VLC slams cheap and nasty Dell speakers

[ShyWriter]

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VLC slams cheap and nasty Dell speakers

 

Dell bans VLC software

 

10 Feb 2014 09:50 | by Edward Berridge 

 

 

Tin box maker Dell has been accused of blaming the damage of its "poor quality speakers" on a popular open sauce media outfit.

 

Dell customer support pages issued a warning over the weekend claiming that if you installed the VLC player your warranty would be voided. They claimed that the software was blowing up Dell's speakers.

 

VLC has a feature that can make the audio go to 11 and much louder than other players, Dell claimed. VLC achieves this by using a process that creates hard which can damage small speakers. Dell has tested VLC and verified that the speakers can be damaged after several hours of using VLC.

 

However, an unnamed lead developer for VLC, said here  that the story is just rubbish and this is just Dell putting crap components on their machine and blaming others. In fact VLC uses the same standards as the official APIs.

 

VLC just uses the Windows APIs (DirectSound), and sends signed integers of 16 bits to the Windows Kernel and it allows amplification of the INPUT above the sound that was decoded.

 

But this is exactly the same if you put your mp3 file through Audacity and increase it and play with WMP, or if you put a DirectShow filter that amplifies the volume after your codec output. For example, for a long time, VLC ac3 and mp3 codecs were too low (-6dB) compared to the reference output.

 

The worse thing that will happen is that it will reduce the dynamics and saturate a lot, but this is not going to break your hardware.

 

The developer said that VLC does not modify the OUTPUT volume to destroy the speakers. VLC is software using the OFFICIAL platforms APIs.

 

He claimed that Dell sound cards output power that Dell speakers cannot handle. Dell's sound card outputs at max 10W, and the speakers only can take 6W in, and neither their BIOS or drivers block this.

 

The developer said that it would be more logical for Dell to void warranties for anyone who listens to heavy metal. Dell should insist that people only listen to Céline Dion music, because Metal saturates more

.

What is interesting is that Dell has been providing users with a BIO update to fix the problem, which seems to suggest that VLC is not to blame. It is just they are using speakers which are too low power.

 

SOURCE: http://news.techeye.net/software/vlc-slams-cheap-and-nasty-dell-speakers

 

Steve

[David H. Lipman]

They must the the USB Powered Speakers.  Only they would need a BIOS update. 

However, USB 5v @ 1amp = 5W or 2.5W /speaker.  Where do they get the 10W value and to say that the audio is putting out 11W ?

 

Another reason to use powered speakers which employ their own power supply.

[ShyWriter]

They must the the USB Powered Speakers.  Only they would need a BIOS update. 

However, USB 5v @ 1amp = 5W or 2.5W /speaker.  Where do they get the 10W value and to say that the audio is putting out 11W ?

 

Another reason to use powered speakers which employ their own power supply.

 

Dave,

They're saying the Dell Sound CARD puts out 10W max.. (5w per channel??)

 

DELL does make cheap crap which is why I stopped buying DELL in 1996.. (Bought wife's Walmart Special "DELL" in 2008; meant I don't buy for MY use.. ) BTW; her USB speakers are rated at 5V @0.5A which is 2.5W per speaker input rating.

 

BUT; I agree with you on this point.. I use powered speakers on all my personal computers.

 

Steve

[David H. Lipman]

Buy cheap, you get cheap.  That which you buy Dell OTC is cheap and cheaply priced for the masses.  People want low prices.  What is on the store shelves are made cheap to sell at low prices.

 

Buy from a sales rep online and you will pay more but you will get "better" quality with the Optiplex and Latitudes being very good platforms.

 

If the audio output is rated at 10W (5W/channel) then software can not make the card put out more power than what the Audio Amplifier can deliver.

[GT500]

Did anyone else have trouble reading that article?

[David H. Lipman]

Did anyone else have trouble reading that article?

 

Y E S  !

[ShyWriter]

Which article; the TechEye original or the link within it??

 

Upon further research by myself, it appears DELL has been denying warranty repair on speakers since early 2012, mostly on laptops, but starting in 2013 with desktops, still blaming VLC for the problem.. Regardless; the gist of the situation is that VLC is a media player NOT an audio amplifier, thus nothing goes out greater than whatever is input by DELL's speaker board/chip..

 

Steve

[GT500]

Which article; the TechEye original or the link within it??

The one you copied and pasted.

[CWB]

Did anyone else have trouble reading that article?

ohhh maaaaannnn ... it was a little painful .

 

when stuff is engineered right to the bleeding edge with absolutely no headroom and coupled with not-so-truthful specifications by the component/chunk manufacturers there is going to be trouble .

