Newbie Multizone Question

[edwinbonneau]

Ive held out for to long. I've tried and tried to read up on this but i cant seem to figure it out. I have two zones of winamp set up. I can start them both up outside of xlobby and listen to two different things, however inside of xlobby i cant seem to get the settings right. I have the zones setup in the basic setup screen. Is there more i have to do? im sorry to ask such a lame question. I have really put in a lot of hours looking for an answer but im getting really tired. thanks to anyone who can provide help.

[hjackson]

I don't have enough info on your setup so I'll just throw out some basic questions.
How many soundcards/devices do you have in your HTPC?
Are the Winamps set up for "Allow multiple instances" in the Winamp preferences section?
In your Xlobby basic setup screen, does each Winamp zone have a different folder name?
In the Winamp Options>Preference>Plugins>Output section , does each Winamp instance have a different device (soundcard) in the configuration window?
Are you playing files that are digitally copyrighted?
Exactly what is happening when you try to use the multizone feature in Xlobby?
Good luck!

hjackson

[alaricljs]

To add to what HJackson said, do you have a skin that supports zones?

You need to be able to switch between the zones in your skin and add to each zones playlist.

[edwinbonneau]

Yes yes and yes. I have two sound cards installed and i can start up two instances of winamp...but only outside of xlobby. I have two different folders...d:zones/livingroom d:zones/bedroom. I can get it to work outside of xlobby. i am using the default skin alpha 40 with only minor mods to the skin. non that i would think would affect the multizone. Tell me this, what does a multiple zone setup look like. In alpha 40 i can select different zones but nothing ever happens. I only get music though my primary zone (livingroom) also two instances of winamp does not load up on xlobby startup...is that an issue?

[edwinbonneau]

Oh yeah and i really appreciate you guys for taking some time out for me. thanks

[alaricljs]

If 2 instances of winamp don't start with XLobby and you have 2 zones configured, something is wrong. I'm going to repeat a whole bunch of stuff, but it just might help. At the end, I'll explain what zones 'look' like.

With nothing else running, startup 1 of your zone's winamp exe's and make sure it has "allow multiple instances" checked. check it's output settings make sure they are sending to the correct card. Close this winamp.

Now do the same with each of your other zones verifying that multiple instances is allowed, and the correct soundcard is selected.

Then startup all your winamp zones manually and play different files through each simultaneously. If this works, winamp is fine.

Now we move on to XLobby. Start it up, bring up your task bar and check for the correct number of winamp's. Hit F2, under the General tab verify that you have your zones listed correctly. Mine is:

C:\Winamp Zones\Living Room\winamp.exe
C:\Winamp Zones\Kitchen\winamp.exe
C:\Winamp Zones\Basement\winamp.exe

Correct this if necessary. Close down everything and restart XLobby, check for the correct number of winamp's again.


Now in a working multi-zone setup what you *see* depends on the skin you are using. Basically you need to find the screen or overlay that allows you to switch between zones. Remember that until you sync your zones, or seperately create playlists for your zones, you'll never hear anything but the first zone.

If you queue up a bunch of music, then hit the zone synchronize button you should end up with the same music coming out of all your zones. If you then switch to a zone (other than the one that started everything) and hit stop, it will stop *that* zone only. If you wanted you could then queue up a seperate playlist for that 1 zone.

So the good news is: you can have several zones sync'd together and several zones playing their own thing if you take the right steps. Bad news is there's only 1 sync group, only 1 playlist will be synchronized.

Hope this helps, I just got into multi-zone myself. Hopefully you haven't run into something similar to what I did. I have a Revo 7.1 card that I thought I could use for multiple zones. Can't happen. Altho I just figured out a way it *might* I'll have to test when I get home, would only allow for 2 stereo pairs tho. Ah well....

[edwinbonneau]

I have gotten everything working untill i go into the music section of the alpha 40 skin. I can only hear music out of my main listening zone. Livingroom. i have set up everything else just like you listed but still nothing inside of zlobby. should only one winamp open upon xlobby startup or should all my instances open up when i open xlobby. What i mean is that if i minimize xlobby should i see one winamp in the task menu or should i see 2 winamps, one for each zone open?

[alaricljs]

You should see as many winamps as you have zones.

BTW - also make sure that if you are using winamp 5 that you have enabled the classic interface. I'm not totally certain it helps, but it's got a quicker response on startup and takes less resources.

[edwinbonneau]

ive done everything that you have said. I actually had it all set up like that before i even started this thread. if anyone has any more advice i would deffinatly appreciate it. Thanks for the info thus far alaricljs.

[hjackson]

Xlobby will open up each Winamp that is listed in the Setup. If you have the Winamp locations set up correctly, but it only loads one, then it means that there is a problem with your Winamp installs.
Did you do a FULL and COMPLETE install of Winamp in each of your folders?
As well, can you post your Xlobby.xml file for us?

hjackson

[edwinbonneau]

I will give you my xlobby.xml but im not at home right now it will be later. I thought the only thing you had to do for winamp was to COPY the files to a new directory and then go into each winamp zone and configure.

[alaricljs]

Simply copying them has worked for me on 2 different machines (development and production *smirk*).

[edwinbonneau]

here is my .xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xlobby>
<skin>Test Skin</skin>
<popuphelp>True</popuphelp>
<loadhttpimages>True</loadhttpimages>
<monitor>0</monitor>
<deamonlocation></deamonlocation>
<deamondrive></deamondrive>
<xmltvChannels>12</xmltvChannels>
<xmltvHours>2</xmltvHours>
<slideShowSpeed>5</slideShowSpeed>
<startServerAddress></startServerAddress>
<startInServerMode>False</startInServerMode>
<startInClientMode>False</startInClientMode>
<connectServerAddress></connectServerAddress>
<startUpScreen>menu</startUpScreen>
<offlinedrive></offlinedrive>
<playButtonSounds>False</playButtonSounds>
<increasesmallerresolution>True</increasesmallerresolution>
<customresolution>auto</customresolution>
<location>0,0</location>
<sizeable>False</sizeable>
<irplugin></irplugin>
<hideaudioplayer>False</hideaudioplayer>
<animations>False</animations>
<language>none</language>
<databases>
</databases>
<audioplayers>
<audioplayer volume="37">D:\Zones\Living Room\Winamp\winamp.exe</audioplayer>
<audioplayer>D:\Zones\Bedroom\Winamp\winamp.exe</audioplayer>
</audioplayers>
</xlobby>

[alaricljs]

Try moving all the winamp stuff 1 directory up. This would mean having *no* winamp directory. Winamp would be residing in:

D:\Zones\Living Room\winamp.exe
D:\Zones\Bedroom\winamp.exe

Then change your config to match and restart.

[edwinbonneau]

you have let me taste victory and it is sweet!!! you are the man! thank you so much for working through this with me i cant thank you enough. i don't know how long i would have messed with this before i figured it out. it works like a charm now. yessssss