Sorry if this question is redundant…as a matter of fact, I believe I’ve seen this before somewhere in the forum but I can no longer locate it.  But I’m seriously considering purchasing the XLi product (probably within the next few days) and I wanted to confirm whether or not the PC sound card can be used in conjunction with the XLi board.

My proposed setup would be the XLi board on a WHS machine that has iTunes and the iTunes library locally installed.  The sound output will be powered by a basic 12 channel 6 zone amp (sound or low voltage triggered) to feed the various speaker pairs throughout the house.  But I wanted to know if this setup prevents the use of the on-board sound card (GeForce 9300 mGPU MOBO) for other purposes or even the Casa application.

Thanks for any assistance you can provide!

You can use the on-board sound card in addition to the XLi, and as you mentioned, you could also use one of the outputs of the on-board sound card and connect it using a 3.5mm stereo cable to the input (L1 In) on the XLi card to provide a 5th source.

Thanks! That’s all I needed to know…

That is good to know.

To ask a slightly more specific question:

I would like to build an HTPC that will be located in and serve as the media player for the central family room. With the inclusion of the XLIi card and software (running on top of Windows 7), I’d also like this HTPC to also serve as a music server for several rooms/zones in the house. 

That means that I’d ideally like the the HTPC to be able to serve as a Blu Ray/DVD player in the family room, utilizing it’s on-board 5.1 surround directly hooked up to feed the processor, amps and speakers in the family room, and also feed several stereo rooms/zones music, through the CasaTunes XLi card.

Can I use - and control - the CasaTunes XLi in conjunction with the HTPC’s 5.1 outs simultaneously, so that when I am playing music throughout the entire house, other rooms/zones that are fed off of the CasaTunes XLi card in stereo, AND the family room through the on-board audio outs?

I assume the CasaTunes software will NOT provide the same level of (any?) control over the on-board audio, right?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, you can use both simultaneously, ie. play music through the XLi while you play a movie through your onboard sound card.

The CasaTunes Software will not control the on-board audio, UNLESS, you reconfigured the sources in CasaTunes Setup to use the onboard audio.  With the XLi you could potentially use one speaker pair from the on-board audio by physically connecting a 3.5mm stereo cable from the output of a speaker pair on the onboard audio to the L1 In (Line 1 In) on the XLi card, and then configure this source as a CasaTunes Player using the onboard sound card and associated speaker pair.  HOWEVER, if you are planning on using your on board sound card to output digitally, then it is 50-50 whether this will work with CasaTunes (and I am pretty sure you will not be able to play analog music from your onboard audio at the same that you are using the digital out).  I have seen cards where this works and others that don’t, and unfortunately do not recall which worked (sorry).

We strongly recommend for your sanity (and ours) that you keep these separate.

Just to add to what David said:
You can take the “front speaker outputs”, usually marked green, of the on-board audio and connect them to the Line-In on the XLi card. This audio will then show up as the fifth source on the XLi.
You will then be able to distribute this DVD/Blu Ray audio to your other rooms. If you use a Y-connector you can still use the front speakers as part of your 5.1 or 7.1 sound system in the local room. CasaTunes will be able to control the output volume levels in the various rooms that select that source.

You will have to be careful of volume levels. If you are feeding a processor with the 5.1 output and also feeding the Casatunes’ external input, you should use Windows’ Sound window (or the on-board device’s software) to set the 5.1 output to a fixed level, I would try about 80-90%. Then, you would adjust the volume for the local room using the processor and adjust the volume in the other rooms (if you decide to distribute the DVD/Blu Ray audio) using CasaTunes. CasaTunes only adjusts output volume for each room and will not affect the source’s volume. You will need to control the DVD/Blu Ray software using whatever software you choose, as CasaTunes will only be able to select this source and adjust volume in the rooms that have selected it.

In any case, you can, as David stated, use both independently. To handle the video and audio and CasaTunes all at the same time, make sure you have a modern, decently fast, PC. CasaTunes does not use a lot of resources, but the DVD/Blu Ray probably does.

Kim

Thanks.

I really don’t want to play Blu Rays or DVDs simultaneously while playing music elsewhere (although it’s cool to know that I could do that, if I wanted to).

I’m really just trying to make sure that, when I have the entire house playing music, I can essentially use those same on-board audio outs that I will have dedicated to the playing of DVD’s to the family room home theater system continue to feed THAT room/zone/system, while the CasaTunes XLi will feed the rest of the rooms/zones.

One final question:  I don’t see anywhere that the CasaTunes system might be able to use the physical CD player in the PC it is installed in as one of the “internal” sound sources.  I will rip my music collection to internal hard drives for CasaTunes/media player access but, when the odd friend comes over with a CD, will I be able to drop it in the player in the PC and have CasaTunes recognize it as a sound source, or, do I have to either a) connect the on-board audio out to the CasaTunes XLi Line In jack or b) rip it to the library first, before CasaTunes can play it through the CasaTunes system?

Again, thanks for the prompt and thorough replies.

*BTW, the underline text function in this forum software does not function properly. It renders italics, not underline…

You will need to rip the music first before you can play it from CasaTunes.