Multi zone development

[Chazotta]

Not sure if this has already been covered.

In my humble opinion, the ability to create a STABLE zoning environment for audio, video and other media is the future of front end applications such as Xlobby.

One of the reasons I chose to support Xlobby say over Meedio, was due to the fact that Xlobby already has zone control for audio (allbeit not 100% stable), particularly in the synchronization area.

It would be great to see xlobby developed to the state, whereby you have the ability to walk around your house and have the control and flexibility to play media in any given zone, either independently or in synch with other or all other zones in the house, whether through the use of a PDA, touchscreen etc.

I think that the fat client route is prob more important than thin client, because ultimately people will want to be able to have zone control of video media (in addition to audio) and so having a physical PC in each zone is prob going to be a requirement.

[briands]

----------------------

I think that the fat client route is prob more important than thin client, because ultimately people will want to be able to have zone control of video media (in addition to audio) and so having a physical PC in each zone is prob going to be a requirement.

Or maybe "light" clients like a Momotsu 880N or a Roku...

[hjackson]

Chazotta, now that we have an Xlobby webserver, you can now have the thin client display any networked Xlobby server via the webbrowser. This will allow full control of any Xlobby PC in your network on any thin client!! Steven has really opened up a lot of possibilities with this new feature!

hjackson

[Chazotta]

hjackson, is that a feature which is in the current release, or is it still in development and will be incorporated into a future release ?

This is thin client though isn't it, so you have to have multiple (audio) outputs from the server feeding each zone ? How stable is the synchronization of the zones ?

Its not so much the control of the zones which I am suggesting - this Xlobby already does (and the webserver sounds even more fantastic in this respect). It is more the synching of the zones without any perceived latency and with 100% (or close to it) stability. Does/will the webserver improve this ?

regards, Mark

[BaddaBing]

I would second the request for added stability in the Zone function. I have no problems running clients, either thin or thick. What I do have problems with is stability and reliability regarding zones. While multi-zone synch would be nice, right now I would be happy with consistent behaviour. I have clients that 'forget' which zone they are controlling. Changing the zone being controlled often results in locking up the client. So here is my vote for zone stability - BUMP

[stevenhanna6]

yah I've been getting more and more reports of multizone issues. It will be the next thing I look at when I work on the web server some more. Posting multizone issues...or bugs in the bugs section will make me look at this more...sometimes I only login to fix bugs.

[Chazotta]

Any news on this Steve ?

What would be nice is stability for synch and un-synch for zones, plus some guidance as to the methods and options in implementing zone control (ie: thin, fat, XNET) and how it works in the skin.