switching between 5.1 and 2.0 audio configurations

[cybmole]

i have 2 channel speaker set up but am considering a set of 5.1 surround sound headphones ( USB driven) for use with .avi files that have 6 channel sound ( according to preferences- details)

will I have to manually tweak VLC preference every time I switch from one to the other, in order to get the correct audio out settings or can that be automated

I am pretty sure that windows will automatically set default sound device to 5.1 phones when connected & back to 2.0 speakers when phones are disconnected, but how is this communicated to player - if at all ?

is there any single preference settting that will work with both phones & speakers - downmixing as needed ?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

You should try VLC 2.1.0-pre1 http://people.videolan.org/~jb/vlc-2.1.0-pre1-win32.exe? with the waveout output.

[cybmole]

You should try VLC 2.1.0-pre1 http://people.videolan.org/~jb/vlc-2.1.0-pre1-win32.exe? with the waveout output.

thanks , but if that is a beta, with a full release coming soon, I am happy to wait for the full release.
i will read the relevant documentation though, if there is any

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Well, testing will help us

[cybmole]

Well, testing will help us

OK - are the specifics you want tested or is it just "use it & see if it crashes" sort of testing

I am not really a power user, all I do is watch movies/ tv series with it

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

That you can select the device in the menu, and so on...

[cybmole]

for now - still testing audio device switching with 2.0.7

I have connected & configured my 5.1 usb headphones in windows.A control panel speakers test gives me 6 x workign speakers.
I now want to observe & listen to see what vlc is doing- so rather than searching soundtracks for good examples I hope to find some log or stats to help but no joy.

I want to see, objectively if VLC is now delivering 6 channels but cannot find any breakdown. In media information/codec information there is only 1 entry for audio, and nothing in a verbose log either.

I am hoping to prove that VLC can remain set to use "primary sound driver" so that there is no need to meddle when headphones are removed. I did find a free utility called mediainfo that will confirm what is in the avi / mkv files that I test with. how should I test whether VLC is leaving channels as is, or is downmixing. I'd rather not do this subjectively.

any suggestions on where to look /how to test please