[PROBLEM] Multiple renderers in use

[ph0real]

Hi Forum experts!

I'm a new user, and have a question regarding the use of multiple renderers. I have a household of 2 endusers and 1 junior prospect user who will primarily be listening to Frozen sing-a-long-albums. 

The 2 users in our household are using Plex and airplay. It has come to my attention that it's not possible to use these renderers after eachother without some fiddling in Moode to kick one renderer out or start another. The switches on the renderer page suggest that multiple renderers can work at the same time and that users can interrupt eachothers stream with another stream request which switches Moode to the appropriate renderer. 

I might be assuming too much though. Is it the case that multiple devices can make Moode switch between airplay, plex, spotify connect and so on?

Regards,  and thanks for your help.
(couldnt find this issue on the search results)

[Tim Curtis]

I suppose a Help Guide needs to be written about the audio renderers explaining what is and is not possible. I'll add to the TODO list.

There's no support for automatic renderer switching upon stream interruption. There is support for auto resuming MPD playback when a given renderer session or connection ends.

Plexamp, Roonbrodge and Squeezelite by default acquire exclusive control of the audio output and thus only one of them can be On.

Note 1: Squeezelite can be configured to release the audio output after a timeout via the -c option.
Note 2: Plexamp is supposed to only acquire the audio output upon playback but when it initially starts it hogs the audio output. This could be a bug but since PlexAmp is closed source there no way to examine the source code and no public repository for reporting bugs.

Bluetooth, Airplay, Spotify Connect and UPnP Client for MPD can all be On at the same time because they only open the audio output when playback begins but as mentioned earlier there is no support for sautomatic renderer switching upon stream interruption.

[ph0real]

Thanks for clarifying Tim. Either a help doc or UX change could be helpful in guiding the users towards the recommended usage. Will there be some kind of auto input sensing functionality in the future? I suppose current hardware streamers have already done some programming to make it dummy-proof on the user end. I could imagine there are some possibilities to improve Moode on this end.

[Tim Curtis]

I don't know of any commercial devices that support the type of stream interruption/render switching that you are describing.

I'd have to look into whats technically possible with moode but there also needs to be a good case made for the "auto switching" usage scenario.

A common usage scenario is to turn on Bluetooth, Airplay and Spotify Connect and then switch between them on the client. Airplay and Spotify Connect will auto-disconnect when play stops because they are session based. Bluetooth is connection based and must be manually disconnected first.

Squeezelite, Plexamp, Roonbridge and UPnP client for MPD are their own playback ecosystems requiring a dedicated server/client and typically people use just one of them.

[ph0real]

With the hardware streamers you might typically see them offering options on a remote or on an app to switch service/protocol. I think you're right; autosensing is not quite there yet.
I can imagine Moode being a different type of product, this would not be a priority. And a case can be made for thise ecosystems where there wouldnt be much need for switching. Good to know that plexamp hogs the output. Ill find a workaround.

Thanks for ur quick reply.