Bugzilla – Bug 9602
Line-in is affected by pause command, but shouldn't really be
Last modified: 2011-01-13 23:50:18 UTC
I'm using my boom as my PC speakers, but whenever I hit pause, the volume of both the line-in and the music goes to zero. My intention however is that line-in should not be affected. We need to figure out the right semantics of the line-in and streaming stream volume levels. My first stab is this: in 'Line-in-always-on' mode: 1 powered off: line-in and streaming off 2 paused: line-in on, streaming off 3 playing: line-in on, streaming on. Unforunately, #2 is the difficult one to implement since we use the volume control to fade out before pausing. I think we need 2 volumes in parallel (internally to the DSP flow), one just for fading in and out the streaming music, and the other as the main volume control. These 2 would always be set the same, except when paused, when the digital volume is ramped down. The state table would be something like this: V1 = streaming volume control V2 = line-in volume control. (this is separate from line-in level, which is okay to leave for now I think. It sets the overall level) Power off -> power on: set both V1 and V2 = volume_setting Power on -> power off: V1 & V2 fade out to 0. Power on -> pause: V1 fades to 0, V2 unchanged. pause -> power on: V1 fades to on, V2 unchanged. paused volume change: V2 changes, V1 left at zero palying volume change: V1 and V2 track eachother. Any cases I missed?
Felix: Caleb suggested you should take a look.
Do we already have a separate 'line in' _volume_ in firmware / DSP? I believe we only have a 'line in' _level_, isn't it? And you suggested not to use _level_ to solve this. Punting to 7.3.1
I'm not sure I understand the question. The DSP has a place both for line-in volume, and an additional line-in gain. The difference is that volume ramps smoothly, like the main volume, whereas the gain is applied immediately. I suggest using the line-in volume only, and always keep the gain at unity.
> I think we need 2 volumes in parallel > (internally to the DSP flow), one just > for fading in and out the streaming music, > and the other as the main volume control. I guess my question is: Do we have 2 volumes in parallel (in DSP) already and if yes how do I use them from firmware? I believe we currently only have a "line in volume level" and a "main volume" which both are in series so if "main volume" is faded to zero I cannot make line in work from the "line in volume level" alone. What am I missing?
Changing target to next release
We don't have the support in DSP yet and I am not sure we should do it at all.
(In reply to comment #6) > We don't have the support in DSP yet and I am not sure we should do it at all. > One of the primary reasons for getting a Boom for my spare room is that it was billed as capable of also being used for PC speakers -- "easily" comes to mind. So, I was looking to file a bug about my problem, but I see that this report is essentially the same thing, so I thought I'd add to it. I would add to Caleb's report that I can't seamlessly switch from line-in to a music selection and back. If I'm playing music and then select a PC audio source, the audio doesn't switch automatically to the PC source, and vice versa. You have to manually switch back and forth, and doing so spawns a new song in (most?, all?) SC music sources, while losing the continuity of what is playing on the PC. My other PC has the set-up that gives me the desired affect. I already had a 2.1 powered speaker set (Altec-Lansing ACS-48) on this computer. It has 2 line-in connectors. One is connected to my PC sound card; the other to my SB receiver. If I'm listening to music and want to listen a PC source, I pause my music until I'm done with the PC source, then resume the SBR source where I left off. Either source can be independently managed without affecting the other. If i want to listen to both at the same time (similar to Boom "line-in always on"), I can do that to. Seems to me (as a layman) that there are 2 disinct line-in sources with the Boom -- ethernet as well as the labeled "line-in" connector. So, I was assuming (hoping?) I would get the same result with my boom/PC arrangement as I get with my SBR/2.1 speaker/PC arrangement. However, the way it works right now essentially renders the "added" feature of a PC speaker useless. Regards,
Felix: what do you need from caleb and the DSP to make the pause not have any effect on the line in?
