[ tvtime-Bugs-845595 ] Problem changing volume

Bugs item #845595, was opened at 2003-11-20 01:22
Message generated for change (Comment added) made by vektor
You can respond by visiting: 
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=506987&aid=845595&group_id=64301

Category: OSD/Interface
>Group: Fixed in CVS for next release
Status: Open
>Resolution: Fixed
>Priority: 7
Submitted By: George Wu (georgewu)
Assigned to: Billy Biggs (vektor)
Summary: Problem changing volume

Initial Comment:
I am trying to run tvtime 0.9.10 on Linux 2.4.16 and
everything seems to work fine except I can not change
the volume using the "+" or "-" keys.  I can run xawtv
just fine so I have confidence in the basic sound and
TV card driver setup being correct. The "tvtime -v"
output is attached below.

-----------------------------------------------------------

tvtime: Running tvtime 0.9.10.
tvtime: Can't get realtime priority for better
performance, need root access.
rtctimer: Cannot open /dev/rtc: Permission denied
rtctimer: Cannot open /dev/misc/rtc: No such file or
directory

*** /dev/rtc support is needed for smooth video.  We
STRONGLY recommend
*** that you load the 'rtc' kernel module before
starting tvtime,
*** and make sure that your user has access to the
device file.
*** See our support page at http://tvtime.net/ for more
information

