On 1/16/07, Michael Beal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've done anything with Freevo but, > now that I have a PC that works right and a stable development station, I'm > gearing up to jump back in! Well, sort of.... Read on. > > First, my quibbles and questions... Freevo has a lot of great development > going on and a lot of cool features are yet to be added. I really look > forward to v2.0! However, after looking over some of the code in 1.6.2, > there seems to be some overt complicating of the internals. For example, in > ivtv_xine_tv.py there's a reference call to the mixer plugin and direct > manipulation of the audio from within when it isn't necessary. In mixer.py, > I have to question why we're accessing hardware directly rather than using a > higher level tool? The OS, it's hardware drivers and their associated tools > are available to handle this type of thing. All claims of "Why add another > dependency?" aside, why not use the tools built into the OS? > > I don't know how DVD's sound in other countries when played in Freevo with > 6-channel audio enabled in Mplayer or Xine, but in the U.S. they sound > awful. The center channel, where ALL the dialog is recorded, is weak. The > Front, Surround and Bass(LFE) channels are unbalanced and frequently over > power the dialog or start the windows rattling. (Good examples of this are > "Underworld" and "Queen of the Damned." The bass channel will deafen you > while you strain to hear a single spoken word. In "Queen of...", the > narrative is plain and clear from the front channels while the dialog is > almost missing.) > I use hwac3 in mplayer and most things sound fine. Ig uess things are different when mixing to six chanel out as opposed to coax or optical???
I use my amp to decoe the ac3 and control each channels volume. That being said, I am not avert to a 'sound' menu to manually configure each chanels volume if its possible... But I don't think with my carruent hardware it is for me. Might be time for me to get an ex-digi hey? > For this reason, I have spawned and have been improving a new mixer which I > have named sixmixer.py and a new volume control for use with sixmixer.py > which reflects the volume settings for the Front, Surround, Center and > Bass(LFE) channels. When I am sure these do not break Freevo in any way (at > least not on my system), I'll post them here. I've also done some removal > of code to eliminate conflicts with sixmixer.py. Sixmixer.py uses the > "amixer" control to handle volume settings. I chose this because the ALSA > sound system is by far the most common among Linux distros. I know OSS is > out there and in good use but OSS, if I remember correctly, contains ALSA > wrappers for programs that are designed to use ALSA by default. I'll be > adding OSS and ARTS support in the near future. I don't know enough about > the JACK audio system to make the necessary additions to sixmixer.py so > support isn't planned. In order to make sixmixer.py work from the remote, I > had to add events and new remote button mappings to events.py which may have > broken something as I keep getting a crash when I try to rename a favorite. > (Something about subsurface out of range or something like that when I use > any of the remote's number buttons or keyboard...) I also took the liberty > of adding the special "MENU" button mappings to events.py. > > I haven't seen where a configuration tool has been built for Freevo. This > is what I intend to work on for a while. Initially, this tool will be built > from 1.6.2 and will begin with a better tool for adjusting sixmixer.py. As > I stated above, I think I broke something when I remapped some of the remote > keys. The best way to keep the remote events in a pristine state is to > write a separate control to adjust and track the sixmixer.py settings. In > so doing, 6-channel audio can become the _default_ for Freevo which should > make a number of people VERY happy. Afterward, I'll work on code which will > detect the absence of local_conf.py and then try to detect as much hardware > as possible, building a basic local_conf.py as it goes. (Due to it's > extreme simplicity, the "Rain" skin will be used for defining the menus for > the forthcoming "Settings" plugin.) > > We'll see where these projects go from there. If it seems a fork in the > Freevo project becomes necessary, I'll seek feedback on that idea before > hand. > THis al sounds great. Looking forward to seeing it! ;-). > Thanks guys! > > Michael > > ________________________________ > Bored stiff? Loosen up... > Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT > Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your > opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash > http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV > > _______________________________________________ > Freevo-devel mailing list > Freevo-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freevo-devel > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ Freevo-devel mailing list Freevo-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freevo-devel
