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[Clump]

I've searched here, the wiki, etc. and found no reference at all to this.

My system is running Windows x64 Home Premium.  The video card is an ATI Radeon HD5870.  Sound card is Auzentech X-Fi Prelude.  PC speakers are Logitech 5.1 connected via analog.  I'm running HDMI from the video card to a Pioneer TSX-9040 receiver and then HDMI out to an LCD TV.  The TV is setup as an extended desktop secondary monitor.

My default playback device is Speakers on the Auzen X-Fi Prelude.  In MC 15 I have the audio configured as WASAPI on the ATI HDMI Output.  Anything stored locally - music or video plays over HDMI as expected.  Anything streamed - Hulu, Youtube, netflix and system sounds all play through the PC speakers.  If I set HDMI as default it streams there.  I have tried Direct Sound, Wave Out, etc. all of the settings where HDMI is available in MC15 and they all act the same.  I can also confirm this behavior in 15.0.080 and 15.0.087.

Any thoughts on this?  It's a pain (OK a small pain) to have to change the default audio for streaming.

[Matt]

There are two parts to this answer.

If a video is played with our native video engine, you can configure audio routing in Options > Video.  I recommend the video playback device "Same as device used in audio playback".  This will use WASAPI (since you have that configured for audio) and also enables DSPs like Room Correction for your videos.

However, some video playback like Hulu is done with an external engine (web browser, etc.)  In these cases, audio will be routed to the default sound device because it is out of our control.  Windows, by design, does not expose a way to switch the default audio device in code.

[Clump]

Thanks for the quick response.  I don't like it, but thanks.  There are a couple of programs to switch sound devices.  Is there some way to launch 1 within MC, or possibly issue some hotkeys to make the switch? 

[Clump]

System sounds, for example browsing through albums in theater view are also sent to the Windows default audio output.  XBMC is able to route these sounds correctly why can't MC15?  How do we get this fixed?

[Matt]

Hulu and Netflix do not allow native playback in third party playback engines on the PC, so we can not conrol sound routing.  From JRiver's perspective, this is lousy.  But it is out of JRiver's control.

[Clump]

This question concerns system sounds.  It would seem that system sounds, i.e. browsing albums would go to the output selected in media center, however they go to the windows default.  It was also part of my original question that was never addressed.

[Matt]

This question concerns system sounds.  It would seem that system sounds, i.e. browsing albums would go to the output selected in media center, however they go to the windows default.  It was also part of my original question that was never addressed.

Options > Theater View > Play sounds will play sounds as system sounds.  System sounds go to the default sound device.

I agree it might be a neat feature enhancements to play the sounds through the audio output of the current zone, but it's quite complicated when you take into account hardware exclusive outputs like ASIO or WASAPI.  This is the first request we've had for it, and we'll keep it in mind.

In your case, since Hulu and Theater View navigation sounds are important, I think you will need to change the default sound device.  If you Google, there are some scripts that might help.

[rick.ca]

If you Google, there are some scripts that might help.

This is the method I use. Isn't that interesting—it's from the XBMC forum.

[JimH]

I've removed some of the grumpy comments above.

[Clump]

This is the method I use. Isn't that interesting—it's from the XBMC forum.

I'm using Vista Audio Changer.  Its hot key can be mapped to a function key.  I don't have an MCE keyboard, so can't learn commands from 1.  I'm using a Harmony One emulating an MCE keyboard and have a button to switch the default audio using F9.  It's working well.  It's also using F8 to launch MC.  The easy cure for the system sounds was to turn them off.

[Matt]

There's a little known Media Center 15 feature to switch default sound devices on Vista and Windows 7.  It might work faster than your script.

Run MC15.exe /SoundcardSwitch to get instructions.

This was added to Media Center 14.0.37 (07/21/2009):
NEW: Added new command /SoundcardSwitch to the launcher (MC14.exe) to allow changing the default soundcard on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

[Clump]

There's a little known Media Center 15 feature to switch default sound devices on Vista and Windows 7.  It might work faster than your script.

Run MC15.exe /SoundcardSwitch to get instructions.

This was added to Media Center 14.0.37 (07/21/2009):
NEW: Added new command /SoundcardSwitch to the launcher (MC14.exe) to allow changing the default soundcard on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

This works VERY well!  After playing around with it I was able to write a batch file that switches the audio to HDMI, runs MC and on MC exit switches audio back to the sound card.

Here's the particulars if anybody wants to try it:
I'm running MC 15.0.87 on Windows 7 x64 Home Premium.

There's an MC15.exe in the Windows\System32 directory.  The start /wait command won't work with this particular .exe, so it needs to be tricked.  When I installed MC15 it created a shortcut on the desktop that goes through the full path - C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 15\Media Center 15.exe.  I copied the shortcut into Windows\System32 and renamed it MC15.LNK (the DOS batch language can't handle long file names).

I created a file called MC15.BAT in Windows/System32.  It's only 3 commands:

Code: [Select]

MC15.exe /SoundcardSwitch Defaultbyindex:0
start "MC15" /wait MC15.LNK
MC15.exe /SoundcardSwitch Defaultbyindex:1
I have 2 sound devices.  The first device in the list (right click the speaker icon in the tray, pick playback devices for the list) is the "ATI HDMI Output"  the other device is "Speakers" which is the built in sound card. 0 selects HDMI; 1 selects speakers.

I then made a shortcut to the batch file on the desktop and assigned F9 to start it so it will run from my Harmony One.

So far this is working great.  Any batch/script wizards that would like to improve it please feel free.

Thanks Matt for the great tip!

[JimH]

Thanks for your patience, Clump.