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[tbng]

Having just installed a Trinnov Altitude 16 to replace my Meridian 861v8/HD621, I thought I would give Roon a try given that the Trinnov is "Roon ready."  Why think about switching from JRiver?  (We're talking audio only here.)

 1. Multi-channel is a big part of my music collection, so I am forced to use the dreaded HDMI cable and its damnable handshake that doesn't connect for one or two seconds into the music, not to mention Windows' frequent inability to find the driver and forcing a reboot.  That's not JRiver's fault, but the Roon operates via the network and eliminates the HDMI cable.

 2. The inability of JRiver to switch automatically between two and multi-channel recordings.  Source number of channels does not work to automate the function.  The only solution was to establish multiple zones, one two-channel and the other forcing 5.1.  It works but a pain to switch manually (how many times I've started, stopped, changed the zone, and re-started a selection).  It also means that mixed playlists are impossible if you want the correct output, and I have occasional issues with losing the Meridian and Trinnov drivers in the switching - no doubt HDMI related.

If anyone has a solution for the number 1, let me know.  As to the second, we went round and round about this here some time back.  I recently posted this on the Roon board and someone from here replied that wasn't true for JRiver.  I haven't visited here for quite some time.  Has something changed in JRiver?

P.S. I am unimpressed with Roon's much vaunted inherent library organization.

[JimH]

You can tell MC to "play leading silence" in MC's settings.  That should help with dropped sound at the beginning.

Have you been here?
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Surround_Sound

You should be able to use zones and ZoneSwitch to switch automatically.
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Zones

[Fitzcaraldo215]

Having just installed a Trinnov Altitude 16 to replace my Meridian 861v8/HD621, I thought I would give Roon a try given that the Trinnov is "Roon ready."  Why think about switching from JRiver?  (We're talking audio only here.)

 1. Multi-channel is a big part of my music collection, so I am forced to use the dreaded HDMI cable and its damnable handshake that doesn't connect for one or two seconds into the music, not to mention Windows' frequent inability to find the driver and forcing a reboot.  That's not JRiver's fault, but the Roon operates via the network and eliminates the HDMI cable.

 2. The inability of JRiver to switch automatically between two and multi-channel recordings.  Source number of channels does not work to automate the function.  The only solution was to establish multiple zones, one two-channel and the other forcing 5.1.  It works but a pain to switch manually (how many times I've started, stopped, changed the zone, and re-started a selection).  It also means that mixed playlists are impossible if you want the correct output, and I have occasional issues with losing the Meridian and Trinnov drivers in the switching - no doubt HDMI related.

If anyone has a solution for the number 1, let me know.  As to the second, we went round and round about this here some time back.  I recently posted this on the Roon board and someone from here replied that wasn't true for JRiver.  I haven't visited here for quite some time.  Has something changed in JRiver?

P.S. I am unimpressed with Roon's much vaunted inherent library organization.

On 1., it keeps coming up, but when I was using HDMI for audio into a prepro, I found a Gefen HDMI Dectective+ invaluable along with my then 2k video.  If you are doing 4K video, I don't know if there is a similar, always on HDMI spoofer.  But, something like that keeps Windows from getting confused on audio.  It completely solved my problems.

On 2., I don't use playlists at all, so Zoneswitch solves all my problems transparently.  Also, I use the checkbox for automatic 2.1 for stereo sources.  So, I have only 2 zones -5.1 and 7.1.  I prefer listening to 2.0 as 2.1, 5.1 as 5.1, and 7.1 as 7.1, and Zoneswitch handles it all perfectly for me.

Yes, as has been discussed, Source Number of Channels does not work as expected for all input channel counts, so it should be avoided in favor of 5.1, 7.1, etc. as the JR output parameter.

[forbigd]

On 1., it keeps coming up, but when I was using HDMI for audio into a prepro, I found a Gefen HDMI Dectective+ invaluable along with my then 2k video.  If you are doing 4K video, I don't know if there is a similar, always on HDMI spoofer.  But, something like that keeps Windows from getting confused on audio.  It completely solved my problems.

This is another favorite topic/issues.  I have a Monoprice Blackbird 8x8 Matrix switch with EDID programmability.
You would think this would solve it all, but it doesn't. I have lots of TV and movies with multichannel sound. Some are compatible with the EDID set to "4K 7.1" but there are some tv shows that throw the dreaded "playback cannot start on the selected device", by far my worst MC message to see. Always happens to wife when I am not there.
If I play an episode and i get the dreaded message, MC thinks that even though it told me it couldn't play it, it still played ?, it still marks it watched, and it disappears from my view. I have to go into a special view I have just for this error that shows all episodes, watched or not. To get these files to play, I have to tell the EDID to "use output 1" which is the Denon 4k 7.1 Atmos receiver.
MC is happy with seeing the Denon for most files, but there are still some it gives the message. I have theater view option that changes the output to 2.0. We do that for the single episode, and then hopefully remember to switch it back.
It is very frustrating. I have had to go with HDMI, since Spdif can't do 7.1 or Atmos. I get the same delays as the original poster for music (will try padding it with silence... that should wreck havoc on my crossfade settings.)
Also volume normalization seems to ignore the DTS music files and passes them at full volume, where normal 2.0 music is much quieter. Lots of dashes to the volume knob if we intermix DTS with 2.0. I just love the DTS stuff though...
I wish the dreaded "cannot start play on selected device" message would tell me why. What does it think I am missing. Either setting for the EDID switch should provide all the playback capabilities needed for ANY file, but MC isn't happy sometimes.
Don

[tbng]

Glory hallelujah!  Thank you.  I was able to establish auto switching of zones, and danged if it doesn't seem to work, i.e., I can switch back and forth between two and multi-channel recordings without changing the zone, although you do need to select the current zone to stop, pause, advanced, etc.  (Any chance that theater view could automatically choose the current zone for display?)

Don't know if this has been discussed here before, but you had better operate JRiver EITHER from its Windows application OR JRemote.  Mix using the two and JRiver gets befuddled, giving you little choice but to bring it down and start all over again.  I use JRemote for general operation and the Windows app only for set-up procedures, so that may not be a practical problem.  But is it a resolvable issue?  Is there another network solution to operate JRiver?  As far as I know, I have the latest (only?) release of JRemote.

On another note, changing from the two-second initial silence I was using to a three-second delay seems, at least initially, to have resolved the handshake problem.  Time will tell.

P.S.  "Source number of channels" absolutely will not work to play a multi-channel recording.  I have to force 5.1 with no upmixing.