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[wrasche]

I've seen a couple of posts related to this, not clear where it landed.

When playing video, my Windows 10 PC stays awake as long as something is playing. When playing music, the PC goes to sleep and shuts off music. It seems like JRiver should keep the PC awake as long as music is playing.

As a work around, I wrote a C# app to never let my PC sleep while the app is running. It works fine, but it would sure be more convenient if this was a capability integrated into JRiver. (Happy to share this code with the JRiver team if you want it.)

This problem occurs in JRiver Media Center 25.

So, is this considered normal behavior? Is there some configuration option I've missed that already addresses this? Guidance welcome.

[~OHM~]

so this Windows 10 PC   is it a desktop or a laptop?

[wrasche]

Desktop. It's a home theater PC that I built specifically for this purpose. Said differently, if it's wrong it's my fault.

[BigSpider]

Set mine to sleep after 20 minutes, started a 3hr playlist, disabled all input to the computer and after an hour and half the music is still playing and the computer is wide awake.

[RoderickGI]

JRiver MC will keep the PC awake as required. The functionality is built in and has been reliable for a long time.

Check to see if MC thinks it should be keeping the PC awake by going to the top menu, Help > System Info..." and look under the "Power" heading. You can get to the same display via the left Navigation Bar > Services & Plug-ins > Reporter. When you play audio MC will say "Playback (disable automatic sleep)". Stop playback and it will change to "No entries that affect system power state".

However, there has been a recent problem where playback can stop prematurely if you are playing to a DLNA device. EDIT: Or playing a playlist from a remote, apparently. https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,121565.msg841113.html#msg841113 Even partway through a track. If that happened, then your PC may go to sleep, before you notice playback had stopped.

[wrasche]

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately it looks like what I want to do is not something that JRiver Media Center supports. A bit more detail might help.

My home theater PC uses JRiver Media Center 25 for two primary purposes: recording and playback of over-the-air TV, and music playback of a variety of music playlists. When this PC is doing nothing, it's configured to go to sleep to save energy. It automatically wakes up to record scheduled OTA TV shows. That's all good.

The problem I'm seeing occurs while running an audio playlist. Audio from this PC is sent to an external processor via HDMI. After a few minutes, the PC goes to sleep and audio shuts down -- that number of minutes corresponds to the Power Option to turn off the display. That's not so good.

Within JRiver application, there's a setting that keeps the PC awake:

   Tools --> Options --> Audio --> Settings --> Disable display from turning off (useful for HDMI audio)

That option can be selected but it unfortunately keeps the PC awake even when JRiver is idle. I want it to remain awake while running an audio playlist but to sleep when the software isn't doing anything.

Currently I'm using a bit of C# code I wrote that keeps the PC awake until a window is closed. It works but it's not convenient. It would be preferable for JRiver Media Center to monitor when it is sending audio out via HDMI and issue settings to the PC to tell it to not sleep. Once the HDMI channel goes idle, it should go to sleep following the Windows Power Option settings. In theory, it looks like it would be fairly easy to do this within the JRiver application. It's also possible that there's a configuration settings for this already but I haven't found it.

Am I missing something that JRiver Media Center can do? If not, it may be necessary to undertake a somewhat more ambitious bit of code development to better meet my needs.

[wrasche]

BigSpider -- my HTPC is setup to turn off the display after 5 minutes. Running a 3 hour playlist results in... the monitor turning off after 5 minutes. Thoughts? No doubt, I'm doing something different than you are!

[JimH]

Within JRiver application, there's a setting that keeps the PC awake:

   Tools --> Options --> Audio --> Settings --> Disable display from turning off (useful for HDMI audio)

That option can be selected but it unfortunately keeps the PC awake even when JRiver is idle. I want it to remain awake while running an audio playlist but to sleep when the software isn't doing anything.

Are you stopping playback or pausing it?

[wrasche]

I'm not actually doing anything. The PC goes to sleep, audio stops. Is that what you were asking?

[~OHM~]

try a different brand of HDMI cable.....how long is the run of cable your using now....does your amp support the picture going off to pass thru the music

[JimH]

I was responding to the second part of your question.  Try stopping (not pausing) audio with that setting selected.

[wrasche]

The installed cable is Blue Jeans Cable BJC Series-FE. It's 3' long between the PC and processor. I have a Monoprice certified high speed cable that I will try.

I will rerun the configuration test by setting the configuration item, exiting JRiver, and then restarting JRiver. The first test will be to see if running a playlist works beyond the configured sleep time of 5 minutes.  The next test will be to stop JRiver and have it do nothing at all and see if the PC goes to sleep.

[RoderickGI]

Ah, you are using HDMI out.

So the PC isn't actually going to sleep. The monitor is turning off, which shuts down the HDMI port, which stops audio playback. Or maybe you have the PC set to sleep at 5 minutes as well? If so, the monitor is shut down, HDMI is off so playback stops, nothing is playing so PC goes to sleep.

I would have expected the setting you found at Tools --> Options --> Audio --> Settings --> Disable display from turning off (useful for HDMI audio) to take that situation into account. I'm pretty sure when it was created it was so people didn't have to use screensavers instead of shutting down the monitor. Maybe some searching on the forum would find the original discussion.

If the existing functionality doesn't cater to your situation, maybe it could be enhanced to do so. Simple logic: If audio is playing and the output device is HDMI, don't allow the monitor to sleep. That would simply parallel the existing video functionality.

[wrasche]

Mystery solved!

First, I tried another HDMI cable. That had no effect.

Next I again tried the check box to disable display from turning off. Interestingly, I had my power settings configured as: turn off display in 5 minutes, turn off PC in 10 minutes. When I reran the test, everything worked correctly! Pretty sure what happened was when first testing this I expected the PC to go to sleep in 5 minutes, not 10, and I simply didn't wait long enough for the PC to go to sleep, which it did right at the 10 minute mark. So... user error. 

Thanks to everyone here who lent a hand solving this. This is awesome, and no coding was needed!

[JimH]

Thanks for reporting the solution.

[wrasche]

No problem. IMO it serves as useful info for someone else who may trip over this.

Great forum BTW.

[JimH]

Thank you!