Media Pro ongoing stability issues -- will it ever be fixed?
I have been a Media Pro user for several years. It has always been excellent in terms of interface and functionality but very frustrating to use due to flakiness, bugginess and random instability. I was disappointed that Microsoft did not improve this and, having purchased the Phase One upgrade, have been disappointed yet again. There has been no improvement.
Specifically, Media Pro has long been plagued random freezes accompanied by a “Not Responding†message which lasts for an indeterminate amount of time and may or may not resolve itself.
I would like to recommend Media Pro to my customers but am not prepared to receive their inevitable unhappy phone calls. I have been participating in an online discussion with other DAM users looking for a good, reliable DAM and, while Media Pro meets most requirements, it seems that everyone is looking elsewhere due to ongoing reliability issues. You may want to look at what your users are saying: .
When can we expect reliability and stability issues in Media Pro to be fixed to bring it up to Phase One standards?
Specifically, Media Pro has long been plagued random freezes accompanied by a “Not Responding†message which lasts for an indeterminate amount of time and may or may not resolve itself.
I would like to recommend Media Pro to my customers but am not prepared to receive their inevitable unhappy phone calls. I have been participating in an online discussion with other DAM users looking for a good, reliable DAM and, while Media Pro meets most requirements, it seems that everyone is looking elsewhere due to ongoing reliability issues. You may want to look at what your users are saying: .
When can we expect reliability and stability issues in Media Pro to be fixed to bring it up to Phase One standards?
0
-
[quote="NN635121724208249908UL" wrote:
I have been a Media Pro user for several years. ....
....
As have I[quote="NN635121724208249908UL" wrote:
Specifically, Media Pro has long been plagued random freezes accompanied by a “Not Responding†message which lasts for an indeterminate amount of time and may or may not resolve itself.
This is where I preach patience. Most of my "not responding" come back, but I have to be very careful not to try to do anything else during these times, or I almost always get a lock up. So - hands off the keyboard.
On Windows, I usually monitor the ongoing action with the Task Manager.
My most efficient workflow seems to be one where I have two data bases - one small one with current photos (2014 photos) which I use to communicate with CO for processing in a session. The other larger and slower to save DB is my "all photos".[quote="NN635121724208249908UL" wrote:
..
When can we expect reliability and stability issues in Media Pro to be fixed to bring it up to Phase One standards?
I doubt never. I think the whole code needs a rewrite. Their effort seems to be into an integrated DB with Capture One - a mistake in my opinion.0 -
Jim, that's an interesting way to deploy Media Pro (large and small catalogs). I'm tempted to give that a go.
Due to MP's instability, I've been pulling my hair out looking for an efficient, real world method to catalog. No fault of the software but quite simply, I don't prefer Lightroom for my editing.
As such, I'm poking around the possibility of using LR for cataloging only but I'm concerned about too many programs messing around in the metadata and IPTC info.
The other option I'm currently working with is Photo Supreme to function as a standalone. So far, it's reasonably helpful and it does a good job of dealing with the fact that I'm working with ARW, NEF, and FFF files. Buying the Hasselblad and resorting to Phocus really threw a wrench in my workflow.
A lot of people have previously recommended "Portfolio" but it seems that they no longer support a standalone variant and the Studio Server is $2G.
I would LOVE to hear what the real-world replacement (software and workflows) for MP are.0 -
[quote="Chawn_Crawley" wrote:
.....
As such, I'm poking around the possibility of using LR for cataloging only but I'm concerned about too many programs messing around in the metadata and IPTC info.
......
I would LOVE to hear what the real-world replacement (software and workflows) for MP are.
I have probably complicated my life, but I also use Lightroom. I am not a pro, so I don't need to be as efficient if I was one.
I have taken to using LR as my main db and for post processing over half my photos, I prefer the way LR imports from my camera, and the ease of culling and rating. I also prefer the ease of flipping back and forth between the library mode and the develop mode. I add the key words in LR, save to a sidecar file, and follow that up with a import by MP into my small catalog. I then post process my best photos (that I want to print or share) in a Capture One session.
