[MPlayer-users] Occasional tinny sound on radio/TV streams.

[cga2000]

On Mon, Apr 09, 2007 at 10:25:41AM EDT, Tom Brinkman wrote:
> On Sunday 08 April 2007, cga2000 wrote:
> > Just curious..
> >
> > I mostly use mplayer to listen to radio streams and occasionally
> > I get a badly distorted sound with a metallic resonance
> > especially noticeable on solo piano pieces.
> >
> > I initially thought it might be a problem with my inexpensive
> > "sound system" - a no-brand thingy that I paid $19.95 for in
> > CompUSA .. but I eventually found that if I CTRL-C out and
> > restart the problem goes away.
> >
> > As far as I can tell once it "goes away" it doesn't come back.
> >
> > I mostly listen to the NY Times' WQXR station, which has a
> > reputation for high quality broadcasts .. so I'm pretty sure it
> > has nothing to do with them.
> >
> > If anyone has experienced a similar phenomenon and figured out
> > what was causing it it, I would be interested.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > cga
> 
>    I take it your usin the latest SVN?  

:-)

No .. I'm stuck with debian sarge .. and etch has just been released,
so you can imagine how ancient my copy of mplayer is.

> I update daily. No clue as to why, but I've noticed over the past
> several weeks the "tinny" sound in some movies you speak of.  

Sounds like some fossil bug has come alive again.

> I don't play much audio usin mplayer.  

Apart from the aforementioned problem, it works great with radio
streams.  I just do a CTRL-R and enter 'wqxr' or other .. and it finds
the command command in my bash history .. hit enter and I can switch
back to whatever I am doing .. change stations .. CTRL-C .. CTRL-R ..
etc.

> Simply usin the <- -> keys, 

I'll try that next time .. I have defined a rather large cache for some
reason and it takes a while before the music actually starts.

> or q(uit) an restart, often resumes normal sound.  

.. same here.

> I figured it was within the file, not mplayer, or my hardware
> (intergrated AD-1980 chip, ac97, alsa, $50 Altec-Lansing subwoofer
> system).

With the sound system I purchased, I initially thought that's where the
problem lies. 

But, as I said it's no big deal .. since I know nothing about audio
technology, I was just curious.. thought I might learn something.

Thanks,
cga