 

first off ... most amplifiers and speakers of this particular type are measured in "whats" ... as in "what is reality" .

the realities are not simply E x I = W ... one must also apply the "rms factor" (of .707) used for a continuous sine wave  .

this leaves one with E x I x .707 = rms (sine) W .

note that this is for sine waves only ... and unless you are running an audio oscillator on the input the ratings will not be correct for a "complex wave form" such as voice or music .

but for the sake of argument let us use the math above .

 

speakers are usually defined by "impedance" which is not the same thing as "resistance" or "dc resistance" .

impedance involves the inductance of the voice coil and the frequency of the applied signal (to use simplified terms) .

however , as the "inductance" of the voice coil is fairly low , one could use the dc resistance and come up with something workable .

at the higher audio frequencies , the rising impedance will have a limiting effect by virtue of lowering the current .

 

the maximum output of an amplifier is dependent on the supply voltage and the resistance of the load hooked to it (again , simplified for easy digestion) .

let's say that the "resistance" of the speaker in question is 8 ohms and the supply is 5 volts .

the formula covering these parameters is : W = V x V / R

sooo ... (5 x 5) / 8 = 3.125 W .

hmmm ... this is no where near the claimed "10 watts" but we'll go with 5 watts per channel (still no cigar) and it gets worse when the "correction factor" of .707 is applied :

3.125 x .707 = 2.209 W .

hmmm ... things aint lookin' so good lucy .

however , another commonly used/available voltage is "12 volts" ; 12 x 12 / 8 = 18 W .

half of this is 9 W ... applying the "correction factor" (.707) leaves one with 6.36 W per channel .

now we're getting closer to the "truth" .

 

there is another factor with the max output of amplifiers ... it is simply that the full supply voltage does not appear on the output .

there is a voltage drop of .7 volts across the output transistors (for devices known as "BJTs") .

as there are two of these devices in each side of the output of the amplifier (again , simplified) the "loss" is 1.4 volts per side and the math thus becomes :

12V - 1.4V = 10.6V

10.6V x 10.6V / 8 = 116.64 / 8 = 14.58W

14.58W / 2 = 7.29 W

7.29W x .707 = 5.15 W .

 

so now we're in the ballpark .

the point of this is that if *something* is engineered so tight that the (theoretical) application of a mere .15 W can "damage" a speaker or amplifier it speaks volumes (pun intended) about the quality .

 

 

 

"The developer said that it would be more logical for Dell to void warranties for anyone who listens to heavy metal. Dell should insist that people only listen to Céline Dion music, because Metal saturates more ."

 

the term "saturates" is not being used correctly at this point .

saturation happens when the amplifier cannot provide anymore voltage ... the output transistors are at full conduction ... it is not a function of the "genera of the music" itself .

when "over driven" the amplifier output "clips" and tries to make square waves out of sine waves (basically) .

this results in (basically) dc being applied to the speaker and quite possibly maxing out the "throw" of the voice coil .

however , in a well designed speaker with nominal (read good ) engineering practices this will not cause problems .

it may sound like 100 feet of logging chain in a cement mixer but the system will survive .

a rational person will hear the distortion and lower the volume .

 

all in all , this shows how cheesy the amplifier/speaker design of the machine really is .

no wonder dell is trying to fix their problem by using a bios change .

to blame a well designed program in order to cover their tracks is simply shameful .

 

there are other factors involved in all this , but keeping things simple helps to clarify things a bit .

 

yep ... there was much left to be desired in the article aside from the typos .

[David H. Lipman]

[ShyWriter]

The one you copied and pasted.

 

The TechEye one then.. I'm not sure I like the inference in the way you said "copied and pasted" Arthur.. I never take credit for others work and the source is always listed! If you have a problem with the way I present information I'd be happy to stop posting altogether.

 

Have a NICE day

[GT500]

... I'm not sure I like the inference in the way you said "copied and pasted" Arthur.. ...

The inference was that you didn't write it, and were not responsible for the horrible spelling and grammatical mistakes in the article.

[ShyWriter]

The inference was that you didn't write it, and were not responsible for the horrible spelling and grammatical mistakes in the article.

 

Oh.. Well in that case, thank you..   Along those lines if I see a typo or a word or two misspelled in an article I will correct it but in the majority of cases, this one being an example, I leave 'em alone as I sometimes can't believe them or they way they're written myself.   In the Software sub-Forums I will make an extra effort to correct the descriptions or fixes or other verbiage if the software site/author is obviously a non-English, first language speaker.

 

Cheers,

Steve..

[mountaintree16]

good golly gosh gosh