I don't find flipping back and forth between the software packages to be cumbersome or time consuming. I have a fast pc, and the software is on a ssd, so all works well.0 -
What I really hope PhaseOne does, and it's not super expensive, is add crash monitoring software to the product.
Then every crash results in a message back to the developers. Trends can be noted.0 -
every crash results in a message back to the developers. Trends can be noted.
Phase one does not like user feedback...0 -
The original iView Media Pro had this facility and I know the development team made use of it, as they fixed a bug I was able to recreate at will from the reports I sent.
As I still use this software - for what I need it's far more reliable than the Phase One version - I occasionally get an offer to send the error report to iView.
Microsoft "removed" this functionality, although anyone running it on Windows would get the option to send the error report to them via the operating system level reporting. So I don't know if they actually removed the functionality from the code or just disabled it.
Of course any errors on Windows with the Phase One version would still get reported to Microsoft if you send the reports. However they would only analyse them to see if the bug had an underlying Windows issue i.e. something they can fix. I don't think Microsoft would forward the reports to Phase One - they have to maintain a list of all software vendors. I guess they might make them "available" but whether Phase One pick them up is another issue. I assume there's an Apple equivalent process for error reporting.
As for Phase One actually doing this suggested change... ...well don't hold your breath!
I got my Phase One version free when they released the first version after buying it from Microsoft. The subsequent versions have all been minor releases so at no charge. This means I've given them £0.00 so far. I've given up hope of a new version, which means Phase One will be getting £0.00 from me in the future. That doesn't sound like a very good business model to me!
Ian0 -
That doesn't sound like a very good business model to me!
If they were only listening...0 -
In general as a new user of Phase One's suite I have to say I'm disappointed. Having used Bridge, LR, PS for quite awhile Capture One and MP's lack of integration plus the overall bugginess is frustrating.
Yes, C1 and MP have some great features (when they work) and has the potential to be a far superior set of applications than Adobe's but it seems like for every advantage there's a bug or quirk which make it unlikely I'll shove all my chips into the Phase One pot.0 -
As a long-time expression media user on mac, (iview before that), I monitor this forum to see if there's reason to upgrade and don't think I see one. So each system upgrade I hold my breath and wait to see if EM continues to work. So far it's fine.
So at heart the code core is mostly good. I for one sure hope someone makes a new code version and actually updates the user interface!
I don't know why this is all so intimidating to software companies, but it seems so. I think back to the complete rewrite of pagemaker to indesign. What a stroke of genius. Surely a good photo database for cataloging can't be that hard! Maybe with the new Apple swift language someone will try.
Peter
My databases are 30-80k variety. And years old.0 -
I don't envy the programmers of such software, I think you underestimate it and that it is in fact very difficult. That's also part of the reason why neither Microsoft, nor PhaseOne were not able to continue the development. Difficult means specialistic resources, means expensive. And revenues of such software is overall declining as many less demanding users move to an all in one solutions like Lightroom. Little revenues, high costs and so not attractive to invest in.
I've never used MediaPro because I moved to IDimager (now Photo Supreme) shortly after the Microsoft purchase. IView was great but I don't have the impression that the product evolved a lot over the years.0 -
+1 on this. I too have found the program to be buggy with frequent crashes. 0 -
I have a different experience with the last version - Phase One Media Pro Version 1.4.2.44 - I had similar problems in the past, but now it is worked very well and I also have much better experience with Phase One support, than before. They helped me in some topics and also solved the former tragicall stability issues, so maybe you could try the last version as well, it works well and equally fast as my former software from iView and Microsoft 😊. It is finally usable! 0 -
Since an article I wrote on my blog is mentioned at the very beginning of this thread (thank you NN635121724208249908UL!) I thought I should mention that I have done an update with more details. I am also in the process of evaluating different alternatives.
