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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 31 for Windows => Topic started by: jtcc1015 on December 29, 2023, 06:22:01 am

Title: Media Center 31.0.84 fail to zone switch while in Theater View
Post by: jtcc1015 on December 29, 2023, 06:22:01 am
I setup two zones.  One zone I named it "Pure Music" and is dedicated to play 2-channels music files, such as MP3, FLAC, m4a, dsf, dff, aif, and wav.  Another zone I named it "Movie" and is dedicated to play movie files, such as avi, mkv, and iso.  I set zone switching rule also as such that music files will be sent to my DAC through USB while sound of movies will be sent to my AV Amp via HDMI port on my computer.

I have been setting up Media Center this way since Rev. 28 and it has been doing fine until I have upgraded to Media Center 30 and now 31.  Ever since, Media Center won't do zone switching whenever it is in Theater View.  It do fine in Standard View, though.

I would very much appreciate if some of you can get this bug fixed, and I also sincerely hope that this bug will not appear in upcoming Media Center 32.
Title: Re: Media Center 31.0.84 fail to zone switch while in Theater View
Post by: tzr916 on December 29, 2023, 09:15:56 am
Hmm, I have a similar zone setup that works fine in theater view - one zone for music that uses PCM 2 channel with DSP Studio, the other zone for Video that uses Bitstreaming. The difference is, I send it all through the same HDMI out, where you are changing the physical audio device... Oh, and I am on the latest 31.0.87

When you say it "won't do zone switching", what happens? You get an error on the screen? You get silence? You get audio playing in the wrong zone?
Title: Re: Media Center 31.0.84 fail to zone switch while in Theater View
Post by: jtcc1015 on January 01, 2024, 02:32:51 am
Here is the typical problem scenario I encounter most of the time:
- Finished watching movie in Theater View --> turn off my AV Amp  --> turn on my USB connected DAC --> select Audio in Theater View --> select and play a music file (flac's mostly) in Theater View --> no sound output from DAC, and DAC also indicates no signal comes from my computer.

While keeping the Media Center 31 playing the music file this way, I exit Theater View and check Audio option under Tool in Standard View.  I find the current Zone is still at "Movie" and therefore Audio Device selected under Tool/Option is still stay on that of AV Amp's rather than automatically switched to "Pure Music" zone and use My USB DAC even though my zone switching rule clearly specified the trigger is on several particular file types.

I will try 31.0.87 to see there will be any improvement.  If not, I may downgrade back to Media Center 28 and try again because 28 is working fine on my other computers.
Title: Re: Media Center 31.0.84 fail to zone switch while in Theater View
Post by: HPBEME on January 01, 2024, 04:35:50 am
Any time MC major versions are skipped when installing the latest MC (like going from MC28 to MC31), it is best to manually restore everything from the very last backup (that MC automatically makes) from the prior MC version where everything was exactly as you wanted it (assuming you still have the MC28 folder).  MC automatically uses your latest previous versions library as the starting point when installing a new version, but for whatever reason, when multiple major versions are skipped, the new MC install seems to miss things that the manual restore picks up.

The issue is most likely related to settings, so restore only those (see the 2 checkbox options in the dialog box when you launch the restore task).  That way, you avoid overwriting any new tag changes to your music files since the MC 31 install.  I have given this advice/fix at least a dozen times, and the success rate is 100%. It is very easy to do and generally only takes a couple minutes (depending on your MC database/library size).

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Library_Backup
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Restore_a_library