mpv-player / mpv-player/mpv

Add option to display volume as dB gain?

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#3,545 3 comments 9 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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core:audio meta:feature-request
Dominant language
C
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Avg merge
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Description

When adjusting the softvolume with e.g., the 0 and 9 keys, it's displayed in this scale that goes from 0(?) to 100+, and everything from 60~100 sounds about the same volume.

It is unclear, especially at first glance, what scale this "volume" control operates on. After some research, stumbling across #1345 in the process, I determined that it has been assigned to a cubic scale.

Is there any way that it could be possible to allow users to have the volume displayed (and possibly even managed?) in dB gain? Being able to see what exactly the volume filter is DOING to the audio and (precisely) it interacts with the amplification/gain chain would be extremely nice.

Also, both Pulse and ALSA are able to natively report the mixer volume controls in dB. So this would be able to apply to our no-softvol friends as well.

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing the softvolume adjustment triggered by the 0 and 9 keys, then inspect how the volume filter represents its cubic scale. Compare that behavior with the dB mixer values reported by Pulse and ALSA. Done should define whether dB is display-only or also controls volume, and should cover both softvolume and no-softvol behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c
Domain
audio-video-rtc, cli
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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