You can read the update here:
http://www.bkwinephotography.com/techno ... ystem-dam/0 -
[quote="perkarlsson" wrote:
Since an article I wrote on my blog is mentioned at the very beginning of this thread (thank you NN635121724208249908UL!) I thought I should mention that I have done an update with more details. I am also in the process of evaluating different alternatives.
You can read the update here:
http://www.bkwinephotography.com/techno ... ystem-dam/
Interesting article. I have one quibble. For item #7 (keywords/captions) you say:A note on hierarchical keywords: I do not need the DAM to handle hierarchical keywords. Hierarchical keywords, or a “controlled vocabularyâ€, can be a good tool in some situations to find good keywords. But hierarchical keywords / a controlled vocabulary is too rigid a structure for it to be applicable when keywording images in a DAM.
I think this statement is inaccurate. A controlled vocabulary is not the same as hierarchical keywords. As I understand it, a controlled vocabulary is a managed list (or lists) of regular keywords, whereas (a set of) hierarchical keywords is a specific type of controlled vocabulary that lets you define relationships between keywords. These tools are implemented separately in Expression Media/Media Pro and both are essential to my use of the software (I actually still use Expression Media). I have found hierarchical keywords to be especially useful because of their memorized structure. If you're cataloguing wildlife (named according to a strict scientific/taxonomic structure that can consist of a dozen keywords), hierarchical keywords can save hours of time when applied to future images. These types of features are what make DAM systems so powerful and while you might not use them, they are precisely the types of features I expect from a good DAM.0 -
Syncracy,
I understand your comments very well. I think it is just that the way I work, or my type of work, does not fit it.
I thought your comments were very interesting and valuable to others too so I took the liberty of copying it to the comments section in the blog post I referred to, so that other people can benefit from your views too.
I wrote a longer answer to your views in that comment.
I hope you don't mind.0 -
Interesting indeed. I follow all the dam tools and it will be very interesting how you compare them.
I also have a few notes. Right now I can't reply in detail but some short ones: you have the company as your first criterium. I think this is meaningless. We've seen enough of the big companies dropping their tools without notice. This includes Adobe, Microsoft, Apple (recently), extensis (recently), canto (recently), Corel (recently), and more. Maybe a valid aspect in this area is how long a product is in the market. Anything else is "air".
Also, your criteria are based on existing features here. For example; how you describe the portfolio "categories" is not what I would call virtual galleries, though you could use it for that purpose.
Your ideas about embedding metadata are outdated and more based on the limitations of Portfolio.
Export to CSV etc; your argument is that export and import is a requirement to be "the only way to guarantee independence" is also outdated. How you describe it for Portfolio this does make sense for you to get your data in your new DAM, but once working with other dams you shouldn't need its import. There are more, and more efficient, ways to achieve the same.
Your search requirement is based on portfolio. While I agree with the requirement, I disagree with that outdated dialog to achieve this.
Multiple catalogues and searching over them are a result of the limitations of Portfolio. Is that still 2Gb? Any modern dam can store up to terabytes in a single database. Searching over multiple databases, at least to me, seems like you shouldn't have separated them in the first place. But I do understand that if a dam only supports 2GB databases that this is a requirement.
It's not my intention to criticize your approach, but I want to illustrate that some requirements are not always relevant or my be open for different interpretations. Good luck with your comparisons. And don't forget; the devil is always in the details with these tools and getting to the details takes lots of time. And they change with every update of the software.0 -
[quote="perkarlsson" wrote:
Syncracy,
I understand your comments very well. I think it is just that the way I work, or my type of work, does not fit it.
I thought your comments were very interesting and valuable to others too so I took the liberty of copying it to the comments section in the blog post I referred to, so that other people can benefit from your views too.
I wrote a longer answer to your views in that comment.
I hope you don't mind.
