Synced Multi-room Playback

General Discussions
1
Playing a video on multiple Plex instances simultaneously
So I searched for this all over, and found nothing on the forums. I did find [one Lighthouse ticket](https://plexapp.lighthouseapp.com/projects/14382/tickets/833-consider-adding-the-ability-to-synchronize-playback-of-multiple-plex-machines-on-same-network#ticket-833-4), but it didn't seem to go anywhere (I added my two cents there too, I didn't know where it was most appropriate).

Simply put, I want to be able to sync the playback of two (or more, I suppose) Plex clients. I want the Plex Media Server to see when I start a video that it is already serving somewhere else, and give me the option to sync up the playback between the two.

Scenario 1
You want to run a show while you are tidying up your house. You start the show in one room, then you tell it to start on the other instance of Plex. Currently, you would get a Resume from HH:MM/Start from beginnning dialogue. If the media server knew it was already serving that video to another instance of Plex, what about a "Play with Living Room" or whatever your Plex instance is called. This would initiate some latency/timing communication between server and client, and get the second instance running in sync with the first.

Scenario 2
Often, my wife is asleep in the morning when I am making and eating my breakfast. I like to catch up on a show from last night, but I can't put it up on the TV because the sound will wake her up. I have headphones and an iPhone with Plex for iOS, so I could just run the video there in my pocket as I move around the kitchen, but then I don't get to see the video. I would love to:
1. Start the video on my main Plex instance, with the TV muted.
2. Start the video on my iPhone with headphones, put it in my pocket.
3. Have the iPhone playback sync up with the other instance, so I have video on the screen and sound from my headphones.

What do you guys think? Honestly I would buy an iPhone app that accomplishes just Scenario 2 separately, and I would pay another 4.99 for it. Plex Wireless Headphones.
2

Wouldnt wireless headphones solve scenario 2?

3

Well sure, for about $200. How cool would it be though if Plex did it out of the box? And if this was implemented, youā€™d get multi-room playback for free (in terms of development cost/time) as well.

4

and an iphone costs what?
i like the multiroom idea, although i hardly think id use it for anything but music, and itunes allready supports this.
transcoding audio and sending this wirelessly to a phone while playing the same movie on a tv while maintaining lipsync? sure, it probably can be done, probably not reliably.
doesnt take a rocket surgeon telling this will never happen though. bite the bullet and get those headphones.
5

More like $35, or maybe up to $70 for a bit more. All macs within the past 5 years have bluetooth to the best of my knowledge. So this would be a much simpler solution for the second situation. As for the first, I think this could be a useful feature, but I don't know how many people would use it and how hard it would be to implement correctly. If two tvs are within earshot of each other and just a bit out of sync it'll be distracting.
6

Iā€™d like to see this feature also. Often my wife and I would like to watch the same show or movie at the same time but from different rooms in the house. We both work from home, however often Iā€™ll still be working in the evening, while she wants to lay down and relax. At present we shout a countdown between rooms ā€œ3,2,1ā€ and try to press play at the same time. We make little adjustments with pause/unpause on whichever machine is ahead of the other. With practise itā€™s workable, but itā€™d far easier to have some automated way to ā€˜syncā€™ playable between clients. Even better if pause for a refreshment break paused both clients!

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7

Iā€™m looking for a way to do this too, not the wireless headphone thing, but the mirroring of video across devices. id like to start a show on the living room mac mini/plex server, and have it sync playback on another mac mini, or another ios device so i can watch it as i move about the house. has airplay mirroring helped with this at all? as far as i can see, its just for Apple TV. what about other 3rd party apps? i know theres airserver, but im not sure if mirroring it would take a hit to the video quality. anyone have any ideas for solutions?

8

Hi,



Iā€™m (relatively) new here having bounced around various options before a friend showed me Plex. WOW. Love it.



Anyway, the previous lead contender was a linux-based system called LinuxMCE. VERY cool, but didnā€™t really fit my needs that well. (Too much to discuss here). One thing it had at various points was a feature called ā€œfollow meā€. In this case, you use a bluetooth phone as a remote. As you wander around the house, the various media devices work out where you are. So, if you start a film and say ā€œfollow meā€, as you enter a room, the TV turns on and the film is played. Leave to go to another room? The TV in the room you leave (after a short delay) turns off and the one in your new room turns on. At the right point in the film!



LinuxMCE is all about Home Automation too, so this also can link in to closing the curtains, dimming the lights, starting the gas file or anything else!



Now, Iā€™m not suggesting the full HA thing, but the media ā€œfollow meā€ would be good! (Also, because the remote ā€œknowsā€ where it is, you can use it to control ā€œthisā€ player, whever room you are in, without needing to select the player! Very neat.)



Doesnā€™t get you the wireless audio, but I agree that the lack of sync between sound and picture would be very anoying, even if only half a second or so. But moving between rooms and having a 2-second difference wouldnā€™t (shouldnā€™t) be an issue.

9

my wife and I are trying to watch the same video on different devices, too. we are using the 3,2,1 method of playback and it is a passable solution if there are no other options. unfortunately, pausing is not really an option.

it would be great to have synchronized video playback between multiple clients.

-apps

10

I too, have been wanting something like this. Ā FYI for others, Google Hangouts offers this feature, but it is limited to Youtube videos.

11

+1 for me. Ā I'm looking at running some version of Squeezebox and Logitech Media Server to do multi-room audio, but I don't really want to have two systems/remotes and I already have plex set up in a few places (and a spare RPi for the kitchen). I thought it might be possible to add some code into the Plex remotes to say 'play on A, B, C'.

While it would be nice if it was perfectly synced in time, I'd still be keen to test an experimental multi-room audio feature with minor playback latency differences.

12

I would also like this very much. I used Logitech Media Server for music playback before I found Plex, and the multiroom audio was a good way to fill the house with sound. It also is a nice addon to the fling concept.

13

Is this already possible? I am seeing a lot of forum posts for syncronised playback from before mid 2015 but not after that. Is it implemented and if so how do you set it up, or is it a planned or declined future feature?

14

Iā€™d really like this feature too. Scenario #1 in the original post is how Iā€™d likely use it too. Please, pleaseā€¦ :slight_smile:

15

Nice to see that 7 year old requests are still unanswered.

16

You honestly think theyā€™re cruising through 7 year old forum posts (in General Discussion no less) looking for things to work on?

17

doubtful they are but i do like this idea.

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18

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