VLC Media Player WARNING

Wow! Did not know that. You would think that companies would have a buffer to keep that from happening. They can dim a screen to protect your monitor, but no way to keep a speaker from blowing?! Not their fault. I am not throwing blame or anything. But that kind of stinks.

You would think that companies would have a buffer to keep that from happening. They can dim a screen to protect your monitor, but no way to keep a speaker from blowing?

Probably they don't blow. My guess is that they are burning out or having mechanical failure from the heat produced by unnaturally high average amplitude. I heard that one of the Dell laptop models got a BIOS revision to help protect the speakers from the VLC Player but I don't know how such protection could work except by lowering the overall volume.

I played some short samples of a pop tune with VLC Player and simultaneously recorded them into a graphic audio editor, and made some screen shots of the amplitude waveforms -- just the left channel to keep it simple. These amplitude graphs represent the relative energy of the audio signal. The highest peaks represent the greatest amplitude, which increases as the waveform moves away from the center crossing line in either up or down direction. The center "zero crossing" line represents silence.

Example 1 shows VLC playing the tune normally with its volume set at 100%.

Example 2 is VLC Player playing the tune with the volume set to 200%.

In both examples, the maximum amplitude of the signal is nearly as large as it can get, which is the saturation point of 0 dB (zero decibels). The 2nd example would sound louder because its average amplitude is greater. That is shown in the graph by the increased density of the waveform. A greater proportion of the signal is close to 0 dB.

VLC can't make the laptop's amp produce more wattage than it was made to produce, so where does the increased volume come from? The program seems to increase the signal's amplitude to beyond the 0 dB limit -- super-saturation. That would definitely increase the volume  but the problem is that signal over 0 dB create very blatant digital distortion -- basically a loud noise. To fix that, all of the signal over 0 dB is simply chopped off, or clipped.

Example 2 shows the increased average amplitude but with a form of distortion known as "clipping". It is called "clipping" because of the way the graph looks after parts of the signal have been hacked off. It is a form of distortion because the waveform has been ruined by hacking off parts of it. If you play a song with  VLC Player set to 200% volume you can easily hear the distortion in the audio signal.

Here are very extreme close-ups of examples 1 & 2. The waveform in example 1 resembles a sine wave more or less.

Example 2 is the same slice of music but with VLC Player's volume set to 200%. The maximum amplitude is the same as in example 1, but now there is much more of the signal near maximum so the average amplitude is much greater here. In example 1, the waveform was forming peaks near the maximum. In example 2 the waveform is creating plateaus near the the maximum, which means that it is now starting to look more like a square wave -- typical of hard clipping.

The maker of VCL Player says there is nothing about the player that can cause damage to laptop speakers, and for all I know that may be true. Those guys are smarter than me. However these graphs demonstrate that the player creates hard clipping when the volume level is set to 200% and dramatically increases the average amplitude.

The graphs actually under-represent the increase in the amount of average amplitude between example 1 and 2. That is because the graphs represent amplitude in decibels, which is a logarithmic scale. If the graphs accurately represented the increase in amplitude they would be too big to use. The bottom line is that there is a whole lot of extra energy for the speakers to have to convert into mechanical energy and heat without breaking down.

Wikipedia has an explanation of why hard clipping can damage speakers in its article on audio clipping. It also mentions another problem with hard clipping that can destroy speakers, upper level harmonics, but that is probably not the main concern.

Thanks for the info, Jim. Has anyone tried another DVD app that would be supported by Win8 and this Dell computer?

Sorry for the delay in replying -- been under the weather.

The CyberLink PowerDVD that was included with the laptop should support 8 or should upgrade to a version that supports 8. You should be able to find the software for your laptop at My Dell Downloads.

Hello Jim,

Are you a representative from Dell, if not can you please let us know do any person from dell has replied on such post?

Hello Jim, Are you a representative from Dell,

Hello. I am 100% independent of the Dell company and do not represent it.

if not can you please let us know do any person from dell has replied on such post?

See the post above yours from Dell - Terry B. Terry B is a Dell liaison.

Running your new speakers at MAX volume right out of the box is bad for them. Just like any other item that has moving parts, you got to break them in... I have yet to hear anyone said that VLC broke their speakers on their laptop or desktop...

merci pour le  conseille

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

i wonder how warranty void if you install any software ? :O please some one explain it 

i wonder how warranty void if you install any software ?

Good question.  Looking at the Dell Limited Hardware Warranty it says that the warranty "covers defects in materials and workmanship". So if Dell sells a customer a laptop with non-defective speakers and the customer ruins the speakers by using software that pushes them beyond their parameters, I can see how that would not be covered under the warranty, because the failure is not caused by a defect but by the software.

-- BUT --

On the other hand we have received reports that tech support has been denying service for speakers if they do a scan and find the VLC player on the laptop, I don't see in the warranty where such a denial of service is explained. The warranty has a section entitled "What is not covered by this limited hardware warranty?". That section does not say that installing any software can cause partial loss of warranty. It is like there is both an official written warranty and a secret unwritten one that they only disclose to folks who call for service.

[Note: if you were refused service by tech support when the only troubleshooting performed was finding VLC player installed, please go back through this thread and read the post from Terry_B that is marked "Verified Answer".]

Edited by jimco  3-17-13

Is the same thing to say MSI Afterburner broken the video card? Everybody knows that this software used incorrect form can break the video card.

Oh wait!! The warranty take of care this.

Is nothing new.

Installing any overclocking utility for example void many warranty - at CPU and GPU products.

Installing a NOS system in your brand-new car will void also the warranty.

Breaking nuts with a microscope will probably void the warranty.

The manufactures don't have to cover any defects resulted by misuse of their products.