Allow cycle of audio devices

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#2,398 opened on Oct 13, 2015 12 comments 6 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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core:api core:audio core:option-param-conf meta:feature-request priority:low

Dominant language: C
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Description

Currently, the audio output can be changed by writing to the audio-device property, as described in #605. However, to do this, you have to manually look up what your audio device IDs are, and then add them into input.conf manually:

A cycle_values audio-device pulse/alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1e.2.analog-stereo pulse/alsa_output.pci-0000_04_02.0.analog-stereo

…which isn't very clean, and needs reconfiguring every time the sound card setup is changed (such as plugging or removing a USB headset).

Would it be possible to set up cycle to cycle audio-device through the "$ao"/* values? For example, if my audio device options are:

$ mpv --audio-device=help
List of detected audio devices:
  'auto' (Autoselect device)
  'pulse/alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo' (Caicos HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6400 Series] Digital Stereo (HDMI))
  'pulse/alsa_output.pci-0000_04_02.0.analog-stereo' (CT4780 SBLive! Value Analog Stereo)
  'pulse/alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1e.2.analog-stereo' (Built-in Audio Analog Stereo)
  'alsa/iec958:CARD=ICH7,DEV=0' (Intel ICH7, Intel ICH7 - IEC958/IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output)
  'alsa/dmix:CARD=ICH7,DEV=4' (Intel ICH7, Intel ICH7 - IEC958/Direct sample mixing device)
  'alsa/dsnoop:CARD=ICH7,DEV=4' (Intel ICH7, Intel ICH7 - IEC958/Direct sample snooping device)
  'alsa/hw:CARD=ICH7,DEV=4' (Intel ICH7, Intel ICH7 - IEC958/Direct hardware device without any conversions)
  'alsa/plughw:CARD=ICH7,DEV=4' (Intel ICH7, Intel ICH7 - IEC958/Hardware device with all software conversions)
  'alsa/hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0' (HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0/HDMI Audio Output)
  'alsa/dmix:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3' (HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0/Direct sample mixing device)
  'alsa/dsnoop:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3' (HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0/Direct sample snooping device)
  'alsa/hw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3' (HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0/Direct hardware device without any conversions)
  'alsa/plughw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3' (HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0/Hardware device with all software conversions)
  'alsa/dmix:CARD=Live,DEV=3' (SB Live! Value [CT4780], Multichannel Playback/Direct sample mixing device)
  'alsa/dsnoop:CARD=Live,DEV=3' (SB Live! Value [CT4780], Multichannel Playback/Direct sample snooping device)
  'alsa/hw:CARD=Live,DEV=3' (SB Live! Value [CT4780], Multichannel Playback/Direct hardware device without any conversions)
  'alsa/plughw:CARD=Live,DEV=3' (SB Live! Value [CT4780], Multichannel Playback/Hardware device with all software conversions)
  'oss' (Default)
  'jack' (Default)
$

then A cycle audio-device, when using ao_pulse, would bind A to cycle through audio-device values pulse/alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo, pulse/alsa_output.pci-0000_04_02.0.analog-stereo, and pulse/alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1e.2.analog-stereo.

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First steps

Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing the existing cycle command and audio-device property behavior, with the ao_pulse example and input.conf configuration as context. Determine how detected device values are exposed and how cycling selects them; done means A cycle audio-device selects the available PulseAudio devices without manually listing IDs.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack: c
Domain: audio-video-rtc
Issue type: Feature
Difficulty: 4/5
Estimated time: 3-5 days
Activity status: Stale
Clarity: Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness: 42/100