Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Shiraz]

Greetz,

I just started playing with synchronizing my zones by linking them -- got my wife listening to the music in the living room whilst I listen to the same tunes in my office. I'm loving it, but the timing range is just short of what I need -- setting the first zone (server) to the max (2000 ms) and the second zone (client) to the min (-2000 ms), I fall to within just one second out of sync (doh, so close!) -- the cool thing is that the timing seems *very* consistent, so I fully expect to get perfect synchronization once your code allows for a higher and lower values than +/- 2000. My suggestion would be to make it large, as in +/- 10000. Who knows what individual configurations might push this? In my case, I suspect the large gap might be due to the fact that I'm running the second zone as a client within my Ubuntu's virtualbox -- that's the only unique thing here. The network is fast -- though the server is a slow 1st gen eeepc.

peace,
shiraz

[Shiraz]

ps. if the sync works out well as expected, then I finally get to stop using Airfoil, which has been what I've been using for years for my well-synced listening experience across the house. It would be so nice to use native Media Center functionality, thus allowing me to turn zones on and off from the client without having to remote desktop into the server to enable/disable zones in the Airfoil server app.

[JimH]

The buffer settings in MC might be a factor.

[brendonp]

A quick and easy way to get consistent timing is to pick up a multi-channel sound card like an M-Audio Delta 1010;  you can then sync zones exactly since the timing is done directly on the card rather than having the software guess at timing.   I'm running a PCI version which gives me 8 zones, and I'm thinking of picking up a second one (only using 5 zones, but can forsee requiring 11).

[Shiraz]

Jim, played with various buffer values for both zones -- no difference. My request is simple and would resolve my issue: increase the limits on link timing adjustments. Can that be done?

Brendomp, thanks for the suggestion but what I'm looking for is wireless syncing across zones. Airfoil (using Apple's protocol) handles this with amazingly good timing -- they have a Windows client, Mac client, and even a Linux client, and it will sync to Airport Express routers, along with a new crop of devices which support that standard now that Apple has made it open, I believe. This has worked well for me over the years, but the tight integration with J River Media Center is what I'm after... what you describe has the tightness of integration, but not the wireless... just a little increase on the limits in the code, and the golden goal is reached.
 

[JimH]

Jim, played with various buffer values for both zones -- no difference. My request is simple and would resolve my issue: increase the limits on link timing adjustments. Can that be done?

I'm having trouble understanding how the two paths could be two seconds off.  Is one being converted?

[fitbrit]

I'm having trouble understanding how the two paths could be two seconds off.  Is one being converted?

The different zones are connected on his network, and it seems wirelessly at that. I believe that even Matt acknowledges that it's difficult to sync via DLNA or other network zones, rather than zones from the same audio playback device.

[JimH]

The different zones are connected on his network, and it seems wirelessly at that. I believe that even Matt acknowledges that it's difficult to sync via DLNA or other network zones, rather than zones from the same audio playback device.

But a wireless network wouldn't add 2 seconds of delay.

[fitbrit]

Ah, I see.

[Shiraz]

Actually my gap is about 4.5 seconds if I don't adjust the timings. The server zone plays 5 seconds ahead of the client zone. So if I push back the server zone by the max 2000 ms and  pull forward the client zone by the max 2000 ms, the delay comes to about 500ms.  I don't understand why this is myself, but postulated that it might have something to do with running my client on a XP virtualbox in a Linux host -- doesn't seem probable, but possible. In any case, the gap is consistent, so if that max was increased to 3000 my own problem would be solved.

I've used Airfoil for years and each successive release they get their timing better... I've stood in the hallway between zones with one ear in either direction to test -- so the holy grail of multi-zone synchronization seems fairly attainable to my non-coding attention. Further to the cause, I've learned that significant gaps of several hundred milliseconds are quite bearable when you are situated significantly closer to one zone or the other, which is normally the case. But when you start pushing several hundred MS, you have to completely drown out the other zone in your situated zone or else it sounds really bad. I'm expecting to be able to get within a couple hundred MS easily with the current Media Center code, as seems to me now -- if only one of your coders would change two 2s to 3s! wink wink, nudge nudge.

[Shiraz]

Further to the question of why I might have such a gap, it should be noted that I'm using an underpowered 1st gen netbook for my server, with the music all stored on an external USB drive -- that seems the most likely cause to me... but I love that little eeepc hand-me-down (from pops) and it handles all else very well.

[JimH]

I don't think it could be drive latency either.  Maybe a virus checker?  That's a big gap.