Plex 0.9.2.7 released

Here is a link to the new features in 0.9.2.7 with the post below.

ow that the latest iOS version has made it into the store (and thank you so much for your feedback on it, you are all very kind!!), we’ve turned our attention to fixing a few issues with Plex. The new releases are available on the Plex home page, and we will enable auto-update shortly.

• NEW: We display the warning icon on shows/seasons/episodes and artist/album/tracks so that you can see more clearly which media is missing. Also note that if you dislike this feature, you can always disable it in the Library preferences by enabling “Empty trash automatically”. We enable it by default because we never want to delete any of your data without you knowing about it first.
  

• FIX: We’ve updated the transcoding engine to fix a number of issues, including 3G video playback being audio only (thanks, Chris!), improvements in threading (1080p content should work more smoothly), and according to one tester, DTS-MA now mixes down correctly. Thanks also to mitch969 and others on the forums for all their help testing!
• FIX: A few fixes for for the web-based media manager, including a fix for changes to collections not saving, sections not disappearing from clients when deleted via the web manager, and fixes for the “Match using” and un-match functionality.
• FIX: When an episode is renamed, make sure we reload metadata if the episode or season number changed.
• FIX: If a slideshow screensaver is active, playing content via the iOS or Android remotes turns the screensaver off (thanks to Man for bring this to our attention).
• FIX: A fix for Turbo Scanning where if you edited a library section (to add a new directory, or when moving media, for example), you would need to perform a deep scan to pick up the changes.

We’ve also been hard at work at improving the music functionality. Besides support for FLAC, we’ve also added and fixed lots of other things. The really nice part is that the changes were to the scanner and agents, which means that they could be pushed out automatically in micro-increments. I love the thought of our users waking up to new features and bug-fixes without the need to download a whole new version!

• NEW: Support for scanning OGG.
• NEW: Improved and enhanced poster gathering from tags in all supported file formats.
• NEW: Music lacking tags is scanned in as “unknown” artist/album.
• FIX: Tons of fixes and improvements around reading tags.
• NEW: Parse track numbers out of filename if they’re not in the tags.
• FIX: Folders with more than 50 files are scanned.

Barkley is here displaying his affinity for human beds and pillows. Who says dogs don’t have a sense of ergonomics?

And finally a link to my main site, Vesic Photography.

Update on Re-Equalization

Why Re-EQ?

Re-Equalization (Re-EQ) is a feature found only in THX Certified AV Receivers and Pre/Pros.  The problem it's addressing is one of correcting the overall sound quality of a film soundtrack that was mixed for a large theater to the home environment.  Large theaters are equalized following the "X-Curve", a standardized response curve.  Oddly, the curve itself was developed to solve the same issue, but in reverse.  Material mixed in small rooms sounded too bright in large theaters, so using the technology of the time (early 1970s), the X-curve was created to correct the issue. Theoretically, the vary existence of the X-curve should have made Re-EQ unnecessary.  But it didn't work that way.

Original data collected to develop the X-curve was limited in resolution, and therefore, accuracy.  It turns out, there is a small but noticeable error, which creates the same problem in reverse: material mixed on a large X-Curve dub stage sounds too bright in the home.  Tom Holman, developer of THX for theaters and homes, described the Re-EQ curve in the original Home THX specs. Some of us early home theater adopters had already noticed the problem, and were very relieved that Re-EQ made those bright-sounding Laser Discs sound smooth and natural.  It worked.

THX Re-EQ is on whenever you pick the THX Surround mode of your receiver.  If you don't have a THX Certifice AVR, you may also find something like CinemaEQ (Denon), or the like.  That's intended to be a similar curve, but is not exactly the same.

So why, then, in 2011, is the Re-EQ function more and more ignored?  It has to do with how soundtracks are handled for home video.  In the early days, the only choice was to take the original masters and do a straight transfer to the home formats.  Nothing was changed at all, in fact, the more accurate the transfer, the better.  That started to change when DVDs came along.  The film industry started to think it might be a good idea to re-master those theater-centric soundtracks for the home.  So, what did they do? Rather than send the material off to a mastering lab with a reference home theater, the material was sent to music mastering labs.  Now, while that might sound like a good idea, in fact the music industry is remarkably un-standardized when it comes to the monitoring environments used.  What came out of that is re-mastered tracks that not only no longer required Re-EQ, but also had changes made in overall equalization and dynamics that now made it impossible for people with calibrated home theater systems to duplicate the theater experience. 

