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[glynor]

I recently got a Denon AVR for my living room, to replace my aging and buzzing power amp.  I considered buying a good high-end soundcard and some power amps instead, and just running without a pre-amp other than MC, but I decided that (for the price) the Denon AVR-591 was just a better value and wouldn't look so ugly in the living room (I have no conveniently placed closets).  Later on, I intend to build a nice power-amp based rig in my basement man-cave for gaming and stuff.

So... Right now, I'm running everything off of the SPDIF out on my on-board sound into my Denon.  As soon as my shiny, new AMD HD 6870 card gets here (ordered last night), I'll be running everything through the HDMI out on the AMD card instead.

In doing this, I was presented literally with an array of different volume controls on the system all of which do different things in different circumstances.  In the end, I decided to keep the computer-based volume controls at a set level (by the way, I'm using 100%, is this a good choice?) and control all of the volume via my Denon itself.  Since the system doesn't connect to any other sound devices directly, it doesn't really need to adjust volume internally.  This all works great, and I reprogrammed Girder to control the volume on my Denon via the USB-UIRT.  I was able to disable the volume icon for the system in the taskbar, and SageTV makes it easy to remove the on-screen volume controls.

The only issue I encounter is with MC.  It isn't a huge deal, but there is an easy-to-access volume control in all of the MC standard views, and also in the OSD.  Occasionally, when something loud happens, my wife will instinctively turn the volume down in MC.  Then later, I'm confused over why I can't get any volume out of it like I expect.

Is there any way to just disable all of MC's volume controls completely?  Either hide them totally, or at least make them so they don't actually function?  Since I'm using the digital out, in some circumstances they don't really work anyway...

[JimH]

Let me see if I understand this.  You elected to use the Denon for volume control, but it created a problem with MC that you want us to fix (make volume not work).

Let me suggest you work it out with your wife.  That would be the easiest way (for us). 

[glynor]

That's fine.  I wasn't sure if this capability was already built-in.  You can disable the volume controls in many other quality multimedia applications (MPC-HC and VLC for example), since in many digital circumstances they don't work right anyway.  I have educated her, and she's learned it already, really.  My request is more for when other people come over to my house.  It is just clunky design to have a volume control that is so easily accessible but to tell everyone "don't use that one".

It annoys me to no end how many differing and competing volume controls are spread all throughout computers.  It is the ONLY real disadvantage to using a HTPC over dedicated hardware devices for home theater use.  I have one set of speakers.  I want one place to go to adjust the volume.  Period.

What do other users do with the 2-4 different volume controls you have spread throughout the computer and hardware?  Does anyone have a best practice?

I chose to use the Denon's because it seemed to be the most consistent and it ALWAYS worked to turn things up or down, whether I was playing a game, a high-def video with DTS Audio, music in MC, or whatever.  The same cannot be said for any of the other possible volume controls in the system.  In MC, you can get the volume controls to work well with a digital output (with a little fiddling), but not always with games and with other media programs.

[phusis]

glynor -

I certainly believe there's a solution to your problem, that is, maintaining an HTPC-based system without the interference of multiple volume controls and other unwanted "stuff." Choosing an output mode like WASAPI to your sound device/DAC, and setting up your computer the proper way, should bypass what is not desired. Here's something that may come in handy in this regard:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Windows-7-Audio-JRiver-Media-Center-14-Configuration

The only volume control I had to "bypass" manually in my setup is the RME soundcards master gain, and I simply did that by setting it to max. Fortunately my poweramp(NuForce Stereo 8.5V3) doesn't have excessive gain(only 21dB), meaning I won't approximate the SPL's of a space shuttle during lift off with the volume slide at lower settings

[mojave]

You can set MC to start with the volume at 100% by going to Tools > Startup > Startup Volume. This will at least reset things if someone messes with the internal volume.

I wish the volume would get reset to my default startup level at the end of a movie (or any video file). Because the output levels are different, I listen to movies at 50% or more and music at usually 5-10%. If a movie was the last thing watched, and then someone starts some music, unless the volume has been turned down manually it will be very loud!

Like phusis mentioned, you might be able to use an output format that bypasses the Windows Audio. While I do have an ATI 5000 series card, I don't use the HDMI output for audio so I can't test it. For me, ASIO output bypasses any Windows volume control. I then use the MC internal volume control, but if I have it set to System Volume then only an external device will control the volume.

[glynor]

You can set MC to start with the volume at 100% by going to Tools > Startup > Startup Volume. This will at least reset things if someone messes with the internal volume.

Yes.  I had that set, and that is a quasi-solution.  It still leads to some confusion occasionally.

