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Author Topic: Automation to enable using loopback w/ multiple zones  (Read 1671 times)

Gtr_HRA

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Automation to enable using loopback w/ multiple zones
« on: May 05, 2014, 03:17:07 pm »

Hello,

I have been using the setup outlined in here to enable my JRMC19 installation to work as hub for my USB DAC and control everything from my iPhone including internet streaming. I.e.:

For playing from file server:
JRemote>Player Zone (to WASAPI)>Loopback Zone (to ASIO)>USB DAC

For streaming services (i.e. Mog)
iPhone app (to airport)>shairport4w (to WASAPI)>Loopback Zone (to ASIO)>USB DAC

The 'issues' with this are:
- Everytime the PC reboots, I have to manually start the loopback in the loopback zone
- Because the loopback zone is 'playing' all the time, I have to be careful starting and stopping devices. The PC has to go to sleep (default after 2h idle) before the DAC auto-shutoff (programmed after 30min idle). Similarly, the DAC has to be started before the PC resumes from sleep. I could leave everything on but it would be a waste of energy. That is a limitation of the loopback feature.
- The loopback trick can cause offsets in between video and audio (i.e. Youtube or Netflix). This is not the main point of that PC so I have not explored that too much.


Is there a way to achieve the same result more easily, namely playing server files and streaming from handheld device without any direct interaction with the server?
If not, could that be a development area? It enables using any airport device as a source offering compatibility with virtually every streaming services without proprietary API.

Thanks!



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mwillems

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Re: Automation to enable using loopback w/ multiple zones
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2014, 04:31:55 pm »

The 'issues' with this are:
- Everytime the PC reboots, I have to manually start the loopback in the loopback zone

This can be solved by running a batch (or other script at startup).  Here's one I use, but you'll need to tailor it to your setup:

Code: [Select]
@ECHO OFF
ECHO Start MC Loopback
mc19.exe /MCC 10011,1
mc19.exe /Play live://loopback
mc19.exe /MCC 10011,3

For instance, my zone 1 is my loopback zone, and my zone 3 is the zone I use for regular playback.  You'll need to change the last numbers on line three and five to match your specific zone numbers. The first local zone is zero. counting up from there. Check the following link for how to get the numbers for your zones if you have trouble or they don't seem to have the numbers they should: http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Center_Core_Commands#Specifying_Zones)

Quote
- Because the loopback zone is 'playing' all the time, I have to be careful starting and stopping devices. The PC has to go to sleep (default after 2h idle) before the DAC auto-shutoff (programmed after 30min idle). Similarly, the DAC has to be started before the PC resumes from sleep. I could leave everything on but it would be a waste of energy. That is a limitation of the loopback feature.

I handle this by turning my system off when it's not in use, and the startup automation makes sure everything gets turned on correctly when it restarts.  Not as convenient as sleep, but I'm not sure how to address the sleep issue you describe with the current state of loopback.

Quote
- The loopback trick can cause offsets in between video and audio (i.e. Youtube or Netflix). This is not the main point of that PC so I have not explored that too much.

That's potentially unavoidable (depending on your system), but you can try changing the output buffers and the latency settings for loopback to see if it helps.  I managed to get the latency far enough down that lipsync was fine in my setup with a little tinkering.

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6233638

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Re: Automation to enable using loopback w/ multiple zones
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2014, 04:33:35 pm »

I have a "Car Radio" button which activates loopback.
This is accessible from "Playlists > Car Radio" via JRemote, which would let you remotely start/stop Loopback.
It could just be a normal playlist, but I find it more convenient when I want to use Loopback within MC itself.
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Gtr_HRA

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Re: Automation to enable using loopback w/ multiple zones
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2014, 05:54:28 pm »

Thanks! A combination of those 2 suggestions should make that solution a lot more usable.
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