Media Players 101: Why use a Media Player? (Pros and Cons)

[mandrix]

I ripped about 800 discs.
With all conversation and tagging (I have not tagged all covers as I don‘t need them, as my TV is off) it took about 4 weeks.
I did also replaygain and configured my NUC that Kodi is in StartUp so I only have to turn the NUC on and have to wait for a minute.
I installed Windows instead of Linux but everything works fine here! Such a great movement from changing discs to different players and have them all at once now.
As I said in another thread, only SACDs I did not rip.

Good to know. Thanks!

 

[IMachine]

And I use the official Kodi Remote on my IPhone to use Kodi on my NUC

 

[mandrix]

And I use the official Kodi Remote on my IPhone to use Kodi on my NUC

No android app though. I have never owned any thing apple. (I have nothing against apple)

 

[IMachine]

There is Kore or Yatse for android

 

[marpow]

Any thoughts on improvement?
I have a great set up, that includes my Intel NUC, JRiver, Synology NAS, etc. No problems.
I am starting to get dissatisfied with the amount of fan noise occasionally from the NUC.
I have been reading about fanless PC's. It seems they have a little bigger chassis because of the fins for cooling.
This company looks interesting .
Any experience with fanless PC ?

 

[PK]

So far I have Kodi loaded on a NUC running Libre Elec...a USB drive with some 2.0 channel flacs connected to the NUC...NUC connected to my AVR through HDMI...Kodi running the Artist slideshow...Kodi app running on iPad...all this possible from the HomerJau threads

Next up will be figuring out how to rip some discs...and testing some multi channel content...

 

[Ninecats]

HomerJAUs effort on here turned me into buying a media player (I went with Nvidia Shield and Kodi), and I haven’t missed a PC ever since when it comes to digital playback.

 

[HomerJAU]

I am starting to get dissatisfied with the amount of fan noise occasionally from the NUC.

What NUC do you have? I have two and no fan noise. Both are i3 NUCs. My most recent being NUC8i3BEK and that’s on its own small shelf in my AV cabinet, open no cabinet doors.

 

[HomerJAU]

Kodi app running on iPad

I highly recommend the Kodi Music Remote if you have an iPad. It’s takes music playback with Kodi to another level. Fantastic! It’s about $5 on the App Store I think. There a couple of videos I made a while back in threads here in this sub-forum.

I think this I’d such a great interface that I’d even recommend buying the cheapest iPad to use just as the Kodi control system for any Kodi user. And I’m not an Apple fan by any means. (Of course, the iPad is also a great little device for web surfing and email so you’d use it for that too, as I do).

Edit: Only need a wifi iPad, no need for cellular. Also only need 16GB or 32GB no need for higher.

 

[HomerJAU]

Here's a Kodi Music Remote App (iPad) demo I did a couple years ago, not the best demo but still gives a good idea of what you get:

https://reva.blob.core.windows.net/demos/kodi/MusicRemoteForKodi.mp4
Edit: Here’s the app vendor‘s website:
https://kodimusicremote.com/apps/kodi-music-remote-pro

 

[PK]

I ripped about 800 discs.
With all conversation and tagging (I have not tagged all covers as I don‘t need them, as my TV is off) it took about 4 weeks.
I did also replaygain and configured my NUC that Kodi is in StartUp so I only have to turn the NUC on and have to wait for a minute.
I installed Windows instead of Linux but everything works fine here! Such a great movement from changing discs to different players and have them all at once now.
As I said in another thread, only SACDs I did not rip.

Whoa 800
Well done!

 

[PK]

I highly recommend the Kodi Music Remote if you have an iPad. It’s takes music playback with Kodi to another level. Fantastic! It’s about $5 on the App Store I think. There a couple of videos I made a while back in threads here in this sub-forum.

I think this I’d such a great interface that I’d even recommend buying the cheapest iPad to use just as the Kodi control system for any Kodi user. And I’m not an Apple fan by any means. (Of course, the iPad is also a great little device for web surfing and email so you’d use it for that too, as I do).

Edit: Only need a wifi iPad, no need for cellular. Also only need 16GB or 32GB no need for higher.

Thanks Garry, I'll check that app out too. I'm running a free 3rd party app currently. Puts a jukebox experience in my hands!

 

[PK]

2.0 ✔
5.1 ✔
iPad App ✔
Slideshow ✔
CD Art

 

[PK]

Lyrics ✔
Fanboy ✔

 

[mandrix]

I think I said before that pretty much all my music is backed up in either .iso or folder form with exception of DTS-CD'S which are mainly file/cue.
If I start converting .iso's to FLAC I need to know most efficient way to do that and get it all tagged properly.
As far as BD's and DVD's of concerts, I won't be venturing into this much, but I already use AudioMuxer for this occasionally.

**So is there a thread and/or preferred app for converting .iso to FLAC & tagging? Offhand maybe foobar although I don't know about tagging.
I mean I know I can convert to flac easy enough I suppose but if that and tagging could all be done with one app in a minimum of steps (and minimum typing)?
Also with these kodi apps is there any need to have a cue file for the rips?


Thanks guys.

 

[HomerJAU]

So for argument's sake, for every 100 titles already ripped to either folders or iso's. How long would all that take to rip to flac, properly tagged, etc?

The slowest part of ripping and converting to FLAC is the initial disc reading/de-encrypting from disc. A typical DVDA, BDA or SACD is around 15 to 20 min, the drive speed is a big limiter here.

If you already have discs ripped to ISO or a folder/file structure then it can be quite fast to convert to FLAC (as little couple of minutes per Album depending on your PC processor, RAM and disc speed). To get an album into Kodi it needs to be tagged and you can do this pretty quickly too once you work out how some of the smart tagging programs work, often it’s only another couple of minutes or less to to an online lookup to tag all songs and rename files etc. Getting album artwork can be semi automated to online. If you scan your discs that can be time consuming, something on my list but not done yet.

You can get into a workflow groove and it happens pretty quickly.

One tip is you don’t need to do all your conversions at once, break your collection into favourites or by type (DVDA then BDA etc). You can easily just add several albums at a time and listen as a reward. Don’t think you need to spend 3 weeks before you can start listening to your conversions. Over a short time, you’ll soon have most of what you want to hear, then you start doing things you’d like to hear and then it’s completionist, and you need to do a few you know you won’t listen to, just so you know you’ve done everything

 

[HomerJAU]

Audiomuxer is a great tool but conversions slow compared to some other programs.

DVDVs I convert to MKV with MakeMKV, then split into individual song files in MMH if it’s a concert or to FLAC with MMH as than can semi auto tag FLACs or use Tagscanner to tag as than can do online lookups too and mass tagging for multiple albums.

DVDA and SACD ISOs Foobar is fast to convert to FLAC, it can tag too but Tagscanner to me is the fastest, easiest to use (free)

 

[mandrix]

deleted. didn't see post was answered

 

[HomerJAU]

Foobar can open a cue and convert to FLAC easily.

 

[mandrix]

Audiomuxer is a great tool but conversions slow compared to some other programs.

DVDVs I convert to MKV with MakeMKV, then split into individual song files in MMH if it’s a concert or to FLAC with MMH as than can semi auto tag FLACs or use Tagscanner to tag as than can do online lookups too and mass tagging for multiple albums.

DVDA and SACD ISOs Foobar is fast to convert to FLAC, it can tag too but Tagscanner to me is the fastest, easiest to use (free)

thanks! you posted while I was writing, lol.