If you want to add speakers around the house and use them with your HomeSeer server to send music, sounds and text to speech output, installing a TuneBlade Server and AirPlay clients is one cost effective way of using existing or inexpensive hardware (such as a Raspberry Pi ZeroW) to distribute all audio from the TuneBlade server machine in sync throughout your house.
Configuring your Server
TuneBlade runs on a Windows server, so if you're running HS on a Linux box (such as a Zee S2, SEL, Pi, etc.), you'll need a Windows machine on which to run the HS speaker client and the TuneBlade server.
Your TuneBlade configuration should include the following options:
AirPlay Clients
Any compatible AirPlay speaker can connect to TuneBlade, including:
There are several guides out there around installing Shairport-sync on a Raspberry Pi device. If it's not as easy as "apt-get install shairport-sync", you may need to follow these instructions (minus the reference to Kodi settings at the beginning) to make that happen.
You may also need force your audio output to the 3.5mm jack by adding the specific config file settings to use device "hw:0" and the "PCM" mixer mentioned in those instructions. Alternatively, you can set the default using the Audio menu in raspi-config.
Configuring your Server
TuneBlade runs on a Windows server, so if you're running HS on a Linux box (such as a Zee S2, SEL, Pi, etc.), you'll need a Windows machine on which to run the HS speaker client and the TuneBlade server.
Your TuneBlade configuration should include the following options:
- General
- General Settings
- Start at Login = ON (recommended)
- Auto-connect to receivers when discovered = ON (recommended, otherwise you have to manually register them all)
- Force reconnection on connection error = ON (recommended)
- General Settings
- AirPlay Streaming
- Real-time Streaming
- Enable connection standby = OFF (required)
- Real-time Streaming
- Audio Capture
- Audio Capture Mode
- Direct Loopback = ON (required)
- Mute computer speakers when streaming = ON recommended (otherwise local speakers may be out of sync, run a local airplay client instead!)
- Audio Capture Mode
- Remote Control
- Remote Control
- Enable Remote Control = ON (required)
- Auto/Manual Port Selection = Manual (any available port is ok) (required)
- Remote Control
AirPlay Clients
Any compatible AirPlay speaker can connect to TuneBlade, including:
- Airport Express
- Apple TV
- AirPlay enabled speakers & receivers
- TuneAero Windows Client
- Kodi/XBMC
- Shairport-sync on Linux and Raspberry Pi
- Shairport4w on Windows (not recommended - no "Sync" and in my experience, not stable)
There are several guides out there around installing Shairport-sync on a Raspberry Pi device. If it's not as easy as "apt-get install shairport-sync", you may need to follow these instructions (minus the reference to Kodi settings at the beginning) to make that happen.
You may also need force your audio output to the 3.5mm jack by adding the specific config file settings to use device "hw:0" and the "PCM" mixer mentioned in those instructions. Alternatively, you can set the default using the Audio menu in raspi-config.
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