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[kensn]

So I have a playlist that has music and music videos. Some of the music is 5.1, some stereo. Some of the music videos are 5.1, some stereo.

It seems I can't add this playlist and have it play switching between my 5.1 zone and Stereo zone automatically.

In fact if the first item is a 5.1 file, followed by a stereo file, just the first 5.1 file gets added to the 5.1 zone and the following files are not even listed anywhere. Same if there are stereo files followed by a 5.1 file, all the stereo files get added but stop at the first 5.1 file and nothing else is added.

Thoughts??

Ken

[kensn]

Would just like to know if it is my configuration, or a limitation of the software....

[mojave]

JRiver can't currently switch zones with one playlist.

Are you using different settings or outputs for stereo vs 5.1? Is it possible for you to create 1 zone that handles both properly?

[kensn]

Yes I have a Stereo zone and a 5.1 zone.

Yes I could set up a single zone using "Source # of Channels" but I thought there was a reason for me to create both zones, escapes me at the moment.

It is just this seemed to be an elementary item to have work with Zone Switching, load a playlist and the Zones switch based on the rules.

Thanks for the confirmation of functionality Mojave....

appreciate it!!

Ken

[mojave]

You have to remember that zones can also be different physical locations (living room, kitchen, deck, etc.). The current design sends the entire playlist to a zone. This allows the living room and kitchen to each be playing separate playlists.

They probably need to add another hierarchy of zones to make zone switching work even better. This would send the playlist to the master level for that zone, but allow each track to go to its individual zone. For example

• Living Room
     - Stereo
     - 5.1 Movies
     - 5.1 Music
• Kitchen
• Deck

You can set channels to 5.1 and turn JRSS mixing off. Stereo and 5.1 will both work normally. You can also turn JRSS mixing on and select "For Stereo sources only mix to 2.1" and then set the Subwoofer to "Silent." This will also leave stereo sources as is.

I have the following zones:  Music, DVD, TV, Movies (other than DVD), Concert Videos. However, I never mix my content for a playlist so I don't have any problems. 

[kensn]

Yea .. I have a Patio Zone using the analog outs of the onboard sound going to my reciever powering speakers on the patio with it's zone 2. Love that about MC..

After thinking about it, for at least a couple of minutes, the extra level of hierarchy seems like an excelent way to achive this. I like to think of it as Areas with Zones.

Ken

[HiFiTubes]

Discussed a bit here. I think ZoneSwitch can be further enhanced to help out sending different file types/deia types to different zones, and killing playback on other zone(s). Not just functional, but some interesting use cases could arise.

Thinking out loud, it's Halloween, would be neat if you had a couple different outside zones, zones through the house, and could send scary sounds on one single playlist bouncing around zones as kids walked through...

Since you can set criteria just based on library metadata it should work (i think!  )

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=82074.msg579076#msg579076

[kensn]

Yes, I hope ZoneSwitch is a feature that will get to mature a bit. It seems that it could be very powerful taken to the next level.

Ken

[csimon]

I agree, Zones and Zone Switch have a great deal of potential, they're already probably way above what any other comparable media software would have.

It's already been identified above that Zones are in fact structured and they fall into a hierarchy - physical locations (which can be rooms, or PCs) and sets of audio settings within the location.

I think Zone Linking should also be structured so that you can link together any number of "leaf level" zones in any combination and multiple times.  These "Zones" should be exposed as destinations to play to along with the original zones.  In other words, we actually have 3 different levels in this hierachy, all called Zones as it stands at the moment!  Taking mojave's example structure and expanding on it:

    Living Room
       - Stereo
       - 5.1 Movies
       - 5.1 Music
    Kitchen
    Deck
    Bedroom 1
    Bedroom 2
    Bathroom
Downstairs = Living Room/Stereo + Kitchen
Upstairs = Bedroom 1 + Bedroom 2 + Bathroom
Bedrooms = Bedroom 1 + Bedroom 2
Whole House = Living Room/Stereo + Kitchen + Bedroom 1 + Bedroom 2 + Bathroom

In the Playing Now list, you would see the following as destinations:

Living Room/Stereo
Living Room/5.1 Movies
Living Room/5.1 Music
Kitchen/2-channel
Deck/2-channel
Bedroom 1/2-channel
Bedroom 2/2-channel
Bathroom/2-channel
Downstairs
Upstairs
Bedrooms
Whole House

If you want to add or remove a zone from a "grouped zone" while playing, it creates a temporary copy of the grouped zone that you can either save permanently under a new name or replace the original zone with. So the zone linking function as we know it would no longer exist and would be replaced with a Create and Edit Group facility.

Naming conventions for these three levels?  Well...

1. Zone Group
2. Zone
3. Audio Settings

or

1. Zone
2. Location
3. Output

...

However, I can imagine that sync delay between these would be a pain to sort out...