Does VLC Media Player damage speakers?

[shwetanshu]

I use a HP laptop and the speakers suffered some unknown damage.As I had it under the warranty I contacted HP and they said that as I use VLC Media Player which is an Audio Booster Software it is not covered under HP warranty and will not be repaired.I contacted VLC Developer Jean regarding this and he said said that
"Of course, this is total bullshit.

The 200-400% of VLC are about the input level, not the output level.

VLC uses the classic Windows API, and therefore cannot output more than
what the driver does.
At worse, VLC will output a saturated square signal, but cannot go above
what the driver allows.

To explain in a more clear way for stupid HP people who refuse to
understand: this is like saying: "Listening to Death Metal will harm
your speakers."

They put cheap speakers that do not support the sound they are
outputting."

Also HP refuses to give any proof regarding this.So can you please clarify more on this issue?

 

[Pinhedd]

HP is retarded.

 

[shwetanshu]

I talked to HP and this is what they said " The VLC player has a
capacity to boost the volume upto 200-400%. The speakers installed on HP
notebooks are of 4 Ohms speakers and can take volume only upto 100%. In
case there is any rise in volume above 100%, the brass caps on the speakers
are burnt which in turn damages the speakers. Hence, it is not covered
under warranty."

 

[Pinhedd]

I talked to HP and this is what they said " The VLC player has a
capacity to boost the volume upto 200-400%. The speakers installed on HP
notebooks are of 4 Ohms speakers and can take volume only upto 100%. In
case there is any rise in volume above 100%, the brass caps on the speakers
are burnt which in turn damages the speakers. Hence, it is not covered
under warranty."

You should call them through the phone and tell them to rip up their paper mill diplomas and commit hari-kari. The maximum physical power dissipation is limited by the audio codec's DAC, the power delivery mechanism, and the speakers' construction. If they don't want their speakers to blow up then they should manufacture them properly. The software volume level is merely an abstract representation of relative levels. If you were to crank the volume up to 1,000,000 your laptop won't turn into a nuclear weapon, that's just absurd; it will cap out and start clipping.

 

[shwetanshu]

Best answer selected by shwetanshu.

 

[Keyto]

Answers above are irrational. If you look this way, a very huge company that created countless hardware's and software's within about 80yrs (HP) versus a small software maker that just arise (VLC)? Who would you thinks has the most knowledge? HP knows whats best with their products and won't tell their customer any false information just for alibi. And base on using VLC personally, I also notice my DESKTOP 2.1 channel speaker sounds louder on 200% compared to other player like Windows M.Player but if I make it all the way to its maximum 400% it gives me a very loud but a bad crisp sound that I could feel that my speakers wont last for another hour of working.

 

[shwetanshu]

Answers above are irrational. If you look this way, a very huge company that created countless hardware's and software's within about 80yrs (HP) versus a small software maker that just arise (VLC)? Who would you thinks has the most knowledge? HP knows whats best with their products and won't tell their customer any false information just for alibi. And base on using VLC personally, I also notice my DESKTOP 2.1 channel speaker sounds louder on 200% compared to other player like Windows M.Player but if I make it all the way to its maximum 400% it gives me a very loud but a bad crisp sound that I could feel that my speakers wont last for another hour of working.

Assuming what you said is right, Why is the company refusing to give ANY proof at all? Why is there no warning issued on its site or anywhere where the public can easily see ? Why after the speaker have been damaged the company is telling :
"Ohhh now we remember , VLC damages your speakers.We are sorry we couldn't inform you ,or anyone else as a matter of fact, but there is no way we can replace your speakers because it is your own fault. Anyway Thank You for contacting us.

-Signed-
"Our aim is to deliver best in class customer service." "


Here is what they say regarding the functioning of the media player:
"The VLC player has a capacity to boost the volume upto 200-400%. The speakers installed on HP notebooks are of 4 Ohms speakers and can take volume only upto 100%. In case there is any rise in volume above 100%, the brass caps on the speakers are burnt which in turn damages the speakers. Hence, it is not covered under warranty.

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 12:53 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
Proof?

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 12:56 PM] -- Sachin K says:
Unfortunately we cannot provide any proof on this. However you can keep this chat interaction as a proof for this."



And regarding issuing of warning :
"[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:03 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
Also when was the warning issued to customers?

