Strange sound issue in VLC with pulseaudio 1.0-r [Solved]

[aquarius]

Hi,
I've done update as usual:

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equo update
equo upgrade
equo conf update

And now I have a strange and annoying problem with VLC: the volume level of voice is very low, while level of music is same as before. As result watching movies with VLC is almost impossible.
Of all updates I suspect pulseaudio (1.0-r2). But I may be pointing in a wrong guy
I'm not familiar with linux sound architecture, but it looks like the default value of equalizer was modified, so some parts of the sound spectrum are muffled (dumped down), while others are not.
The hardware itself is OK - there is no such issue on my Ubuntu 10.10 running on the same laptop.

Any suggestions or clues?
Is there any way to downgrade pulseaudio to previous version?

Thanks in advance

[Sisko43]

I would check the separate sound channel settings via

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alsamixer

while vlc in usage.

Furthermore check the settings in the Pulseaudio Control Panel aka "pavucontrol".

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equo install pavucontrol

Most likely after last update your volume settings have been set back to a lower default level.

Or maybe some mixer-settings have been messed up within vlc for example(Stereo, 5.1...)

[aquarius]

Sisko43, thanks for your reply!

I have made multiple comparisons between Sabayon and Ubuntu and here are results:
1) VLC sound settings are identical.
2) pavucontrol settings are identical.
3) I checked alsamixer setting while vlc is running and found they are the same as usual. Alsamixer settings in Sabayon and Ubuntu are almost identical. There are two differences:
a) on the "capture" "tab" there is "digital" item, which is not available in Ubuntu.
b) "master" on "playback" "tab" has lower "dB gain" value in Ubuntu if I set master to the same volume. E.g. if master is set to 56% this is -12.00 in Sabayon and -19.50 in Ubuntu. Maybe this is the problem, but I have no idea what can I do with it

[aquarius]

Most likely the problem is with VLC. Opening same movies in avidemux produces normal audio

[aquarius]

The problem is still present.
ANd this is definitely a VLC problem. xnoise and xbmc produce normal sound. Only VLC is not.

[aquarius]

Upgrading to VLC 2.0 solved the problem

[Richlion]

Hello,

does anyone still have a problem with sound using VLC? My version of VLC is 2.0.1 and no sound at all,
I checked Alsamixer, all settings in VLC to default, to no avail.
This happend after updates to Sabayon a couple of weeks ago and no solution to the problem.
There is no other application with the sound problem, SMPlayer works, Audacious works, web content with video works, etc.

Regards,
Richard

[steffie]

same probs be me, in messages i see also sink messages, so i use Ubuntu for vlc to view videos

i ask for help in irc but there comes no help so i go wait for a time..

Ps.: on my Netbook with 32 Bit installation vlc has sound since upgrade from limbo...

[Jomiel]

This may sound stupid, but is sound activated in the settings?
Does VLC any errors when it's started through a terminal? If so post them.

cheers
Jomiel

[steffie]

after updating last night:

[01:59:26 26/06/2012 CEST] INFO: [Package] [client] Unpacking package: packages/amd64/5/media-video:vlc-2.0.1~4.tbz2

rebooting, and sound comes back yeah!

ps.: sry ubuntu, using lovely sabayon now on all times

stephan@sabsandy ~/Videos $ cvlc TV-20120603-1010-0301.webl.h264.mp4
VLC media player 2.0.1 Twoflower (revision 2.0.1-0-gf432547)
[0x1bb0898] main interface error: no suitable interface module
[0x1aed108] main libvlc error: interface "globalhotkeys,none" initialization failed
[0x7f3f50004838] dummy interface: using the dummy interface module...
[0x1e27858] xcb_xv vout display error: parent window not available
[0x1e27858] xcb_glx vout display error: parent window not available
[0x1e27858] xcb_x11 vout display error: parent window not available
[0x1e27858] main vout display error: Failed to set on top

stephan@sabsandy ~/Videos $ vlc TV-20120603-1010-0301.webl.h264.mp4
VLC media player 2.0.1 Twoflower (revision 2.0.1-0-gf432547)
[0x7fc6ac000a68] main interface error: no suitable interface module
[0x898108] main libvlc error: interface "globalhotkeys,none" initialization failed
[0x898108] main libvlc: VLC wird mit dem Standard-Interface ausgeführt. Benutzen Sie 'cvlc', um VLC ohne Interface zu verwenden.