Is there any hope?

Actually, yes!  The folks at DTS made sure that the new Blu-ray audio spec included DTS Master Audio along with Dolby TrueHD.  Yes, it's competition.  We could debate technical advantages of one over the other all day, but what it gets down to is which company positioned itself where it could work with content producers in a way that was helpful and beneficial.  DTS did that.  What's coming out of their efforts is really good mixes intended for the home.  And since they knew that's where it was going, they took care of Re-EQ in the re-mastering stage.  Get your BD player going, and pick the DTS track, then turn off THX Re-EQ (usually, just turn off the THX Surround mode).

But is that an universal fix? Sadly, not yet.  In the mass of legacy DVDs it's pretty wild. You have to listen to make the choice.  Is it too bright?  Then kick on THX Surround.  Is it too dull? Turn THX off.  And, listen carefully to those Blu-ray discs.  It's not 100% by any means.  But at least it's a start.

Rythmik Audio Subwoofers

Having trouble searching for a good quality audiophile sub without breaking a hole in your pocket? We at Sound Fusion proudly present you Rythmik Audio Sub - articulate bass for the the discerning audiophile.

Model: F12 - Fits in most rooms and provide clean bass.

Model: F15 - When Power & Bass Acurracy is your concern.

Model: S15SE - For music lovers who likes something stylist and classy.

Model: FV15HP - For serious movie loves who really need to shake their walls.

For all other models, please refer to : http://www.rythmikaudio.com/

Ordering info: Please contact +6 017 8089020 (Mr. Tan) or email us at soundfusion.com.my@gmail.com

Latest Proac Response D38

Finally, my long awaited Proac Response D38 has arrived. I have chosen the Ebony finish for better contrast and texture (but have to pay a few more K).

However, the only amplifier that can drive the Proac Response D38 is my Denon POA power amplifier (can support down to 4Ohms). The pre-amp is my Denon AVC-A1HDA connected to Denon POA via Van Den Hul D102 MK III interconnect (made in EU). Power cords are top of the line from Van Den Hul, the mainstream terminated with wattgate IEC plugs. Look how tiny Proac Studio 140 MKII stands next to the Proac Response D38!! Proac D38 weighs a massive 40 over KGs each!!

Connection from the Denon POA to Proac response D38 is a pair of Van Den Hul MC Magnum Hybrid speaker cables (terminated with WBT banana plugs) for the lower end. Higher end is connected using Van Den Hul CS122 Hybrid speaker cable (terminated with QED banana plugs).

Noticed from the previous post, everything now sits on a new hifi rack. It's a custom made rack with multi-layers plywood being laminated with precision. I have chosen not to laminate the surface for a more natural look and feel.

The center speaker is Proac Response D Center, weighing a massive 25KG; a lot heavier than the Proac Studio 140 MKII floor stand speaker. Finishing is Ebony that matches well with the pair of Proac reponse D38.

Currently, I'm using the Proac response D38 and Proac response D center for both movie and music. Will bring in a higher end 2 channels system in later stage. All Proac response D series speakers are connected to the Denon POA power amp. Feeding the media and music to Denon AVC-A1HDA via Van Den Hul Orchid interconnect is the Oppo-BDP83 Special Edition that comes with 8 pieces of Sabre DAC.

Notice that is a set of Naim setup on the left. From top to bottom is Naim DAC, Naim XS intergrated Amplifier, Naim Flatcap power supply. While still waiting to restock my Naim CD XS, I am currently using Marantz KI Pearl SA CD Player as the transport feed via Van Den Hul digiCoupler 75ohm digital cable to the 4th connection on the Naim DAC. While Oppo is also connected via optical cable to Naim DAC on the 3rd input. So we can choose to listen on the following two setups:

1) Oppo BDP83SE -> VDH Orchid -> AVC-A1HDA-> POA -> Proac Response D38

2) Oppo BDP83SE -> VDH Digicoupler -> Naim DAC -> Van Den Hul D102 MKIII -> AVC-A1HDA -> POA -> Proac Response D38.