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:08 PM] -- Sachin K says:
HP started informing about this issue to all our notebook users from 15th April 2009.

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:09 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
How I was not informed anywhere

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:13 PM] -- Sachin K says:
We are informing this to our customers when they contact us with an issue related to the VLC player."



So I even summed up it up for them and confirmed what they were saying :
"
[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:24 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
So in the end you say that VLC damages the speakers according to your internal study (which is not shown officially).You also say that a warning is issued if the consumer contacts you regarding the issue and nowhere officially the Warning is mentioned not even in terms and conditions of the governing HP Care Pack Service Agreement.

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:31 PM] -- Sachin K says:
That's right."


They also said I should check with them before installing any software so I "checked" with them here is the response:

"[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:32 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
ok i want to install 007: Quantum of Solace by Activison Can I do that?

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:36 PM] -- Sachin K says:
Here is the system requirement for this game:

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista
Processor: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, Athlon XP 64 2800+ MHz, or any 1.8 GHz Dual Core Processor or better
Memory: 512 MB of RAM, 7.4 GB of uncompressed hard disk space
Graphics: DirectX 9.0c-compliant 128 MB video card and drivers

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:36 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
no will it void the warranty?

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:38 PM] -- Sachin K says:
No. However if this game damages any hardware component of your computer then it would void the warranty.

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:39 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
How do i know that?

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:41 PM] -- Sachin K says:
You would come across the issues on your notebook if this software damages any of the hardware component on your notebook. "

So here is a game I would like to play "Find atleast 3 ridiculous things in there" Go.....

 

[Hachiroku]

Lol that is so below standard. And that is totally true how the physical amplified volume is limited by the DAC chip's total SNR of x amount of db and speaker circuitry anyway. So basically HP just installed speakers with cones that weren't up to the job for their own system, and they blew. Shame on them.

 

[ratedk]

Obviously, HP Customer support has never seen the movie Spinal Tap.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgx4k83zzc

VLC allows you go to Eleven!

ROFL

 

[jaguarskx]

I use a HP laptop and the speakers suffered some unknown damage.As I had it under the warranty I contacted HP and they said that as I use VLC Media Player which is an Audio Booster Software it is not covered under HP warranty and will not be repaired.I contacted VLC Developer Jean regarding this and he said said that
"Of course, this is total bullshit.

The 200-400% of VLC are about the input level, not the output level.

VLC uses the classic Windows API, and therefore cannot output more than
what the driver does.
At worse, VLC will output a saturated square signal, but cannot go above
what the driver allows.

To explain in a more clear way for stupid HP people who refuse to
understand: this is like saying: "Listening to Death Metal will harm
your speakers."

They put cheap speakers that do not support the sound they are
outputting."

Also HP refuses to give any proof regarding this.So can you please clarify more on this issue?

The bolded text is exactly the reason why the speakers have been blown. The following is my response in a different thread regarding the same issue.

Thread:

VLC damaged my laptop speaker

Clipping is a common cause of blown tweeters. They are basically square waves instead of sine waves.

In the case of under-powering, the driver is blown because the amplifier is driven to the point that it can no longer amplify the signal. The amp tries to generate the amplified version of the input waveform, but runs out of "headroom" before the full wave is generated. The result is a square wave. The sinusoidal version of the waveform is only partially generated and the result is a square wave with a "plateau" on the top. The "plateau" is pretty much a DC current at that point. DC in large enough amounts or long enough times is what burns up speakers.

The driver is only driven part of the way in or out, but it is held in a suspended position at the top of the square wave the amp is generating. The result is the speaker is in a near DC state and the constant voltage without any corresponding movement causes the windings of the voice coil to heat up. Eventually the heat is too great for the windings and they burn up.

In short, it is actually the VLC software that is the cause of the burned out speakers.

 

[jaguarskx]

Obviously, HP Customer support has never seen the movie Spinal Tap.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgx4k83zzc

VLC allows you go to Eleven!

ROFL

Yep, I too mentioned Spinal Tap that other thread which I referred to in my above post..

Also reminds me of the scene in This Is Spinal Tap, where Nigel is explaining to a reporter why his amp goes up to volume 11...

