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PostPosted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:23 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:56 pm
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Location: Arlington, VA, USA
Apparently complaints about low volume on MacBooks are fairly common, and I encounter this when using MythFrontend on my MacBook. System volume is turned all the way up, and the frontend volume is set to 100%; audio volume is OK, but any background noise makes it hard to hear (e.g. a fan running or whatever).

VLC Player on OS X allows the volume to be cranked up to something like 200 or 400%, and this results in decent volume... I was wondering if anyone knew a way to get louder output with mythfrontend on the Mac.

I tried adjusting alsamixer on the backend, but it had no effect (nor would I expect it to).

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:09 am 
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Location: Sydney, Australia
Playback on something like a MacBook will never be very loud, but I listen to DVB and Analogue recordings all the time through headphones. The recordings are nearly as loud as the system beep.

I suspect there is something wrong with your recordings. Did they come from an Analogue source? What is your backend's mixer input level like?

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| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:19 am 
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I'm using a PVR-150, so it's an analog source. Watching stuff on the combined FE/BE is fine, it's just the MacBook that's quiet.

I actually did a fresh install of R6 yesterday, and looked at the levels in my recording profiles - they are the (default?) 90%.

Anyway, I did find a program called "Audio Hijack Pro" for OS X that is overkill for this application, but works - it allows you to increase gain for individual programs in real time. This gets it up to a decent volume. Unfortunately not free, though...

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:16 am 
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Location: Sydney, Australia
OK. If you are sure the recordings are OK, then there are three options:

1) A bug in the Mac playback code that I haven't heard of before,

2) The MythTV playback volume setting on the Mac is too low, or

3) The Mac is playing back the wrong audio track from the recording.

For 3), Play back a recording, and try + and - keys. From a PVR, there should only be 1 track though?

For 2), either check the PCMMixerVolume value in the settings table of your MythTV database, or maybe just change the volume (using the [ and ] keys) when playing back a recording.

For 1), give me the OS revision, frontend revision or download link, and maybe 'MythFrontend.app/Contents/MacOS/MythFrontend -v audio' output

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| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:43 am 
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Also, what hardware are you running? I have a 15" Unibody MBP, but not the new one with the SD slot.

The built-in speakers are weak for any purpose. I also have a Dell external monitor, with Dell's optional speaker bar; and when they're hooked to my Mac volume is suitable for watching recordings. I have noticed though that mythfrontend does not get as loud as iTunes.

I think the PVR-150 can be ruled out. I played recordings from my PVR-150 and from my HDHR, and the volume is identical on both. Mythfrontend is definitely attenuated on my Mac too, but I'm not finding it as intolerable, ptobably because I'm using external amplified speakers.


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 1:18 pm 
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Location: Arlington, VA, USA
I have a 13.3" Intel MacBook, circa 2007.

As jmckeown2 noted, something like iTunes playback is noticeably louder, as is something like playing Apple Trailers in QuickTime.

However I have also noticed that playing back these recordings with MythTV Player on a Windows computer is also a lot quieter than other audio on Windows (music, Hulu, etc). It is relatively quieter, but not an issue since I can just turn up the volume control on the desktop's external speaker. As far as I can tell, though, there's no way to adjust the playback volume within the MythTV Player software (or even tell what PCMMixerVolume is set to, since MythTV Player doesn't show up in the settings table of mythconverg like a normal frontend).

XBMC for Windows on the same desktop is also relatively quieter than other program output, and XBMC has an internal volume control that is set to full.


3. There's definitely only one audio track in these recordings.

2. Mythfrontend for Mac playback volume is set at 100%. (If I look in the mythconverg database on the backend, PCMMixerVolume is also at 100)

1. OS X 10.5.7 (but I also noticed this under 10.5.6 and IIRC, 10.4.11).
Darwin Kernel Version 9.7.0.

Mythtv version on the backend is 0.21.20080304-1.

