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[Cajun]

I just built a PC with Microsoft Media center 2005.  I am very happy with the performance but I want the ability to also play MP3s on the same computer to another amp for home audio.  I currently have the PC connected to my amp via the SPDIF cable.  I have all the other analog audio jacks open.  Will jriver allow all windows and MCE sounds to use the SPDIF and have the home audio receiver connected to one of the analog sound card outputs and direct constant mp3 audio to this output.

Hopefully this question makes since.  I don’t want jriver to also be outputting sound over the spdif and competing with MCE for this output.  My motherboard is a MSI K8T NEO2-FIR

[Cajun]

so is this not possible?

[JimH]

This will probably work, but you will have to try it.  Try downloading MC11 and use the free trial.

[Alex B]

Your integrated AC'97 sound circuit gives only one audio device for the OS and applications. You need to install another soundcard. Then it is possible and you can select the soundcard in MC options. Since AC'97 resamples everything to 48 kHz, you could consider buying a high quality soundcard that does not resample.

Are you running MC at the same time with MS audio/video applications (e.g. for 2nd zone playback) or why do you think that MC will compete with MCE?

[Bill Kearney]

MC11 is *very* good at making use of different outputs for zones.  I run three output zones currently, using the on-board audio and two external mp3 soundcards.  One feeding an amp via spdif optical.  Works great.  Better still is the fact that regular windows audio output (beeps, alerts, etc) all go to the right output without any contention from MC11.  As in, even when MC11 is playing something the OS can still beep on that same channel.  This is both good and bad, of course, but it's a sign that MC11 is taking effective advantage of how windows itself manages it.

What this may mean in your situation is that if your card can treat each output as a distinct windows device then MC should work fine.  But this is a feature your card would have to possess and isn't something MC (or any other program) can work around unless the card has it.  It may be simpler to just put a USB sound card on it and let MC use it independently of whatever MCE is configured to use.  Something like Creative's USB MP3 can be had for $25-$40.  Things like Audigy, Extigy, Edirol, Sonica and others can be had albeit at a greater price.  Regardless of which one you chose MC will support using its output(s) indepdendantly.

[Cajun]

Basically I want to use this pc as an MP3 player out of a dedicated output regardless what I am doing with MCE.  So if I want to watch live tv, or a DVD, ect I want one dedicated output to just play music and only music.  I think I understand the thing about the sound card.  So it sounds like if I don't allow MC11 to have full control of the onboard soundcard then I need to get a seperate sound card.  Is that correct or am I still missing something.

[Chazworth]

I have an M-Audio 410 audio card that has 4 RCA-jack pairs of outputs as well as an SPDIF output, and I too have MS Media Center Edition (2004).  This particular M-Audio card effectively functions as five audio cards, since the five outputs all appear as separate devices in Windows when you select an audio output.

I use the SPDIF output to play music with MC10 -- MC10 (and MC11) allow you to specify the specific audio output to use (and you can even have multiple zones set up, with each zone playing to its own audio output).  I then use one of the RCA outputs for MS Media Center Edition as well as general Windows sounds (it is the default audio device for Windows).  Both the SPDIF and RCA outputs are connected to my AV receiver.

It works very well, and it allows me to play music with MC10 without worrying about Windows sounds playing with the music as I tinker on the PC.

To set your outputs up in this manner, you will either need two audio cards, or an audio card such as mine that allows you to use the various outputs independently.

So, to answer your question, MC10 and MC11 definitely do allow you to specify a particular audio output that will not conflict with the default Windows sound device.

Charlie

[Alex B]

As I wrote earlier another soundcard is needed in this case, because the MSI integrated audio circuit gives only one audio device. I also have an MSI mobo with an integrated soundcard and a Terratec DMX 6fire 24/96 soundcard. In windows control panel I can select which one is the system default. In MC output mode settings I can see both soundcards and select the other one.

Any soundcard will do, but if you care about audio quality you should do some researching. I hear quite a big difference in audio quality when I compare my Terratec with the integrated sound circuit.