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[Funkmeister]

Had a play about with the linked zones the other day and got it working perfectly; files on an external USB, playing through my PC with the laptop linked and playing from the PC.  Didn't even need to adjust the link timing.  However, on track change it would all go awry - the PC would start playing the track immediately and the laptop would follow a couple of seconds later.

What am I doing wrong, and how can I keep the zones in sync when the track changes?

[Matt]

When I change tracks on linked zones, both the zones change and link is maintained.  Strange.

Maybe double-check the between tracks modes of each zone and make them the same.  I thought we automatically did that, but maybe not everything like play silence, etc.

[jctcom]

I have this issue as well.

I haven't tested yet.  But I thought it might have something to do with cross-fade settings?

Maybe they are not syncing properly or not configured identically on each zone?

Carl.

[dtc]

Sounds like you may be using the library server to connect the PC and laptop. Is that the case? Linked zones on a single system seem to  sync fine, but I have also had trouble when using the library server, although I have not tried in on version 19 and 20.

Matt, have you been able to maintain  sync when using the library server?

[jctcom]

My main library PC is an Intel based (DX58SO, I7-940, 12GB DDR3 RAM) desktop with music stored on Synology DS1512+ NAS Server connected via Gigabit wired network.

When I am linking zones it is generally to my office desktop computer  (P7P55D-E Pro, I7-875K, 8GB DDR3 RAM) also wired to network via Gigabit. 

The  network paths involved are:
Main library server > Procurve 1800-24G > Netgear GS748Tv5 (using 2X LAG connection) > NAS (Also using 2X LAG)
Office computer > Netgear GS748Tv5  Then I guess back to the Main Library PC via Procurve 1800-24G? Then back to NAS via above?

In any case I think plenty fast system and network.

the other thing I was thinking that could affect this is the "Play From Memory" option which I have enabled on the Main Library PC?  Not sure if it is enabled or not on the Office PC and whether or not that would be Changed / disregarded once linked?

Carl.

[Funkmeister]

Sounds like you may be using the library server to connect the PC and laptop. Is that the case? Linked zones on a single system seem to  sync fine, but I have also had trouble when using the library server, although I have not tried in on version 19 and 20.

Matt, have you been able to maintain  sync when using the library server?

I am indeed using the library server.

Laptop accesses the PC which holds all the data.  The USB disk that holds the music is connected directly to the PC.

What other ways are there of setting this up?

[dtc]

That is the way to set it up. Unfortunately, linked zones were just never designed to work with the library server. They were meant to work with different audio outputs on the same computer. On the same computer, the delays are minor compared to what can happen with 2 different computers working across a network.  Matt did some work on it in  v18 but I never got it to sync correctly. The library server is a nice feature, but it has many limitations and fixing those seems like a low priority. One of the other issues is being about to rip a CD on client when using the library server. It has been asked for many times but as far as I know it has never been implemented.  Unless Matt has other information, I would expect zone syncing using the library server is a very low priority.

[Fangio]

I tried it with multiple PC's and MC19, but it always went out of sync at track change. There has been much discussion here about Sonos recently. Perhaps this will spawn something more useful.