Basically what precipitated my original post was that we had some people over a few evenings ago, and we were listening to music with G-Force in fullscreen mode.  A friend got a phone call when I was out of the room and turned down the volume in MC with the mouse (a reasonable enough move).  When I got back in the room and the call was over, I wondered why the music volume was so low.  I went to turn it up on my receiver, but then realized it was already at a "reasonable" gain, and shouldn't be so quiet.  It only took me a second to figure out, but imagine if I'd been away on a trip, and the Wife was home by herself...

So, I've subsequently set MC to "System Volume" mode.  This makes the volume control in MC essentially non-functional.  You can turn it up and down, but it doesn't actually do anything.  I can leave it like this, certainly.  However, I envision a new situation where the same thing happens, and they try to turn it down and it doesn't work, which equates to a pretty low Wife Acceptance Factor.

However, if they wiggled the mouse and didn't actually even SEE the volume control in the top bar, then they'd probably realize "it must work some other way" and grab the remote and hit the volume buttons, which works!  I must say... This is certainly a relatively trivial complaint.  Still, it stands to reason:

1. IF MC is set to have a Digital Connection to a Surround Receiver (AC3 and DTS supported), and...
2. MC's "Volume Mode" is set to System Volume.

Then generally you KNOW that volume control isn't going to work.  In those cases, wouldn't it make more sense to hide the Volume Control UI completely (or gray it out or lock it or something), rather than show a non-working one?

[glynor]

glynor -

I certainly believe there's a solution to your problem, that is, maintaining an HTPC-based system without the interference of multiple volume controls and other unwanted "stuff." Choosing an output mode like WASAPI to your sound device/DAC, and setting up your computer the proper way, should bypass what is not desired. Here's something that may come in handy in this regard:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Windows-7-Audio-JRiver-Media-Center-14-Configuration

The only volume control I had to "bypass" manually in my setup is the RME soundcards master gain, and I simply did that by setting it to max. Fortunately my poweramp(NuForce Stereo 8.5V3) doesn't have excessive gain(only 21dB), meaning I won't approximate the SPL's of a space shuttle during lift off with the volume slide at lower settings

Thanks.  I'm actually going to address this in a separate thread.  I've been totally baffled about what to choose in Options -> Audio -> Output mode, and Options -> Video -> Playback device.

However, I don't think it is worth even starting right now until my new video card comes in.

I've tried using WASAPI, and it works beautifully for audio files, but then when I play some of my "non-AC3/DTS" video files back they fail to play (no error, it just keeps opening them up one at a time and then immediately skipping to the next file).  I'm not sure what's going on, but since right now I'm just using an onboard craptastic Realtek sound device, I'm not sure it is worth figuring out (though for a digital output it shouldn't really matter, right?).  I suspect it has to do with shared/exclusive mode on the Realtek device, but I'm really not sure.

Anyhow, when my new card comes in and I get it installed, I'm going to post a "how the heck do I set this up?" thread for all of you beautiful audiophiles to help me with.

[newsposter]

would it be possible to add a zone-specific volume lock or 'normalize' (effectively locking the output to some notional/nominal value) setting?

Or even have some kind of lock/pass-through setting.  One click and MC knows to just pass the audio signals through to an external processor (power amp in Glynors case).

Maybe let the user document what that external processor/zone is in a notes field.

[JimH]

What do other users do with the 2-4 different volume controls you have spread throughout the computer and hardware?  Does anyone have a best practice?

For the couch mode, I use our Media Center Remote.  I leave the receiver alone.

[glynor]

For the couch mode, I use our Media Center Remote.  I leave the receiver alone.

What do you do when you play a game (or use any other application with sound) and it blasts you out of your chair, so the "system" volume gets turned down, and then when you open MC you can't hear anything with the volume at 100%?  That's the problem I have constantly (well, I did, but switching to the receiver-volume control only solved that issue).

Different applications handle it different ways.  Some have internal volume (many media programs), and some use only the system volume (often games).  Keep in mind, if I use MC in "system volume" mode, the volume control doesn't work, because I'm using the digital out on my sound card.  So, I can't then just switch to MC and crank the system volume back up easily.  If I'm using computer-based volume controls, and digital out, I need to use internal volume in MC and most other applications.

When I play games on my machine (which I do) I MUST use the receiver's volume control.  For watching web video, I often must use the system volume control, because the "ticks" on the stupid little Flash player volume controls are too "large" (one notch is way too loud, the next down is way too quiet).  If I then use computer-based volume controls for MC, stuff gets all out of whack.

My only inviolable rule is I will NOT have more than one remote on my coffee table.  Period.  So keeping the receiver's remote out for those times when it does need adjusted isn't an option.  Plus, the WAF on that is too low.  She can't figure out which volume control is causing the problem and she yells at me.