config: Reading configuration from
/usr/local/etc/tvtime/tvtime.xml
config: Reading configuration from
/home/eileen/.tvtime/tvtime.xml
cpuinfo: CPU AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1800+, family 6, model
6, stepping 2.
cpuinfo: CPU measured at 1537.418MHz.
tvtime: Can't renice to -19.
tvtime: Sending frames to interlaced output devices.
xcommon: Display :0.0, vendor The XFree86 Project, Inc,
XFree86 4.2.1
xfullscreen: Single-head detected, pixel aspect will be
calculated.
xfullscreen: Pixel aspect ratio on the primary head is:
1.00.
xfullscreen: Using the XFree86-VidModeExtension to
calculate fullscreen size.
xfullscreen: Fullscreen to 0,0 with size 1152x864.
xcommon: Have XTest, will use it to ping the screensaver.
xcommon: Sample aspect ratio 292/293.
xcommon: No window properties found for EWMH.
xcommon: Window manager is not EWMH compliant.
xcommon: Sample aspect ratio 292/293.
xcommon: Displaying in a 765x575 window inside 765x576
space.
xvoutput: Using XVIDEO adaptor 56: Matrox G-Series
Backend Scaler.
speedycode: Using MMXEXT optimized functions.
station: Reading stationlist from
/home/eileen/.tvtime/stationlist.xml
station: #      Band            Channel Freq    Active
 Name
station: 1      US Cable        1       73250   false   1
station: 2      US Cable        2       55250   false   2
station: 3      US Cable        3       61250   false   3
station: 4      US Cable        4       67250   false   4
station: 5      US Cable        5       77250   true    5
station: 6      US Cable        6       83250   true    6
station: 7      US Cable        7       175250  true    7
station: 8      US Cable        8       181250  true    8
station: 9      US Cable        9       187250  true    9
station: 10     US Cable        10      193250  true    10
station: 11     US Cable        11      199250  true    11
station: 12     US Cable        12      205250  true    12
station: 13     US Cable        13      211250  true    13
station: 14     US Cable        14      121250  true    14
station: 15     US Cable        15      127250  true    15
station: 16     US Cable        16      133250  false   16
station: 17     US Cable        17      139250  true    17
station: 18     US Cable        18      145250  true    18
station: 19     US Cable        19      151250  true    19
station: 20     US Cable        20      157250  true    20
station: 21     US Cable        21      163250  true    21
station: 22     US Cable        22      169250  true    22
station: 23     US Cable        23      217250  true    23
station: 24     US Cable        24      223250  true    24
station: 25     US Cable        25      229250  true    25
station: 26     US Cable        26      235250  true    26
station: 27     US Cable        27      241250  true    27
station: 28     US Cable        28      247250  true    28
station: 29     US Cable        29      253250  true    29
station: 30     US Cable        30      259250  false   30
station: 31     US Cable        31      265250  true    31
station: 32     US Cable        32      271250  true    32
station: 33     US Cable        33      277250  true    33
station: 34     US Cable        34      283250  true    34
station: 35     US Cable        35      289250  true    35
station: 36     US Cable        36      295250  true    36
station: 37     US Cable        37      301250  true    37
station: 38     US Cable        38      307250  true    38
station: 39     US Cable        39      313250  true    39
station: 40     US Cable        40      319250  true    40
station: 41     US Cable        41      325250  true    41
station: 42     US Cable        42      331250  true    42
station: 43     US Cable        43      337250  true    43
station: 44     US Cable        44      343250  false   44
station: 45     US Cable        45      349250  true    45
station: 46     US Cable        46      355250  true    46
station: 47     US Cable        47      361250  true    47
station: 48     US Cable        48      367250  false   48
station: 49     US Cable        49      373250  true    49
station: 50     US Cable        50      379250  true    50
station: 51     US Cable        51      385250  true    51
station: 52     US Cable        52      391250  true    52
station: 53     US Cable        53      397250  true    53
station: 54     US Cable        54      403250  true    54
station: 55     US Cable        55      409250  true    55
station: 56     US Cable        56      415250  false   56
station: 57     US Cable        57      421250  true    57
station: 58     US Cable        58      427250  true    58
station: 59     US Cable        59      433250  true    59
station: 60     US Cable        60      439250  true    60
station: 61     US Cable        61      445250  true    61
station: 62     US Cable        62      451250  true    62
station: 63     US Cable        63      457250  true    63
station: 64     US Cable        64      463250  true    64
station: 65     US Cable        65      469250  true    65
station: 66     US Cable        66      475250  true    66
station: 67     US Cable        67      481250  true    67
station: 68     US Cable        68      487250  true    68
station: 69     US Cable        69      493250  true    69
station: 70     US Cable        70      499250  true    70
station: 71     US Cable        71      505250  true    71
station: 72     US Cable        72      511250  true    72
station: 73     US Cable        73      517250  true    73
station: 74     US Cable        74      523250  true    74
station: 75     US Cable        75      529250  true    75
station: 76     US Cable        76      535250  false   76
station: 77     US Cable        77      541250  true    77
station: 78     US Cable        78      547250  true    78
station: 79     US Cable        79      553250  false   79
station: 80     US Cable        80      559250  false   80
station: 81     US Cable        81      565250  true    81
station: 82     US Cable        82      571250  true    82
station: 83     US Cable        83      577250  false   83
station: 84     US Cable        84      583250  false   84
station: 85     US Cable        85      589250  false   85
station: 86     US Cable        86      595250  false   86
station: 87     US Cable        87      601250  false   87
station: 88     US Cable        88      607250  false   88
station: 89     US Cable        89      613250  false   89
station: 90     US Cable        90      619250  false   90
station: 91     US Cable        91      625250  false   91
station: 92     US Cable        92      631250  false   92
station: 93     US Cable        93      637250  false   93
station: 94     US Cable        94      643250  false   94
station: 95     US Cable        95      91250   false   95
station: 96     US Cable        96      97250   false   96
station: 97     US Cable        97      103250  false   97
station: 98     US Cable        98      109250  false   98
station: 99     US Cable        99      115250  false   99
videoinput: Using video4linux driver 'BT878(AVerMedia
TVCapture 98)'.
videoinput: Card type is eb, audio 4.
videoinput: tuner.tuner = 0
videoinput: tuner.name = Television
videoinput: tuner.rangelow = 0
videoinput: tuner.rangehigh = -1
videoinput: tuner.signal = 0
videoinput: tuner.flags = PAL NTSC SECAM 
videoinput: tuner.mode = NTSC
videoinput: Audio supports Mutable 
videoinput: Brightness 32768, hue 32768, colour 32768,
contrast 32768
videoinput: Whiteness 0, depth 16, palette 7.
videoinput: Window set to (0,0/720x480), chromakey 0,
flags 1, clips 0.
videoinput: tuner.tuner = 0
videoinput: tuner.name = Television
videoinput: tuner.rangelow = 0
videoinput: tuner.rangehigh = -1
videoinput: tuner.signal = 0
videoinput: tuner.flags = PAL NTSC SECAM 
videoinput: tuner.mode = NTSC
tvtime: V4L sampling 720 pixels per scanline.
vbiscreen: In blank.
vbiscreen: In blank.
xcommon: Received a map, marking window as visible (48).
tvtime: Cleaning up.
tvtime: Thank you for using tvtime.


