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[Abbra Cadabra]

Whenever I connect a bluetooth device or plug in my headphones, MC automatically begins playback of the Playing Now files . . . . even if MC is closed.

How do I stop this from happening?
I cannot find any setting related to this function.

Help, please.

[Abbra Cadabra]

bump for assistance, please

[JimH]

What OS?  That may be a setting for Bluetooth.

[Abbra Cadabra]

Win10 x64

I will check the OS Bluetooth settings, but is there anything in MC related to this action, maybe hidden under remotes? 
I found nothing that seemed related.


Nope, I didn't see any OS settings for this.

[RoderickGI]

If you open MC, press stop (for all Zones if you have more than one zone - check each Zone), then connect the speakers or headphones, does it still happen?

[Abbra Cadabra]

Hi Roderick,
Thank for the suggestion. Unfortunately this did not solve my problem.

I really hate to have to clear the Playing Now queue in order to avoid this issue as I often continue where I left off.

[RD James]

I found that using an audio-only transmitter worked far better for me than a direct connection when trying to get Bluetooth audio from a PC.
There are just too many issues like the one you ran into, or things like playback breaking if the signal disconnects briefly - since Windows removes the playback device.
By decoupling it from the PC, and only treating it as an audio source, you avoid all of these problems; but you do lose control via the device.
 
I use an Avantree Oasis Plus with my PC, since it can transmit and pass-through audio simultaneously.
This allows me to transmit audio to two Bluetooth devices, while also sending audio to my DAC (via toslink).
That way I don't have to touch the transmitter at all, I only switch on the device I want to listen to.
The Oasis Plus is expensive though, at $70 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BQYYDNJ/

They have other products which are less expensive though, if you don't need the simultaneous transmit & passthrough functionality:
$30 USB Bluetooth 4.1 transmitter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q3CBZZJ/
$40 USB Bluetooth 5.0 transmitter with antenna: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W5DDZQN/
$50 Optical/Analog Bluetooth 5.0 dual-device transmitter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WW3ZHTQ/
 
I have no affiliation with Avantree, I just have a few of their products after trying many of the others for sale on Amazon.
The Avantree transmitters/receivers are the only ones which worked consistently well for me.
 
 
One thing I will caution you about though: this type of transmitter is aggressive with its connection.
As soon as they are switched on, it's all my headphones will connect to. I have it hooked up to a smart plug so that I can switch it on/off via Alexa voice commands.
It may partly be due to my Bose headphones supporting multiple connections though. If I switch connection on the headphones, it always pairs to Avantree+Phone, or Avantree+Tablet etc, and the Avantree transmitter takes priority. It doesn't want to switch to Phone+Tablet if the Avantree transmitter is on.
But that happens with all of these devices, not just the Avantree one. I tested five others over the holidays, as I only needed a short-range aptX-LL receiver and wanted to save some money, but ended up keeping the $50 Avantree TC419 because it's the only one which did the job correctly. All of them had that problem in TX mode.

[RoderickGI]

I really hate to have to clear the Playing Now queue in order to avoid this issue as I often continue where I left off.

I wasn't suggesting that you clear Playing Now. Just stop playback in those Zones before you connect your Bluetooth device or headphones. I wanted to confirm that MC hadn't simply been playing all the time, without connected audio devices, so when you connected them MC didn't start playing, but it was just that you could hear the music again. It is even possible that MC would pause playback when the audio device disappears, and restart it when it reappears, though usually MC detects a problem with playback and stops. It may behave differently with your audio devices, or the way you have your audio environment set up.

If you have the General setting "Minimise to system tray" checked, and minimise rather than close MC, MC will continue to play what you have told it to play. Hence, it would look like MC started playback when you connected the Bluetooth device or headphones even when it was "closed"... because it wasn't actually closed. Just running minimised.

I used to think that if you have the Media Server starting with the Windows, then you close the User Interface while music is playing, MC would continue to play what you have told it to play. But that doesn't seem to happen any more, if it ever did. I actually think it should...

I've never seen any MC setting that would say "start playing when an audio device is connected". However, there is a Startup setting that says "Start playing current playlist", so if you are closing MC in a state where it has a full Playing Now, and then start MC again, MC will start playing what is in Playing Now.

Of course, there is also a General setting to "Start playing when files added to Playing Now", so if you opened MC and added a new Track/Album/etc. to Playing Now, MC is going to start Playing. If you did that and then connected your Bluetooth device or headphones, MC would already be playing, and it would look like MC had started playing when you connected the audio device.

