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[6233638]

I was wondering if it's possible to have Zone Switch set up to treat files differently if they are outside of my library, and I've just double-clicked the file in Explorer?

For example, I've just been ripping a TV series to MKV, and the episodes are not stored on the disc in order. So to be sure that I have them named right, I have to double-click the file, seek through it a little, and confirm what episode it is.

Doing this is a lot quicker using Red October Standard with Display Switching disabled. (I also disabled VideoClock and Hardware Acceleration, but I'm not sure if they actually impact how long it takes for a video to play)
This is a lot more responsive than starting up a video with my normal settings, as it has to load madVR, switch refresh rate (which includes a delay) and madVR does things like pausing until the queues are full when seeking.

It suddenly occurred to me that this is actually the reason I had still left MPC-HC installed on my system; MPC-HC works a lot better for me if I'm simply double-clicking a file, because it doesn't launch fullscreen, and do things like force a refresh rate change.

There are still a couple of esoteric reasons why I would still need to leave it installed, but for the most part, if I could have files launched from explorer load into a different zone from those launched inside Media Center, it would make a huge difference. (I suppose not necessarily outside of my library, as my downloads folder is automatically imported)

Similarly, I would probably not want audio files to load into my normal zone, and have them resampled to my normal system output, without using WASAPI exclusive mode.


And what might be even easier, would be to bypass Zone switching altogether. In the registry, files associated with Media Center load up with "C:\\Windows\\System32\\MC18.exe\" /Play \"%L\"
Can I change that to direct the files to a specific zone?

[6233638]

OK, I have figured out how to send it to a specific zone via the command line, but unfortunately it doesn't actually switch to that zone - so the video plays but is not visible.

Is there any way to switch zones via the command line?

[6233638]

Well I have that figured out now as well, but I still can't get it working.

If you use: MC18.exe /MCC 10011,2 It will switch Media Center to Zone 2.
And if you use MC18.exe /Play "C:\Path\To\Video.file|Zone=2" It will send the file to Zone 2.

But if you use both commands at once, it only sends the file to Zone 2, but doesn't switch zones.

[kstuart]

There is a huge need for a way to mark certain Zone rules with the option:

Always switch to this zone as well

[6233638]

There is a huge need for a way to mark certain Zone rules with the option:

Always switch to this zone as well

Yes, something like that would be very useful. I'm not sure that "Always switch to this zone" is the way I'd want to handle it, but every so often I still run into the problem of forgetting to stop music playback (via WASAPI Event with exclusive access) before starting video playback (also with WASAPI Event with exclusive access, to the same device) and they conflict, so video playback doesn't start - or vice-versa.

I understand that you would never want zone switching to stop playback if your zones are separate devices on a network for example, but it's a nuisance when they are all local and going through the same playback device.

Now that I understand how powerful zones/zone switching can be though, I'm not sure what the best interface would be to handle this though.
Perhaps being able to link a zone to a device, so that Media Center knows when it will have to stop playback in one zone before switching to the other. (better yet, keeping the device open and handling the switch seamlessly, but lets not get ahead of ourselves)


But if I could tell Media Center to both send a file to a specific zone set up for playing files from Explorer (no exclusive access, resample audio, use RO Standard rather than ROHQ) and switch to it via the command line, I'm sure that It could be fixed via a simple registry tweak. I'm already editing the file associations on my machine anyway.

[InflatableMouse]

I understand that you would never want zone switching to stop playback if your zones are separate devices on a network for example, but it's a nuisance when they are all local and going through the same playback device.

I must be missing something... but ... you can stop playback in other zones when you add something to another zone?

[6233638]

I must be missing something... but ... you can stop playback in other zones when you add something to another zone?

ZoneSwitch only applies when starting playback from your Library or the Overview Zone.
It doesn't apply when you start playback within another zone.

So for example, I have music playing in my Audio zone, and I try to resume playback from the list in my Video zone, it will fail because it doesn't stop playback in the other zone, and the other zone has exclusive control over the soundcard.

[InflatableMouse]

ZoneSwitch only applies when starting playback from your Library or the Overview Zone.
It doesn't apply when you start playback within another zone.

So for example, I have music playing in my Audio zone, and I try to resume playback from the list in my Video zone, it will fail because it doesn't stop playback in the other zone, and the other zone has exclusive control over the soundcard.