----------------------------------------------------------------------

>Comment By: Billy Biggs (vektor)
Date: 2004-06-28 00:23

Message:
Logged In: YES 
user_id=153320

As stupid as this fix is, I have fixed it in tvtime for
0.9.13 by always keeping the mixer device open.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: Billy Biggs (vektor)
Date: 2004-01-17 19:33

Message:
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Just so I remember, the conversations with ALSA developers
found this to be because we open and close the device
between read/writes.  ALSA only 'remembers' what fake OSS
volume it is using along with the open fd.  We should keep
the file descriptor open all the time while tvtime is using
it.  I think this is silly, but I'll probably change it for
0.9.13.


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: Billy Biggs (vektor)
Date: 2003-11-24 15:09

Message:
Logged In: YES 
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So when you're at 61 and you change to 62, you still stay at
61.  But when you change from 61 to 64, you go to 65?

This really looks like an ALSA bug.  We should contact an
ALSA developer.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Date: 2003-11-23 19:00

Message:
Logged In: NO 

Perhaps the other ALSA emu-10k1 users were using earlier
versions of tvtime ?

Per your request, I've added fprintf()'s then attempted to
hit the + key a few times followed by the - key a few times
with.  I ran with the volume speed of +/-1 and +/-3 for
comparison.

WITH +/-1 volume change speed:

mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x3d(61)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0x01(1),
levelpercentage=0x3e(62), device=/dev/m
ixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x3d(61)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0x01(1),
levelpercentage=0x3e(62), device=/dev/m
ixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x3d(61)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0x01(1),
levelpercentage=0x3e(62), device=/dev/m
ixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x3d(61)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0x01(1),
levelpercentage=0x3e(62), device=/dev/m
ixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x3d(61)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0xffffffff(-1),
levelpercentage=0x3c(60), device
=/dev/mixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x3d(61)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0xffffffff(-1),
levelpercentage=0x3c(60), device
=/dev/mixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x3d(61)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0xffffffff(-1),
levelpercentage=0x3c(60), device
=/dev/mixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x3d(61)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0xffffffff(-1),
levelpercentage=0x3c(60), device
=/dev/mixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================



WITH +/-3 volume change speed:

mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x3d(61)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0x03(3),
levelpercentage=0x40(64), device=/dev/m
ixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x41(65)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0x03(3),
levelpercentage=0x44(68), device=/dev/m
ixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x44(68)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0x03(3),
levelpercentage=0x47(71), device=/dev/m
ixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x47(71)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0x03(3),
levelpercentage=0x4a(74), device=/dev/m
ixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x4a(74)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0x03(3),
levelpercentage=0x4d(77), device=/dev/m
ixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x4d(77)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0xfffffffd(-3),
levelpercentage=0x4a(74), device
=/dev/mixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x4a(74)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0xfffffffd(-3),
levelpercentage=0x47(71), device
=/dev/mixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x47(71)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0xfffffffd(-3),
levelpercentage=0x44(68), device
=/dev/mixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x44(68)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0xfffffffd(-3),
levelpercentage=0x41(65), device
=/dev/mixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================
mixer_set_volume():
START========================================
mixer_get_volume(): curvol=0x41(65)
mixer_set_volume(): percentdiff=0xfffffffd(-3),
levelpercentage=0x3e(62), device
=/dev/mixer, channel=6
mixer_set_volume(): END========================================


It seems pretty clear that with volume change speed set to
+/-1  the actual volume is not changed.

I took a quick look at 0.9.12 but didn't see examples for
setting bindings with command args.  Can you give me an
example on how to set MIXER_UP with speed arg ?  In the
meantime I am now enjoying tvtime 0.9.10 with the +/-3
patch.  Thanks for a nice tv app.



----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: Billy Biggs (vektor)
Date: 2003-11-22 21:35

Message:
Logged In: YES 
user_id=153320

Yes, 0.9.12 is available now, but this makes even less sense
since I have had users of the alsa emu-10k1 driver before
and they have not complained of this problem....

