[Quartermass]

I'd like XBMC or Windows itself (7 x64) to output sound to both audio devices. So that I can listen to headphones in the bedroom or to the TV in the living room. I have Windows set up to display the same image on both my monitor in the bedroom and the TV in the living room. I run a chain of USB hubs to the living room along with an HDMI cable.

I can do it by having windows use the speakers as a recording device and listening to it on the TV. However the sound quality takes a hit, and it prevents the PC sleeping as there's active sound streams.

Does anyone know of a way around this?

[xbmc-user]

Someone had hacked Dharma version for Windows to achieve this. I don't have link handy. If you search forum you may find the answer.

For Linux check http://www.ztreambox.com/category/neuigkeiten/

AFAIK, XBMC developers are strictly against supporting this due to various technical reasons (like latency in different audio processing path).

BTW, you said "bedroom OR living room". Do you want simultaneous or select the o/p at will easily? For the latter, I use different profile.

[Quartermass]

Aha! That would do the job nicely too.

I'd never use both at the same time, and I found changing was cumbersome. What would be the easiest/quickest way to set it up so I could switch?

I could assign a toggle to a keypress, and then assign it to the remote control in the living room or just hit the keypress in the bedroom I think?

[xbmc-user]

I couldn't follow you completely. Let me see if I can provide some more info by sharing what I've done.

1) Enable Profile (System -> Profiles) first. Default profile is named Master. I select HDMI Audio (connected to my TV) as the o/p in this profile.
2) Add new profile named Optical. I share Media Info and Media Sources with Master profile. In this profile I select S/PDIF (optical- connected to my AV receiver) as audio o/p.
3) By pressing S you can invoke the menu and select "Log Off" current user and Login to another user. This way you can switch audio o/p.

You can even map keys like below, if you want:

<F3>LoadProfile(Master)</F3>
<F4>LoadProfile(Opticap)</F4>

BTW, I use remote (VRC 1100, also called Hama) and have remapped many of the keys to suit my taste.

Let me know if you need more help and I'll see what can I do!

[Quartermass]

That's exactly what I needed to know. I'll give it a shot later this week and see if it does it. It should get around things.

[&gt;&gt;X&lt;&lt;]

When I moved from XP to Win7 this really annoyed me as I could have simultaneous output in XP

Anyway in W7 there is a little app called "SoundSwitch" that lets you toggle between audio devices in Win 7 in a number of different ways using hotkeys I can toggle between optical and analogue outs using one key on my remote

[Quartermass]

Ah, that might be a better solution. I actually have 3 different ways for the sound to be output - headphones in bedroom, TV and speakers in bedroom.

I'll give that a shot first.