MP3s through MVP - newb ques

[tomahawk51]

Hey all,

Been looking at this MVP for a while now (though recent comments about a new version coming out are holding me back). I gave up on a video sender - but contend if quality was better that would be my best option.

What I really haven't been able to learn is the type of functionality I can expect the MVP to provide with MP3s. I think this will be the primary WAF issue to justify buying a unit. I want to check out the Mp3 functionality more, as I'd probably use it more for this than video.

How attractive/useable is it to play MP3s? I have my stuff organized Artist->Album in one giant folder. Mostly I play my stuff over a couple of iTunes playlists on random.

Can I use these Playlists?

I understand there is no visualization available, is this annoying?

Finally I recall a comment buried on Amazon that the MVP can only support a list of songs defined in length (1000?). Any comment on this?

I really do appreciate your feedback on this. I am looking forward to getting GBPVR setup for pvr and mp3s.

[numatrix]

I don't use the standard MVP software very much so I can't say anything besides yeah, it played MP3s ok; the advantage is that you can load whatever front-end you want. With GBPVR there are at least three different plugins that will play MP3s, all with strengths and advantages. Hopefully one of them should meet your needs. My TV doesn't have particularly good sound so I haven't taken advantage of it too much, but if I had a good stereo hooked up to it I definitely would.

One possible detractor from the WAF is the slight sluggishness of the MVP menus. Depends on how demanding she is. ;-) My wife doesn't get particularly bothered by the menus (though she usually makes me do it), she does complain when I'm having wireless problems and the video skips or the record is jerky. That's pretty understandable though.

So the short answer is that you should definitely be good to go for mp3 playing (playlists, random, good interface), etc, because there are many good plugins for gbpvr that do music playing.

I'm not sure offhand about the itunes playlist thing, I've heard that the itunes playlist is not exactly easily accessible. Live converting might be difficult to automate, though there might be software out there to do it.

[bgowland]

How attractive/useable is it to play MP3s? I have my stuff organized Artist->Album in one giant folder. Mostly I play my stuff over a couple of iTunes playlists on random.

Can I use these Playlists?

The MyMusic plugin will handle m3u and wpl (I think) playlists. I'm not sure what othe plugins support. I've seen utilities that will convert iTunes playlists to m3u - there may be others that do wpl.

One thing I would like to see is some basic visualisation at least - one idea might be to switch to a slide-show of random images while music is playing rather than let the MVP screensaver (yuk) kick in. I don't think any of the music plugins do this (I'd be interested to know). I have to admit I haven't fully explored the music side of GB-PVR and the MVP as the majority of my use is TV recording and I still haven't re-ripped all my CDs to mp3 format yet (they were in wma). What I've seen so far I quite like and I've just plumbed my MVP into my hi-fi which works well with the TV sound down (works good for playing video too).

Cheers,
Brian

[tomahawk51]

Thanks for your information; this was the kind of answer I was looking for. The only problem at this point seems to be those darn rumors of a new MVP. What a bummer, here I am ready to pull the trigger and something comes round hinting at me to wait.

Guess if I can get the MVP for ~70 and a 150 card for the same, I'll go ahead anyway.

Thanks again

[sub]

Hauppauge are working on a wireless version, but I've heard this will be pretty much the same hardware as the current device, so if you dont need wireless its probably not worth putting off your purchase.

[bgowland]

The only problem at this point seems to be those darn rumors of a new MVP.

I'm looking forward to this but mainly for the wi-fi side of things - my original intention was always to tack a wireless bridge onto my current MVP at some point anyway. My wife is pretty easy going (understatement) and I'm an ex-wireman so you can hardly notice the UTP cable stapled down the stairwell. I'll wait to see what the new MVP offers before I decide whether or not to buy one or go the wi-fi bridge route.

[tomahawk51]

What seems to be the most popular plugin for playing Mp3s on an MVP?

I realize that many are those that wrote the plugins, so I'd be interested in thier input as well.

The biggest thing I haven't seen in my brief toying with GBPVR is a plugin that will play all Mp3 from subfolders.

EXAMPLE of my collection:

Music:Jazz:Wes Montgomery:Moving Wes: track1, track2 (etc.)

Right now I seem to have to open "Moving Wes" and select shuffle. Instead, I'd like to select "Music" or "Jazz" and select shuffle.

Please point this out to me if you know it to exist.

[saintalan]

What seems to be the most popular plugin for playing Mp3s on an MVP?...
...The biggest thing I haven't seen in my brief toying with GBPVR is a plugin that will play all Mp3 from subfolders.....

For me it has to be My Music. Best for me is the choice of Folder/File layouts.

You can play anything within a Folder (even its Sub folsders) eg I have Artist as folder and albums as sub folders. To play the whole folder or sub just hit the un-named button on the MVP RC. As is/Random/Alphabetic!

Give it a try. It does have a few faults, bugs etc but mainly it pretty good.

Cheers

Alan