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[Deanovc]

Hi everyone,

I've spent some time now investigating a possible multi-room system and have succeeded in learning quite a bit an confusing myself about ten times more.

First, some background. I live in London and have just moved into a new flat. The flat is a bit basic at the moment and is going to be redecorated so I felt now would be the best time to invest in a multi-room system.

Essentially, I am looking to put together a multi-zone system. In decending order of desirability I'd like to:

1. Distribute TV, DVD, Radio and Music from a central hard drive/server to 4 or 5 zones. I'd like this to be multiple tracks/channels to multiple zones (ie in layman's terms, have different songs playing simultaneously in different rooms).

2. As 1, but single Video/DVD and multiple music

3. Multiple music only from a central hard drive to multiple zones.

I have a cellar which runs under the entire house so I am indifferent between a wired and wireless solution. I'm quite happy to pull wires around the house.

I'd also like to run the whole thing from a single interface (probably a Net Remote enabled PDA, possibly also using Girder and ADI Ocelot type device)

At the moment I'm thinking about using a central server but I'm struggling to understand what hardware or software I need to actually get the music/video from the server/Hi Fi Separate to each individual zone. I have seen a wireless box which seems to do what I want but I have no idea whether it will actually work, I have read postings suggesting that wireless networks can't handle the bandwith

http://www.dlink.co.uk/?go=jN7uAYLx/oIJaWVUDLYZU93ygJVYKOhST9vhLPG3yV3oUop6jqltbNlwaaRp5jUtAmu5j3cf/YELBtf32aPpLk8TuOjebA==

Furthermore, I'm a bit confused as to whether MC 11 will allow me to:

a) Stream single or multiple video
b) Send two tracks to two places at once.

I've also looked at products like Sonos and the Bose and Yamaha multi room systems and they seem to be a bit too integrated to allow future add-ons as the technology improves.

I'd be really grateful if someone could answer my questions above and maybe suggest a solution which would get me where I want to be

[br1dge]

I can confirm that MC11 WILL send differewnt music to each Zone you have setup. I added a 2nd sound card last night to my PC and it works very well.  What I see missing in your setup is allowing each zone to have control to change music, rather than doint it all from a "master" PC.  Maybe some others wil have some more ideas,  best of luck.

[Mastiff]

You fail to mention the biggest problem about those proprietary systems: Price! Anyway, you might want to look at my website, even though it needs an update for the last half year (summer ain't when I do most of my website work). Oh, and I would run cable to receivers, perferably with digital inputs, so you can send a digital signal. That will eliminate loss of audio quality on the way.

[DavidL]

Denovc,
Check into MainLobby suite
www.cinemaronline.com
Integrated with Media Center for music and a few software DVDplayers for movies.  Tied together with excellent user configurable interfaces.

[Bill Kearney]

MC11 can send audio to a number of zones.  All you need is to add another soundcard device and MC11 will use it.  I've got three USB soundcards and a USB FM tranmitter on mine along with the motherboard audio, for a total of 5 zones.  MC provides a playlist for each of them and they operate independently.   I feed two of them into a whole house distribution system (a russound cav66).  I went with this to get everything integrated in one system.  By the time you add together multiple amplifers and IR networking it's a huge pain in the ass to do it any other way.  The costs are about the same but the hassles are a LOT MORE when you try cobbling up something indivdually.  Trust me, I tried.

The one thing to watch out for with digital zones is sync.  It's nearly impossible to syncronize multiple digital zones all from one track.  As in playing the same MP3 theough different soundcard zones that have overlap (like a living room/dining room). This is also why I went with analog audio distribution as the adjacent rooms are then listening to the same source. 

[avpman]

MC11 can send audio to a number of zones.  All you need is to add another soundcard device and MC11 will use it.  I've got three USB soundcards and a USB FM tranmitter on mine along with the motherboard audio, for a total of 5 zones.  MC provides a playlist for each of them and they operate independently.   I feed two of them into a whole house distribution system (a russound cav66).  I went with this to get everything integrated in one system.  By the time you add together multiple amplifers and IR networking it's a huge pain in the ass to do it any other way.  The costs are about the same but the hassles are a LOT MORE when you try cobbling up something indivdually.  Trust me, I tried.

The one thing to watch out for with digital zones is sync.  It's nearly impossible to syncronize multiple digital zones all from one track.  As in playing the same MP3 theough different soundcard zones that have overlap (like a living room/dining room). This is also why I went with analog audio distribution as the adjacent rooms are then listening to the same source. 

Bill,
I've got the same situation. Digital audio to the main room and using the analog out to the whole house distribution system. I'm using an M-Audio 192 card. But I still have the problem with not being able to sync both zones. How did you solve that?

[Bill Kearney]

I've got the same situation. Digital audio to the main room and using the analog out to the whole house distribution system. I'm using an M-Audio 192 card. But I still have the problem with not being able to sync both zones. How did you solve that?

I did not solve it.  It's nearly impossible to get most PC audio devices in sync.  The devices themselves aren't really geared for it.  That and unless it's a genuine real-time operating system most OSes aren't either (window, linux or whatever).  As a result I never use digital output zones and expect them to EVER be in sync.  Anytime I need to share the same audio channel in more than one location I have them all use the same source.  I'm sure there's a number of ways to get closer to eliminating the sync problems but throwing more CPU or $$$ in soundcards just isn't worth the bother for me.