qtsound capture is terrible

[ekaii]

Hello,

I just tried to record my how Mac output using VLC (2.0.0) latest feature of qtsound capture and SoundFlower to make the Mac out line play in the soundflower input set as the defaut input.
Created an input stream with the url : qtsound://
and recorded the music playing on my mac but the result is terrible. The sound is very noisy (here is it : https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-mAhK ... R1lGOWk3dw).
I know it does not come from the SoundFlower driver cause I use it in another software and the recording is fine and clear.

As anyone experienced that, what could be the cause ?

[crackstone]

yes, i can confirm this and i already sent a patch to fix this bug, so as far as i know this will be fixed with VLC 2.0.1
http://git.videolan.org/?p=vlc.git;a=co ... 87481472f4
i guess you can try a nightly build (no experience with those), or try the git source and compile it to see if the problem is resolved.

//crackstone

[fkuehne]

This patch is part of VLC 2.0.1, which was released today. So, go ahead and download it!

[ekaii]

This patch is even worse, now I only ear noise.
I am sad not being able to capture the mac sound.

[crackstone]

I just tested it via command line with the downloaded release from videolan.org - worked fine (no noise)

both 32-bit and 64-bit (note there's differences in QuickTime's support for certain devices in 32-bit and 64-bit mode)

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/Applications/VLC-32/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC -vvv qtsound://

and also with

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/Applications/VLC-64/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC -vvv qtsound://

I'm at a library right now so I only could test my sennheiser mm70i microphone which worked fine (no noise)

Can you maybe post parts from the verbose output of VLC. specifically this part:

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[0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: qtsound uid = (null) [0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: qtsound : uid = (null) [0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: qtsound audio 0/2 localizedDisplayName: Built-in Microphone uniqueID: AppleHDAEngineInput:1B,0,1,0:1 [0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: qtsound audio 1/2 localizedDisplayName: Built-in Input uniqueID: AppleHDAEngineInput:1B,0,1,1:2 [0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: Cannot find designated uid audio device as (null). Fall back to open default audio device. [0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: created valid audio capture input facility [0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: initialized audio output [0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: Audio localized format summary: Linear PCM, 16 bit little-endian signed integer, 2 channels, 44100 Hz [0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: Audio format description attributes: { audioStreamBasicDescription = "<00000000 8088e540 6d63706c 0c000000 04000000 01000000 04000000 02000000 10000000 01000000>"; } [0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: New audio es 2 channels 44100Hz [0x11a144cf0] main input debug: selecting program id=0 [0x1002829a0] qtsound.lo demux debug: QTSound: We have an audio device ready! [0x1002829a0] main demux debug: using access_demux module "qtsound.lo" [0x1002829a0] main demux debug: TIMER module_need() : 512.147 ms - Total 512.147 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 512.147 ms) [0x1021710f0] main decoder debug: looking for decoder module: 31 candidates [0x1021710f0] araw decoder debug: samplerate:44100Hz channels:2 bits/sample:32 [0x1021710f0] main decoder debug: using decoder module "araw" [0x1021710f0] main decoder debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.942 ms - Total 1.942 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.942 ms) [0x11a149ba0] main demux meta debug: looking for meta reader module: 2 candidates [0x11a149ba0] lua demux meta debug: Trying Lua scripts in /Users/michaelfeurstein/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/lua/meta/reader [0x11a149ba0] lua demux meta debug: Trying Lua scripts in /Applications/VLC-64/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/lua/meta/reader [0x11a149ba0] lua demux meta debug: Trying Lua playlist script /Applications/VLC-64/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/lua/meta/reader/filename.luac [0x11a149ba0] lua demux meta debug: Trying Lua scripts in /Applications/VLC-64/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/share/lua/meta/reader [0x11a149ba0] main demux meta debug: no meta reader module matching "any" could be loaded [0x11a149ba0] main demux meta debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.812 ms - Total 0.812 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.812 ms) [0x11a144cf0] main input debug: `qtsound://' successfully opened

I still have to test it with Soundflower myself.
Do you have the same noise when capturing your built in input or mic or any other audio device connected?

//crackstone

[ekaii]

Hi,
Thank for trying to help me out.
I have done some more testing on my mac mini with Lion using the GUI by opening stream with the "qtsound://" URL and save it as MPEG-PS and trascoding the audio to mp3, 128kb/s, 2channels.
I still have the noise problem and realized that VLC crashes when I try to capture in a file using MPEG-TS or MPEG 4 containers.
When setting to MPEG-TS the vob is created but only with noises.
here is the log message for the recording.

