VLC 2.1.1 no longer allows me to change to stereo audio

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Normally, the Windows settings take care of the channel mapping, and they are far more flexible than VLC settings. You can also override it in the VLC output settings if you really want to, or with VLC audio filters. And of course, you should be able to select the correct audio track, with better quality than any kind of software remixing.

On the one hand, removing the current audio device selector is not an option (and thus rolling back is not an option). All modern computers have more than one output: analog, HDMI or DP, often S/PDIF, and sometimes USB or BT headsets... On the other hand, your use case looks very specialized, and in my opinion, superfluous or redundant.

I do not care how many people whine about it here. Without credible technical justification, and a concrete and acceptable proposal (that is to say a source code patch), nothing will change.

[michabb]

so where am i able to set "2 Front 2 Rear" in VLC when the audio track is 5.1 ??? WHERE ? show me... please....if i need a plugin for this, show me which and where to get it... i am open for everything.....

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Code: Select all

vlc.exe --directx-audio-speaker=Quad

or DirectSound preferences, or audio remapping filter, or probably Windows audio settings...

[michabb]

--directx-audio-speaker=Quad

is working... but do you think it´s a feature using command line params instead of making 3 clicks by mouse - as before ?

that´s still the point... you removed the feature to change it ? why should i use a software, that takes/removes useability?
this whole discussion is so stupid, sorry... why can´t you make the menu available again and let us choose this on-the-fly ?
why do i need to use command line params ?

what is the sense of this ? next time you remove the subtitle-menu and we also have to choose the language by command line ? or where is this attitude going to ??

[grivy]

No-one is asking for the removal of the current audio device selector. Only for the addition of the old menu items. As is depicted in this image where they are BOTH present!

[michabb]

correct ! it´s so simple, why do we need to explain this 100 times ??

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

I think I have made the points clear. You prefer to ignore them. I cannot help you.

[michabb]

i think most people here think: you ignore US - but the consequence is i will use another player - and just because developers want to tell US, what WE NEED and what we DONT NEED - oh boy, how stupid this is....

[AndyMeToo]

Is this going to be fixed?

It's not urgent because 2.0.8 works fine, but it would be nice to know it will be fixed at some point.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

No-one is asking for the removal of the current audio device selector. Only for the addition of the old menu items. As is depicted in this image where they are BOTH present!

It is not possible to add the old menu items to the current audio device selector and it would not make sense anyway. Alternatively, extending the stereo mode menu to support surround (which it never did in any VLC version) is a non-trivial change.

So, the code cannot simply be reverted to what it was in 2.0.x, contrary to what a number of people have claimed. If you think I am wrong, you are more than welcome to prove it by posting a working patch to vlc-devel. Until then, the topic is moot in my opinion.

[michabb]

is it really so important WHERE to put the old menu in ?
all this postings just to tell you: please but it BACK - most of us are no developers so it´s ridiculous to tell us to deliver a patch
if we would be able to deliver this, we won´t type here like idiots...

Alternatively, extending the stereo mode menu to support surround (which it never did in any VLC version) is a non-trivial change.

but it looks like it was trivial to remove it.... again: removing something from the menu i have now to enable again by command line is more than stupid,
its really terrifying to explain this a developer

[AndyMeToo]

Why is the topic moot?

Version 2.0.8 worked fine, but the later versions don't.

I have three speakers - left, right and subwoofer. The only way I can have the subwoofer doing anything in Windows is to set it up as 5.1 surround and then tell it I only have front left, front right and subwoofer.

If I play a video in VLC with only a 5.1 audio track I get no voice - music, effects etc are okay, just no voice. I assume that this is because the voice part of the audio would normally go to the centre speaker.

In VLC 2.0.8 all I have to do is set the Audio Device to stereo and I get the voice back - I assume because it mixes the centre channel into the left and right stereo channels. In later versions I can't do this, and I can't find an alternative setting that achieves the same result.

[michabb]

i guess our developer will tell you, you can do this by using a nice command line parameter... and yes of course... using the command line is much better than having menus (as before)...

[drewster]

I just registered so I can post this comment. This is the 4th thread on this topic that I've just read, I'm sure there are more.

Remi, I don't know why you continue to respond the way you do. Your user base is clearly speaking about a feature that clearly works well for us, and we cannot understand why you aren't adding back the functionality to the menu system that was available prior to 2.1.0 in the menu system. As others have noted, this feature is so convenient and compelling that I'm rolling back to 2.0.9 from 2.1.2. In one of my commonly played MPG movie files I only hear voice on the left front channel. Going into the menu and selecting Mono fixed this. I won't change my Windows audio configs for just this one file, then revert those configs when the file is done. Who does that?!

You did mention one thing in one of your replies - audio filters. I tinkered with those and got mono output but can't seem to replicate. Maybe you could address how audio filters is the new way of managing the output options people are discussing in this thread. Is the functionality that was conveniently accessible through the menu in prior versions now accessed in Preferences > Audio > Filters ???

I can reliably get Mono output in this one movie file by enabling the Spatializer and using Dry (I can't detect any affect from the other settings [Size, Width, Wet, Damp]).

Kind regards.

[Ludrax]

is it really so important WHERE to put the old menu in ?
all this postings just to tell you: please but it BACK - most of us are no developers so it´s ridiculous to tell us to deliver a patch
if we would be able to deliver this, we won´t type here like idiots...

what about this one?
If you have a high priority issue, you must provide a patch yourself, or arrange for someone to do so. The VideoLAN project and the VLC developers are not at your service (they do not get your money) and cannot satisfy all requests.