 

[Kolappan Kols]

I use a HP laptop and the speakers suffered some unknown damage.As I had it under the warranty I contacted HP and they said that as I use VLC Media Player which is an Audio Booster Software it is not covered under HP warranty and will not be repaired.I contacted VLC Developer Jean regarding this and he said said that
"Of course, this is total bullshit.

The 200-400% of VLC are about the input level, not the output level.

VLC uses the classic Windows API, and therefore cannot output more than
what the driver does.
At worse, VLC will output a saturated square signal, but cannot go above
what the driver allows.

To explain in a more clear way for stupid HP people who refuse to
understand: this is like saying: "Listening to Death Metal will harm
your speakers."

They put cheap speakers that do not support the sound they are
outputting."

Also HP refuses to give any proof regarding this.So can you please clarify more on this issue?

The problem is with vlc as not only hp but also dell has stated this.

http/en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3517/t/19492918

http/howtoincomputer.blogspot.in/p/blog-page.html

 

[Kolappan Kols]

Answers above are irrational. If you look this way, a very huge company that created countless hardware's and software's within about 80yrs (HP) versus a small software maker that just arise (VLC)? Who would you thinks has the most knowledge? HP knows whats best with their products and won't tell their customer any false information just for alibi. And base on using VLC personally, I also notice my DESKTOP 2.1 channel speaker sounds louder on 200% compared to other player like Windows M.Player but if I make it all the way to its maximum 400% it gives me a very loud but a bad crisp sound that I could feel that my speakers wont last for another hour of working.

Assuming what you said is right, Why is the company refusing to give ANY proof at all? Why is there no warning issued on its site or anywhere where the public can easily see ? Why after the speaker have been damaged the company is telling :
"Ohhh now we remember , VLC damages your speakers.We are sorry we couldn't inform you ,or anyone else as a matter of fact, but there is no way we can replace your speakers because it is your own fault. Anyway Thank You for contacting us.

-Signed-
"Our aim is to deliver best in class customer service." "


Here is what they say regarding the functioning of the media player:
"The VLC player has a capacity to boost the volume upto 200-400%. The speakers installed on HP notebooks are of 4 Ohms speakers and can take volume only upto 100%. In case there is any rise in volume above 100%, the brass caps on the speakers are burnt which in turn damages the speakers. Hence, it is not covered under warranty.

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 12:53 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
Proof?

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 12:56 PM] -- Sachin K says:
Unfortunately we cannot provide any proof on this. However you can keep this chat interaction as a proof for this."



And regarding issuing of warning :
"[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:03 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
Also when was the warning issued to customers?

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:08 PM] -- Sachin K says:
HP started informing about this issue to all our notebook users from 15th April 2009.

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:09 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
How I was not informed anywhere

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:13 PM] -- Sachin K says:
We are informing this to our customers when they contact us with an issue related to the VLC player."



So I even summed up it up for them and confirmed what they were saying :
"
[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:24 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
So in the end you say that VLC damages the speakers according to your internal study (which is not shown officially).You also say that a warning is issued if the consumer contacts you regarding the issue and nowhere officially the Warning is mentioned not even in terms and conditions of the governing HP Care Pack Service Agreement.

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:31 PM] -- Sachin K says:
That's right."


They also said I should check with them before installing any software so I "checked" with them here is the response:

"[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:32 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
ok i want to install 007: Quantum of Solace by Activison Can I do that?

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:36 PM] -- Sachin K says:
Here is the system requirement for this game:

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista
Processor: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, Athlon XP 64 2800+ MHz, or any 1.8 GHz Dual Core Processor or better
Memory: 512 MB of RAM, 7.4 GB of uncompressed hard disk space
Graphics: DirectX 9.0c-compliant 128 MB video card and drivers

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:36 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
no will it void the warranty?

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:38 PM] -- Sachin K says:
No. However if this game damages any hardware component of your computer then it would void the warranty.

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:39 PM] -- Shwetanshu Mehta says:
How do i know that?

[Wednesday, June 20, 2012 1:41 PM] -- Sachin K says:
You would come across the issues on your notebook if this software damages any of the hardware component on your notebook. "

So here is a game I would like to play "Find atleast 3 ridiculous things in there" Go.....

Just check over the dell forum : http/en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3517/t/19492918

And i recomend you to perform a search in google about vlc damaging laptop speakers you will find a bunch of proofs.