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[Ancient_Audiophile]

Hey, you not only addressed a previous request (Stereo DAC output for Stereo files and SP/DIF output for Multichannel files), but you also prevented me from starting another thread about:

"How to automatically use the Stereo DAC for music and the SP/DIF output for video ?"

The variety of possibilities in the rules are amazing, even in the stock rules, but surprisingly it did not include one of the two stock rules needed for the above, i.e.

"Video only"

Of course, it was very easy to create a rule for that, but it seems like an obvious one that was somehow missed (since there Audio Only and Images Only).   And, it is just nitpicking.

Very cool, and exactly what was needed !

Oh, and why is this in "Player" when it affects the entire program globally ?  (Historical reasons?)  Shouldn't it be in Tools->Options, or at least Tools ?

[Ancient_Audiophile]

It seems an important question is:

When does Media Center test the rules ?

I setup rules in Zone Switch for:

Audio Only and Channels <= 2 to go to Stereo DAC Zone
Audio Only and Channels > 2 to go to   Multichannel Zone (with SP/DIF)
Video Only to go to Video Zone  (with SP/DIF)

and if I drag a .DTS (audio only) five channel file to Media Center from an external File Explorer, and then select "Play" from the resulting dialog, it plays it in Stereo Zone in stereo with number of channels listed as 5 in Playing Now playlist.

I then tried using MC's internal Explorer, found the file, and selected "Play" and same results.

Does this only work with imported files ?   I have not yet gotten around to doing an import.

[Matt]

If the three zones are mutually exclusive, make sure you always pick the other two as "stop these zones" in all three rules.

[mojave]

The rules are based on tags. If you haven't imported, then the tags you used for criteria might not be populated.

[Ancient_Audiophile]

If the three zones are mutually exclusive, make sure you always pick the other two as "stop these zones" in all three rules.

That was already done (I didn't mention it).

Is Zone Switch based on tags ?

And I do plan on importing, but it would be worth knowing that it doesn't work for files that I am auditioning that may or may not be imported.

[Ancient_Audiophile]

I imported that one file, and then played it, and Zone Switch works.

Having it work with non-imported files would be helpful, but not essential.

[audioriver]

Thank you for this excellent feature! Is it possible to add hardware to the equation, for example if "Monitor 1" is active then switch to x Zone.

[gappie]

thank you..this is very nice..


gab

ps.. i just switched to 18, and im amazed how easy that went.

[marko]

yay, gappie!! Great to see you You keeping good?

[gappie]

good to see you too. im doin great. hope its the same for you.

[Ancient_Audiophile]

Okay, so now I have Imported albums that are SACD ISOs with both stereo and multichannel versions of the tracks.

I tried playing one of those, and it only puts the stereo tracks into playing now.  When it gets to the end of the last stereo track, it stops.

I tried putting the Multichannel Zone at a higher priority than the Stereo Zone in ZoneSwitch, but no change.

I tried playing something in Multichannel Zone right before playing the SACD ISO, but no change.

So, with ZoneSwitch, MC18 is now (apparently) just playing the tracks that are in the same zone as the first track in the playlist - meaning the playlist that is created by MC18 when it reads the SACD ISO.

For whatever reason, MC18 seems to always put the stereo tracks first, so the current behavior with ZoneSwitch is to only play SACD ISOs in stereo.

And in fact, ZoneSwitch says "The first file in a playback set determines the rule."  So, SACD ISOs can never be played with ZoneSwitch if the user is a surround music fan who always wants to hear the multichannel version (and I know lots of them, and they would like MC18).

So, ZoneSwitch does not remove the need for an "SACD preference" setting that is similar to the "DVD Language preference" setting.

[glynor]

yay, gappie!! Great to see you You keeping good?

+1

[Matt]

ZoneSwitch is triggered off the file you start playback with.

There's no need to import first -- we read tags before engaging ZoneSwitch.

With SACD, if you want to route based on channels, you'll start playback by double-clicking either a 2 or multi-channel track in the library.  I just tested and got 2 channel bitstreaming out one zone, and multi-channel using PCM on a different zone.

[Trumpetguy]

ZoneSwitch works perfectly in my humble setup and satisfies a need I didn't think I had. But it really is brilliant - now I can start any file with any number of channels or sample rate, and MC switches to the right zone directing the bits into the right audio path. Since I use convolution, I have a handful of zones. Now I can set and forget about these!

