[Fixed in v7.0] JRiver MC31 not playing when 29 is also installed

[Manni]

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the quick reply. Re your questions:
1) Yes, it's not a real file, it's a virtual file they use to store the title in their library whe it's a bd or uhd bd folder. I don't think it's the same with DVDs (the extension is a hint).
2) Yes, I have no idea what the ;1 means either, or what their standard file naming is.
3) The logic hasn't changed since you implemented this. It was correct then and it's still correct now. The only difference is that MC31 can now detect black bars offline and store that information as metadata for that title in their library. The only way for that metadata to be used when using jRiver as an external is if the front end uses exactly the same file name. But as they use a virtual file name and not the real index.bdmv in the their library, the metadata can't be found. NOTE: this only impacts on the metadata. Your current logic still works fine for MC31, as it did for every previous version. As long as you don't need to access any of the metadata for that title in the library, none of this is relevant. In practice, the only situation where this matters is if you want to use the (new in MC31) black bar detection metadata so that JRVR can crop/stretch/shift the picture according to the metadata in the library. It matters to me, but for anyone who doesn't need the black bar detection in JRVR, it really doesn't matter at all. Also, it doesn't matter if you use madVR. It only matters if you use (or, like me, want the option to be able to use JRVR one day, if madVR stops working or if JRVR becomes a better option).
4) I don't mind trying various options, but you can install a trial of jRiver free for 30 days, so it might be faster / better if you tried it yourself to see what works or not (regarding launching). Then once you've found a launching option that works, I can try the black bar metadata issue.
5) I agree that option 3 is more likely correct, but I'll ask in that thread for you. Using the folder name only should be safer and means you don't need to handle different cases (2D vs 3D, though in my case 3D are always ISO, not BD folders).
6) I would leave DVD aside for now. FYI the path in their library ends with \VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.dvd;1 but I don't think that they support black bars detection for DVDs (at least it doesn't seem to work). I don't think anyone cares about masking black bars in DVDs (I certainly don't) so I wouldn't waste time on this for now, at least until they support black bar detection for DVDs.
7) As mentiioned, the bdmv.bluray has been there for ever, so anything that works with MC31 with also work with previous versions. The only difference is that changing the path will allow MC31 to access the black bar metadata in their library, while the current implementation doesn't.

I'll ask your question in the thread and I'll report back.

[Pauven]

Ok, it's making more sense to me now. I didn't realize that CMC users would actually maintain a JRiver library as well, seems like a lot of extra redundant work. So when the command line is processed, it is checked to see if it matches a path in the MC library, and because they replace bdmv with bluray, it doesn't match. Sounds like the same mismatch for DVD's, since they replace IFO with dvd. I disagree slightly with their assertion that the sender should modify the command line to match their internal naming convention, seems like something that should happen internally too, but I digress.

What would happen if the title was missing in the MC library? For example, if I pass index.bluray but it doesn't exist in their library, would playback still work or would it now fail since it no longer points to a real file?

You pointed out in the linked thread that their import misses some titles inexplicably. I'm thinking it might be safer, more reliable, to pass just the path, but if they say this will work even for missing titles, then I'd be fine with passing the index.bluray and VIDEO_TS.dvd values, it's super easy for me to code this, only takes a few seconds. I think I'm still leaning towards the path-only camp, but since I'm not a JRMC user, I don't' really have a dog in this fight.

As long as I'm poking around in this bit of code, are there any other/new command line parameters I should be considering? After all, CMC already has a wealth of data from MM about the title, like the aspect ratio, so it's possible for CMC to pass extra parameters if JRMC can receive them. I'm basically wondering if it's possible to eliminate the need to maintain the MC library if CMC can pass more parameters.

[Manni]

I misunderstood one of Hendrick’s post, you need the exact path, including the virtual file name and index number. See the thread and the short code snippet that Hendrick has written.

[Manni]

Sorry didn’t see your reply.

I never had to maintain a library in MC, the only reason is to get this metadata.

You raise a good point thoug, which is what happens when the title doesn’t exist in the library.

I’ll raise that question as well.

[Manni]

Also you can’t pass these parameters unless you read them in MC library and MC accepts them as parameters (which isn’t the case currently), which sounds like a lot of work just to get metadata on black bars…

The aspect ratio in MyMovies is not always correct/populated, so can’t be used.It’s metadata the MC generates in its own format when scanning the file for black bar detection when you import the title.

[Pauven]

Yeah, I misread their comments too. I just re-read, and he does clarify that they "could have" just used the path, but they found it cumbersome, so they used the virtual filename too.

I'm very interested in their response regarding any missing titles. As long as I'm doing this, I'd like to adjust the DVD too, so please pursue that info, i.e. is it VIDEO_TS.dvd or VIDEO_TS.dvd;1 or something different.

I'd really love a link to any documentation they may have.

While you make a good point that I could install JRMC and test myself, my plate is full at the moment so I don't plan to add yet another task to install/test/reverse engineer their software. I'm happy to make some code tweaks, and it seems like they are providing answers, so hopefully that will get the job done.

[Manni]

The path has to be exactly the same as in the library, so index at the end included, like for Blu-ray. See Hendrick’s code snippet.

However, if they don’t handle black bar detection for DVDs and if the playback crashes when the title isn’t in the library, I wouldn’t touch DVDs for now until we hear more.

[Jamie]

I never use the library in Jriver. Just the player. I don't like the way they steal extensions and it is a waste of valuable disk space. Cmc and mymovies does all that I want to do. I don't use madvr but I have been thinking of playing with it when I get a 4k uhd TV hopefully in the fall.

[Pauven]

Ok, I've gone ahead and made the change for Alpha 2 - let's call this experimental. Blu-rays will be set to "\BDMV\index.bluray;1", and DVD's will be set to "\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.dvd;1".

I want you both to test with Alpha 2 to see if anything breaks. I need to know what happens if you don't use the library at all, Jamie's preference, and what happens if the library is simply missing a title, so Manni be sure to test this scenario. Test both Blu-rays and DVD's, and 4K UHD Blu-rays too. So that's at least 6 test cases for Manni, and 3 for Jamie.

I'm really hoping it simply works. If not, then I might have to make this behavior configurable so users can enable it only if they want it. The lack of response so far on the JRiver forum also has me expecting the worst, that missing titles will break.

I'm happy that we can knock out this testing early in the Alpa stage. I'll go ahead and make an Alpha 2 available in a bit.

[Manni]

I never use the library in Jriver. Just the player. I don't like the way they steal extensions and it is a waste of valuable disk space. Cmc and mymovies does all that I want to do. I don't use madvr but I have been thinking of playing with it when I get a 4k uhd TV hopefully in the fall.

As explained, I never used the MC library until they implemented offline black bar detection in MC31.

If you don’t care about black bar detection with JRVR, there is no need to use the library at all,

If you use madVR, there is no need either as madVR does it’s own real-time black bar detection and doesn’t care about MCs library at all (as I never did until MC31, which improves JRVR significantly and offers black bar detection for it).