Bug#548611: gnash: please add a configuration setting for initial volume level

[Gabriele Giacone]

forwarded 548611 "https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?30948"
thanks


On 09/01/2010 10:26 PM, Francesco Poli wrote:
> I have been thinking about something similar, but... well, let's admit
> it: it's gonna be *deadly unpractical*, as soon as you begin repeating
> this procedure for each box you administer and/or use!   :-(
> 
> I don't even dare think how I could *document* this procedure in my
> notes!   ;-)
> 
> A simple line in a configuration file would be much simpler, much more
> practical and understandable.
> But I am sure you are well aware of that!

Yes I know. Indeed I call it "workaround" not
"solved-we-can-close-this-bug" ;) It's just an easy way
to do what we want to do: start to watch yt videos at our favourite
volume level and don't accept flash cookies at the same time.
Given your appreciation, I'll downgrade it to "bad-workaround" :)

> I don't think it is higher than audacious maximum volume level.
> It's higher than the volume level audacious is configured to use!
> 
> I configured audacious to start at volume 20 % , hence it may well be
> that audacious maximum level equals gnash maximum level.
> 
> It's just that audacious may be configured to start at a sane volume
> level (something that I can easily increase or decrease during play,
> should I need to do so), while gnash has no means to set an initial
> volume level, and relies on cookies to remember user choices...

I think there is an important difference between audacious and gnash:
you provide a base volume level to audacious and it plays your music
with that setting whereas gnash provides 100% (yes, there are no limits,
it provides 100%) of volume to the SWF application, which is the youtube
player in this case, and yt player decides to start with 100% at the
first access, then if you let it save your preferred level, it'll do
that. If you don't, every access will be a "first access" at 100%. And
for you, it would be too much even if yt started with 50%.

A demonstration, if needed, would be playing yt app with other players.
I did it with adobeplayer (swfdec has just been removed from Debian and
lightspark is still too young) and I will not spend time on explain
that. It behaves in the same way, flash cookies and config under
~/.macromedia, 100% at the first access et cetera.

>> Doesn't it simply depend on the source? Hence the reason is that all
>> video you're watching are _recorded_ louder than we'd like they were?
>> It would make sense doing some comparisons.
> 
> As I said above, I think the key difference is in the used tools:
> gnash vs. audacious.
> Audacious may be configured so that it starts at, say, 20 % volume.
> Gnash has no such configuration option.
> 
> Please note that also mplayer has a suitable configuration option for
> the initial volume level:
> 
> $ grep volume ~/.mplayer/config 
> volume=20
> 
> That's where I took inspiration for this bug report: I just thought "it
> would be useful, if gnash had a similar configuration option!".

Yes, I agree, it would be useful and yes, we are back to the reason you
filed this bug for :)
I don't know how much your request will be taken into account and how
much it's easy to implement. We'll see.

Cheers,
Gabriele