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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 20 for Windows => Topic started by: 6233638 on October 22, 2014, 10:05:21 am

Title: Listing but ignoring items? (null zone?)
Post by: 6233638 on October 22, 2014, 10:05:21 am
Now that we have the check field, is it possible to implement that one behavior from iTunes that I still miss?
 
Which is to list all tracks—even in Playing Now—but only play checked tracks.
In this case, the field would have to be checked by default.
 
I know that it's possible to exclude these items, but that's not what I want to do.
I want them to be included and displayed, I just want them to be skipped when I play or add an album.
 
For example:
(http://abload.de/img/skipmedsj7r.png)

When I hit play on the album, I want tracks 3, 14, 17 to be skipped.
Title: Re: Listing but ignoring items?
Post by: Matt on October 22, 2014, 10:10:21 am
You could make a user that hides the files.  That might be the closest you can get.
Title: Re: Listing but ignoring items?
Post by: 6233638 on October 22, 2014, 10:11:53 am
That's been possible for a while though.
The important thing is that all tracks are still listed, and can easily be toggled on/off.
Title: Re: Listing but ignoring items?
Post by: skarsol on October 22, 2014, 10:13:00 am
I'd find a "Do not play" checkbox to be useful as well.
Title: Re: Listing but ignoring items?
Post by: fridden on October 22, 2014, 12:19:59 pm
Couldn't this be done with a ZoneSwitch rule that sends all "unchecked" to the NullZone?

/Fridden
Title: Re: Listing but ignoring items?
Post by: 6233638 on October 22, 2014, 01:05:25 pm
Couldn't this be done with a ZoneSwitch rule that sends all "unchecked" to the NullZone?
You can kind-of hack it to work if you create a new zone with a null output, but it's still actually playing the file which means that you still get a ton of CPU usage if you try to play a SACD track for example.
Title: Re: Listing but ignoring items? (null zone?)
Post by: 6233638 on October 31, 2014, 10:24:24 pm
I wonder if the best solution for this would be to have a special "null zone" as an option for Zone Switch?
 
Rather than creating a zone which plays to a null output device, since that still plays the files and consumes resources, it would immediately discard any file sent to it rather than adding them to a playlist.

It would not appear in the tree, and only be available in the Zone Switch configuration. Perhaps the Zone ID would be "-1" to both place it at the top of the list, and indicate that it is a special zone.
 
This way you could use any number of rules to prevent certain files from playing, but still have them visible in the library for management.
 
It would allow for the creation of a checkbox field to enable/disable certain files from playing, but would be a flexible solution which may have other uses too. (e.g. based on a keyword or some other tag)
 
Any thoughts on that?
Title: Re: Listing but ignoring items? (null zone?)
Post by: fitbrit on October 31, 2014, 11:15:22 pm
With the new WDM driver as the default ouput device in Windows, the "Windows default output" option in MC's audio settings could act as a null zone because is would create a sort of loop.
Perhaps a zone set up this way could serve your purpose, as long as you can set up the rules in Zone Switch to target it when appropriate.
Title: Re: Listing but ignoring items? (null zone?)
Post by: 6233638 on October 31, 2014, 11:58:11 pm
I'm not sure that I understand, wouldn't that just have the same effect as playing to the Null audio device?
 
No sound output, but resource usage because the file is still being played - which is a big deal with SACD since that uses a lot of CPU power.
Title: Re: Listing but ignoring items? (null zone?)
Post by: fitbrit on November 01, 2014, 12:13:39 am
No, you're wrong. (I was the one who didn't understand, not you).
Yes, this would play to the 'null zone' and use resources.
Title: Re: Listing but ignoring items? (null zone?)
Post by: 6233638 on November 06, 2014, 02:33:52 pm
That's why I'm requesting a special "Null Zone" which would discard anything sent to it, rather than playing to a zone using the Null Output Device. (or one which produces no sound)