[MPlayer-users] MPlayer questions

[Reimar Döffinger]

On Sat, Mar 01, 2008 at 11:38:37PM -0500, Rich Felker wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 01, 2008 at 10:26:13AM +0100, Reimar Döffinger wrote:
> > On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 11:08:40PM +0100, sofasurfer at gmail.com wrote:
> > > On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:50:41 +0000
> > > Michael TD Nelson <m_nels at gmx.net> wrote:
> > > > I have a couple of queries about mplayer usage... I compiled my
> > > > current binary from fresh sources a couple of months ago. I have
> > > > scanned through the man page, and googled my questions, all to no
> > > > avail.
> > > > 
> > > > 1. I'm using JACK audio output. Is there any way that I can reduce the
> > > > volume to zero before playback starts? This is *really* important to
> > > > me. My sound card has no hardware mixer. My (active studio monitor)
> > > > speakers are *sensitive*. The volume controls on my speakers are
> > > > little trim pots around the back of the cabinets - it's not feasible
> > > > to turn them down before I launch a new file. I don't really want to
> > > > insert a hardware mixer between the soundcard output and active
> > > > speakers - I'd like to keep the analogue signal path as uncomplicated
> > > > as possible.
> > > 
> > > try adding this to your .mplayer/config file:
> > > af=volume=-100
> > 
> > -100 is only very, very quiet, -200 is complete silence for MPlayer.
> 
> Someone should investigate why the argument (which is supposed to be
> in decibels) to af_volume is misinterpreted. -100 dB is 1/(10 billion)
> which kills even the largest possible 16bit sample value.

I did not actually test, and in addition -af volume AFAIK also supports
float values. -200 is a special value for MPlayer and does mean "silence",
even though it may not make much of a difference in practice currently.