I read several bugs in trac about VLC and remembering volume - or not, in Linux. For some it restarted at 100%; for others it restarted at 0%, when they wanted the last volume.
My problem is I want it to start at 0, but it starts at the last volume. It ignores "volume_save=0" (Boolean). I'm not sure why VLC has to get a volume value from Linux, if ~ "Don't Remember Last Volume" is set; it should then default to 0?
The reason given for the audio level problems in Linux is usually something about Pulse or ALSA audio outputs not playing well with media players in general & VLC especially.
And there's no solution.
Except SMPlayer - using mpv works OK on the same machine in Mint 18.1 (based on Ubuntu xenial). SMP has the same audio outputs to deal with as VLC.
When I set SMP.ini value, "Initial_volume=0" it starts at 0 (or any number entered) every time.
Is the reason SMP - Linux can start at a specified volume, because they have a config value for "initial_volume?
Where it appears VLC only has "volume-save" (yes or no). Several media players - yrs ago - also had "initial_volume" prefs, if you wanted one.
Could VLC devs add a VLCRC pref - to enter (optional) specific starting volume? Less than 100% that some get, or what ever they want.
That way VLC wouldn't depend on Pulse or ALSA - correct? It seems like this might work. A lot of Linux users have complained.