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[DWAnderson]

Are there any plans/thoughts about adding support for the the "Play To" features in Windows 7 to MC?

The functionality is described here: http://gizmodo.com/5146859

Ideally I would be able to use an iPod Touch to control MC sitting on a server (which functionality I believe now exists via a third party app), that would then "Play To" any DLNA device (e.g. a Roku Soundbridge) on my home network.

That would make for a less expensive, superior, more open, more expandable and more flexible alternative to what Sonos on Squeezebox products.

[Rob L]

I have to admit, the "play to" stuff in Windows 7 is excellent.
It works really well. Not only can you "play to" DLNA devices, but you can also do it TO Windows Media Player (i.e. one PC can push the music to another)

It's the main reason I'm likely to upgrade all my PCs to Windows 7 pretty much straight away.

[DWAnderson]

Are there any plans/thoughts about adding support for the the "Play To" features in Windows 7 to MC?

The functionality is described here: http://gizmodo.com/5146859

Ideally I would be able to use an iPod Touch to control MC sitting on a server (which functionality I believe now exists via a third party app), that would then "Play To" any DLNA device (e.g. a Roku Soundbridge) on my home network.

That would make for a less expensive, superior, more open, more expandable and more flexible alternative to what Sonos on Squeezebox products.

Any plans for this?

[DWAnderson]

bump

[steveklein]

i agree. i'm assuming the dev team is just now starting to look at windows 7 though. hopefully it will be coming down the pipe; it could be really powerful.

[JimH]

MC already supports several different networked ways to play.  Please take a look at the entries for "Servers" and "Remotes" on our wiki:

http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/Category:Frequently_Asked_Questions

DLNA is a superset of UPnP, but they are very close.  MC has a DLNA setting in the UPnP server.

[Rob L]

Yeah, but this is just a new version of that old chestnut of being able to control the playback from a PC and send it to other devices (i.e a control point in UPnP world). MC obviously doesn't currently support anything like that.

[JimH]

Something like this?
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=52261.0

[JimH]

To continue on the "control point" subject ....

In UPnP parlance, there are three pieces:

1.  A UPnP "Device"  (roughly equivalent to MC's Library Server) where media content is stored.

2.  A UPnP "Renderer"  (equivalent to MC as a Library Server client OR a special UPnP/DLNA box) where media is played.

3.  A UPnP "Control Point" where selections are made.

In our case, 2 and 3 are combined.  The use case for a separate control point isn't very strong in my opinion.

For example, if you have a DLNA compatible TV (they are coming soon), it should be able to connect to an MC UPnP Server.  Controlling it with a remote is nice, but is a "control point" the right answer?  I don't think it matters as long as it is simple enough to use and works well.

[Rob L]

For me, a control point is REALLY helpful. My Soundbridges are great, but I now have SO many albums, it's just not feasible to browse through them all reasonably on a soundbridge display.

On the other hand, a laptop with a proper screen (or better, a tablet with nice touch screen to flick around) and keyboard provides a MUCH better interface to browse and queue up the music. Much better than I'm ever going to get on a simple device. Of course, I could just plug the laptop into the amp/speakers and play it direct, but that doesn't help if I want to carry on using the laptop...

I have quite a few laptops that I can use round the house as control points...

[CadErik]

I haven't had much luck with MC remote control - the download of the remote library always fails. This approach seems much more heavyweight than the win 7 "push" approach. In any case, a win 7 compatibility would be really nice and would allow pushing audio to XP or vista. Another major advantage is that the windows uPNP stuff works with DRMed media.

[JimH]

I haven't had much luck with MC remote control - the download of the remote library always fails.

Maybe a firewall or routing issue.  Please start a thread with details if you need help.  Library Server works.

[)p(]

 Controlling it with a remote is nice, but is a "control point" the right answer?  I don't think it matters as long as it is simple enough to use and works well.

I think it is for upnp audio solutions...like the above mentioned soundbridge...using mc's gui as the control point to select items serves the same function as the tremote functionality you guy''s added to mc14...


peter

[DWAnderson]

Glad to see more discussion of this.

I couldn't really follow some of the discussion, however. Is it possible to have MC cause (i.e. controlled frmo MC, rather than the Soundbridge accessing the MC UPnP server and doing navigation on the Soundbridge) audio files to play on a Soundbridge right now using UPNP? Am I mistaken? If so, how is that done?

I did not think that was possible currently, thus the interest in Win 7's "Play To" functionality.

[)p(]

Glad to see more discussion of this.

I couldn't really follow some of the discussion, however. Is it possible to have MC cause (i.e. controlled frmo MC, rather than the Soundbridge accessing the MC UPnP server and doing navigation on the Soundbridge) audio files to play on a Soundbridge right now using UPNP? Am I mistaken? If so, how is that done?

I did not think that was possible currently, thus the interest in Win 7's "Play To" functionality.

You can now select songs on your soundbridge (control point) and play (renderer) them through your soundbridge. You cannot select the songs with the mc gui because mc can not act as a control point.

peter

[DWAnderson]

You can now select songs on your soundbridge (control point) and play (renderer) them through your soundbridge. You cannot select the songs with the mc gui because mc can not act as a control point.

peter

Given that, I'll return to my initial question: is "Play To" functionality something that J River is looking at putting into Media Center?

The case for the separate control point (or Play To functionality) is as follows:

• the user interface on a PC (or other device controlling the PC) is better than that on most DLNA/UPnP renderers (e.g. Soundbridge)
• many people do not have a PC connected to a good audio amplifier, but do have a DLNA/UPnP device connected to such an amplifier
• with the functionality described, people could use Media Center to select media for playback on another connected DLNA/UPnP device
• people are pretty exceited about this new functionality in Windows 7, why not let MC join the party?

[Rob L]

you can come close to this as follows:

- install Jamcast alongside MC
- have Jamcast stream the audio from your soundcard
- queue up and play the music in MC
- connect to the jamcast "virtual soundcard" stream from your renderer

This obviously isn't perfect as it relies on your PC playing the audio through its soundcard.

The only other way I can think of that you can get close to this is to install some PC-based UPnP control point software (e.g. Cidero) but that's different again - you obviously still don't get the direct, rich interface of MC.

[jmone]

For example, if you have a DLNA compatible TV (they are coming soon), it should be able to connect to an MC UPnP Server.  

You can connect to MC's UPnP server but you are limited on what can be played by the "Renderer" (eg the DLNA TV) as in the current implementation of MC you will be able to:
Audio: Play all audio formats regardless of file type support as MC supports transcoding of Audio Files  (eg you can play your FLAC files on the TV/Renderer as MC will transcode to MP3 and stream them on the fly!)
Video:  Unfortunatly, MC is yet to implement transcoding of Video Files  (eg you can only play files that your TV/Renderer will support, eg MC will not currently transcode a MKV to MPG and stream them on the fly).

[JimH]

Any plans for this?

Probably.

Here's a related thread:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=55278.msg375974#msg375974