The backend filter is PS Audio Quintet (Still waiting for the release of PS Audio 5000 series power condition for the 220-240v market)

More acoustic treatment being applied to trap the bass at both upper corners. On the middle section, small pyramid has been used. Since my last post, I've treated the inner part of the ceiling with fiber glue to solve the internal rattering issue that I was facing all the while. It has since reduce the rattering sound down to 99.99% (quite happy with it).

I am confident this room can handle bigger speakers like the Proac Response D80 series with a powerful amplifier.

Another viewing angle of the new setup.

For Audition, please drop by Sound Fusion @ Level 1 Crown Square, Kuching, Sarawak. Malaysia or call +6 082 338020 / +6 017 808 9020. Email: soundfusion.com.my@gmail.com

Bring your collection of CDs and Blurays for testing if you want.

Plex - on the new Apple TV??

Just saw this from Engadget - wow, if this will work, that's going to be really interesting. Right off the bat, you've just beat Boxee by $150. I've played with the new ATV, and the unit is SO small, so simple - anyway - check out the post directly here, or ready below:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/04/plex-arrives-on-jailbroken-apple-tvs-video/

Software, HD Set Tops

Plex arrives on jailbroken Apple TVs (video)

By Thomas Ricker posted Nov 4th 2010 5:32AM

Boxee might get all the attention but Plex is without a doubt one of our favorite Mac media center apps. So it's with wide-eyed interest that we tell you about the Plex client making its first tentative steps onto the second generation Apple TV platform. Naturally, Cupertino's not behind the initiative to replace Apple's own "Lowtide" 10-foot user interface -- this work is being done by the Apple TV jailbreak community. The ATV2 build is still just a proof of concept so it's buggy and limited to video playback (no music, images, or app management) for now. But hey, it's another iOS app for ATV2 and it does work as evidenced by the video after the break. Man, we're getting all tingly at the thought of scattering a few $99 boxes around the house to serve up the wide variety of codecs supported by Plex in addition to Apple's more limited AirPlay.

Metadata and Plex update

From the Plex Blog here

Plex » Metadata Update

So what exactly is metadata? Defined on Wikipedia as “data about data”, it turns our collection of media from a drab list of files into an interlinked web of facts and pictures, and imbues each item with a rich set of properties. Your files might have structure, but painting them with metadata converts that simple collection into a multi-dimensional universe of relationships. You can now set about answering complex questions like “Do I have any romantic comedies from the 1990′s that I haven’t watched in at least a year, starring Julia Roberts, and not featuring Whoopi Goldberg?”

Everyone loves metadata, and we didn’t anticipate the extreme load the Plex/Nine release would put on a number of sites when we launched. Tens of thousands of early downloaders, eagerly rescanning their huge personal media collections, contributed to massive amounts of traffic to multiple sites.

As a result, we’ve had to spend quite a bit of time since the release focusing on stabilizing our sources of metadata, optimizing the metadata agents (the bits of code that go out and get your metadata), and adding infrastructure to support all of our new users. Here’s a summary of what we’ve done:

• We’ve brought up a massively powerful machine to serve as our TheTVDB proxy cache. All requests to TheTVDB go through this machine, and it serves over 99% of all bytes out of its cache, which means we’ve reduced the data load on the parent site by a factor of 100x. At peak, we were serving over 500 requests/second, and sending out 320Mbps. Darrin, one of our super-talented Plex engineers, worked literally day and night to get this running after the release, and we also appreciate the help and support from the TVDB guys!
• For movies, we’ve moved to using data that is accessible with an API or through structured data dumps. Specifically, we’re using metadata from Freebase, Wikipedia, and TheMovieDB (as well as a few others for extra artwork, such as MoviePosterDB). This ensures the best availability and stability of the data.

If you’re not familiar with Freebase, you should check them out. It’s one of the few sites in recent memory that’s totally blown me away. The people who designed it are very, very smart people and the amount of data available is unbelievable. If you check out the page for the movie 300, you’ll see it links to 33 reviews of the movie, 6 other sites (such as Rotten Tomatoes), and then has a veritable cornucopia of data including cast, genres, subjects, filming locations, award lists, and more. All of that data is available via a sophisticated API, or via weekly database dumps.

