[Kaspers]

a-w-e-s-o-m-e

thanks liquidice629 for the update.

[Livin]

that looks fantastic!

what thread should we be discussing multi-zone audio in?

in order to keep it a fully ajax implimentation, couldn't the ajax code have some hooks in it to allow it to pass the current playlist (songs in the queue) to other xboxes when contacted by another ajax interface on another xbox?

this way the user defines the 'zones' (xboxes to use, maybe in xml file) and then when you choose to sync the zones the xbox you are currently using will query the others to get the info. then it pauses all the xboxes, inserts the required playlist, and starts the song in the zones wanting to be sync'd.

even if it starts the current song from the start it is better then waiting for code inside xbmc (if you have no already found someone that can thow it together quickly).

thoughts?

[nsmoller]

discuss this in my thread under feature suggestions called multi-zone audio.

thanks

[LiquidIce629]

i just added in a way to sync playlists between players, however even after having similar playlists, they never accept the 'playlist position 0' command at the same time. and playback between the two units is not synced.

also sorta related.. i have an apple airport express here which can do streaming audio, however i have not found a reliable way to get this to sync with another audio source. i've used the itunes, winamp plugin and the new airfoil to try to sync audio with no success. (it streams great, but does not sync)

[Livin]

what about a 'clock based' sync?

definition (i made this up :d )...
set the players to start at a specified time. this requires the clocks to be sync'd but if they are using "sync with internet" function then they should be lock-step.

[Kick In Da Door]

what about a 'clock based' sync?

definition (i made this up :d )...
set the players to start at a specified time. this requires the clocks to be sync'd but if they are using "sync with internet" function then they should be lock-step.

thats a real nifty idea, i can tell u really want this to work.

is this a windows based program, and can a program like this work outside a lan network, would like to see this program workin on a psp, maybe get it ported.

[pike]

u guys have no idea how hard this is... i kid u not

even if xboxes would output audio in perfect sync (and this is hard in itself) you got variations in the chain after the xbox (amps, speaker cables)

[jiz_king]

just for the record, you will get orders of magnitude longer delays by just changing your position in the room than you would ever get through the amplifier chain.

(unless you are using some studio equipment with adc > heavy dsp > dac)

i imagine getting boxes synced is a big enough challenge though!

[nsmoller]

then the solution is simple...

just be able to control a "master" xbox from any other xbox in the house. it could be a separate input to your tv and directly connected to home audio systems.

i guess thats already in the works tho

[Livin]

multi-zone audio has been done for ages with hardware. having different amps, wires, etc has no real effect on the timing in the 'average' sized home.

i currently have 5 zones in my 2400sqft home. with majorly different wire runs, some 3 times longer then another... no noticable difference in timing of the music.

using xbox there may be a millisecond difference in the music sync... no biggie imo.

[LiquidIce629]

this is not impossible. here is a good writeup on how this can be done:
http://snarfed.org/comments/synchronizing+mp3+playback

if all of the xboxes are synced to the same ntp server and you setup some kind of event to trigger playback at a certain time it might all sync up (as long as the first part of the mp3 has been prebuffered and paused at 0:00 ready for playback at the correct milisecond.)

[Livin]

this is not impossible. here is a good writeup on how this can be done:
http://snarfed.org/comments/synchronizing+mp3+playback

if all of the xboxes are synced to the same ntp server and you setup some kind of event to trigger playback at a certain time it might all sync up (as long as the first part of the mp3 has been prebuffered and paused at 0:00 ready for playback at the correct milisecond.)

cool... i cannot wait to see the results!

[thor918]

there should be some api added, so that your app can setup
timeserver to sync from, instead of a setup on each box.

[LiquidIce629]

believe me there are lots of api calls i wish i had.. search for example being a biggie. a skin on the xbox can access the dosearch function but not my ajax.

i want to create a search-as-you-type interface for searching the music library.

i was just poking through the source code and found what we might be able to use to get access to this command from the httpapi: cguiwindowmusicnav::dosearch

i will gladly make the web interface to do the searching if someone could modify the httpapi code to get me access to that function.

a shuffle/randomize playlist api call would also come in handy :agree:

[thor918]

you could access the playlist stuff trough python, but that would require you to put a python file on the webserver.

i recently discovered what spyce is all about(python server pages).

just save python code as spy files on the webserver folder, and place a http get at that file using your ajax client  
http://spyce.sourceforge.net/docs/eg.html

but still. it would be nice to get some more api.
like the timesync setup.

maby you should try post some api-feature request at sourceforge, so that you get all the api's you need to get your ideas implanted.

not sure if it's interesting, but here is a python file to turn the shuffle playlist on.
shuffle.spy
funny thing that it isn't any api in python to turn the shuffle off :p
and there is non for the randomize function.