mpv-player / mpv-player/mpv

Feature: ALSA fallback device

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#6,059 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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ao:alsa core:audio meta:feature-request
Dominant language
C
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Description

I haven't seen this option, and I think it would be really nice to have, if possible.

As far as I can tell, you can specify with "auto" that mpv should look for the first working ALSA device in a predefined list that cannot be changed. What I would like is to have a command line option to specify the list of ALSA devices to try (maybe something like --audio-device=alsa/bluealsa,alsa,...). If the first device doesn't work, then use the second, etc.

It would be even nicer if this could happen dynamically. For example, if I'm currently listening with device alsa/bluealsa and the device goes away, then pause the video, go through all the devices again, find the first working one, use that, then resume the video.

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Research direction

Start by reviewing how the existing --audio-device=auto behavior selects from its predefined ALSA device list. Done would require an agreed design for configurable fallback order and dynamic recovery when the active device disappears, including pausing, retrying devices, switching, and resuming.

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
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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