Ah yes, that's right. I've seen this request once or twice before. I think it would be a great to have this kind of control.

[6233638]

Ah yes, that's right. I've seen this request once or twice before. I think it would be a great to have this kind of control.

Considering the whole reason I set up separate zones in the first place was so that music wouldn't replace my currently playing video list and vice-versa, it would be pretty nice…

I don't know if the best way to handle it is to just let ZoneSwitch also operate while viewing the contents of a Zone, or if we should be able to associate zones with a hardware device so that Media Center is aware of potential conflicts like that and can avoid them. (I think both would be nice additions actually, as there are reasons why you might only want one or both of those)

Similarly, I recently set up a third "Doctor" zone which does not currently have any ZoneSwitch rules applied to it, and even though I have ZoneSwitch set up to send all audio to the Audio zone, and anything else to the Video zone, if Doctor is the active zone when I am browsing my library - whether it's playing anything or not - any file I try to play gets sent to it. I have to manually switch to either Audio or Video first for ZoneSwitch to start working again.

[mwillems]

Similarly, I recently set up a third "Doctor" zone which does not currently have any ZoneSwitch rules applied to it, and even though I have ZoneSwitch set up to send all audio to the Audio zone, and anything else to the Video zone, if Doctor is the active zone when I am browsing my library - whether it's playing anything or not - any file I try to play gets sent to it. I have to manually switch to either Audio or Video first for ZoneSwitch to start working again.

This happens to me as well, and sometimes the reverse too.  I have a "headphone" zone that has no DSP that does not have any zoneswitch rules applied to it, and zoneswitch is set to send all audio to the "Audio" zone.  If the "headphone" zone has been active, zoneswitch rules are ignored and playback starts in the "headphone" zone when I start playback from the library.  This continues until I manually set the zone to Audio as you described, and then zoneswitch starts working normally (video goes to "video," and audio goes to "audio" when playback is started from the library).

But I get the reverse sometimes too: if the audio zone was active recently (even if playback is stopped) and I send audio to the headphone zone, and try to start playback from the headphone zone in playing now, zoneswitch kicks in and re-routes the file to the audio zone.  I typically have to disable zoneswitch or restart JRiver to get audio to play in the headphone zone correctly.  It's not an insurmountable problem, but I'm glad I'm not the only one having this kind of "sticky zone" problem.

[6233638]

While I can't figure out why ZoneSwitch isn't working in my Library when the Doctor zone is active, it's also a good example of why ZoneSwitch is a complex issue.
If ZoneSwitch wasn't disabled when viewing a zone, I would never be able to play audio from the Doctor zone, because ZoneSwitch is set up to send all music to Audio, and anything else to Video.

But I wonder if a better solution would be to have ZoneSwitch work everywhere, and add the option to override it for certain zones when they are visible. (similar to the current behavior)
That way Play Doctor would still work when in that zone, but starting music/video playback anywhere else in Media Center would still switch to the correct Audio/Video zones - even if I have music playing in Audio, and try to start something from the Video zone.


But I still see a need for Media Center to let you link zones to hardware devices so that it can avoid conflicts.
Actually, there may not be any need to "link" anything - it should already know what the playback device is set to, because that's already a zone-specific option.
And I can see arguments for both muting audio for a zone when there is a conflict, and stopping the zone when there is a conflict. (I would always want to stop the oldest zone in favor of the one I just started)

[InflatableMouse]

I knew I read about this before, turned out I was one of the guys mentioning it in the beta forums a while back  . The problem was that playback wasn't stopped in zone B if playback was started in zone A (existing files in playing now, not when adding them).

Starting playback from 'Playing Now' intentionally will not engage ZoneSwitch.

You must start from a zone agnostic source, like the library.

It just confirms your own findings and isn't very helpful, I'm afraid.

Similarly, I recently set up a third "Doctor" zone which does not currently have any ZoneSwitch rules applied to it, and even though I have ZoneSwitch set up to send all audio to the Audio zone, and anything else to the Video zone, if Doctor is the active zone when I am browsing my library - whether it's playing anything or not - any file I try to play gets sent to it. I have to manually switch to either Audio or Video first for ZoneSwitch to start working again.

