Synced Audio Stream on multiple HD-200 extenders

[azsndvl]

If I started to play an audio stream on my HD-200 extender in my living room, via my server (a file stored on my WHS/SageTV server), is it possible for me to play the same stream (synced) on my other extenders in my home?

EX. I would like to have the ability to select an already streaming audio file, via another extender in the home, as if I am tapping into it, so it is synced between rooms, vs being "unsynced" (starting individually). Is this is even possible?

I tried the "now playing" button, but it seems to be only localized to the extender itself and does not see the streamed file that is playing on my other extender.

FYI, I'm runing SageMC /SageTV latest beta versions.

thanks.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by azsndvl

If I started to play an audio stream on my HD-200 extender in my living room, via my server (a file stored on my WHS/SageTV server), is it possible for me to play the same stream (synced) on my other extenders in my home?

EX. I would like to have the ability to select an already streaming audio file, via another extender in the home, as if I am tapping into it, so it is synced between rooms, vs being "unsynced" (starting individually). Is this is even possible?

I tried the "now playing" button, but it seems to be only localized to the extender itself and does not see the streamed file that is playing on my other extender.

FYI, I'm runing SageMC /SageTV latest beta versions.

thanks.

No-not synced. That is not a feature of SageTV.

Gerry

[Target]

Howdy all,

I'm using Sage as a distributed video system in my house (as I think the Media Extenders were meant to make possible). I've got pausing in one room and playing in another figured out (using CQC as the automation software behind that), but not syncing yet. Is it possible to sync multiple extenders to play together? Kind of important for things like the Super bowl where we will have 2 or 3 TVs going at once, and likely be able to hear them against each other. I am guessing Live tv won't be too hard, but how about recordings?

Target

* merged *

[Target]

Is there any chance if it someday being a feature? This would put it directly equal in feature set to products coming out from major cable manufacturers.

Target

[gplasky]

There's always a chance. But it hasn't happened yet and we're going on version 6.5 soon.

Gerry

[nick_l]

this is a feature that I would like to have as well.

Nick

[QueOnda]

Me also!!!

[Brent]

Would be nice for video/tv as well as music playback. Sonos and Squeezebox do this for audio - would make a very nice feature addition to the HD200s.

[Target]

Can someone pipe in with the likelihood of such a feature? I have no idea how technically difficult it would be. Are we talking 12 hours worth of work to get this into a firmware update, or 1200?

Target

[trueno]

Send a feature request to sage through the proper form...

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Target

Can someone pipe in with the likelihood of such a feature? I have no idea how technically difficult it would be. Are we talking 12 hours worth of work to get this into a firmware update, or 1200?

Target

I used to use a program called Xlobby for this, that could output a stream to multiple PC's. Unfortunately the main issue was that every computer would process the audio at a slightly different pace (depending on the sound card) and the audio would slowly drift.

The easiest way (for audio anyway) would be to create a sort of Shouldcast Radio Station on the server and then have your clients pull in that audio stream. This would keep the audio almost perfect at all times. I don't use the online services on my extender, but do they have the ability to pull in online audio streams? I also haven't played with shoutcast in a long time.

My audio solution was just to have my server hooked to a composite 7 way amp and then to several low powered amplifiers that fed speakers to my house and then I just logged intot he server using VNC and ran Winamp. The disadvantage of this rudimentary setup is that its all or nothing (can't do zoned audio).

[sandor]

I use Apple Airport Express' - you can pick up the older 802.11/g version on ebay for $20. I have an audio zone on the first floor one on the second floor and one on the roof. This is part of the reason i have stuck to iTunes for music...paired with the iTunes remote on my iPhone, and i have synced music all over the house, fully controllable by my phone.

[bjkiller]

i thinking better to ask HD200/HD100 to support SqueezeCenter (as Squeeze Player). so you will able to manage SquuezeCenter to sync all your audio players (HD100,HD200,SqueezeBoom, SlimBoxes, etc...).also to use all plugins that present in SqueezeCenter - XM Radio, and many many others

[CollinR]

For audio you can plug an MVP into a free encoder port and map it as a channel. Then all clients just watch that channel live, whatever you command that MVP to do will be reflected on all clients watching it's output.

Obviously for HD the cost jumps quite a bit! But if you are converting from MVPs to HD extenders you might have an extra MVP just laying around!

[Target]

Why does the price jump a bit?

Target

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by CollinR

For audio you can plug an MVP into a free encoder port and map it as a channel. Then all clients just watch that channel live, whatever you command that MVP to do will be reflected on all clients watching it's output.

Obviously for HD the cost jumps quite a bit! But if you are converting from MVPs to HD extenders you might have an extra MVP just laying around!

But if you do this, the audio won't be perfectly in sync to all devices. I know that it will be close, but it won't be perfect. If I start listening/watching in my living room and then go to the bedroom, the extender in there will start at the beginning of the recording (which could be as much as 2 hours ago). I can fast forward to the beginning of the buffer, but it may not be perfectly at the same spot (within a half second probably, but it won't be exactly the same spot).

[david1234]

Originally Posted by bjkiller

i thinking better to ask HD200/HD100 to support SqueezeCenter (as Squeeze Player). so you will able to manage SquuezeCenter to sync all your audio players (HD100,HD200,SqueezeBoom, SlimBoxes, etc...).also to use all plugins that present in SqueezeCenter - XM Radio, and many many others

This would be nice- the music part of Sage is really weak in comparison. It would be really nice to plug sage into squeezecenter, rather than having to manage yet another music manager. It would also allow me to save the cost of a squeezebox if I already have an extender in that location.

[MrFusion]

Hmmm...

I would expect this to be a relatively straightforward addition for the clever team at Sage

I suggest a 'live stream' mode whereby the server sends a single stream via multicast. Each HD200 subscribes to the multicast group & (glossing over all the hard bits)... voila, nicely synced audio/video everywhere.

Assuming all the HD200s are the same hardware revision and firmware (or Sage implement a strict scheduling algorithm), everything should be more-or-less ok. Whilst there might, maybe, be some slight drift between units, I wouldn't expect this to be as significant as, say, the simple delay experienced when moving between two perfectly synced sound sources which are some distance apart...

Mind you, you might notice more of an issue with video playback as different combinations of TV / plasma / AMP tend to also buffer a little (as opposed to traditional audio amp), but this would be fairly easy to fix with a simple 'delay adjust' function in 'live stream' mode.

[SilentBob]

I've been contemplating this same problem in my setup as I prepare to expand it to multiple units.

One thing that I was considering....
SageTV is currently running headless on a windows home server.

I was thinking about getting a hauppage hd pvr and connecting it to the video card of the server. To then run Boxee on the server and map that stream as a tuner in Sage.

That way, to play a synced video I'd play it via the Boxee "tuner"

Any thoughts on this idea?

[Fuzzy]

that still wouldnt' get it synced up. You would have to start watching the stream on all the extenders at exactly the same time. I suppose with the web-ui, you could program some sort of program that would transmit the play command to all extenders at the same time, which would minimize the drift, but it's still not going to be as smooth as a true whole house zoned distribution system.

I think the best solution, in the end, would be some sort of sage plugin where you could control audio playabck on a central device (like the server). Then, also have the plugin capable of controlling the volume/enablement of it's applicable zone. Not perfect, but i think it's the only way you're going to get sync'd audio. Sage's design is just not suitable for this on its own.