Volume control

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
1

Hi all,

I have seen video’s on you tube of some of the older WD media players (specifically the WD TV Live Media Player, not Streaming Player) where there are no volume control on the remote control.  Is there volume control on the WD TV LIVE Streaming Player?  It would be sad if it doesn’t have volume control on the remote.  What abou ton the smart phone remote?

Best regards,

2

The iphone app has a volume control.

3

There is no volume control on the remote control.

4

That doesn’t make sense, why would they not put volume control on the remote?

5

For the same reason there isn’t one on a turntable or similar device that doesn’t have an on-board amplifier.  It simply outputs a (typically) 1 volt peak-to-peak analog audio signal and it’s up the the attached amplifier to process the sound, adjust the volume, tone, etc…

The volume characteristics are also imbedded in the digital audio stream and it’s again up to the digital decoder (digital amp, HDTV, etc)  to process the sound, not the sending device.

6

dawidbot wrote:

That doesn’t make sense, why would they not put volume control on the remote?

Why would they. WD decide what to put on their remote. This player is plugged into a TV etc which already has a volume control so I assume that WD decided it was a bit unnecessary. However as a previous poster said I believe there is a volume control on the WD remote control app for iPhone / iPod.

7

I understand that the player will be plugged into the TV, but now without its own volume control on the WD remote I have to use both remotes, one to set the volume and the other to navigate through the GUI etc.  Ig uess this aint a biggy so oky, I will settle for this.

8

You might be interested in a Logitech Harmony if you would prefer to use just one remote controller.

9

Recorded audio is a logarithmic analogue stream converted to and recorded as a digital stream. A digital stream is a zeros and ones waveform. People cannot hear digital audio. The digital stream has to be converted back to analogue audio before applying a volume control.

A general purpose remote volume control just controls a digital stepper chip in the analogue amplifier that switches a resistor network in the analogue volume control circuit. That analogue volume control circuit has to be placed precisely at the right analogue gain before the power amplifier stage otherwise residual noise is picked up by the preamplifier.

Implementing that level of sophistication into the WDTV Live would double the hardware costs being passed onto the consumer as double the current costs of the WDTV Live. Why implements that sophistication into the WDTV Live when current amplifiers already contain a remote analogue volume control circuit.

10

thepanoguy, the device is already capable of doing this. Didn’t you read that the WD TV Remote app has a volume control?

Don’t believe me? Check the image here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57346879-1/wd-tv-remote-iphone-app-mostly-a-hit/

11

@ Strider_Nemesis,

I don’t own an iPhone and don’t follow iPhone development.

Thanks for the link; interesting reading. The article does not say whether the iPhone app controls the digital or analogue stage or both.

Sigma doesn’t disclose the specifications of their chips. There is no mention in their public literature of a digital volume control function. If the Sigma chip does contain the intelligence for a digital volume control then WD have made a marketing error for not implementing it.  

The following links are interesting:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Digital-Volume-Control

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?3813-Digital-Volume-control

www.cirrus.com/en/pubs/proDatasheet/CS3310_F1.pdf

www.weiss-highend.ch/computerplayback/Digital_Level_Control.pdf

http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/showthread.php/17624-Analog-vs-Digital-volume-control-%28DEQX%29

There is a firm opinion amongst audiophiles that digital audio volume controls are inferior to analogue volume controls.

As stated in my previous post, a volume control to effectively function without artefacts or losses must be wired at the correct analogue level in an analogue amplifier. Amplifier manufacturers have almost 100 years of experience to get it right. It may be a case of the too hard basket for Sigma chip developers.