[solved] October update: Volume muted after update + reboot

Could someone please elaborate on this bullet point from the release notes from the October 2022 update, or point me to the relevant forum threads?

I just applied this update on my Vero 4K and found upon reboot the audio level was almost inaudible. I have a Samsung TV outputting audio to a speaker bar, and after much futzing around finally figured out that I needed to nearly max out the volume on the TV itself in order to get a reasonable audio level from the speaker bar. But I’d prefer not to leave the TV volume set this high.

I’m just trying to better understand what changed in this update. The “fix CEC issues” bullet seems like the likeliest culprit.

Well after the September release some people reported they have issues with CEC (must have been a specific kind of setup as none of us could replicate it) this was mainly discussed in this thread

But I doubt this CEC update would have any influence on your audio volume. You might want to give more details on how you have configured audio and e.g. if pass-through formats are differently impacted that non pass-through. Also have you checked that the Kodi volume is up at 100%?

Ok, sounds like the CEC update isn’t the culprit.

To be honest, I’m not very familiar with most of the audio settings and prior to the update I don’t think I had changed anything since installing OSMC. I can get you specific settings but let’s assume everything was set to defaults.

What I observed after the update was applied was:

  • An on-screen message saying volume was muted.
  • The TV volume level, which ranges from 0-99, was in the 30’s. For the TV speakers that’s normally plenty loud, but nowadays the TV outputs audio to a speaker bar with its own volume level.
  • As I raised the TV volume via remote, I saw on-screen messages showing the volume level gradually increasing (1%, 2%, 3%, etc.) but it was way out-of-sync with the TV volume level.
  • I lowered the TV volume back into the 30’s, to where the on-screen message was again claiming the volume was muted, then further lowered the TV volume to zero.
  • At this point, the on-screen messages were mostly in sync with the TV volume. But like I said, whereas before a volume level in the 30’s was plenty loud, now I had to pretty much max out the TV volume and/or Kodi volume to hear anything out of the speaker bar.

So I guess my questions are:

  • What is driving the volume level as displayed by Kodi? I don’t see PulseAudio running so is it ALSA or something else?
  • How can I adjust this volume level directly, without using the TV remote and raising the TV’s volume at the same time?

Maybe also relevant to mention is this particular Samsung TV predates CEC support so I’m using the USB receiver from Flirc to control Kodi remotely. I might need to reconfigure it to disassociate TV volume with Kodi’s volume.

Are you sure the volume adjustment you are seeing is the TV? Or is it the Kodi volume? Kodi volume should be 100% in almost all cases when volume is actually controlled by other devices, and most particularly when audio passthrough is in use.

If you are not terribly familiar with the config options, you should try to use this guide to make sure you config is optimized for your use/case.

If you have an Android Phone you could use Yatse otherwise on Iphone Kore Remote should be available.
Or any USB Keyboard connected press +

If you have an Android Phone you could use Yatse otherwise on Iphone Kore Remote should be available.
Or any USB Keyboard connected press +

Can it be set via SSH session? i can connect a USB keyboard if necessary, but I’d like to better understand what’s actually changing when I use a remote or keybinding.

Can try kodi-send -a volumeup

I think the issue here is that Kodi has two different methods of controlling volume and the situation here is that the internal volume got adjusted down but the volume control is currently controlling CEC and not the internal volume so it is stuck at a low level. To elaborate, sans CEC amplifier type device, when you use the volume control on a remote or keyboard Kodi adjusts the signal level it is sending out. So in a basic type setup with just a TV, a Kodi box, and a rf remote, the TV’s volume would get turned up and not adjusted and the volume buttons on the remote would control how loud the volume is being sent to the TV. If you connect a soundbar, AVR, or other device that has CEC enabled and reports itself as an amplifier type device then Kodi will shift its volume control from adjusting the internal volume to sending out CEC volume commands to that device. If the internal volume was low you are a bit stuck since the remote no longer has the ability to adjust it back to 100% which is where you would want it when using an amplifier.

A common way to fix this is often to use a Kodi remote app on a phone or tablet, or the web interface from a PC and adjust the volume there. Most apps, and AFAIK all the web interfaces will only modify the internal volume level.

There is also an option to unplug your soundbar/AVR long enough to adjust your volume back up before reconnecting it. You may have to do a power cycle of your equipment if Kodi isn’t picking up hardware change.

You could also ssh into your device and run the following command…
kodi-send -a "SetVolume(100,showvolumebar)"

Thanks everyone who replied. So bottom line is audio volume is a more complicated topic than I expected and I’m not going to try to grok it all today. However for the benefit of others, here’s how I solved my situation:

  • kodi-send -a "SetVolume(100,showvolumebar)"
  • Used the Flirc desktop app to erase volume-related keybindings (volumeup, volumedown, mute) from my TV remote.
  • Lowered the TV volume back to a reasonable level without changing the Kodi volume.

Still don’t know what reset the volume level in this last update, but I’ll assume it was a one-time change.

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