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ALSA Firefox plug-in has default of maximum..ouch!

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:20 am
by sudochicorycoffee
Installed Linux Mint 8 on a second laptop yesterday, another smooth and trouble-free installation for this noobie.

Then I did encounter one little issue when I tested out browser music (YouTube etc.). It was extremely loud, to the extent that I had to try to turn the YouTube and Mint sound sliders almost to off. I closed the browser and went to checking the Sound settings on the Control Panel via the menu. Nothing odd found, the volume sliders were all about 25%. The Applications tab on Sound was blank.

I backed off to think about it. Then when I tried again, I happened to have the Firefox YouTube page minimized and with the music playing. On the Sound screen this time, when I tried Applications, I found the problem. ALSA browser plugin was there, with the volume turned by default to speaker-shattering maximum. Turned it to middle range and I had normal sound volume, easily controllable. Checking again, I confirmed that on the Sound screen at least, the ALSA plugin is not visible unless music is playing. When I turned the browser off, that Applications screen told me "no application is playing music" or something like that.

This might cause some others to pursue difficult solutions that were not needed. So I thought I would share it.

We are enjoying normal control of music volume now on the laptop with our Altec inMOTION speaker attached.

Re: ALSA Firefox plug-in has default of maximum..ouch!

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:20 am
by Brian49
Thanks for this. I've also noticed the loudness issue on some sites (e.g. BBC iPlayer). However, I can't find any ALSA browser plugin on my system. Do you happen to know in which directory it's located, please?

Re: ALSA Firefox plug-in has default of maximum..ouch!

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:29 am
by sudochicorycoffee
Got your note and went to look on my wife's Mint installed laptop, just installed two days ago. Using the "search" feature I have on the basement bar of the desktop, I searched "alsa" and got maybe 20 hits. I have no tech skills, but I did take a partial screen grab of one file, which might be interesting to any with tech savvy.

Image

I put it on a temporary TLD site I have so it can be seen here.

I guess in my ignorance you will not see this plug-in except when music plays. Menu/control center/(hardware)Sound/Applications tab... and that volume slider you see there if the Applications window is empty, that is not it... You will see a different volume slider there when you play music on the browser and see the plug-in there, and can adjust it as you wish.

Wish I knew more.

After I installed Mint there two days ago, I downloaded the level 1 and level 2 updates only, and that included a later version of Firefox than the one I had on the ISO. So this might be an issue on the current Firefox version only, which is 3.5.7

Re: ALSA Firefox plug-in has default of maximum..ouch!

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:52 am
by sudochicorycoffee
And now I searched for Firefox, and looked around in those directories. Nothing in the Plugins directory for 3.5.7, however ... in the directory simply named Firefox, the Plugins directory shows five or six "gecko media player" .so files

That might be where the action is, for folks who are in the know. Not in the know here, just the snow and the chicory coffee. :D

Re: ALSA Firefox plug-in has default of maximum..ouch!

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:34 pm
by Brian49
It's OK, I've now found the application volume setting, and it works well in Firefox as you describe. Good catch on your part - thanks.