No volume control when "Display the output" is used

[ToonPal]

Back in versions of VLC media player before 2.x, I would capture audio streams from the Internet and listen to them as they were being written to disk. I can still do that with VLC 2.x (2.0.3 as of this writing), but something changed between 1.1.11 and 2.0.0. That is, the volume control for the audio output is no longer responsive. When I adjust the volume slider or use the mute button, the volume level remains the same and can't be muted. This behavior has remained in every release since 2.0.0. It is responsive when doing normal streaming or playing local files (albeit a bit delayed) but when while doing stream captures, the volume control doesn't work. Because of this, I must stick with version 1.1.11, because I find it useful to mute the audio output in VLC once in a while to listen to something else while the stream capture continues uninterrupted. This is in reference to VLC media player for Windows, by the way, and I use it in Windows XP SP3.

Is this behavior by design, or is it a defect that can be fixed? I would like to be able to use the latest versions of VLC and still have the ability to control the volume during stream capture, especially since it appears the VLC 1.x branch is no longer being maintained with further bug fixes and security updates.

ToonPal

[Lotesdelere]

Does it happen when you are using the record button ? Have you tried to reset the preferences ?

[ToonPal]

First, I'm sorry I placed my topic in the incorrect category. When I saw it was missing from where I put it, my first thought was that I had been censored!

Resetting preferences doesn't help.

I am not familiar with any "record button". What I do is go to Media... Convert/Save, enter a network location, click Convert/Save, enter a filename destination, click "Display the output", select a profile which uses an ASF (WMA) container and saves the stream contents in the file as is, and click Start. In VLC 1.1.x, I can control the audio volume as the stream is saving and playing. In VLC 2.0.x, I have no control over the sound output; I can only silence it by stopping the stream.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

this is normal. When encoding you get the reference volume.

[ToonPal]

This is the normal of VLC 2.x, eh? That's a disappointment.

Why was this changed from the behavior in the earlier major versions of VLC? Why not just make a new checkbox in the convert/save dialogue that disables the volume controls?

Also, it creeped me out when I would try to mute the sound by clicking the mute button, the sound remain on, and then the mute button "un-click" itself a few seconds later. That is pretty irrational behavior for a software program.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

It worked by accident. Many bugs were fixed, and alongside the accidental feature went.

[ToonPal]

The feature I've been using was a bug and an accident!? In a way, I find that hard to believe, but given the kinds of glitches I've seen in video games recorded into videos on YouTube, I guess I have to trust that something like this can happen.

I guess I am stuck using VLC 1.1.11 for my purposes for the time being. I'm not holding out hope for anyone to re-implement this quirk as a cleanly-coded intentional feature anytime soon.

[joeusercz]

this is normal. When encoding you get the reference volume.

Actually, it does not use the reference volume, it uses the last volume used.

This was not a "bug" in the last version. There is no reason why one should not be able to adjust the volume while recording. The "bug" is in the new code!

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

No. Recording is always and has always been at the nominal volume. The audio is not decoded before it gets recorded, so it was, is and will continue to be intrinsically nominal.

That says nothing of what the playback volume is.

[joeusercz]

Yes, but the playback volume is what we are talking about. In 1.x we could adjust the playback volume, in 2.x we cannot (while recording.) I am sorry, but adjusting the playback volume while recording is a normal operation for all other recording applications I use.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Patch welcome.