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mux_ps: Open main debug: using sout mux module "mux_ps" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.227 ms - Total 0.227 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.227 ms) main debug: muxer support adding stream at any time main debug: muxer prefers to wait for all ES before starting to mux stream_out_standard debug: using `file/ps:///Users/SeB/Downloads/vlc-output.vob' main debug: using sout stream module "stream_out_standard" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.871 ms - Total 1.871 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.871 ms) main debug: stream=`transcode' main debug: looking for sout stream module: 1 candidate main debug: set config option: sout-transcode-acodec to mp3 main warning: missing value for option ab stream_out_transcode debug: codec audio=mp3 0Hz 0 channels 96Kb/s main debug: using sout stream module "stream_out_transcode" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.370 ms - Total 0.370 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.370 ms) main debug: using timeshift granularity of 50 MiB, in path '/tmp' main debug: `qtsound://' gives access `qtsound' demux `' path `' main debug: creating demux: access='qtsound' demux='' location='' file='(null)' main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate qtsound.lo debug: qtsound uid = (null) qtsound.lo debug: qtsound : uid = (null) qtsound.lo debug: qtsound audio 0/3 localizedDisplayName: Entrée intégrée uniqueID: AppleHDAEngineInput:8,0,1,0:1 qtsound.lo debug: qtsound audio 1/3 localizedDisplayName: Soundflower (2ch) uniqueID: SoundflowerEngine:0 qtsound.lo debug: qtsound audio 2/3 localizedDisplayName: Soundflower (16ch) uniqueID: SoundflowerEngine:1 qtsound.lo debug: Cannot find designated uid audio device as (null). Fall back to open default audio device. qtsound.lo debug: created valid audio capture input facility qtsound.lo debug: initialized audio output qtsound.lo debug: Audio localized format summary: PCM linéaire, 32 bit gros boutien entier signé, 2 canaux, 44100 Hz qtsound.lo debug: Audio format description attributes: { audioStreamBasicDescription = "<00000000 8088e540 6d63706c 1e000000 08000000 01000000 08000000 02000000 20000000 00000000>"; } qtsound.lo debug: New audio es 2 channels 44100Hz main debug: selecting program id=0 qtsound.lo debug: QTSound: We have an audio device ready! main debug: using access_demux module "qtsound.lo" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 147.620 ms - Total 147.620 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 147.620 ms) main debug: looking for packetizer module: 21 candidates main debug: using packetizer module "packetizer_copy" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.233 ms - Total 0.233 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.233 ms) main debug: starting in sync mode main debug: looking for meta reader module: 2 candidates lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in /Users/SeB/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/lua/meta/reader lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/lua/meta/reader lua debug: Trying Lua playlist script /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/lua/meta/reader/filename.luac lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/share/lua/meta/reader main debug: no meta reader module matching "any" could be loaded main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.898 ms - Total 0.898 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.898 ms) main debug: `qtsound://' successfully opened main debug: TIMER input launching for 'vlc-output.vob' : 78.599 ms - Total 78.599 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 78.599 ms) main debug: Buffering 0% main debug: switching to async mode main debug: Buffering 11% main debug: adding a new sout input (sout_input:0x109cd20e0) stream_out_transcode debug: creating audio transcoding from fcc=`f32l' to fcc=`mp3 ' main debug: looking for decoder module: 31 candidates araw debug: samplerate:44100Hz channels:2 bits/sample:32 main debug: using decoder module "araw" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.307 ms - Total 0.307 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.307 ms) main debug: looking for encoder module: 12 candidates avcodec debug: libavcodec already initialized avcodec debug: found encoder MPEG I/II Layer 3 main debug: using encoder module "avcodec" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 5.333 ms - Total 5.333 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 5.333 ms) stream_out_transcode debug: Looking for filter (f32l->s32l, channels 2->2, rate 44100->44100) main debug: looking for audio filter module: 14 candidates audio_format debug: f32l->s32l, bits per sample: 32->32 main debug: using audio filter module "audio_format" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.213 ms - Total 0.213 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.213 ms) main debug: Filter 'audio_format' (0x100a300f0) appended to chain stream_out_transcode debug: Got complete audio filter chain main debug: adding a new input mux_ps debug: adding input codec=mpga

I have also tried on my work mac book pro (with Snow Leopard) and it crashes all the time even when setting MPEG-TS.

[crackstone]

I could reconstruct your issue.
I'll have to look into it - i guess it has something to do with the encoding of the audio
qtsound delivers f32l
and in the log it's trying to convert from f32l to s32l if i understand this correctly

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audio_format debug: f32l->s32l, bits per sample: 32->32

right now i don't have a solution but this should be fixable.

//crackstone

[crackstone]

i filed a bug report on trac: https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/6937
looked into it for some time now, however with no success.
i'm still on it though...



//crackstone

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Did you try latest Nightly Build for 2.1?

[mistermista55]

As it turns out its actually your knowledge of OSX which is bad... not vlc. Well maybe your computer is too not sure. Pointing anything at :// for either audio or video is kind of like trying to pull your mei controller off of your motherboard so you can make a video call with it. The mei controller can do that but it doesn't handle direct requests well. Specifically, on osx the default for people who don't know what options are is mux, IE your audio input and output as one. The result being that your speakers and microphone sit at enphemiral address 0. Why anyone would think this is convenient is beyond me. Advanced sound software makes the most of it but Im going to go ahead and say we aren't advanced just based on this thread. So there are these things called address'. mac and pci are what the qt interface to vlc uses. Maybe you should start there. With a address. If you are trying to record your mic with your speakers... well yeah you deserve what you get. Inside the widget you will find the addresses to your input under media link when opening a new capture device. Copy that address. You might end up with some thing like this
qtsound://AppleHDAEngineInput:1B,0,1,0:1 on mac. This is what you want to be recording. There is also such a thing as audio quality as it pertains to your selected codec, and bitrate within that codec. When you are not specific. You get what you pay for. Chances are if you are having trouble articulating what you want your computer to do. Its not because your computer can't do it. Its' because you don't know how. May I recommend you start by reading the twenty five page advanced help builtin to the vlc command line and finish by reading... I don't know... a book?