does C4 allow for a "first available" source in any given room?

[pdapice]

i am wondering if there is a way to just have a room play the "first available" media play or "dish receiver"

as an example (i will keep this as an audio question for simplicity sake) , suppose i have 3 music players/devices ,  and 8 zones to which i want to make them available

also assume that i have a matrix audio switch

is there a way to have C4 connect to the "next" available music device without having to dedicate a specific device to a specific room (which would defeat the purpose of the matrix switch)

so if i go to my living room, and select pandora, it says, ok media player 1 is available so it patches that player to my living room.
then my wife is in the study and decides she also wants to listen to pandora, and selects that as the source for that room...i would want control4 to say, ok media player 1 is currently being used so lets check if player 2 is available and patch that player into the study

i feel like this is something that should already be achievable but i haven't found any documentation to support it.

[msgreenf]

That is how it works. Yes. It just does it for things like Pandora and all the native music services. 

[Cyknight]

3 hours ago, msgreenf said:

That is how it works. Yes. It just does it for things like Pandora and all the native music services. 

Ehhhh not quite fully accurate.

To clarify: When selecting a channel (from favourites/channels/stations or within a full navigation option like Deezer, Tidal and preumably Pandora (don't have it here so I'll take @msgreenf's word for it). But it does this basically ONLY for native services that allow full integration and multiple streams per account.

 

Where this does NOT work is 'single stream' services and/or 'hard' sources. Examples being Spotify connect, SiriusXM and cable boxes.

One would handle that by using 'named' drivers - such as 'Dad's Spotify' or 'Kid's PVR' - where an individual would select 'their' device wherever they are. For things like Spotify or Airplay you can also use 'room' named driver instances that can then also autostart the music in that room.

There's no real way to implement that 'auto' switching for those types of sources/streams, with the notable exception of cable/sat boxes (create a single channel called {provider name/cable box/whatever your poison}, hide the actual boxes and favourite the channel, then hide the my channel icon as well)

[pdapice]

18 hours ago, Cyknight said:

Ehhhh not quite fully accurate.

To clarify: When selecting a channel (from favourites/channels/stations or within a full navigation option like Deezer, Tidal and preumably Pandora (don't have it here so I'll take @msgreenf's word for it). But it does this basically ONLY for native services that allow full integration and multiple streams per account.

 

Where this does NOT work is 'single stream' services and/or 'hard' sources. Examples being Spotify connect, SiriusXM and cable boxes.

One would handle that by using 'named' drivers - such as 'Dad's Spotify' or 'Kid's PVR' - where an individual would select 'their' device wherever they are. For things like Spotify or Airplay you can also use 'room' named driver instances that can then also autostart the music in that room.

There's no real way to implement that 'auto' switching for those types of sources/streams, with the notable exception of cable/sat boxes (create a single channel called {provider name/cable box/whatever your poison}, hide the actual boxes and favourite the channel, then hide the my channel icon as well)

yeah that was my issue. It sort of defeats the purpose of having an HDMI matrix if you wanted only 2 or 3 cable boxes to handle 5 or 6 TVs

sure you can name them Box1, Box2, etc but that doesn't really help the average joe homeowner especially if you don't know whether one is being used or not.

I am sure that there may be a way to do it with some elaborate programming, but that seems prone to all sorts of mayhem if you don't get the programming just right.

seems like something that would be a great feature to have

[Cyknight]

2 minutes ago, pdapice said:

yeah that was my issue. It sort of defeats the purpose of having an HDMI matrix if you wanted only 2 or 3 cable boxes to handle 5 or 6 TVs

sure you can name them Box1, Box2, etc but that doesn't really help the average joe homeowner especially if you don't know whether one is being used or not.

I am sure that there may be a way to do it with some elaborate programming, but that seems prone to all sorts of mayhem if you don't get the programming just right.

seems like something that would be a great feature to have

That's why you name it 'dad' 'mom' 'kids'