thinking about new av receiver

[Marie.O]

Me neither. I guess one could get the mux part working, however, all receivers that I know, do not have the ability to define multiple zones from a single digital stream. You might be able to output sound to each of the speakers, but wont be able to change the volume using zone volume commands.

[totallymaxed]

Me neither. I guess one could get the mux part working, however, all receivers that I know, do not have the ability to define multiple zones from a single digital stream. You might be able to output sound to each of the speakers, but wont be able to change the volume using zone volume commands.

I've never seen a receiver that can define a multiple zones from a single stream either and yes volume control would be a problem too.

[Esperanto]

Is it a problem if the channels and volume are handled by the stream? When a zone is not active the audio for that channel in the stream is just silent although the receiver is on and playing the other channels.

[Marie.O]

esperanto: Why don't you just try out what happens when you do this manually, ie. outside the LinuxMCE scope. And if you have success with it, detail what you've done.

[Esperanto]

esperanto: Why don't you just try out what happens when you do this manually, ie. outside the LinuxMCE scope. And if you have success with it, detail what you've done.

cause I don't have a receiver with ethernet yet (mine are still from the RS-232 age). However on my desktop I use a hdmi cable to my amp which has 7.1 and by selecting a virtual output on my desktop I can select which channel of the 7.1 is playing sound. So if an amp can stream 7.1 / 9.2 then the only question is what is the best way to stream that to the amp and to control and automate that. Starts to sound like a nice feature ;-).

[Alblasco1702]

esperanto
Can you please explain this more as i read it you want to use one receiver for multiple areas at the same time and the audio came from a HDMI connection, and have splitted the audio for multiple zones trough the same HDMI cable?

[totallymaxed]

cause I don't have a receiver with ethernet yet (mine are still from the RS-232 age). However on my desktop I use a hdmi cable to my amp which has 7.1 and by selecting a virtual output on my desktop I can select which channel of the 7.1 is playing sound. So if an amp can stream 7.1 / 9.2 then the only question is what is the best way to stream that to the amp and to control and automate that. Starts to sound like a nice feature ;-).

The problem is that if you inject a 5.1 or 7.1 signal into your Amp over HDMI (or optical, Coax) you have no volume control over the individual channels that make up that signal.

Andy

[Esperanto]

esperanto
Can you please explain this more as i read it you want to use one receiver for multiple areas at the same time and the audio came from a HDMI connection, and have splitted the audio for multiple zones trough the same HDMI cable?

Correct

[Esperanto]

The problem is that if you inject a 5.1 or 7.1 signal into your Amp over HDMI (or optical, Coax) you have no volume control over the individual channels that make up that signal.

I am using pulseaudio. there you can make a virtual device for each channel and then control the volume of that channel. Off course then you not using the volume of the receiver (maybe with some smart calculation that can be linked together).

[totallymaxed]

I am using pulseaudio. there you can make a virtual device for each channel and then control the volume of that channel. Off course then you not using the volume of the receiver (maybe with some smart calculation that can be linked together).

...thats the point you can't control the Amp gain levels for discrete channels or pairs of channels especially as the Amp is receiving a 5.1/7.1 signal down the HDMI (I assume?)

Andy

[Esperanto]

...thats the point you can't control the Amp gain levels for discrete channels or pairs of channels especially as the Amp is receiving a 5.1/7.1 signal down the HDMI (I assume?)

Isn't it possible to link the software volume control to the hardware volume control in a sense that when one of the software volume levels is at max level it will increase the hardware volume and decrease the software volume of the other (not being increase) channels so they stay at the same actual audible audio level?

[RayBe]

re: thinking about a new av receiver,
If you want to integrate the receiver in the best possible way, make sure you choose a receiver with a well documented ip/rs232-protocol.
http://www.awe-europe.com/ir_232.html can be of help.
After this i would recommend using www to find some thrusted reviews.
In the end review them yourself by listening, ask your dealer to set some up.
Tip: the marantz line-up from 2013 gets great reviews, the control protocol is well documented (almost the same as the denon-protocol) and the can be bought with great discount atm.

[totallymaxed]

Isn't it possible to link the software volume control to the hardware volume control in a sense that when one of the software volume levels is at max level it will increase the hardware volume and decrease the software volume of the other (not being increase) channels so they stay at the same actual audible audio level?

I can't see that working to be honest. But even if it could be made to work the only advantage I can see is that all the signals are transmitted down a single cable. It seems a lot of complexity for no real gain.

[Esperanto]

I can't see that working to be honest. But even if it could be made to work the only advantage I can see is that all the signals are transmitted down a single cable. It seems a lot of complexity for no real gain.

Personally I am even happy with a fixed volume on the device and relative software volumes. To me it seems like a huge gain; one utp cable is everywhere (and for people who do not care about wifi disadvantages they even don't need one at all) and pulling tons of cables and possibly introducing additional (sound) hardware and diminished quality (you probably know the requirements for audio cables when used on longer distances) seems like a lot of trouble if it can be done with a bit of software. Of course that first needs to be made ;-). To bad I don't have an IP receiver otherwise I could test it a bit.

[acald]

Just a side point toward the original post.

there are a few out there now that will handle multiple hdmi out with audio to match. it just depends on how much you want to spend.  The onkyo 838 has two video zones and a third audio zone.

If you want wired whole house audio inexpensively and relatively easy to install, the channel vision a-bus system works well to give you audio in each room hanging off one of the zones on the receiver or a stereo output from linuxmce.  then you have a local volume control in each room.  you can't control the volume with the orbiters but it is very simple for just background music or jamming cleaning music (WAF)