Mythfrontend for Mac version info:
MythTV Version 20683M
branches/release-0-21-fixes
Library API 0.21.20080304-1
Network Protocol 40

The output from about half a minute of normal recording playback on the Mac is as follows (with a couple irrelevant lines redacted:

Code:
$ ./MythFrontend -v audio
Qt: QApplication: Warning argv[0] == './MythFrontend' is relative.
In order to dispatch events correctly Mac OS X may require applications to be run with the *full* path to the executable.
2009-07-01 14:58:38.881 Relative PREFIX! (../Resources)
      appDir=/Applications/MythFrontend.app/Contents/MacOS
2009-07-01 14:58:38.882 Using runtime prefix = /Applications/ MythFrontend.app/Contents/Resources
2009-07-01 14:58:40.447 Empty LocalHostName.
XXX
2009-07-01 14:58:40.448 Testing network connectivity to 192.168.1.10
2009-07-01 14:58:40.458 New DB connection, total: 1
2009-07-01 14:58:40.466 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: 
192.168.1.10
2009-07-01 14:58:40.471 Closing DB connection named 'DBManager0'
2009-07-01 14:58:40.472 Primary screen 0.
2009-07-01 14:58:40.478 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: 
192.168.1.10
2009-07-01 14:58:40.486 Using screen 0, 1280x800 at 0,0
2009-07-01 14:58:40.605 New DB connection, total: 2
2009-07-01 14:58:40.612 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: 
192.168.1.10
2009-07-01 14:58:40.623 MythFrontend version: 0.21.20080304-1 www.mythtv.org
2009-07-01 14:58:40.624 Enabled verbose msgs:  important general audio
XXX
2009-07-01 14:58:41.875 Primary screen 0.
2009-07-01 14:58:41.877 Using screen 0, 1280x800 at 0,0
XXX
2009-07-01 14:58:41.881 Switching to square mode (G.A.N.T)
2009-07-01 14:58:41.932 Using the Qt painter
2009-07-01 14:58:42.976 Loading from: /Applications/MythFrontend.app/ Contents/Resources/share/mythtv/themes/G.A.N.T/base.xml
2009-07-01 14:58:43.056 Loading from: /Applications/MythFrontend.app/ Contents/Resources/share/mythtv/themes/default/base.xml
2009-07-01 14:58:43.458 Registering Internal as a media playback plugin.
2009-07-01 14:58:43.788 MonitorRegisterExtensions(0x100, gif,jpg,png)
2009-07-01 14:58:44.121 MonitorRegisterExtensions(0x40,
ogg,mp3,aac,flac)
XXX
2009-07-01 14:58:54.006 XMLParse::LoadTheme using /Applications/ MythFrontend.app/Contents/Resources/share/mythtv/themes/G.A.N.T/ui.xml
2009-07-01 14:58:54.305 Connecting to backend server: 
192.168.1.10:6543 (try 1 of 5)
2009-07-01 14:58:54.309 Using protocol version 40
2009-07-01 14:58:58.286 TV: Attempting to change from None to WatchingPreRecorded
2009-07-01 14:59:00.806 AFD: Opened codec 0x114bc00, id(MPEG2VIDEO)
type(Video)
2009-07-01 14:59:00.806 AFD: codec MP2 has 2 channels
2009-07-01 14:59:00.806 AFD: Opened codec 0x1146a00, id(MP2) type(Audio)
2009-07-01 14:59:00.806 AFD: Audio Track #1 is A/V stream #1 and has 2 channels in the Undetermined language(7695972).
2009-07-01 14:59:00.806 AFD: Selected track 1: Undetermined MP2 2ch (A/ V Stream #1)
2009-07-01 14:59:00.806 AFD: Initializing audio parms from audio track
#1
2009-07-01 14:59:00.806 AFD: Audio format changed
         from id(NONE)    -1Hz -1ch   0bps    ; id(NONE)    -1Hz -1ch   0bps
         to   id( MP2) 48000Hz  2ch  16bps    ; id( MP2) 48000Hz  2ch  16bps
2009-07-01 14:59:00.965 CoreAudioData::CoreAudioData - default device ID = 262
2009-07-01 14:59:00.965 AO: Killing AudioOutputDSP
2009-07-01 14:59:00.965 Opening audio device 'CoreAudio:'. ch 2(2) sr 48000
2009-07-01 14:59:00.965 AudioOutputCA::OpenDevice() Trying Analogue.
2009-07-01 14:59:01.009 AO: Audio fragment size: 0
2009-07-01 14:59:01.021 AO: Audio Stretch Factor: 1
2009-07-01 14:59:01.022 Audio Codec Used: not set
2009-07-01 14:59:01.022 AO: Ending reconfigure
2009-07-01 14:59:01.022 AO: no change exiting
2009-07-01 14:59:01.361 AO: no change exiting
2009-07-01 14:59:01.361 AO: Pause 1
2009-07-01 14:59:02.065 VideoOutputQuartz::VProf: rend(quartz-blit)
osd(softblend) deint(linearblend,linearblend) filt()
2009-07-01 14:59:02.260 OSD Theme Dimensions W: 640 H: 480
2009-07-01 14:59:04.269 AO: Pause 1
2009-07-01 14:59:04.272 TV: Changing from None to WatchingPreRecorded
2009-07-01 14:59:04.272 New DB connection, total: 3
2009-07-01 14:59:04.281 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: 
192.168.1.10
2009-07-01 14:59:04.285 OpenGLVideoSync()
2009-07-01 14:59:04.285 ~OpenGLVideoSync() -- begin
2009-07-01 14:59:04.285 ~OpenGLVideoSync() -- end
2009-07-01 14:59:04.285 Video timing method: USleep with busy wait
2009-07-01 14:59:04.334 AO: Pause 0
2009-07-01 14:59:43.414 TV: Attempting to change from WatchingPreRecorded to None
2009-07-01 14:59:43.493 AO: Killing AudioOutputDSP
2009-07-01 14:59:43.558 TV: Changing from WatchingPreRecorded to None
2009-07-01 14:59:47.569 Deleting UPnP client...

