QQ Media Player NUC Buyers Club - Discussion

[LuvMyQuad]

This thread is the place to discuss and ask questions regarding @HomerJAU tutorial for getting your music collection ready. Im sure he'll drop in here to answer the tougher stuff.

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...ion-1-qq-special-edition-media-players.37171/

Im glad to be a part of this. This is a great online community, and this is the best way to listen to music that Ive ever used. Sharing it is going to be fun

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Ive been a Kodi user for maybe 5 years or so now. Ive tried other media players during that time. But kodi is the only one that stuck.

Im kinda doing this with you. The kodi version im currently using is probably 2 years old. Ya know if it aint broken....

How many of you are 1st time kodi users?

 

[mrcond]

Ive been a Kodi user for maybe 5 years or so now. Ive tried other media players during that time. But kodi is the only one that stuck.

How many of you are 1st time kodi users?

First time for me! Been using JRiver but I’m not thrilled with graphics.

 

[GOS]

Ive been a Kodi user for maybe 5 years or so now. Ive tried other media players during that time. But kodi is the only one that stuck.

How many of you are 1st time kodi users?

Me! I'm a Foobar junkie and will be hard pressed to give it up. That said, I'm using this opportunity to try Kodi on a limited number of titles, just to see how the process works, and how I like the experience.

Also, I'm using the experience to once and for all, try to figure out why my Atmos files tend to skip, and or not even activate the Atmos signal on many of my files using VLC.

 

[HomerJAU]

First time for me! Been using JRiver but I’m not thrilled with graphics.

If you can get off JRiver you’ll pay for your NUC fairly quickly. What are they charging these days?

I bouught one a few back to help MMH users create those sidecar xml files (tagging) for MKV/MKA playback. I still get the occasional offer to sign up again, but it’s no use to me.

 

[mrcond]

If you can get off JRiver you’ll pay for your NUC fairly quickly. What are they charging these days?

I bouught one a few back to help MMH users create those sidecar xml files (tagging) for MKV/MKA playback. I still get the occasional offer to sign up again, but it’s no use to me.

I am on an older free version of JRiver. It works fine so I’ve never compelled to upgrade.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

First time for me! Been using JRiver but I’m not thrilled with graphics.

Me! I'm a Foobar junkie and will be hard pressed to give it up.

Also, I'm using the experience to once and for all, try to figure out why my Atmos files tend to skip, and or not even activate the Atmos signal on many of my files using VLC.

You guys already have your music tagged then, yes? At least with the basics?

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Also, I'm using the experience to once and for all, try to figure out why my Atmos files tend to skip, and or not even activate the Atmos signal on many of my files using VLC.

I hope that gets straighteded out. Atmos plays fine for me.

So you cant play Atmos on Foobar?

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Never used it before, looking forward to long nights applying tags like "AlbumArtist" IDK (which I typically don't add.) I've read the first section of Homer's manual so far.

So MMH can add tagging info, is that right, guess I never paid much attention to that aspect of it?

And what version of MMH are we currently on, and what version of .NET Framework do we need to have installed?

 

[mrcond]

You guys already have your music tagged then, yes? At least with the basics?

Yes, although I’m sure I can improve upon it. Especially differentiating between stereo, 4.0 and 5.1 mixes, etc.

 

[GOS]

You guys already have your music tagged then, yes? At least with the basics?

Yes, the basics. Nothing more.

 

[humprof]

Kodi first-timer here, too.

(Well, sort of. I've toyed with Kodi before but have never gone over completely. Never really cared all that much about fancy graphics, TBH: album cover + album playlist with track numbers, titles, and timings + "Now Playing" track details against a clean black background have always been good for me. I've also always resisted the whole "Library" concept, preferring to just browse my media collection in Windows File Manager and selecting whatever file or folder I want to play--like @GOS, in foobar2000, mostly, with the DarkOne 4.0 skin, or else VLC or Windows TV & Movies for Atmos--from there. Just hasn't seemed that difficult. So the paradigm shift is gonna be hard for me. But like a lot of you, I expect, my folders and my file tagging are an inconsistent mess and--ironically, given what an anal-retentive I am in other respects--I've dragged my feet on rationalizing them and cleaning them up. And I can't deny that it would be easier to use just one media player to play all file types. So . . . I guess this'll be good for me. I'm just gonna silently recite the Possum Lodge Man's Prayer from the Red Green Show: "I'm a man. And I can change. If I have to. I guess.")

Here's a question, though: I also use P2P file-sharing software, and I'm having trouble envisioning how to set up the folder/file structure on my hard drive in such a way that I could include certain files in my Kodi library while excluding them from my P2P share (or vice versa). Right now certain folders in my de facto music "library" are off limits. Maybe the easiest answer is to use two separate HDs, one for Kodi and one for P2P?

P.S.: endless thanks to @HomerJAU for dreaming up and spearheading this project (and for writing that massive Kodi Intro) and to @LuvMyQuad for being the US agent--and for starting this thread!

