music server

You need a choose a frontend or software interface for the music server, and then determine which infrared receiver works best with it. Here are four of the most commonly used.

1. Xbox Media Center
2. Xlobby
3. Mediaportal
4. Windows Media Center

Each has a slightly different style of cataloging and displaying music databases, and slightly different requirements for your folder hierarchy so I'd recommend reading up as much as you can on each and choosing which one suits you best.

Then you rip your music collection to the format of your choosing (IMO, FLAC and MP3 are the only two that make sense), and make sure everything is tagged properly.

From there, it would theoretically be as simple as connecting the soundcard in the server PC to your zoning amps, and tying its video output into your video distribution network (however your PVR serves all your TVs). Then you teach your learning remote the commands for controlling the frontend.

All of this, however, might be a lot easier if you simply used a portable control device like a smart phone or wireless tablet PC. Then you don't need the TVs on to control music and don't need to worry about the video distribution.

Hope that helps...

Correct. Frontend is another term for software interface. Most frontends (like Windows Media Center) actually have robust "backends" as well, meaning all the software needed to play the various media formats (video, audio, etc.) built in, but some (like the free version of Xlobby) rely on other free or payware to do the playback in the background.


Not exactly. You will need an IR receiver connected to the server, and you will have to be sure the one you buy works well with the frontend you choose. Media Center has branded and generic IR receivers, USB-UIRT works well with Xlobby, etc. You'll have to do some research. Keep in mind that RF (radio frequency) remotes will obviously not work with an IR repeater system, so the receiver has to be IR and you should endeavor to make sure its codes can be taught or loaded into your remote.


As long as your music is cataloged properly, with cover art for each album either inside the tracklist folder or tagged into the music files.


Have at it. Just know that it will be a lot easier to navigate with a frontend.

There are "Windows Media Center" remotes and IR receiver kits all over ebay and computer sites like Newegg and TigerDirect. Here is just one example. Your IR repeater should work fine with these. If you want one remote to also control any other gear you have, you will need to a universal remote like a Harmony or something comparable, and then teach the universal with the MCE remote or use the universal's software to load the relevant codes.

Doesn't Windows Media Center do everything you need? Anything else is going to be dramatically more complex I think.

I'm getting a little confused by your adding in the Marantz, as I seriously doubt it has the ability to output it's front panel display over a video network. You simply run a jack from the soundcard of the server running Media Center into an input of the Marantz, whether that be optical, coaxial, or analog (mini jack > RCA) will be determined by your soundcard's capabilities. The Marantz itself doesn't have to do any of the networking or music management, it just decodes and amplifies the signal. Now, whether it can handle all the zones in your house is another question. Do you also have a mutizone amp?

I am not familiar with your Marantz and cannot offer advice on using it in this fashion. If it is actually capable of networking and displaying enough data about all the audio on your PC to allow you to select individual tracks, albums, etc., then you really don't need a frontend per se, just a networked computer with music files on it. A media center frontend would be infinitely more elegant and user friendly though. Eithe way, it does sound like a nice piece of gear.

If you are capable of displaying the video output of your Media Center pc on every TV in your house, and if you are capable of controlling the media center pc via your IR repeater system (should be as straightforward as positioning the computer and a IR receiver where your IR repeater system can "hit" it), then it's a simple as connecting the audio from the PC to an input on your Marantz. You then control the PC over the IR network, the pc outputs audio, your marantz is the preamp, and your external amps provide the amplification.



If your soundcard has a digital out (optical or spdif), then you would be relying on the DAC (digital-audio converter) in your Marantz and you should have no problem with audio quality.

I am about to head abroad for a few weeks, so unfortunately this is the last post I can make for a while. Hopefully others will chime in if you get stuck. Good luck.

p.s. certain terminology you are using is confusing matters. "Hard drive" does not equal "PC" or "Media Center PC." Though I understood what you meant, others may not. Also, unless you have really specialized, cutting edge TVs, I don't believe Cat-5 alone cannot transfer video. You must have some sort of balun or converter at the end of each Cat-5 run to convert it to a signal most TVs can handle.

It looks like the 8003 is a DLNA Renderer, among other things. That means that it should be able to play music from any DLNA Server.

You can optionally use a DLNA Control as a remote.

So your drives with music need to be served by DLNA Server software. You can install it on Vista.


The fastest way to learn is to try it a little. Just install a DLNA Server and start it up. The Marantz should be able to find it.

In reading about DLNA, you may also come across UPnP. They are similar. DLNA is a superset of UPnP. DLNA also has a lot of "official" industry support. It isn't yet a reliable standard, meaning you may have to shop around for something that works with your equipment. Maybe Marantz can help.

That is good advice.
Have you seen:
http://us.marantz.com/AV8003_Network_DFU_U_EN.pdf
http://www.last100.com/2008/05/27/dlna-certified/

But, Marantz may not be a good DLNA partner
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...9#post15908389

iq100
the best way to delete an idea is to post one of your own.
one of perhaps a hundred BANNED and now re-instated on Interact.
maturity is an evolving process

Here is what I do: Rip CD's using Widows media in wav (lossless) format to a folder on desktop. This also captures the cover art in virtually all cases. Rename the folder to add the CD number. Next, I use FLAC front end to convert to FLAC (lossless). Transfer the disc folder to an external hard drive. To playback the CD's, search the external hard drive for the CD number or title, etc., and play back the disc using Foobar or similar which accomodates FLAC encoded discs. Foobar shows the disc tracks and cover art. If you need more info, let me know.