Hi All,
I am currently in the process of trying to design a strategy to write a client/server media player for my home.
I have seen various commercial solutions such as Sonos and Squeezebox etc. But apart from being very expensive I also don't think they work in the way I want to.
What I want is a client application that communicates through some kind of remoting process to a server application on the music server. There could be many instances of this client application on PC's and mobile devices such as PDA's and smart phones etc.
On the music server there could be multiple sound cards so the capability of playing different music in different zones is an option.
Why I am posting this is simply to ask what my best options and methodologies would be.
I recently spoke to Sacha Barber via regarding this matteras he has wrote a similar client/server application with great results. The only thing is that his solution is purely a single zone solution. Mainly down to Windows Media Player not being capable of playing to more than one zones and multiple instances of Windows Media Player not being possible if I am wrong on this please correct me (I believe WMP classic might be possible to have more that 1 instance running).
One thing that Sacha suggested was to look at using DirectX to be able to manipulate what sound card is used etc. Any suggestions and links on this would be appreciated.
From what I have read WinAmp is capable of having multiple instance running. But I am not sure if you can set a different sound card for each instance.
What I am asking for is if anyone has any good suggestions, starting tips or links they would recommend to assisit me in researching this.
Any help is truly appreciated.
Many thanks, Dave.
I am currently in the process of trying to design a strategy to write a client/server media player for my home.
I have seen various commercial solutions such as Sonos and Squeezebox etc. But apart from being very expensive I also don't think they work in the way I want to.
What I want is a client application that communicates through some kind of remoting process to a server application on the music server. There could be many instances of this client application on PC's and mobile devices such as PDA's and smart phones etc.
On the music server there could be multiple sound cards so the capability of playing different music in different zones is an option.
Why I am posting this is simply to ask what my best options and methodologies would be.
I recently spoke to Sacha Barber via regarding this matteras he has wrote a similar client/server application with great results. The only thing is that his solution is purely a single zone solution. Mainly down to Windows Media Player not being capable of playing to more than one zones and multiple instances of Windows Media Player not being possible if I am wrong on this please correct me (I believe WMP classic might be possible to have more that 1 instance running).
One thing that Sacha suggested was to look at using DirectX to be able to manipulate what sound card is used etc. Any suggestions and links on this would be appreciated.
From what I have read WinAmp is capable of having multiple instance running. But I am not sure if you can set a different sound card for each instance.
What I am asking for is if anyone has any good suggestions, starting tips or links they would recommend to assisit me in researching this.
Any help is truly appreciated.
Many thanks, Dave.