_________________
MBE/FE: R6, P4 2.8 GHz/2 GB/2 TB, GeForce 6200 512 MB, PVR-150, Cisco RNG-100 cable box
FE: R6, P4 2.0 GHz/1 GB, GeForce4 MX 420 64 MB, diskless netboot


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 5:41 am 
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Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2004 7:43 pm
Posts: 748
Location: Sydney, Australia
langelgjm wrote:
As far as I can tell, though, there's no way to adjust the playback volume within the MythTV Player software

Sure there is - the square-bracket keys, same as Linux.

Quote:
(or even tell what PCMMixerVolume is set to, since MythTV Player doesn't show up in the settings table of mythconverg like a normal frontend).

It should. My DB contains:

Code:
nigel@mythtv-server:~$ mysql -u root mythconverg -e 'select * from settings where value="PCMMixerVolume"'
+----------------+------+--------------------------+
| value          | data | hostname                 |
+----------------+------+--------------------------+
| PCMMixerVolume | 70   |                          |
| PCMMixerVolume | 70   | (none)                   |
| PCMMixerVolume | 98   | macaque.ind.tansu.com.au |
| PCMMixerVolume | 100  | mythtv-server            |
| PCMMixerVolume | 70   | mythtv-slave             |
+----------------+------+--------------------------+

The default playback volume for any frontend is 70%. My main server, mythtv-server, has its volume at 100%. My MacBook, macaque..., is at 98%.


...
Code:
$ ./MythFrontend -v audio
Qt: QApplication: Warning argv[0] == './MythFrontend' is relative.
In order to dispatch events correctly Mac OS X may require applications to be run with the *full* path to the executable.
2009-07-01 14:58:38.881 Relative PREFIX! (../Resources)
      appDir=/Applications/MythFrontend.app/Contents/MacOS
2009-07-01 14:58:38.882 Using runtime prefix = /Applications/ MythFrontend.app/Contents/Resources
2009-07-01 14:58:40.447 Empty LocalHostName.
XXX



Aah. I think I understand now. Your Mac and Windows clients are probably connecting via UPnP, which means they don't have a hostname, so they are probably using the default volume level of 70%.


I will try to test this scenario tomorrow, but changing the MythTV playback volume on either the Mac or Windows client should update this default value.

Thanks for the debug output. The line just before the XXX would have helped. On my Mac:

Code:
2009-07-06 21:30:14.311 Empty LocalHostName.
2009-07-06 21:30:14.311 Using localhost value of MacBook.local


it gets a default hostname manufactured from the 'Computer Name' in the Sharing Control Panel (er, System Preference).

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| Nigel Pearson, nigel.pearson.au@gmail.com
| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club


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