As Caleb pointed out in the initial comment. We would need an additional path with a separate volume for line in which would bypass the main volume. At the moment main volume also affects line in and since main volume is zero after pressing pause, nothing from line in can be heard. Caleb's proposal then also would need some changes on SC/SN side to drive the two volumes in parallel except in the pause case, where only the main volume would be needed to fade to 0.
(In reply to comment #9) > As Caleb pointed out in the initial comment. We would need an additional path > with a separate volume for line in which would bypass the main volume. > > At the moment main volume also affects line in and since main volume is zero > after pressing pause, nothing from line in can be heard. > > Caleb's proposal then also would need some changes on SC/SN side to drive the > two volumes in parallel except in the pause case, where only the main volume > would be needed to fade to 0. Greetings, Will there be a solution to this problem? The feature "can be used as a PC speaker" is essentially worthless. It is too cumbersome to switch back and forth between SC source and PC source for this feature to be usable. Looks like I have to go buy PC speakers for my den due to this deficiency. Regards, ~dbinfl~
On my Boom, I've set the preference in SqueezeCenter to stop the stream on power off, so if I need to hear PC audio without it being mixed with the streaming audio, I power off my boom and immediately power it back on. It's certainly not a fix to this problem, but it's better than nothing. Also.. The boom can't use it's line-in without being connected to either a SqueezeCenter or the SqueezeNetwork. So in situations where there is no network, you can't use it as a speaker. I'd like to see the line-in always working, no matter if there is a stream playing, or if the network is connected.
(In reply to comment #11) > On my Boom, I've set the preference in SqueezeCenter to stop the stream on > power off, so if I need to hear PC audio without it being mixed with the > streaming audio, I power off my boom and immediately power it back on. It's > certainly not a fix to this problem, but it's better than nothing. > > Also.. > > The boom can't use it's line-in without being connected to either a > SqueezeCenter or the SqueezeNetwork. So in situations where there is no > network, you can't use it as a speaker. I'd like to see the line-in always > working, no matter if there is a stream playing, or if the network is > connected. Hmmm... Maybe I don't understand...seems I could get the same result with Always on = No, and not have to power off and on. My use case is to use the Boom for PC speaker when needed (e.g. YouTube) but listen to SqueezeCenter the rest of the time, and to be able to switch back and forth (fairly) seamlessly. So If I'm listening to SC and want to interrupt mid-stream to listen to PC audio, I'd like to pause one and listen to the other, and then return to the SC stream mid-song. I tried several versions of this combination: Line on Always On = yes with stop at power off / resume song at power on Line on Always On = yes with stop at power off / remain stopped at power on Line on Always On = yes with pause at power off / resume at power on ...same with Line in Always On = no... and in every case the SC song that I interrupt to hear the PC stream does not resume when I switch back to SC from the Line In stream -- I get a new song every time. I guess I could always wait to the end of a song before switching... So, I can use it for a PC speaker, or I can use it for SC, but the current config does not allow you to switch between them effectively. Regards, ~dbinfl~
The problem here is that we use the master volume control as a way to do fade out when pausing. Maybe we should disable that fade when line-in is turned on until we can get an independent client-side fade developed.
As a workaround, after I pause what is playing "natively" on my SBBoom, so I can listen exclusively to my line in device, I then press the volume, up or down, and that restores the sound from your line in source. Obviously any Internet "live" streaming source that you paused will only be buffered for a short while so when you resume play you will hear whatever is stored in the buffer then it will jump to the current stream. If you are listening to music that is stored on your SqueezeCenter device that will restart at the same point you paused it. I am looking forward to this issue being rectified so I can enjoy using the SB Boom in one of the manners it was promoted for.
The issue that volume is set to zero after hitting pause and then hearing nothing when switching to line in is solved in 7.4 and fw 50. Not sure if we still want to implement two volume paths in the DSP? Caleb?
Well, this certainly isn't going to get in to 7.4. I could probably find time to make it go for 8.0 though. -C