Thanks a lot!

[Ancient_Audiophile]

ZoneSwitch is triggered off the file you start playback with.

There's no need to import first -- we read tags before engaging ZoneSwitch.

Then there seems to be something wrong, as it only uses the current Zone unless I import the item.

UPDATE: I just checked again with another album not in the Library, and it uses (incorrectly) the current Zone and does not engage ZoneSwitch.  The album is fully tagged.   I then clicked Import.  I then did the exact same "Replace and Play" as before, and this time it switched from the current Zone to the correct Zone.

With SACD, if you want to route based on channels, you'll start playback by double-clicking either a 2 or multi-channel track in the library.  I just tested and got 2 channel bitstreaming out one zone, and multi-channel using PCM on a different zone.

That is if you are setup for an iPod-like system where your music is a bunch of tracks.

If you are using the LP/CD-like system where your music is albums, then if you start playback by double-clicking an album, it will always play 2-channel tracks only of an SACD ISO, because MC18 always lists those first.

BTW, I'm always happy to test various combinations of things when that is helpful.

[Ancient_Audiophile]

ZoneSwitch is triggered off the file you start playback with.

There's no need to import first -- we read tags before engaging ZoneSwitch.

So here is the problem with threads that end with a user post of a bug:

The user cannot tell whether JRiver staff have read the post and understand there is a bug.

This is because in the support instructions (Is this support? thread), one is advised to bump a post when one has a problem and no one has responded with help for your problem.   This then implies that some posts may not end up being read (and especially may not be read by someone with responsibility for that code area).

I understand there are priorities in fixing any particular bugs, but the issue here is simply acknowledgement, perhaps something as simple as:

Bug noted.

This also helps the JRiver staff, because it either prevents from having threads bumped where the staff is already aware of the bug - thereby saving you time, or it prevents you from not being aware of bugs.  It seems a win-win.

[Matt]

Next build:
Changed: ZoneSwitch was only engaging for files in the main library (so not when dragging and dropping from Explorer, etc.)
Changed: ZoneSwitch rules that don't specify zones to stop will always be evaluated, regardless of the current zone (rules that specify play and stop zones only engage when the current zone is in the play + stop zone set).

[Ancient_Audiophile]

Next build:
Changed: ZoneSwitch was only engaging for files in the main library (so not when dragging and dropping from Explorer, etc.)

Confirmed, this works in build 94 !   Thanks !

( An example of the use of this change - suppose you download the just-released new episode of a current TV show from Netflix or iTunes, and you want to watch it immediately with family or friends, and don't want them to sit squirming while you either "import" the file first, or else stop the playing Stereo Zone and switch to Video Zone.  Now you can simply find the file in explorer and click on it. )

By the way, I'm sure it is somewhere in the wiki, but is there some way to set MC, so that on playing a file, it will always switch to that Zone in Playing Now ?   Currently, ZoneSwitch will start playing the audio file in Stereo Zone (correct!) but the Video Zone is still displayed on the screen in Playing Now.

[struct]

Thanks for adding this feature.  Just what I needed.

Is the following intended behaviour......

I have a zone with dac and tube amplifier, and I don't use it as much as I should, most of the listening is with cheapo receiver and the zoneswitch works perfectly for the different settings I want for 2 channel and 5.1.  However, zoneswitch gets in the way when I want to send songs to the infrequently used zone for the tube amplifier.  I thought if I right selected on a group of songs and select send to TubeZone this should be respected above Zoneswitch?  Otherwise there really is no point in having this section of the menu when Zoneswitch is on???

Is there some other way I can send songs to a specific zone for odd cases without having to go in an turn Zoneswitch off?

Thanks
Craig

[dean70]

How can you get ZoneSwitch to change to a different zone for YouTube? At the moment it switches to the Video zone (7.1 multi channel with JRSS enabled, eq'ed for movies), but I want it to switch to a Stereo (2 channel) zone.

[gappie]

How can you get ZoneSwitch to change to a different zone for YouTube? At the moment it switches to the Video zone (7.1 multi channel with JRSS enabled, eq'ed for movies), but I want it to switch to a Stereo (2 channel) zone.

this seems to work. make zone with this rule    -[Web Media URL]=[]   (web media url is not empty)
 
gab

[dean70]

this seems to work. make zone with this rule    -[Web Media URL]=[]   (web media url is not empty)
 
gab

Thanks I will give that a try