[MPlayer-dev-eng] third hectoliter this day

[D Richard Felker III]

On Mon, Feb 25, 2002 at 10:02:34PM +0800, Anders Johansson wrote:
> +<P>This plugin is a software replacement for the volume control, and
> +  can be used in machines with broken mixer device. It can also be
> +  used if one wants to change the output volume from <B>MPlayer</B>
> +  without changing the PCM volume setting in the mixer. It has one
> +  switch <CODE>volume</CODE> that is used for setting the initial
> +  sound level. The initial sound level can be set to values between 0
> +  and 255 and defaults to 255. Use this plugin with caution since it
> +  can reduce the signal to noise ratio of the sound. In most cases it
> +  is best to set the level for the PCM sound to max, leave this plugin
> +  out and control the output level to your speakers with the mixers
> +  master volume control. If there is an external amplifier connected
> +  to the computer (this is almost always the case), the noise level
> +  can be minimized by adjusting the master level and the volume knob
> +  on the amplifier until the hissing noise in the background is gone.
> +</P>

why no way to *increase* the volume? i think that's normally what's
desired. with lots of dvds and dvd rips, the volume is way too low,
and adjusting the soundcard's mixer settings adds lots of hissing. the
problem is really that the sample values being sent to the sound care
are way too low, and need to be scaled up.

of course, then there's the issue of the occasional insanely loud
sound which might clip and sound awful. i would think the best way of
dealing with this would be to use some sort of logarithmic or better
yet asymptotic scale as sample values approach the maximum, so that
they'd just distort (similar perhaps to a tube amp?) rather than
clipping. thoughts anyone? perhaps something like this should be a
separate plugin, e.g. "amp" rather than "software volume control"..?

rich