We’ve processed the most recent Freebase data dump into a form that’s most suitable for our agent to consume. Additionally, we’ve enhanced the Wikipedia agent to support multiple different languages for the summaries. Finally, much more data from TheMovieDB is being pulled in by that agent.

In summary, massive amounts of data, all structured (no more “scraping” sites that can change at a moment’s notice), and all completely up to you as to how you use them. Like TheMovieDB summaries? Drag it to the top of the list of agents. Prefer your summaries in Swedish? Make sure Wikipedia is above TheMovieDB, so its internationalized summaries will take precedence. Have two French movies for your mother-in-law? You can manually set the language preference to French for just those two movies, and she’ll offer to babysit her grandkids while happily reading the summaries in French.

These agent changes have been pushed, and you will have them within the hour, unless you check sooner with Plex Online > More > Check for Updates.

Get your settings exactly how you like them, shift-click the refresh button to get new metadata for all your movies, and then sit back and watch the metadata flow in. (N.B. At this point in time, poster/art selections are “sticky” so once set, it won’t change unless you rescan a section from scratch).

Here’s a summary of what the different movie agents now provide, so as to allow you to prioritize them accordingly, through the settings option shown below:

• Freebase: Genres, content ratings, studio, directors, writers, actors, tag-lines.
• Wikipedia: Multi-language summaries, directors, writers, actors, studio.
• TheMovieDB: Summaries (more plot oriented), content ratings, directors, writers, actors, studio, tag-lines.
• MoviePosterDB: Lots of movie posters, at lower resolution than TheMovieDB.

So as an example, if you hate the Wikipedia summaries, and prefer English plot summaries, drag TheMovieDB above Wikipedia. If you leave Wikipedia enabled, summaries that aren’t found from TheMovieDB will be filled in by Wikipedia.

If you want your summaries in Swedish, you’ll need to enable Wikipedia and have it higher in the list than TheMovieDB. Note that currently, in order to change languages, you’ll need to create a new section with the new language setting. Alternatively you can “fix match” on an individual item and manually set the language.

Lots of you have asked: How can we help? Luckily this is quite easy; let’s say you have a movie that’s missing data, or has incorrect data. You can head to one of those sites above and add the missing data, and then everyone in the community will benefit, including users of other apps that access those sites. This really is a case where each one of you has the power to help hundreds of thousands of other people!

The most immediate “turnaround” from this data would be through TheMovieDB, which we access through a well-designed API. We cache requests for 4 hours, so if you add data, you will not see the new data for at most this amount of time. (Note that we are also working to improve TheTVDB refresh times, which are now between 24-48 hours.)

Also, if you’re a developer, please check out our repository for agents. They are easy and fun to write, and we’re really looking forward to seeing the creative things you come up with. Oncleben31 has already written an agent for Allociné for French users, and the ever talented Sander wrote one for MovieMeter, for our Dutch users.

In the near future, we’ll allow you to fully customize any of the data for your media and lock it in place, so that it won’t be overwritten by new data from the Internet. So, for example, you can lock all your titles and summaries, but let the ratings and genres continue to expand and improve over time.

Your media has a bright future inside Plex, and metadata is the key.

WOW - Plex is going to be embedded into 2011 LG TVs!

I'm at a loss - this is just beyond impressive, and came out of nowhere:

Plex and the Future of Television

September 02nd, 2010 | Category: Status,Wow | Author: elan

3diggsdigg

This week has been a big one for TV-related announcements. Apple annouced their revamped Apple TV, and Boxee was quick to reply with their own thoughts on the matter. It turns out that now is the perfect time for us to explain our vision for the future of Plex and television as well.

Today, Plex requires that you have a Mac connected to your TV. As sexy as they are, a Mac Mini is $699. And let’s face it, you probably have a few televisions, so it becomes an expensive proposition to Plex-ify your house, especially now that you can stream your library all over with Plex/Nine. Of course, on the flip side, a Mac Mini is a powerful computer that can be used for other meaningful tasks like 3D modeling, genome sequencing, or World of Warcraft.

