Once all of the digital music has been transferred to the Windows Media Player library, the music server PC is ready to be integrated with your home audio system. My original objectives for the music server were: 1) it should function as a simple to use audio device when selecting and playing music, and 2) it should cleanly integrate with other audio components. What I didn’t want was a solution that looked and acted like a PC that had been kludged with my audio system. By using WMP 11 and making a few minor PC configuration adjustments, I managed to meet most of my original objectives.
Before integrating the music server with my flat panel TV, I made a few tweaks to the PC configuration to eliminate much of the typical PC look and feel. Since music server PC is primarily dedicated to playing music, it was important to me to remove all PC desktop graphics so the only displayed item was the WMP 11 user interface. To achieve this look the following changes were done to the music server PC.
- Deleted all desktop shortcuts. Note that in Windows XP the Recycle Bin shortcut cannot be removed. However, special tools can be downloaded off the internet to accomplish this task.
- Select the “Auto hide the taskbar” option.
- Select the “None” for desktop background with color “black”.
- Selected “Blank” screen saver and long wait period (e.g. several hours) so screen saver is not invoked when playing music.
- Setup a “music server” power scheme that; a) never turns off monitor, b) turns off disk after some moderate delay (e.g. 15 minutes), and c) sets System Standby Option to “Never”.
- In the Power Options Properties, select the “Standby” option when the power button is pressed. Also de-select option for password prompt.
- Put “wmplayer.exe” application file name into the system Startup folder so that the Window Media Player automatically starts up when the PC is turned on.
After making these changes, the Windows Media Player user interface will automatically be displayed when the music server PC is turned on. The PC desktop will be free of all shortcuts and the taskbar will be hidden providing a clean user interface as shown below.
When not being used, the music server can be put into a low power standby mode by pressing the PC power button. Pressing the power button again will turn the music server back on. Since the music server is transitioning from a Standby state, the Windows Media Player software is restored within a few seconds. In this configuration the music server power can always be on, so the long delay associated with PC rebooting is only required if a power interruption occurs.
Once the Music Server is configured, a mouse can be used to support all user interface functions for selecting and playing music. Since my audio equipment, including the Music Server, is contained within a cabinet, a wireless mouse is used to maximum usability.
The next task is to connect the Music Server to the existing audio system and the flat panel TV. A typical wiring configuration for the Music Server is shown in the wiring diagram below.
Once all the connections are made, the Music Server is ready to be used. But like most TV/audio entertainment setups, the appropriate selection of audio and video channels for a particular activity can get a bit confusing. Adding a Music Server and having to manually select a new set of setups only complicates the situation. In order to simplify operation, I decided to use a Logitech Harmony universal remote to help solve this problem.
Most universal remote devices just provide more buttons to support more functions for more devices and really don’t address the main problem of knowing how to setup devices for a particular activity. Unlike most remote control devices, the Logitech Harmony remotes support the concept of user-defined activities.
So instead of trying to figure out which buttons to push in what sequence to watch the TV, watch a DVD, or play music, the remote is programmed to do this automatically when an appropriate “activity” is requested. So, for example, when the “Music Server” activity button is pushed, the remote sends out the following commands:
- TV power is turned on.
- TV video input for music server video input is selected.
- Audio amplifier power is turned on.
- Audio amplifier audio input for tape input (i.e. music server) is selected.
- Power to all other video/audio devices is turned off.
After selecting the Music Server activity, all I have to do to play music is select what song or album I want to play using the mouse. Music volume can be controlled using the Logitech remote. If after listening to music, I want to do a different activity or just turn everything off, I push one button on the remote and its done! The Logitech remote is certainly not required to use the music server, but it sure makes the music server and all other video and audio devices easier to use.