I think you need to clarify exactly what is happening, and that it isn't one of the above scenarios. If it isn't, Windows (unlikely), or drivers for your audio device, or Bluetooth, or something else is initiating playback. I guess if something had access to the "Play" media key, and MC was open or running as the Media Server, then other software/drivers/hardware could initiate playback in MC.

Over to you.

[Abbra Cadabra]

Yesterday my laptop was connected by bluetooth to my stereo, today when I woke my laptop and switched to the onboard sound MC immediately opened and started to play what was left over in the Playing Now queue, even though I had pressed STOP play yesterday before closing MC.

So whenever the computer presents a new sound output device, MC automatically begins playback through that newly connected device. I do not know how to explain it more clearly or what else to include.

I do not minimize to the system tray, but instead close MC when not in use.
Also, I do not have any file types associated with MC, nor is MC set as the default player.

"Start playing current playlist" is UN-checked in the options.

So far the only way I have found to prevent this is to clear the Playing Now queue before closing MC, which is undesirable as I wish to continue playing the same queue next time.

[RoderickGI]

Well, MC isn't doing this, at least directly. Something external is initiating playback. It actually sounds like your keyboard Play/Pause key is stuck on, which if Media Server was running, and with a couple of other settings, would start playback when you woke the laptop. Stuck keys aren't as uncommon as you would think: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,123672.msg856465.html#msg856465

MC will switch to an available output device when the currently selected device isn't available. So it is no surprise that it played to the onboard sound when the Bluetooth connection to your stereo wasn't available, even if that was the last selected output device. (BTW, Bluetooth is not exactly a high quality connection method. But that is a separate issue.)

So try this:

"Options > General > Advanced > Media Key Mode", set that to "Disabled" and test.


You didn't confirm if you run Media Server with Windows startup. If Media Server is started with Windows, and so is running when you wake the laptop, and you want the Media Keys to work when MC is running normally, try this:

"Options > General > Advanced > Translate hot keys when running Media Server", uncheck that.


Of course, if Media Server is being started with Windows, but you don't actually need it, then you could just change that setting and restart the laptop to test.

"Options > Startup > Windows Startup > Run on Windows Startup" set to "Nothing" for testing. If you set it to anything else the problem will occur, if the Play Media Key is stuck, but at least you could start to isolate the issue, and it would only start playback when you start MC. Sort of what you want, by the sound of it.

[Abbra Cadabra]

Hi Roderick,

OK I looked at your suggestions,began to test and found that setting:
"Options > Startup > Windows Startup > Run on Windows Startup" set to "Nothing" as suggested did the trick, which is the solution for my laptop.

Unfortunately, while I can live without the Media Server on my Laptop, I use the Media Server on my Desktop at times so I desire to "Run Media Server at Windows Startup".  This is not as much of an issue for me as it has been on my laptop due to how I use each machine, but still an undesirable side-effect.

I can live with this as is now if necessary.

Again,thanks for all your help.   

[Abbra Cadabra]

Setting Media Server not to run on startup cured the 'AutoPlay' issue, BUT . . .

Now I must manually start it if I wish to use JRemote or Gizmo.

Is there any way to set: Start Media Server upon Media Center start?

[RoderickGI]

Is there any way to set: Start Media Server upon Media Center start?

Well, there is a Command-Line parameter for MC, /MediaServer, which will just start it in Media Server mode. You could copy the shortcut icon you use to start MC and add that parameter. Then JRemote and Gizmo will be able to connect to the MC Server, and the MC User Interface will launch if you play something on the Server. Whether that is useful depends on your User Case.
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/The_Command_Line

But the real issue is what is causing the autoplay problem in the first place. Something is sending the Play command to MC. It isn't MC starting playback by itself.

[Abbra Cadabra]

I decided to test this on my Desktop to see if I could separate machine issues from MC issues . . . . the 'autoplay problem' does not occur on the desktop machine.

OK, back to the laptop, try starting Media Server to further test and oddly enough the behavior can no longer be reproduced. Now even with Media Server set to run on Start-up the issue is no longer there.

I am completely baffled, but pleased that the Gremlins have left . . . . hopefully for good.

Now even with Media Server set to run on Start-up the issue is no longer there.

[RoderickGI]

Very weird, particularly if the problem continued after a cold reboot of the laptop. I didn't suggest that you did that, but I did assume you had. If not, maybe the Media Server was a bit glitched and stuck in Play mode.

If it recurs, try a cold reboot of the laptop.

[Abbra Cadabra]

If it recurs, try a cold reboot of the laptop.

Yes you assumed correctly, I had rebooted during this problem which make this more confusing.

Anyway, hopefully this is over and done.
I appreciate your efforts and apologize that it turned into a wild goose chase.
Thank you.