Synchronized sound?

[hafa]

Both our HTPC system downstairs and my main workstation upstairs have good Logitech 5.1 surround systems and when I manually synch playback of a shared audio file between the machines using remote desktop it really sounds fantastic.

The only problem is that the only way I've found to playback the same audio file in synch is via the laborious manual method, clicking pause on Winamp on either machine until the playback is in synch.

It would be great if I could just slave the speakers of the remote machine to the main workstation, but I've not found a way to do this. It's an either/or thing with remote desktop...

Ideas?

[curtis1552]

Depending on what type of audio card you have depends on your total options.
In general I think you could siphon some of the audio from your PC upstars and send it in one one of the input jacks on the computer downstairs (run the wire to it) From there it could take that audio in and redistribute it to the other speakers in the basement.

The only problem is that there might be a delay in the music in the basement; you might be able to find a program to delay the audio out on your workstation PC to match the delay in the basement

EDIT
Wait, that would also delay the sound to the basement. Bugger.

You could solder up a selectable bridge and some Ys.

Attach a Y to each audio out from your workstation and run them all down to the basement. Set up a selectable Y in which both PC plug in and the basement audio comes out. Have a switch to determine which PC provides the sound.

[hafa]

The distance would likely rule out using direct audio patches, as signal degradation would be an issue. I was hoping to do this via the LAN...

[curtis1552]

I had some time to search the net, and here's what I found.

Advanced Wave LINK (http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/Streaming_wave_audio.asp) - It sends microphone input to another computer, you could plug audio direct from the audio out into the microphone jack and transmit it.

Article on similar topic for Unix/Linux systems LINK (http://www.slenders.be/jonathan/forwarding-audio-and-video) - He looked at some programs for windows but they didn't work properly; his conclusion says why he didnt' think they would work on Windows. (made in Jan, 2007)

But I FOUND THIS LINK (http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=results&st=adv&soft=e&type%5B%5D=87&f=0&fe=0&linux=1&osx=1&win=1&free=1&com=1&un=1&sf=0&sort=1&rpp=15) - it is a list of programs, skip to the bottom and chack out Audio Tunnel
The price is right!
I'd test it but i don't have my PCs setup like you do yet.


FYI: a general term for what you want is called "tunneling" audio.

[hafa]

Nice find on the audio tunnel software. It requires the installation of the VST Winamp Bridge (http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details/146317) to use it in winamp, but it has a half-second delay in playback which renders it unusable. I'll play around with it in other players and see if they suffer the same issues...

*Edit: hmm... MPC: no plugins, WMP: No VST support. Too bad winamp plugins are exclusive; if I could put a delay on the transmitter of .5s, the problem would be solved. I've contacted the developer at tuppesoft; we'll see what they have to say. It's unlikely a bandwidth issue playing 128kps audio over a Gigalan network.

[curtis1552]

Wiki article HERE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_over_Ethernet)

Too bad you're not using Linux, I've seen quite a bit of software that would bo it in Linux.

This might work, again I don't know if it will have a delay.
Vypress Tonecast Here (http://www.snapfiles.com/get/tonecast.html) (trial - $50 to buy)


What about setting up one PC to stream audio over the network (like an interent radio broadcast but only on your ethernet) and then have BOTH computers stream the broadcast throught the speakers. This should elimiate the lag.
This is slightly different than what I had been thinking before, so I have a new realm of software to look for.

[curtis1552]

Broadwave Internet Audio Streamer LINK (http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/BroadWaveStreamingAudioServer/)

This looks more promising: Net Streamer LINK (http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/NetStreamer_win/)
As does PeerCast - check out the last paragraph LINK (http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/PeerCast_windows/) winamp plug in LINK (http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/PeerCastPlugIn/)

[hafa]

Thanks a lot for the exhaustive research on my behalf, curtis1552. I really appreciate it.

Here's a rundown on my results:


Vypress Tonecast: horrific delay of about 3 seconds; winamp plugin stutters and skips; no go
Broadwave Internet Audio Streamer: At US$179.40, I'll just keep hitting "pause" on Winamp.
Net Streamer: download now requires login; no information on attaining credentials is available
PeerCast: Not available for exclusive LAN use, AFAICS; broadcasts over P2P on the internet whether you like it or not. Since I'm not interested in any visits by the RIAA, that's out...


Let's hope that Audio Tunnel has some feedback, as it's the best of the bunch so far...

[hafa]

Just a quick update for this.

Audio Tunnel has come out with V 1.2 which features adjustable latency. Now that the latency on the receiver can be set to 3ms (an essentially imperceptible delay), the playback is synchronized beautifully.

Tuppesoft (http://www.tuppesoft.com/audiotunnel.html) FTW!