[michabb]

i don´t know what u are smoking... but as far as i know its clear that there has been removed important functionality, till this issue i always believed that the main goal is to make software better, not worse, but okay, this simple fact does not play a role, because we don´t pay... are we even allowed to write here ? or will my account be deleted soon because i didn´t make any donations ?
-WTF-

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

is it really so important WHERE to put the old menu in ?

Obviously, yes... If it were unimportant to you, you would happily use the DirectSound panel in the VLC preferences instead of complaining here.

all this postings just to tell you: please but it BACK - most of us are no developers so it´s ridiculous to tell us to deliver a patch

By this line of thinking, it is ridiculous to discuss VLC development on the forum at all...

I do not presume who is and who is not a developer. The fact that developers are a minority among the general population does not imply that no (other) developer has read or will read this thread. Besides, developer is not an innate characteristic.

if we would be able to deliver this, we won´t type here like idiots...

Alternatively, extending the stereo mode menu to support surround (which it never did in any VLC version) is a non-trivial change.

but it looks like it was trivial to remove it.... again: removing something from the menu i have now to enable again by command line is more than stupid,
its really terrifying to explain this a developer

Look, either you know better than me, and it should be very easy for you to make a patch, or you do not and you really should avoid making baseless assumptions about something you do not know.

[michabb]

is it really so important WHERE to put the old menu in ?

Obviously, yes... If it were unimportant to you, you would happily use the DirectSound panel in the VLC preferences instead of complaining here.

if you would have followed my story, you would have seen, that the only solution that works for me is currently using command line params (as you suggested)...
so i am happy to see a menu somewhere... and yes, i does not play a role for me... i think you are intelligent enough to decide where to put it... you have been
able to remove it... so i will bet, putting somewhere a (sub)menu is nothing that will brake the whole project...

all this postings just to tell you: please but it BACK - most of us are no developers so it´s ridiculous to tell us to deliver a patch

By this line of thinking, it is ridiculous to discuss VLC development on the forum at all...

tell me, what is the right place and person i am able to talk to as a none coder ? you are the wrong person, obviously.

I do not presume who is and who is not a developer. The fact that developers are a minority among the general population does not imply that no (other) developer has read or will read this thread. Besides, developer is not an innate characteristic.

so in name of all people in this thread: i am so sorry to bother you - and more sorry that your first answer wasn´t: sorry, i am the wrong person, please get in conact with XXXX who is responsible for
"customer support" or what ever it is called in this project.

if we would be able to deliver this, we won´t type here like idiots...

Alternatively, extending the stereo mode menu to support surround (which it never did in any VLC version) is a non-trivial change.

but it looks like it was trivial to remove it.... again: removing something from the menu i have now to enable again by command line is more than stupid,
its really terrifying to explain this a developer

Look, either you know better than me, and it should be very easy for you to make a patch, or you do not and you really should avoid making baseless assumptions about something you do not know.

never have read somebody so ignorant and sniffy, hopeless....

[AndyMeToo]

After all of that it appears that there a solution that I can use, but it was not explained very well.

There has been much mention of DirectSound settings but it isn't actually DirectSound Settings you need to change (or maybe it is but that's not what it's called in the VLC preference settings). It's DirectX that needs adjusting.

It's Tools then Preferences then set Show Settings to All.

Then expand Output Modules under the Audio settings. Select DirectX and here you can change the Speaker Configuration as you used to be able to do from the main menus.

You need to re-start VLC for it to take effect (maybe that's caught some people out) and it's permanent until you change it.

I also looked at the "vlc.exe --directx-audio-speaker=Quad" option. You can change the "Quad" to "Stereo" and that also works, but that string of commands didn't mean much to me. What it actually means is that in the short cut to VLC you need to go to the Properties (right click the icon and select Properties) where you will see something like "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" in the Target box. If you add the --directx-audio-speaker=Stereo after this so that it reads "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --directx-audio-speaker=Stereo then that works.

I think if this had been explained instead of just being told "no" and "you don't need it anyway" (to paraphrase) I would have been much happier.

[JohnDC]

Just copy/paste VLC's desktop shortcut (click once to highlight it, hit Ctrl-C and then Ctrl-V) and add the Quad command line switch to the new shortcut. If you don't use the Quad option more than you do use it, you might want to also add a command line switch to VLC's original shortcut, to set its stereo mode back to default.

Sorry if you already knew any or all of that.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Come on, can you please all calm down? I will have a look at it. But a lot of your usecases are already fixed with the preferences.

[michabb]

Come on, can you please all calm down? I will have a look at it. But a lot of your usecases are already fixed with the preferences.

sorry for the heat. i am happy that a 2nd party is taking a look... yes, of course, the command line works, and yes, clicking 7 times, also works....
i believe, most of us would be happy, to switch the audio level with only 3 clicks (like in older versions), than 7

just to clarify, here´s the menu andy is talking about:

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

I am not spending time here to be insulted. This topic is now on my ignore list.

[escruting]

I am not spending time here to be insulted. This topic is now on my ignore list.

https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 09#p397509

Please, can you comment? Thanks.

[michabb]

if this whole menu thing is such an impossible thing - even the menu still exists, but it not usable any morre (which causes a lot of lack of understanding),
i might suggest something, that would work, if vlc would save the view of the preferences window:

when i press CTRL+P -> Show settings -> All -> Select: Audio -> Output modules -> DirectX ---> and then click the Checkbox on top: "Only show current"

if this view (like in my screenshot) would be saved (also when closing vlc), when i leave preferences and come back (with STRG+P), i would be able to switch
audio like before, very simple.... just CTRL+P and only one click at the menu.... if this behavior is less complicated (saving the view of the preferences) than
getting back the old menu, everybody wins... and vlc would have a new feature....

never mind... just an idea...