Standard view uses a large amount of screenspace. It can be viewed full screen or as a window.
The standard view consists of the following components:
This is made to work on a large screen, such as a television, projector or large computer screen. The interface is made to work in in a 10-foot mode, i.e. from a living room sofa using remote controls, rather than the conventional mouse and keyboard.
As of Media Center 12, Theatre view relies on Microsoft's DirectX
graphics engine. With this, Media Center uses 3D and 2D Animation to create a more visually appealing interface, which more nearly resembles that of a digital recording box, or DVD player.
The Theater View doesn't provide the editing interfaces of standard view, but instead provides much more accessible access to the different views of the library. All the buttons in Theater View are large, and tend to move to different pages to display different information.
Theater View also provides access to the Weather, News Websites and RSS Feeds.
. It's designed to take up minimal screen space while still providing access to basic controls. The mini view skins are different from the other user interface skins seen in Media Center in that JavaScript
can be placed behind them to make them more dynamic. Mini views are far more flexible than the other types of skins, allowing Media Center to take various shapes and forms using transparency
effects.
There are many different types of plugins that can be created for different purposes:
It is also possible to create "Track Info" visualisations that are created in HTML to display information about the currently playing Media. These can be extended further using the various web languages around such as JavaScript.
A full list of plugins are available here: http://accessories.jriver.com/mediacenter/accessories.php
Media Center is a "jukebox"-style media player, like iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, which usually uses most of the screen to display a potentially very large library of files.
Regular, usually daily beta builds are posted on the Media Center Interact forum implementing requested features and fixing reported bugs. The forum has an active user community, more than 25,000 users as of 2011.
Also available for Media Center are an Audioscrobbler plugin, and G-Force, a popular visualisation.
It can also rip CDs, and burn them. MediaCenter also supports static and dynamic playlist
Playlist
In its most general form, a playlist is simply a list of songs. They can be played in sequential or shuffled order. The term has several specialized meanings in the realms of radio broadcasting and personal computers.-In radio:...
s.
Library system
Media Center organizes files using Media Libraries, these are effective databases. Media Center can support multiple libraries.Information relating to media is imported into the library including meta data for media files and the path to the media files. The media files themselves are not contained in the database, but cataloged within the libraries.
Version 12 of Media Center added support for auto-importing of media, whereby Media Center continually watches designated directories for changes in media. If a new file is dropped into the directory, Media Center will add the file to its library. Each library can contain any type of media, video, audio, images etc.
View Schemes
View Schemes are the main way to browse through files in Media Center. Views can be created which help users see different parts of their library; these are effectively the same as database views. They are based on using metadata as criterion for creating a filtered list of files.The view system is very powerful and fully customizable. For example, a view could be made which shows only audio files in MP3 format which are longer than 3 minutes, or images taken in Africa in the year 2006.
For ease of use, several default views exist which show files of a specified type only, including: audio, images, or video.
Various View Items, or panes, can be moved to the top, left, right, or in dropdown menus, that can be used to further filter results. For example, one of the default views, artist/album, allows selecting a specific artist or album, or both, and shows files from that album or artist only.
Once a view is created, it is automatically saved in the library and can be opened in the various user interfaces, and searched using a real-time search box. The searches are very customizable, possible on any field or tag in the library.
Playlists
Media Center allows the creation of playlistPlaylist
In its most general form, a playlist is simply a list of songs. They can be played in sequential or shuffled order. The term has several specialized meanings in the realms of radio broadcasting and personal computers.-In radio:...
s. It also can export playlists as M3U or ASX,
Smartlists
SmartLists are similar to playlists except that rather than selecting a list of songs, the list is governed by a set of rules. For example, a smartlist might take every video file which was produced in 1994. Smartlists can be based on Playlists. They are defined using an expression language. Media Center provides a wizard style dialogue box to simplify creating these.An added benefit of a smartlist over a standard playlist is that a smartlist is dynamic; it will update itself whenenever new files that meet its criteria are added to the library. For example, one could create a smartlist to show all tracks with the genre tagged as Indie Rock. If a new album were added to Media Center's library that had the Indie Rock genre tag, Media Center would automatically add those files to the smartlist.
User interfaces
Media Center provides four different user interfaces for use in different situations. Each user interface is skinnable.Standard View
Standard View is the default user interface for looking at the Media Center Library on a desktop/laptop computer. It is also the most powerful interface, allowing access to features such as:- Tagging
- Ripping
- CD/DVD burning
- Accessing portable players
- Creating/editing playlists, smartlists, and views
- Setting up TV stations
- Accessing web media
Standard view uses a large amount of screenspace. It can be viewed full screen or as a window.