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Yes, although I’m sure I can improve upon it. Especially differentiating between stereo, 4.0 and 5.1 mixes, etc.

I can tell you what i do. An example would be,

Dark Side of the Moon
Dark Side of the Moon (2.0 BRD)
Dark Side of the Moon (5.1 BRD)
Dark Side of the Moon (5.1 SACD)
Dark Side of the Moon (4.0 Parsons mix)
Dark Side of the Moon (5.1 Pentio UM)
Dark Side of the Moon (Atmos)

What this means in luvmyquad land is:

CD rip
Stereo rip from bluray disc
5.1 rip from bluray disc
5.1 rip from SACD
Quad Alan Parsons mix
An upmix
Atmos rip

I tag the album with exactly the same names as the folder names. So when i choose to play Pink Floyd they all come up and i make my choise.

Unconventually, i dont include the artist name in the album folder name. So i dont have. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (Atmos)
But most users do include the artists name

This layout might change based on some of the more advanced stuff kodi can do that will be in @HomerJAU build, but thats my current filing system.

 

[HomerJAU]

@humprof Kodi only knows about what’s under your ‘Music Source’ root folder (see my Kodi media thread I created last night here). I presume p2p has a similar function if you can isolate that now.

Use Tagscanner or MMH to load many of your album folders at same time and scroll down your file tags. You will visualise the missing and inconsistent tagging, in many cases you don’t even need to read the values, pattern recognition, humans are good at! Fix what you see. One day at a time!

 

[humprof]

@humprof Kodi only knows about what’s under your ‘Music Source’ root folder (see my Kodi media thread I created last night here). I presume p2p has a similar function if you can isolate that now.

Yep. It's just that I can't quite conceptualize the right Venn diagram. Once I create a "Music Source" root folder, everything I want to be able to play in Kodi--which will include things I don't want to share via P2P--will necessarily be under that folder.

Use Tagscanner or MMH to load many of your album folders at same time and scroll down your file tags. You will visualise the missing and inconsistent tagging, in many cases you don’t even need to read the values, pattern recognition, humans are good at! Fix what you see. One day at a time!

Exactly, and good advice. I'm realizing I can build my Kodi library gradually, adding folders bit by bit as I get them tagged and renamed.

 

[HomerJAU]

It's just that I can't quite conceptualize the right Venn diagram.

Does this help?

Create two new folders (two root folders):

Music
Music (P2P)

Add both to Kodi as a ‘Music’ source, Kodi can see and play albums them both
Only allow ‘Music (P2P)’ to be accessed by your P2P app

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I have multiple large SSD's with different types of formats on them; i.e. Quad, DVD-A/V, Blu-ray, SACD etc..

Anyone ever use some kind of USB hub on a Kodi NUC to switch from SSD to SSD?

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Yep. It's just that I can't quite conceptualize the right Venn diagram. Once I create a "Music Source" root folder, everything I want to be able to play in Kodi--which will include things I don't want to share via P2P--will necessarily be under that folder.

Again im going to do an example. Im starting with a root folder on a storage device that i have mapped as a drive

M:/multimedia

In multimedia i have subdirectories
/Stereo
/Multichannel
/Atmos
/P2P

You can tell kodi to use all 4 subdirectories as music sources

You tell P2P to only use the P2P subdirectory

 

[HomerJAU]

I have multiple large SSD's with different types of formats on them; i.e. Quad, DVD-A/V, Blu-ray, SACD etc..

Anyone ever use some kind of USB hub on a Kodi NUC to switch from SSD to SSD?

A friend of mine does that. It works. It needs to include an external power supply to power many un powered usb though.

If you are using many 2.5” drives it might be the time to consolidate into a larger external powered drive using 5 1/4 drives. More reliable if you buy a name brand, and faster too. Keep your 2.5 drives as backups.

 

[humprof]

Create two new folders (two root folders):

Music
Music (P2P)

Add both to Kodi as a ‘Music’ source, Kodi can see and play albums them both
Only allow ‘Music (P2P)’ to be accessed by your P2P app

Again im going to do an example. Im starting with a root folder on a storage device that i have mapped as a drive

M:/multimedia

In multimedia i have subdirectories
/Stereo
/Multichannel
/Atmos
/P2P

You can tell kodi to use all 4 subdirectories as music sources

You tell P2P to only use the P2P subdirectory

Ahh...okay, sorry to be slow on this, but I think I'm starting to wrap my head around it. It's just that in both of your examples, the non-P2P folders would contain whatever I'm not sharing (which--not to identify myself as a lawbreaker or skirt QQ rules or anything--could in theory be a small minority of my collection). And within the P2P folder, I might then need to replicate, as subdirectories, all of its other "sibling" directories.

So if I did a mash-up of both of your examples, I could end up with something like this:

Music
/Stereo
/Multichannel
/Atmos
/Music (P2P)

/Stereo​

/Multichannel​

/Atmos​

​

Anyway: thanks for helping me reprogram my head and sort this out!