This happens to me as well, and sometimes the reverse too.  I have a "headphone" zone that has no DSP that does not have any zoneswitch rules applied to it, and zoneswitch is set to send all audio to the "Audio" zone.  If the "headphone" zone has been active, zoneswitch rules are ignored and playback starts in the "headphone" zone when I start playback from the library.  This continues until I manually set the zone to Audio as you described, and then zoneswitch starts working normally (video goes to "video," and audio goes to "audio" when playback is started from the library).

Zones trigger rules, not the other way around. At least that is how I've always understood it worked.

I think its expected behavior. If the zone is active files are sent to it, unless it triggers a rule that sends it to another zone. If you have an active zone with no rules attached to it, double clicking a file would add it to the active zone.

But I get the reverse sometimes too: if the audio zone was active recently (even if playback is stopped) and I send audio to the headphone zone, and try to start playback from the headphone zone in playing now, zoneswitch kicks in and re-routes the file to the audio zone.  I typically have to disable zoneswitch or restart JRiver to get audio to play in the headphone zone correctly.  It's not an insurmountable problem, but I'm glad I'm not the only one having this kind of "sticky zone" problem.

This is also something I've reported in the past. When you drag something to an inactive zone, the active zone rules still apply.

I wanted to be able to drag and drop files to a zone to override zoneswitch rules on the active zone. I've requested this in the past as well and reported this as a problem, or bug if you will. Unfortunately, I'm a bit lax with my reports and I'm not very persistent in re-reporting 'old' problems because I don't want to come across as nagging or annoying.

/rant
Give me a break, I've edited this post twice already and you folks keep posting new posts before I finish it! 

[6233638]

Zones trigger rules, not the other way around. At least that is how I've always understood it worked.

I think its expected behavior. If the zone is active files are sent to it, unless it triggers a rule that sends it to another zone. If you have an active zone with no rules attached to it, double clicking a file would add it to the active zone.

Got it. I assumed that ZoneSwitch was lying in between the library and the zone. So you play a file, ZoneSwitch intercepts it, and passes it on to the right zone.

Instead, it seems that files are sent from the library to the current zone, and passed on to another zone instantaneously if there is a rule which applies. If not, they are left in the currently active zone.


EDIT: Yep, that's it. Added a stop rule for my Doctor zone to Audio/Video, and it fixes the problem. Unfortunately the way this is set up means that each time you add a new zone, you have to add a new exception.
And without any way to currently duplicate zones, zone creation/management involves a lot more manual work than I'd like.

/rant
Give me a break, I've edited this post twice already and you folks keep posting new posts before I finish it!  

[mwillems]

While I can't figure out why ZoneSwitch isn't working in my Library when the Doctor zone is active, it's also a good example of why ZoneSwitch is a complex issue.
If ZoneSwitch wasn't disabled when viewing a zone, I would never be able to play audio from the Doctor zone, because ZoneSwitch is set up to send all music to Audio, and anything else to Video.

Unfortunately that's the situation I have with my headphone zone.  I can't routinely get it to play anything without disabling zoneswitch or restarting JRiver.  Sending files to it from the library or dragging and dropping result in the audio getting whisked away to the "audio" zone, even when I try to play the sent files in the "headphone" zone in playing now.  The only thing I can get to play in "headphone" with zoneswitch engaged is play doctor (unless I just started up JRiver).  

This is also something I've reported in the past. When you drag something to an inactive zone, the active zone rules still apply.

I wanted to be able to drag and drop files to a zone to override zoneswitch rules on the active zone. I've requested this in the past as well and reported this as a problem, or bug if you will. Unfortunately, I'm a bit lax with my reports and I'm not very persistent in re-reporting 'old' problems because I don't want to come across as nagging or annoying.

Thanks for confirming I'm not crazy.  For my part, I'd settle for zoneswitch rules operating on any file played from the library, but having JRiver respect any specific assignments of files to zones (whether through "send" or drag and drop, etc.)

And without any way to currently duplicate zones, zone creation/management involves a lot more manual work than I'd like.

I'll second that.

[InflatableMouse]

And without any way to currently duplicate zones, zone creation/management involves a lot more manual work than I'd like.

I'll second that.

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=76605.msg524508#msg524508

 

[mwillems]

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=76605.msg524508#msg524508

 

If you look at that thread, I'm four posts down agreeing with you 

[6233638]

Still wishing there was a way to make this work - it's the main reason I need to keep another media player installed on my system.

Being able to launch files via Explorer and have them start up in Red October Standard, and use WASAPI without exclusive mode enabled would make such a difference.