The VideoLAN Forums

Good evening.

I would like to understand one thing according sound in VLC. I took a very very good look at this today (actually never thought about it before), and found huge dirrerence by using high volume and headphones.

Why is the quality so bad comparing to sound in Winamp or Media Player Classic? No matter what output module and settings I choose, the sound will always be crappy and "unclean" (sounds like when you make a ball of piece of paper), both on audio and video files preview. The more dB it is, the more crappy it sounds.

All 3 players uses same output, DirectSound, according my current settings that I made last test with. All VLC settings are set to default.

I have pretty old sound card (Creative Sound Blaster from early 2000), but it should not matter, since sound is very nice in other players.

Current player version is 0.8.6a (same with older versions).

What is the problem? What can I do about it? Why does VLC creates different output? I still want to watch videos in VLC, but with same good quality as in other players.

Thank you.

VLC has 6 db of gain form 50% to 100%. Other players have no gain. So if you have the sound turned down in other players you may need to go below 50% to get the same result. To much gain causes distortion of the front end of some audio cards.

i think the correct setting is 25.


PS:[quote=RoLex]VLC vs. Winamp or MPC[/quote] does that topic sound too familiar?

(visit my signature post vlc and its alternatives)


@ DJ: cool... only one more post for 7700

In Preferences, Audio 256 of 1024 = 50% or No gain. This setting is 100% in other players.

In Preferences, Audio 256 of 1024 = 50% or No gain. This setting is 100% in other players.

So clear for users

In Preferences, Audio 256 of 1024 = 50% or No gain. This setting is 100% in other players.

Thank you very much, everything is as I wanted now.

So clear for users

I don't know how to understand that, but I agree. This explanation DJ wrote to me, should stay in setting hint in VLC, instead of "You can set default audio output volume here".

Thank you once again.

That means that I don't understand the choice

No Choice! It's the default.

DJ: what about having a volume control with two colors (blue and red) that changes at 100% (256) and goes up to 200% (512) in the interface ?

Good idea ? Bad idea ? Confusing ? Not Confusing ?

Perhaps Green and Yellow? There are still a few issues here:

1. is how the gain is taken and made up for in the EQ. There is 12 db here and I don't know how that is derived (used or accounted for).

2. Fold down from 5.1 to 2 channels is format dependent and doubtful this will change, but it shouldn't be format dependent as this is constant for all formats. A good start here (believe it or not) would be from the Mono left channel only and NOT create stereo from a mono source. Of coarse the transcode would also need too be corrected to allow mono which presently it doesn't work (at least with any format I have tried).

3. The EQ effects fold down gain while the stereo appears normal. I have not tried to investigate this one because of other unknowns and a lack of test equipment.

4. As more amateurs are making files in various formats there is a general lack of understanding about the specifications for gain and compensation in various formats for audio. In other words the source may not be transcoded for gain to maintain the headroom of the original file causing the audio to be 6 to 8 db lower in gain than intended.

5. In 0.8.6 ctrl up or down will allow an apparent change of gain to 400% or 12 db max, but from 200% to 400% I do not perceive a difference?

6. DTS 5.1 standards in FS generated tones (700 a 1k) would allow all the issues to be resolved 1 by 1 and this will take time and a collaborative effort. I know form standards and experience what works (both for the professional and the consumer) in both a controlled and home environment.

7. AAC is still a sore spot with channel mapping, fold down gains and decoding all known forms. No other format is quite so bad in all of these areas and yet AAC has the potential of so much more than some other formats. VLC is not alone in these issues.

After listing all the areas that need work, I guess some kind of warning indicator would be desired for the end user so that any possibility of overload of a standard audio card may be avoided.

In my experience, whilst limited compared to VLC, the VOX media player has superior sound output.

I imagine many people would have assumed 100% was the natural volume of the soundtrack, without gain applied? The issue of course that not all soundtracks have the same peak dB?

With the new support of ISO-band equalizer, VLC sound is better now.
With VLC-band equalizer, VLC sounds somewhat missing.