[mythtv-users] Per Card Volume Control Bounty started

[Brian Wood]

On Sep 7, 2006, at 3:10 PM, Anduin Withers wrote:

>> I don't think the goal of this proposed bounty system is to try to  
>> pay the
>> devs what they would make on the open market for their work.  They  
>> are all
>> doing the work for free right now and $500 is a lot more than $0  
>> so it
>> seems like a good idea to me.
>
> Doing a lot of work for nothing feels a lot better than doing a lot  
> of work
> for some pittance. That said, I don't think anyone would bother  
> arguing
> market rates for bounties should be expected or are reasonable.
>
> I personally would like to see per-card volume control. I also know  
> that at
> least one reason it isn't already done is that volume is a codec  
> parameter.
> Codec parameters are associated with recording profiles.
>
> Do you make a general codec parameter override or just volume?
> Do you make it per-card or per-input?
> Where does the UI for adjusting the volume go? (Currently the only  
> logically
> place it could go is in the card setup screen in mythtv-setup which  
> is miles
> from where the codec volume setting is)
>
> -

This is a feature that has been mentioned many times, but frankly I  
doubt that it would help the real problem.

I suspect that people want the feature to prevent varying audio  
levels on their recordings, but I wonder how much of that variation  
is actually card-related.

Keeping audio levels the same across 70 or more channels on a cable  
system is extremely difficult. Even if the actual modulation level is  
the same different programs have different types of processing,  
leading to variations in the "psychoacoustic perceived loudness" of  
different programs. This is one reason commercials seem louder even  
if the actual modulation level as shown on a VU meter is the same -  
the commercials are processed to within an inch of their lives for  
the very purpose of making them more noticeable (and obnoxious IMHO).

Perhaps the feature would help with differences between different  
types of cards, but I have four  identical cards and the volume level  
varies with the channel much more than between cards.

Unless the variation is extreme enough to cause the S/N to become  
unusable, or the distortion to be too much, having a remote control  
in your hand is the best solution, as long as the system has enough  
headroom to handle the situation.

In other words, even with the feature, I think you would still wind  
up adjusting volume between programs, and setting up the system to  
run in the middle of its range, between too much noise and too much  
distortion, and making up the remaining differences with the remote,  
is probably the only real answer.

So how does a user handle paying a bounty on some work that doesn't  
really solve his problem? Probably by not paying it.