The standard view consists of the following components:
- Tree: allows navigating different views of the Media Library
- Action Window: allows quick access to the more common tasks such as ripping/burning
- Header area: contains the player controls for changing track positions, and media control
- Playing Now Area: the current playlist which is playing
- Panes/Thumbnails: allows selection/viewing media
- Tagging Panes: allows tagging media
Theater View
While the standard and mini views are designed to be used in front of a desk computer, or laptop, Media Center also features a large font remotely accessible 'Theater View'.This is made to work on a large screen, such as a television, projector or large computer screen. The interface is made to work in in a 10-foot mode, i.e. from a living room sofa using remote controls, rather than the conventional mouse and keyboard.
As of Media Center 12, Theatre view relies on Microsoft's DirectX
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
graphics engine. With this, Media Center uses 3D and 2D Animation to create a more visually appealing interface, which more nearly resembles that of a digital recording box, or DVD player.
The Theater View doesn't provide the editing interfaces of standard view, but instead provides much more accessible access to the different views of the library. All the buttons in Theater View are large, and tend to move to different pages to display different information.
Theater View also provides access to the Weather, News Websites and RSS Feeds.
Mini View
Mini view is similar to that of WinampWinamp
Winamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features.Winamp...
. It's designed to take up minimal screen space while still providing access to basic controls. The mini view skins are different from the other user interface skins seen in Media Center in that JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
can be placed behind them to make them more dynamic. Mini views are far more flexible than the other types of skins, allowing Media Center to take various shapes and forms using transparency
Transparency (graphic)
Transparency is possible in a number of graphics file formats. The term transparency is used in various ways by different people, but at its simplest there is "full transparency" i.e. something that is completely invisible. Of course, only part of a graphic should be fully transparent, or there...
effects.
Library server
Library server allows Media Center to share its active library with up to five client machines. This is designed for situations where a server machine with large resources is set up in one area, and clients such as laptops with smaller resources can access media elsewhere.Tivo Server
Media Center supports TiVo's Home Media option, allowing TiVo to stream video and audio.Web Services Integration
- Audible
- Amazon MP3 Store
- CDBaby
- Hulu
- MediaNet Digital
- Netflix
- Youtube
Plugins
Media Center uses COM Support to provide access to an SDK library. This allows plugins to be written in a wide variety of languages including:- C++C++C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
- C#
- Object PascalObject PascalObject Pascal refers to a branch of object-oriented derivatives of Pascal, mostly known as the primary programming language of Embarcadero Delphi.-Early history at Apple:...
(Delphi) - Visual BasicVisual BasicVisual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...
There are many different types of plugins that can be created for different purposes:
- Theater View plugins: allows creating extensions to Theater View
- Interface plugins: allows interface extensions for Standard View
- DSP plugins: allows directly manipulating sound processing
- Display plugins: allows creating different Visualisations
- Input plugins: can be used to add new formats to Media Center, which are not supported natively
It is also possible to create "Track Info" visualisations that are created in HTML to display information about the currently playing Media. These can be extended further using the various web languages around such as JavaScript.
A full list of plugins are available here: http://accessories.jriver.com/mediacenter/accessories.php
Media formats
Media Center supports a wide range file formats among audio files, video files, photos and documents. A full lists of supported formats can be found on the JRiver Media Center wiki; (supported audio formats, supported video formats, and supported image formats). DirectShow is supported, allowing the playing of any video or audio format for which a DirectShow Filter is available, and installed.Handheld and other hardware devices
- Android
- iOS: iPadIPadThe iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
, iPhoneIPhoneThe iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, iPod TouchIPod TouchThe iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line... - Digital cameraDigital cameraA digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...
- Image scannerImage scannerIn computing, an image scanner—often abbreviated to just scanner—is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop scanner where the document is placed on a glass...
- Removable mediaRemovable mediaIn computer storage, removable media refers to storage media which is designed to be removed from the computer without powering the computer off.Some types of removable media are designed to be read by removable readers and drives...
- SmartphoneSmartphoneA smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
- TiVoTiVoTiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...
- Universal Plug and PlayUniversal Plug and PlayUniversal Plug and Play is a set of networking protocols for primarily residential networks without enterprise class devices that permits networked devices, such as personal computers, printers, Internet gateways, Wi-Fi access points and mobile devices to seamlessly discover each other's presence...
(UPnP) - Digital Living Network AllianceDigital Living Network AllianceThe Digital Living Network Alliance is a non-profit collaborative trade organization established by Sony in June 2003, and has more than 250 member companies in the mobile, consumer electronics, PC, and service provider industries...
(DLNA)