Streaming music

[stomp]

Allow me to post here because I haven't found a clear answer on the forums...

 

I'm looking to build a cheap music network and after having looked at Sonos (cheap I said, forget it...), Logitech & co. I'm now evaluating the possibility offered by Airport Express devices.

 

Is there any way to stream music stored on my unRAID server to my amplifier if the latter is connected to an Airport Express device (which in turn is connected to the same network as unRAID)? Is this feasable to control the streaming via my iPhone? Afterwards if I add another Airport Express in my bedroom, connect it to a Hifi system, would I be able to switch the stream to the bedroom or stream in the living and in the bedroom at the same time?

 

Sorry but this is pretty confusing to me. If I use my PC and iTunes, I know everything's fine but I want to be able to stream even if my PC is shutdown. unRAID will always be up.

 

Thanks.

[eroz]

You might want to start another thread instead of posting in here.  AirVideo and Airport Express are 2 different things, you will get more views/responses if it is on its own.

[stomp]

Thanks to both of you for recommanding to move/moving my post.

[aht961]

Allow me to post here because I haven't found a clear answer on the forums...

 

I'm looking to build a cheap music network and after having looked at Sonos (cheap I said, forget it...), Logitech & co. I'm now evaluating the possibility offered by Airport Express devices.

 

Is there any way to stream music stored on my unRAID server to my amplifier if the latter is connected to an Airport Express device (which in turn is connected to the same network as unRAID)? Is this feasable to control the streaming via my iPhone? Afterwards if I add another Airport Express in my bedroom, connect it to a Hifi system, would I be able to switch the stream to the bedroom or stream in the living and in the bedroom at the same time?

 

Sorry but this is pretty confusing to me. If I use my PC and iTunes, I know everything's fine but I want to be able to stream even if my PC is shutdown. unRAID will always be up.

 

Thanks.

 

If you don't want to use your computer, the best way is to add a media server to unRaid (I use twonky media server - another option is media tomb or Plex). Airvideoserver is good for video, not music. Thereafter, you use your iphone or iPad and various mediaplayers (PlugPlayer, MPPlayerLite, GoodPlayer, BuzzPlayer, etc.) to stream music from unRaid. While playing you can easily choose to which speakers you want to send the output (like dining room 1 AE, room 2 AE etc).

 

Make sure you use a digital audio connection between the AE and your AV receiver (using the digital output of AE not the analog) so the conversion from digital to analog is made via your amplifier not the AE. AE's DAC is not superb. There will be occasional drop-outs (lasting a second or two) while playing and that is entirely the fault of the AE. I have used wireless as well as the wired connection to AE, but could not get rid of these drop-outs entirely. However, that is not unbearable.

 

Hope this helps.

[stomp]

Excellent. I didn't know that was possible. I'll give Twonky a shot. Thanks!

[jgourd]

You can also load a Subsonic server. It has a mode where any web browser can force the server to play the files locally which you can connect to your stereo. In addition you can play through a Roku, iOS devices, and any Flash enabled web browser.

 

http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp

 

 

[aht961]

If you want to have a) both audio and video in one place and b) have beautiful media data such as album covers, film data and etc, c) use only the iOs devices or OsX to stream in addition want to use Air Play (Airport express or Imac/mini with air server installed or Apple TV 2nd gen), then PLEX is very nice. Twonky is simple and fast, runs in almost every device I used, but does not have all the bells and whistles. The Plex has (the only down side is that you cannot play VIDEO_TS folders without conversion). I have all (air video, twonky and plex) installed for testing purposes. The plex is the sexiest and requires plex client and you need to convert the video to a suitable format (h.264). The air video does online conversion but does not handle subtitles. The twonky is the modest looking, but functions with almost any player and you can choose the audio language as well as the subtitles. If you have a suitable player it functions almost with any client. You can also use any browser - html or flash based.

 

ps: I added a comparison chart to another thread if you are interested: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=17041.0

[jgourd]

I agree, I started using Plex yesterday and it is good. I have to learn a few things about it such as how it handles the deletion of content when that content was deleted outside of Plex.

 

My only problem with it is that there isn't a Linux client or web based way to consume the media. In my house I am using the Roku channel which kinda rocks. For the Linux machines in the house I use Subsonic.