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Installing VLC Media Player voids your speaker warranty

en.community.dell.com

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Re: Installing VLC Media Player voids your speaker warranty

#31

Post by maxerickson »

Aardwolf wrote: post #24
maxerickson wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would probably either cost more or the speakers would have a lower peak volume. I don't think it is a wild compromise to make some assumptions about the sounds people will play through the speakers (and it's not like a spec relating the max energy/time is going to help most shoppers).

Well, it's also a wild compromise to say the warranty is void by installing popular software. If they would instead say, the warranty is void if you go above such and so threshold for such and so long (no matter with what software), that would make sense, but this, just seems a cheap way of making the warranty unexistent. Anyway, a moderator from Dell replied that you can contact him if Dell refuses to give support j…

Yeah, it's nonsense that they are straight up blaming VLC.

(But I don't think it is obviously unreasonable to sell a cheap laptop with cheap speakers, configured to be able to make louder peaks)

Re: Installing VLC Media Player voids your speaker warranty

#32

Post by mansr »

When the Samsung ARM Chromebook came out, people quickly found that careless tinkering with alsamixer caused the speakers to overheat and melt the case as a result of being driven with a high DC current. A driver update blocked the control causing the damaging signal routing.

Re: Installing VLC Media Player voids your speaker warranty

#33

Post by jbk »

stcredzero wrote: post #29
jbk wrote: post #15

As the main developer of VLC, we know about this story since a long time, and this is just Dell putting crap components on their machine and blaming others. Any discussion was impossible with them. So let me explain a bit... In this case, VLC just uses the Windows APIs (DirectSound), and sends signed integers of 16bits (s16) to the Windows Kernel. VLC allows amplification of the INPUT above the sound that was decoded…

VLC allows amplification of the INPUT above the sound that was decoded. This is just like replay gain, broken codecs, badly recorded files or post-amplification and can lead to saturation. I have to say, there may be a UI issue here as well. I blare my speakers with VLC playback something like 5X times more often than QuickTime player or mplayer. I use all 3 with about equal frequency.

> I have to say, there may be a UI issue here as well.

I think this is fixed in the latest releases...

Re: Installing VLC Media Player voids your speaker warranty

#35

Post by zephjc »

collyw wrote: post #14
zephjc wrote: post #10

What kind of person uses crappy laptop speakers for media consumption?

far too many people do, and many annoyingly listen to music through the crappy speakers on their phone, usually in public.

Then if they blow out their crappy speakers, maybe that will leave them with no recourse but to plug their headphones in

Re: Installing VLC Media Player voids your speaker warranty

#36

Post by brador »

jbk wrote: post #15

As the main developer of VLC, we know about this story since a long time, and this is just Dell putting crap components on their machine and blaming others. Any discussion was impossible with them. So let me explain a bit... In this case, VLC just uses the Windows APIs (DirectSound), and sends signed integers of 16bits (s16) to the Windows Kernel. VLC allows amplification of the INPUT above the sound that was decoded…

How about detecting Dell Speakers and automatically setting the max volume to 100%, with a notification so the user can give an a-ok if they want to go higher. That way, at least users know and can make a decision. Similar to the Android warning if you set your volume too high that it could cause hearing damage.

I'd prefer to be warned rather than surprised by this!

Re: Installing VLC Media Player voids your speaker warranty

#38

Post by lucb1e »

Anytime I call tech support, I'm running Windows 7 or 8.1 (depending on which they support) with antivirus installed, firewall on, and the latest MSIE. Hardware does not include an ssd unless that's the item I'm calling about. I will also pretend trying to restart my system and router. Good to know I should add Windows Media Player to the list.

Re: Installing VLC Media Player voids your speaker warranty

#39

Post by jrockway »

brador wrote: post #36
jbk wrote: post #15

As the main developer of VLC, we know about this story since a long time, and this is just Dell putting crap components on their machine and blaming others. Any discussion was impossible with them. So let me explain a bit... In this case, VLC just uses the Windows APIs (DirectSound), and sends signed integers of 16bits (s16) to the Windows Kernel. VLC allows amplification of the INPUT above the sound that was decoded…

How about detecting Dell Speakers and automatically setting the max volume to 100%, with a notification so the user can give an a-ok if they want to go higher. That way, at least users know and can make a decision. Similar to the Android warning if you set your volume too high that it could cause hearing damage. I'd prefer to be warned rather than surprised by this!

VLC doesn't do anything particularly interesting, though. There are plenty of CDs that already apply this filter to the music, meaning there's no way you can play that CD without damaging their speakers.

The problem is simply that the Dell speakers are piles of shit.

Re: Installing VLC Media Player voids your speaker warranty

#40

Post by DrJokepu »

brador wrote: post #36
jbk wrote: post #15

As the main developer of VLC, we know about this story since a long time, and this is just Dell putting crap components on their machine and blaming others. Any discussion was impossible with them. So let me explain a bit... In this case, VLC just uses the Windows APIs (DirectSound), and sends signed integers of 16bits (s16) to the Windows Kernel. VLC allows amplification of the INPUT above the sound that was decoded…

How about detecting Dell Speakers and automatically setting the max volume to 100%, with a notification so the user can give an a-ok if they want to go higher. That way, at least users know and can make a decision. Similar to the Android warning if you set your volume too high that it could cause hearing damage. I'd prefer to be warned rather than surprised by this!

Assuming the speakers are connected through an audio jack, is there a realiable way of detecting specific speaker models?
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