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[jctcom]

Hello.  I currently have 2 sound cards in my system.  My HDMI Built in to my NVidia GTX 660Ti (Which is working great now that they fixed the 4 Channel output).
and my Claro Halo HT.

Both to to my receiver.  The 1st via HDMI and the second via Analog RCA Out > In to receiver.

The reason I would like to use both simultaneously is that I have Multi-Room functionality on my Onkyo receiver.  but in their infinite wisdom for some reason only the Analog inputs can be use to send audio to the other zones / rooms.

So I was wondering if they is a way to set up a second "Zone" or something in MC that could power the Analog ouputs of the Claro Halo and I could then listen in other rooms to what I am listening to in the main room without having to switch the main room over to analog as well?

Everything I have seen or read about Zones seems to indicate they have to be on another device or computer outside of the main MC computer.

Thanks.

Carl.

[Hendrik]

If i remember correctly, this should be possible for audio playback, but not for video.
You can create two zones, one for each audio device, and then link the zones.

[csimon]

Yes, you add as many zones in MC as you have output devices and set the specific device in Audio Settings for each zone, then when you play something you can link zones together so they play at the same time. They may not be in perfect sync though. There is a timing adjust facility for these situations although there is no guarantee they will stay in sync.  Do you need help in finding where to set all this up?

How are you able to output via both sound cards at the moment without having two separate zones? Are you changing the output device in Audio Settings each time?

Yes, AVRs do tend to not be able to output digital sources onto Zone 2.

Another option for you might be a HDMI audio extractor, which will pass through (I assume) the HDMI signal but also provide a simultaneous output via SPDIF and analogue.

I'm not using HDMI for audio but I have a soundcard with SPDIF and 7.1 analogue outputs. I also have a small DAC that takes SPDIF in, passes it through and also outputs analogue audio at the same time, in other words providing the same function as a HDMI audio extractor would. These sort of things probably work better than linking zones because the synch is spot-on and the computer is only doing audio processing and output once.  It's sometimes better to distribute the resulting audio for multi-room situations rather than playing the audio twice through different outputs.

When using the 7.1 analogue outputs, I actually only get MC to use 6 of the channels then I duplicate the front L&R to the unused pair in order to provide a simultaneous second stereo output to go to another room.

[glynor]

Yes, you should be able to do this.

With some sound cards, you can even break up the individual jacks into separate zones (using 5.1 outs to drive three separate stereo zones instead).

However, you can't play video at all on a linked zone.

[jctcom]

Cool.  I now have this working.  However as you mentioned it is a bit out of sync.  I remember doing this previously using a computer in another room as a zone and using the "sync" utility and you are right every other song or so it go back out of sync.  I was hoping that these being on the same computer might stay in sync better once I got it synced up.  I will have to play around with it a bit.

I do have an HDMI Switch which has a stereo Analog RCA Out splitter but I seem to remember not being wholly satisfied with it's performance for some reason?  Might pull it out again over the weekend for some further testing.

For now though this will work.  It is only when I am right between the 2 rooms that I can notice it being out of sync.

The Claro Halo HT has full 7.1 RCA outputs and I used to use it that way in the past.  However there is something wonky with it now.  The ASIO drivers don't seem to be reliable and the WASAPI drivers seem to want to output everything either to 2 channels or to 5.1/7.1 channels depending on the way it is set up. 

In any case I much prefer to send the main signal via HDMI.  I have my receiver set up so that if it is a 2 channel track it automatically processes it into 9.1 channels.  Whereas if it detects a multi-channel track it produces only the raw tracks that it is receiving.  If I use the analog outputs I cannot do this kind of "leave the multi-tracks alone and upgrade only the stereo tracks". option.

Carl

[jctcom]

Actually I should clarify that business of the Claro outputting analog to either 2.1 or 5.1/7.1. 

When this was happening MC would claim that it was outputting the correct number of channels.  But the sound would be coming out of either only 2 speakers or all speakers (Depending on the sound card settings) and it did that regardless of whether or not the current track was outputting a Stereo track.  Or a Multi-Channel track.

In effect it did not seem like the "Exclusive" mode was working.  Because I could go into the audio control panel and apply effects etc and they would effect the sound.  I did not think that "Exclusive" mode was supposed to allow this?  Which indicated to me that possible the "Exclusive mode" was not working anymore with that sound card.


Thanks for your help by the way.  I just needed a push in the right direction.

Carl.