Hello there,

Following on from the previous thread discussing my initial proposal I am ready to make a first beta release!

Some release notes and warnings, in no particular order.

• Pre-requisites: Windows Media Player 10, .NET Framework 2.0
• Distribution Server: Controls the different clients, can only run on one computer, includes Basic Client.
• Basic Client: Ugly client for receiving commands from the Distribution Server, can be installed and run on multiple computers at the same time (in fact that is the point!).
• The audio synchronisation relies on VERY accurate clock synchronisation.  As a result the installation process disables the Windows Time service and replaces it with a more accurate service based on the open source NTP packages.
• It may take between 5 and 20 minutes for the NTP services to properly synchronise clocks before the MZone applications will run.
• Do not install both packages on the same computer.
• This initial release does not contain full error handling, so expect inelegant crashes at some points.
• All computers play MP3s at different speeds, so although they all start in sync they will drift by the end of the track.  Pressing the Unpause button will resync the clients if required.

Installation instructions for Server:

• Choose a computer to act as the server, run the MzoneDistributionServerSetup.exe file.
• Follow the onscreen instructions.
• Wait for clock synchronisation to complete.
• Run the Distribution Server, type in the UNC path to your mp3s.  This path must be accessible to the server and all clients.

Installation instructions for Clients:

• Run the MZoneBasicClientSetup.exe file.
• Follow the onscreen instructions, typing in the IP address of the server you previously installed.
• Wait for clock synchronisation to complete.
• Run the Basic Client.

Usage Instructions:

• Pressing the Browse button will take you to your MP3's, select one.
• Once clients have connected, push the start button.
• Pause the clients, by pressing Pause.
• Unpause or resync the clients by pressing UnPause.

Some Pictures:

Distribution Server:

Basic Client:

 

And finally the download links:

http://www.orangefrenzy.co.uk/mzone/mzonedistributionserversetup.exe

http://www.orangefrenzy.co.uk/mzone/mzonebasicclientsetup.exe

 

Enjoy, and as per usual, please provide feedback/bugs and I'll try and help

Ta,

Dan.

Well done Dan - haven't tried it yet, but if you've cracked this you're on to a winner.

Cheers,
Andy

Hi,

This weekend I will move on to the task of creating a Media Center interface.  I think I will do the following, but I am interested in any other ideas you may have!

• Create a plug-in that sets up the Media Center to act as a client and server.
• Create a new menu item called Multi Zone that initially will ask you which zone you wish to control and then present you with the regular My Music screen for the zone you have selected.
• Create an additional button on this screen to allow you to synchronise this room with another from a drop down list.

Any comments welcome.

Dan

Sounds like a great start.

I'm excited to see this as an MCE interface.

 

Randy

I'm going to post a few concept "artists impression" images of the interface over the next few days.

First one here:

Feedback welcome,

Dan.

Hi Dan,

I know that you're focused on multiple clients at this time, but do you have any time frame for using MZone with a multi-channel sound card instead?

Thanks,

John

Yes, definite plans for this, hopefully make it into the next version.

Great! Thanks Dan.

I like the layout of MCE interface in progress. I will have to get this installed and give it a try.

i tried installing this and i got both working on the machines and they connect and then the client crashes. I've been following this project since the first post and would love to get it working.

Hi Dan,

Great work on the Beta release ...

I Played a bit around with the client/server Setup, and from what i have seen till now it looks like a winner!

I did some testing with 1-2-3 and 4 clients:

- The 1 and 2 client setup is working fine, 4 out of 5 times i get a perfect sync

- The 3 clients i only got working once ... The Sync was much harder and workt only 1 out of 5 times ...After that the third client kept showing the Time Sync warning ... So game over

- The 4 client setup i never got working (my fault i think) ...

My setup consists of 4 notebooks:

1: HP Notebook (server and client), Wifi, MediaPlayer 10 (OK)

2: Asus Notebook (client), Wifi, MediaPlayer 9 <-- Workt fine (OK)

3: IBM Notebook (client), wifi, MediaPlayer 10 <-- worked only once (fail)

4: Clone Notebook (client) LAN, Mediaplayer 9 <-- never worked (fail)

I'm following the evolutions on the Xlobby project ... but they never got it really working. It seems they have a lot of difference on the audio source you are using (MP3, Streaming, CD, ...) Not sure why that is? maybe you can apply that in a next version ... so you can see if there is any difference ...

For more info on the Xlobby project, you can take a look at: http://www.xlobby.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3714&highlight=multi+zone

Cant wait to do some more testing

Keep up the good work! GreetZ David 

Hi David,

Thanks for taking the time to try this out and for providing such a comprehensive report!

The time synchronisation is the slowest bit in the loop, it would be interesting to see if your experiences were different today or tomorrow after the clocks drifted more into sync with each other.

What was the time sync warning you were getting from Client 3?  And what were the problems with Client 4?

It's been a while since a release, I've been dead busy so thanks for sticking with me!

The XLobby project seems to have gone down the same route as me in terms of algorithms, although they appear to be having problems with buffering lengths in winamp or foobar, which I have not stumbled across in media player, yet anyway.

Let me know how you get along,

Dan.

Hi,

veeery cool stuff. Any news about the MCE frontend?

Cheers
Malte

Hi Dan,

Sorry for the late replay ... had a bit of a buzzy week.

I have had no time to do some more testing, but it would be nice to tell us a bit more about the working of the sync service. You sad that it would be intresting to see if there is any difference in the synchronization after some time ... Can I conclude that the "Network Time Protocol" is talking to the other clients on the network ... sinds the service is always running?

I did not keep records of the Time Sync Reports ... i have to get back to that one ...

There could be more than 1 problem with client4, it is the notebook that is the least OK ... It runs WinXP and never had any updates it was still running MediaPlayer 9 i think (allthou that seems to work fine). I will tray to do some more testing ... and figure out what could be the problem.

If i get the chanse to sneek of the notebook of my girlfriend i can do some more muliple client test

Keep you posted, and good luck whit the process!

David

 

Dan, looks like this app has huge potential. Any progress on the multichannel sound card verison? It would be great to outfit the house I am building with such a device!