I have made some changes to be included in version 4.0 that add support for muting and unmuting the AVR in response to a client "mixer muting" command, as well as a backdoor way to mute it manually via your phone's hardware which, in light of the upcoming holiday, I'll call an 'easter egg'. ;-) This is probably as good a place as any to express an opinion of mine (one of many) to users of the plugin: You should ALWAYS set the LMS "Player->Audio->Volume Control" setting to "Output level is fixed at 100%" for any player that is using the plugin. This setting results, as you might guess, in a fixed output level coming from the player, preventing volume change requests (including muting) from altering the digital signal in the analog domain and thereby ensuring the integrity of the bitstream on its journey to your AVR, whether it be via HDMI or an outboard D/A converter. The goal here is what audiophiles call "bit-perfect" sound -- i.e. preserving the signal, bit for bit, that is encoded in the (hopefully lossless) digital music file. NOT having this setting activated results in every volume change (including muting) being done essentially twice -- once by the LMS player (digital->analog->digital) and again by the AVR. Anyway, getting back to the plugin changes, there unfortunately are very few client apps that currently contain support for muting. However, based on recent discussions with some of the client developers, I expect that to change in the near future. The ones I know of now, and the conditions under which the mute command is generated, are as follows:
Squeezelite-X: This powerful Windows app, which is a free download from the Microsoft Store, is essentially a clone of the LMS browser client with a configurable skin and a method to add your own commands to a Menu tab in the app. Included with the app are a set of default commands which include "Mute/Unmute player". Muting/unmuting a player which has the Denon plugin installed should result in the AVR being muted/unmuted. If you have your LMS "Player->Audio->Volume Control" set to "Volume control adjusts outputs" (which you don't, right?), then the signal will be muted/unmuted both in the LMS player via software and via the AVR mute. Squeeze Ctrl (Android): I just installed this app to test its support for muting and I must say that I'm impressed. While there is no explicit "mute/unmute" support, it does have an option to automatically either pause the player or mute it when a phone call is made or received, and it works great with the new plugin mute functionality. One thing to be aware of, though, is that when the app is first installed and you try to change the player volume, you will get a popup message saying something like "Output volume is fixed" and no volume change. That's right. This client is smart enough to know that you have set "Output level is fixed at 100%" on your player and assumes (for some reason) that you don't want to change the volume from the client. No problem. Just go into "Preferences->Controls->Volume Options" and check the box that says, rather cryptically, "Fixed Volume Send Command" and you're good to go. That's pretty much it right now but, as I said, other app developers have indicated that they will be implementing mute/unmute support in upcoming releases. Now for the 'easter egg'. It's really quite simple and should work on any phone app, whether Android or ioS. While you're on any screen where the client app's hardware volume buttons are active, simply press both the "volume up" and "volume down" buttons within .25 seconds of each other, preferably simultaneously, and your AVR should mute. To unmute, simply change the volume in any way, whether through the hardware buttons or otherwise. Pretty cool, huh? Well I think it is anyway. And I also find it quite useful, at least until the client developers start supporting the function explicitly. For those of you that have not been following the 4.0 beta effort, the changes included in the two attached modules also implement full support for the Quick Select command in zones 2-4. And for those who helped in testing those changes, you'll be happy to hear that these muting changes are also supported in all zones. Happy holidays and happy testing! +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Filename: Plugin.pm | |Download: http://forums.slimdevices.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=34050| +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ Sam ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SamY's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=63495 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=60114 _______________________________________________ plugins mailing list plugins@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/plugins
