HTPC Amp Required

[JohnNBK]

I've just moved from an iPhone to a Windows phone (happy with the move generally).  iTunes was great at keeping everything syned and up to date and I was having nightmares getting music onto my Lumia; until I discovered MusicBee - great bit of software which kicked everything else I tried out the window.  I have a weird problem however that is driving me crazy...

My music is stored on a HTPC connected to an Amp then a TV.  Things sync fine when my Amp is on and on the HTPC setting, however; when I switch the amp off or to another setting (Tivo, Xbox or whatever) the sync starts failing.  I got over the initial .m4a to MP3 sync issues by installing the various required LAME.exe and .dll files but this problem is something I've never encountered before.

I VNC into the HTPC from my laptop when I'm syncing and watching something else.  The speaker icon on the HTPC turns red when I do this which I suspect may point toward the problem.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DelJ]

Not sure about why the sync issue is caused by a lack of speakers, but I get the same issue when accessing my HTPC via TeamViewer and the Amp is off, suprisingly it always happens when I'm not at home  

If you're passing sound via the HDMI to the AMP, when it's off, Windows assumes it's had the speakers unplugged or the soundcard is disabled.  With no sound card available, some things don't work in MB or other apps, related to sound.  So, my fix has been that I happen to have an internal soundcard on the mainboard, which it can revert to when the AMP is off.  Stick a 3.5mm jack plug into the speaker socket, so it thinks it has speakers, and it will fool Windows into thinking it has a sound card and speakers attached.

When I connect to the HTPC remotely I goto playback devices and make the internal soundcard the default before loading MB.

See if this stops the sync issues, if they only happen remotely?