[mythtv-users] Full alsa sound

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Tue Mar 2 00:07:56 UTC 2010


On 03/01/2010 06:30 PM, Brent Bolin wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 4:27 PM, Michael T. Dean  wrote:
>    
>> On 03/01/2010 05:14 PM, Brent Bolin wrote:
>>      
>>> Hello all.  Was just wondering when setting alsa volume levels why
>>> mythtv doesn't do all the volume levels.
>>>
>>> For example
>>>
>>> Master, PCM and Front
>>>
>>> Setting master and/or pcm take effect, but front is not adjusted.  To
>>> get the full volume out of my front ends I need to login and run
>>> alsamixer and manually set front to get full volume.
>>>
>>> Currently using stereo jack on a couple of front ends.
>>>        
>> Myth's ALSA audio output support is basically just a (series of?) hack(s) to
>> extend the original OSS audio output support and was never fully developed.
>>   The fact that the current code presumes that all audio cards have a Master
>> and PCM control (which is not true in the case of a large number of
>> Intel-HDA-based sound cards) is another anachronistic assumption that should
>> eventually be fixed with a big refactoring of the audio code.  (Note that I
>> did not say a "planned refactoring.")
>>
>> Anyone wishing to do said refactoring would make a lot of people happy.
> This was not meant to be a criticism of any of the development of
> MythTV only pointing something out.
>    

Right.  I didn't take it as a criticism, but mainly wanted to explain we 
have a lot of old assumptions in the current code that no longer apply 
to ALSA and hardware of today.  Unfortunately, a proper refactoring is a 
/very/ difficult proposition--thus the reason it hasn't been done, yet.

> I am enough of a hacker to figure out many unix/linux anomalies.
>
> Was just thinking today what a great media center Myth has become in
> my house hold in the short time I have been using it.
>
> It gave me the ability to drop Comcast and only use OTA broadcasts and
> DVD media.  Saving one bunch of money on recurring billing.
>    

Yeah.  I do the same.  I spend a /lot/ less buying DVD's of the 
cable-only shows I care to watch than I would spend on a cable 
subscription--and I don't have to put up with the cable company and 
their customer service (which, as Mastercard would say, is "priceless").

That said, if you take all the money I've spent on MythTV over the years 
and compare that to the cost of a TiVo w/ subscription for the same time 
period, I'm spending a /lot/ more on my luxury DVR than I would on 
another DVR solution.  Note that this ignores the cost of the cable 
subscription--which is irrelevant to the cost of MythTV.  Whether you 
use MythTV or not, you have the option of "voting with your wallet" 
against the local cable monopoly and choosing to use OTA.  (In other 
words, OTA instead of cable can save you money, but MythTV does not 
generally save money--and if it's even a close comparison, you're 
probably doing something wrong.  :)

> When I explain to people watching my 55 inch HD front end display that
> it's NOT using cable only OTA broadcasts they ask me "who do you pay?"
> I say nobody.
>    

Yeah, most of my neighbors think I steal my TV from the Internet because 
they know I know computers...

> I'm 52 years old.  The going notion is "cable" is the only thing there
> is.  Then I say OTA has been around a lot longer.  And now there is
> OTA HD.
>    

and they don't realize there are options other than cable and satellite.

Mike


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