Bug 220562

Summary: Allow changing which input/output device is preferred in KMix
Product: [Applications] kmix Reporter: Marcus Harrison <marcus>
Component: generalAssignee: Christian Esken <esken>
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE    
Severity: wishlist    
Priority: NOR    
Version: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: unspecified   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Marcus Harrison 2009-12-29 18:35:42 UTC 
Version:           3.6-alpha2 (using 4.3.85 (KDE 4.3.85 (KDE 4.4 Beta2)), Kubuntu packages)
Compiler:          cc
OS:                Linux (i686) release 2.6.31-17-generic

It would be nice if you could change which input/output device is preferred in the KMix mixer window, which would then prefer the device in System Settings --> Multimedia. For example, having a USB device's output unmuted but still not hearing anything in it could be confusing to less knowledgeable users. This would provide a bullet-selection (or some-such) for each device to present this configuration in a clearer and more obvious fashion to the user.
Comment 1 Christian Esken 2012-11-10 15:13:38 UTC 
You can alread change the Master volume. Is this not the same what you request? Or hat do you mean by "preferred"? Please gibe more detail.
Comment 2 Marcus Harrison 2012-11-12 15:07:02 UTC 
In the Phonon control panel in System Settings, you can set the preferred input/output device for a variety of different catagories (including Notifications, Music, Video, Games etc.). This feature request is to be able to set all of these catagories to a preferred device from within KMix (I.E. one preferred device for all Audio Playback categories, one preferred device for all Audio Recording categories etc.).

The reason for this feature request is that occasionally, e.g. when a new audio output device is plugged in, it is not preferred to the previous default device, which can be confusing to users as when one plugs in a set of headphones it is expected that sound will simply move to the new audio device immediately. I have personally experienced this, but because I am a knowledgeable user I knew beforehand where to check to solve this problem: less knowledgeable users won't necessarily know, and may simply check KMix for the feature.

There are alternative, perhaps better solutions to this problem. I posted this feature a long time ago and, looking at it now, it may be better to discuss the alternatives. One alternative that springs to mind is to have the Phonon KCM open when a new audio device is plugged in, in a similar fashion to how the Displays KCM opens when a new screen is plugged in.
Comment 3 Christian Esken 2012-11-14 23:45:44 UTC 
This is why you can open the Phonon control panel from KMix (main window, menu). I will definitely not duplicate the Phonon configuration options in KMix ("This feature request is to be able to set all of these catagories to a preferred device from within KMix").

The second point ("it is expected that sound will simply move to the new audio device") is a job of Phonon. It is again - defintely - a no-go to duplicate that functionality in KMix.
Comment 4 Christian Esken 2012-11-14 23:54:41 UTC 
Actually, this is quite similar to Bug 294878. While that one talks about Pulseaudio, the comment from Colin Guthrie explains the point of device priorities quite well. He's also talks about alternatives like automatic vs manual preference/profile switch and so forth.
So, to ease the things for me, I'll mark this as a duplicate (and yes: I am aware that the original subject and topic of those two bugs are not strictly duplicates)

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 294878 ***