Hi Per, no I don't mind. I wonder if perhaps we are talking about two different concepts. I'm referring to a software tool that allows you to create your own controlled vocabulary (CV) (e.g., Expression Media/Media Pro's Vocabulary Editor. I think you're referring to a "pre-packaged" controlled vocabulary (already pre-selected keywords, which I understand can be too rigid). The Vocabulary Editor contains my CVs. I create my own keyword lists based on my own needs and I can customize them anyway I see fit. Wouldn't you agree the ability to create a custom CV is a useful DAM feature?0 -
Syncarcy, I think you're referring to a "pre-packaged" controlled vocabulary
No, I think we're talking about the same thing. I have tried working with my own home-grown HK too. But it was just too rigid a structure for me. Perhaps I didn't try hard enough or didn't find the "right" way of doing it.
But yes, I absolutely agree with you that "the ability to create a custom CV is a useful DAM feature"!
But to me, at least not today, it is not a critical feature. To others it no doubt is, so I would think it wise for any DAM developer to take that into account.0 -
[quote="HansDeZomers" wrote:
I've never used MediaPro because I moved to IDimager (now Photo Supreme) shortly after the Microsoft purchase. IView was great but I don't have the impression that the product evolved a lot over the years.
Hans, how is your experience with Photo Supreme? What features, if any, do you miss from iView?0 -
Hans,
Thanks for your comments. Much appreciated (and certainly no offense taken).
I lifted them and pasted them with my comments in the comments section of the blog too, since I think they may be relevant to tohers:
http://www.bkwinephotography.com/techno ... omment-670
So, just a summary of my comments that I wrote on the blog here:
Yes, inevitably much of what I say is based on how Portfolio works and how I work with it. I am not a DAM professional, just someone who needs one to do other things.
I don't quite understand why“Export to CSV etc; your argument is that export and import is a requirement to be “the only way to guarantee independence†is also outdated.
It still seems important to me. And I don't see how I can quickly and with modest effort create the info that I need to send to Alamy (as explained in my text)
I certainly agree with your final conclusion.
And would be very, very interested to hear your suggestions or advice for a new DAM to replace my old! 😊
(As mentioned, I have a bit more comments on this in my blog post comment)0 -
[quote="perkarlsson" wrote:
I have tried working with my own home-grown HK too. But it was just too rigid a structure for me. Perhaps I didn't try hard enough or didn't find the "right" way of doing it.
I understand. I should add that I use HK only for biological taxonomies [e.g., Animals > Reptiles > Snakes > Rattlesnakes > Diamondback Rattlesnake]. My sense is that this type of strict hierarchy is useful or appropriate for only very few other keywording applications.0 -
[quote="perkarlsson" wrote:
It still seems important to me. And I don't see how I can quickly and with modest effort create the info that I need to send to Alamy (as explained in my text)
I was't talking about the export to CSV but the import from CSV. Sorry that wasn't clear obvious in my reply. I certainly understand the need for CSV exports.[quote="syncrasy" wrote:
Hans, how is your experience with Photo Supreme? What features, if any, do you miss from iView?
I always loved iView but I abandoned it shortly after it got acquired by Microsoft and the original iView developers left the team. This because I wasn't confident that Microsoft was the type of software publisher who would be able to anticipate to the constantly changing needs of DAM.
You ask about Photo Supreme. I'm using it and I'm very satisfied with it. I don't think its appropriate to go into details on this forum. When you're looking for alternatives for MediaPro then you should consider Photo Supreme one of the options.0 -
[quote="HansDeZomers" wrote:
You ask about Photo Supreme. I'm using it and I'm very satisfied with it. I don't think its appropriate to go into details on this forum. When you're looking for alternatives for MediaPro then you should consider Photo Supreme one of the options.
I understand. I've contacted IDImager support directly to help me learn if Photo Supreme will meet my needs. Perhaps we will meet on the Photo Supreme forum soon.0
Post ist für Kommentare geschlossen.
Kommentare
23 Kommentare