Can you maybe do some fprintfs and see if the volume is
being changed when you use 1% increments?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: George Wu (georgewu)
Date: 2003-11-22 21:33

Message:
Logged In: YES 
user_id=107822

I am using the ALSA emu-10k1 sound card driver.  I am not
familiar with the Linux sound APIs so I don't know if the
problem is a bug in the sound driver.  I do agree the patch
will not work if the sound driver has even lower resolution.
 However, I find it a little curious why xawtv chose to use
3.  In any case, if tvtime 0.9.12 supports configurable
MIXER_UP and MIXER_DOWN speed then it should be a reasonable
way to work around this problem without any patch ?  Is
0.9.12 available now ?






----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: Billy Biggs (vektor)
Date: 2003-11-22 21:16

Message:
Logged In: YES 
user_id=153320

If that's the case, then it could also be fixed by having
tvtime internally store its own volume.  We used to do that
but people complained, since they would change their volume
using aumix, then go back to tvtime and change again, and
have it fly back to where tvtime thought it was.

It really sounds like a driver bug in your audio driver if
it doesn't internally expose the full range 0-100.  What
audio driver do you use?

I don't like the +/- 3% patch since if your assumption is
true that would mean it would break again if there was a
cardiwth even fewer levels.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: George Wu (georgewu)
Date: 2003-11-22 21:12

Message:
Logged In: YES 
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Hmm ... here is my not fully tested suspicion:

The audio hardware volume level resolution is lower than 100
(i.e. the implicit assumption in tvtime) so when volume
change is specified in the 0 to 100 range there is automatic
conversion to actual hardware resolution such that a 1%
volume difference is effectively rounded/truncated off in
the conversion.

So, for example, if the hardware only actually supports 30
levels then a request to change volume from 50 to 51 (on a
100-level scale) has no effect because the hardware actually
sees a volume change request to change volume from 15
(=int(50*30/100)) to 15 (=int(51*30/100)) (on a 30-level
scale).  And because tvtime reads back the new volume level
from hardware after changing volume the new volume appears
unchanged at 50 (=int(15*100/30)) even though the requested
new volume is 51.



----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: Billy Biggs (vektor)
Date: 2003-11-22 20:43

Message:
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This does not make sense.  Is the problem just that changing
volume with +/- is too slow?  Your patch just makes it
faster to change volume.

In tvtime 0.9.12 you can configure the speed in your config
file just by passing an argument to the MIXER_UP or
MIXER_DOWN commands.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: George Wu (georgewu)
Date: 2003-11-22 20:41

Message:
Logged In: YES 
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After some tracing and comparing the source code for tvtime
and xawtv I noticed that xawtv always changed volume by 3%
instead of 1% I changed tvtime to do the same and it fixed
the problem.   Here is the patch for the change:

*** commands.c.dist     Sat Nov 22 16:12:50 2003
--- commands.c  Sat Nov 22 16:13:34 2003
***************
*** 2657,2663 ****
          if( cmd->vidin && videoinput_get_muted( cmd->vidin
) ) {
              commands_handle( cmd, TVTIME_TOGGLE_MUTE, 0 );
          }
!         volume = mixer_set_volume( ( (tvtime_cmd ==
TVTIME_MIXER_UP) ? 1 : -1 ) );
  
          if( cmd->osd ) {
              tvtime_osd_show_data_bar( cmd->osd, "Volume",
volume & 0xff );
--- 2657,2663 ----
          if( cmd->vidin && videoinput_get_muted( cmd->vidin
) ) {
              commands_handle( cmd, TVTIME_TOGGLE_MUTE, 0 );
          }
!         volume = mixer_set_volume( ( (tvtime_cmd ==
TVTIME_MIXER_UP) ? 3 : -3 ) );
  
          if( cmd->osd ) {
              tvtime_osd_show_data_bar( cmd->osd, "Volume",
volume & 0xff );


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: Billy Biggs (vektor)
Date: 2003-11-22 12:12

Message:
Logged In: YES 
user_id=153320

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you on this.

The +/- keys by default control the 'line in' of /dev/mixer.
 If you need to use a different device, see tvtime --help,
there is a command line switch to use a different mixer input.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

You can respond by visiting: 
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=506987&aid=845595&group_id=64301


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