Another approach is something like the Boxee Box. It’s $199, which is much better, but still prohibitive for many, and it’s completely specialized. No way you could send your kid off to college with a Boxee Box, although you have to admit, it would probably help his or her social life. Additionally, releasing a custom piece of hardware is not a trivial endeavor, if we even wanted to attempt such a thing. Embedded systems are hard, and the XBMC codebase from which Plex and Boxee are both derived is a large and complex one. And really, at the end of the day, do you want yet another specialized box sitting by your TV?

Even if you get the design right, you have to be able to price it appropriately. With not outrageously different hardware from Boxee, the new Apple TV is half the price. Apple also has a two-fold advantage over Boxee: They are going to be selling their Apple TV in much higher volume (which means lower cost to produce), and – critically – they can subsidize the cost of the device because they make money every time you put your arm around your date and click “Watch” on a movie. Also, let’s face it, it’s a typical Apple product: it works perfectly as long as you don’t stray outside their ecosystem. Your files have to be in their limited range of supported formats, and you only get access to the online content they sanction. It’s not an open platform in any sense of the word, and trust me, I was the first person hoping to be able to run our Plex iOS app on it.

The optimal solution, of course, would be a box that was free, infinitely small, and required no cables. Well, we’re extremely proud to be able to introduce to you, for the first time, the Plex Box, with exactly those characteristics.

How is this possible? Well, we actually have one more “one more thing” to announce: We’re working with LG Electronics (the second largest TV manufacturer in the world) to integrate the Plex platform into their 2011 lineup of Netcast™ connected TVs and Blu-ray devices. So early next year, when you buy an LG Netcast™ TV or Blu-ray player, you will have Plex functionality built-in. Specifically, it will connect to a cloud version of the Plex platform for online content, and, if you happen to have a Plex Media Server running anywhere in your house (after all, who doesn’t have a computer in their house?), you can access your local and online content, in a rich interface, with full metadata. I’ve seen it, and it looks awesome.

I’ve been talking a lot about the importance of getting the architecture right for our platform, and this is a perfect example. Thin clients (LG TV, iOS devices), a smart media server, and plug-ins that can run in the cloud. A single integrated interface to access online content, local content, and personal content.

I can’t even begin to tell you how exciting this is to us. LG chose our platform in no small part because it is OPEN, and that is what makes it special. We have developers all over the world creating plug-ins, helping us evolve the platform, and using it creatively. We wouldn’t be here without them, and it’s been an absolute pleasure working with them over the years. I also have enormous respect for LG, who have great products, massively talented engineering, and forward-thinking management. I’ve been to Korea twice in the last year, and their engineers are super-smart, highly knowledgable, and a delight to work with. They “get” where TV is going, and I have to make a confession – the first time I saw their Plex interface, talking to a remote Plex Media Server and flawlessly streaming content, I had to pretend I had something in my eye. This is a team completely committed to revolutionizing the way we enjoy content, and clearly willing to take chances in doing so, as evidenced by working with a small team like ours.

This is also a massive win for content providers. Yesterday, writing a Plex plug-in would make their content available on a Mac, or a television powered by a Mac. Yesterday, they could suddenly make their content available on 100 million iOS devices. And tomorrow (early next year, technically), they will be able to get their content onto millions of LG TVs and Blu-ray devices. This, friends, is an unprecedented time in history. The distance between content provider and consumer has never been this close or frictionless, and it’s incredible to be a part of.

So what does this mean to you, our dear users? You’ve been so supportive over the years, and this is great news for you as well. It means, first and foremost, that we’ll be able to focus more resources on the development. This will be a full-time job for me and others on the team, which is – honestly – a dream come true. The Plex Media Server is the heart and lungs of the platform, and we’ll be making it rock solid and adding some really, really cool new features. We’ll be bringing it to more platforms, to make it available everywhere. There will be more content providers investing in writing Plex plug-ins, so your online content choices will grow. And next year, if you’re upgrading your TV, or or buying an LG Blu-ray player, you’ll have the ability to get Plex, built in, at no additional cost. Fully integrated into killer consumer electronics gear, exactly as it should be.

And *that* is cool.

It’s been a long journey this past year. Now you finally know all of the cool stuff we’ve been working on, and it’s so great to be able to share it with you. We’ve re-architected our platform for the future, and thankfully, most of that work is behind us. Now we can focus on making Plex more stable, more usable, and overall more AWESOME.