1520/Vista - Media(audio) controls

OK I am totally baffled by how audio (volume) controls are supposed to work. I have a 1520, Vista Premium.

So as far as I can see there are usually 3 volume control mechanisms:

• buttons on the front of the 1520
• Vista speaker audio control in the task bar
• player (eg media player classic, reaplayer, quicktime) volume control

I assumed all of these were somehow linked/sync'ed/related - so any one of them can be used equally effectivelly. Apparently not. When I am listening/watching media, i tend to use the buttons on the front to change volume. But I get to the max of what the buttons seem to be able to get to but it's still not loud enough. So I change the player volume control but then that doesn't seem to max it out either. The only way to max it out seems to be using the vista speaker volume control. And then changing any of them completely puts them out of kilter (eg some showing max or min when others are showing different).

And on top of that the onscreen volume display doesn't seem to show when using the buttons on the front - it did show for some period, but now not showing.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Am I missing drivers ? Or is this just something I have to live with?

 

For me, the front volume buttons sync with the vista speaker audio control bar. I did a clean install and installed all the drivers from the cd.

 

1. Vista's volume control is different (more advanced if you will). I really like it. It separates the master volume from any on-screen volume. So you could listen to your music really loud and not have to deal with Windows sound events or IE being really loud too. The master volume control controls all of the volumes. If any of the other volumes are at a different position, Vista controls them from that point.

2. The buttons on the front panel/IR remote only control the Vista master volume. If you're in a game, there's a good possibility you won't be able to use these buttons.

3. If you're missing the on-screen indicator or the external buttons don't work properly, the Dell Quickset application may not be installed properly or running. Vista should allow you to use those features without quickset, but you won't get visual confirmation.

 

Yeash I agree and not only that - each application in Vista can be set at a different volume without affecting any other application - which I really like very much.....

Usually each media player application has its own volume control and that can be used to control the output from that app... But for some apps where such controls are not present this feature can be made use of....

The buttons in the front will only control the Master Volume.... Usually each app will be set at the master volume only but you can change it by using the volume icon in the taskbar..... The final end volume for each app is always relative of the master volume.... So if you increase the master volume the volume for that app will also increase relatively