Max Volume problem

[10dorado]

I love this tablet so much I gave my 16Gb model to my son who is off to college and got a 32Gb for myself to replace it.

I have downloaded both the ESFile Explorer and the MX Player. When I play movies on either tablet the best I can get is 30% volume and when I am on an airplane with my headphones on I still can't hear the movie well enough to enjoy it. YouTube seems to have better volume but I am not happy with only 30% when viewing movies. This is after turning the master volume up all the way and the external toggle will allow the volume to go only to 30.

I called tech support at Google and did a system restart the he problem still exists. Is it the he File Mgr. and MX Player that limit the volume ad if so, how do i get around this? It is frustrating to have 2.5Tb of movies that I can't hear when traveling.......................

TIA,

10dorado

 

[B. Diddy]

You might already have done this, but I can't quite tell from what you posted. On MX Player, tap the menu icon, then Tools/Settings/Player, scroll all the way down, and make sure "Volume boost" is checked. Then when you play the video, tap the audio icon at the upper right (the musical notes), and make sure "Use s/w audio decoder" is checked. This increases the max volume from 15 to 30.

 

[10dorado]

Yup, did all that and only got 30, but, if I read your post i shouldn't expect more than that. What a bummer. Basically makes the tablet worthless to travel with unless there is an app for volume boost beyond 30.

Thanks for the response!

10dorado

 

[B. Diddy]

I think most tablets will not have great internal speakers--there's just too much pressure to save space and lower costs. You're better off getting a good set of earphones or headphones. If you don't like wires, then go for Bluetooth headphones.

 

[10dorado]

Just as an aside, has anyone tried using RealPlayer to decode and watch videos on the Nexus 7?

10dorado

 

[jpash549]

I think most tablets will not have great internal speakers--there's just too much pressure to save space and lower costs. You're better off getting a good set of earphones or headphones. If you don't like wires, then go for Bluetooth headphones.

There are some like the abandoned HP Touchpad and the almost abandoned Blackberry Playbook and reportedly the Kindle Fire HD at least the 8.9 that do have very good internal speakers. The crummy speaker system and lack of HDMI or other way to connect to a TV are hopefully among the several things that will be corrected in the Nexus 7 version 2.

from a BB Playbook or HP Touchpad or N7

 

[Microspeed]

I had problems with low volume levels as well. I am also hearing impaired so I kind of expected it so this is what I did to solve the problem. I tried a couple of the different EQ's in the market place till i found one I liked and I bought a couple different sets of head phones. I found that the Skull Krushers work really well for movies and music. They have a built in amp for sub-woofers. I was amazed how much better they made everything sound. The other set of earphones I use are Plantronic bluetooth stereo . I think they are a 903+. Sorry not sure on the model, but they only make one or two models. They work well, but just don't have the really cool bass I like. The nice thing about them is that they can also be paired to my phone so it will ring threw if I get a call.
Hope this helps.

Micro

 

[BlackBerry Guy]

There are some like the abandoned HP Touchpad and the almost abandoned Blackberry Playbook and reportedly the Kindle Fire HD at least the 8.9 that do have very good internal speakers. The crummy speaker system and lack of HDMI or other way to connect to a TV are hopefully among the several things that will be corrected in the Nexus 7 version 2.

from a BB Playbook or HP Touchpad or N7

One of the few things BlackBerry did right with the PlayBook was the speakers and speaker placement.

 

[B. Diddy]

The PlayBook hardware is great. It was RIM's absolute cluelessness in how to develop and market it that sunk it.

 

[10dorado]

OK, so I see that this is a more common problem that I 1st thought or was led to believe. I am going to call Google in the am and they will issue and RMA and I will return the tablet knowing that whatever they do wil NOT fix the problem. The other problem is that I actually HAVE 2 OF THESE TABLETS!!!!

At that point I will demand a refund, s/w update or a complimentary upgrade to the new tablet due out in September.

I hate to give up the tablet as I love the damn thing, except for this problem, but I will if I have to. Like I stated previously, I travel for living and need some form of entertainment on long flights as well as something to plug into hotel tv's so I can watch movies.

Bottom line is that I am truly amazed that Google(ASUS) would, knowingly, put out a s/w or h/w update that they must have known was bad when they released it. Otherwise how did it get through BETA testing.......?

The last problem is that, since I refuse to but anything crAPPLE, what is my next choice? I really don't want to have to research another electronic device.

10dorado

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm a little puzzled--are you assuming that your Nexus 7 is faulty because the volume seems low? These tablets don't produce very loud volumes by their nature, so your device isn't necessarily faulty. There have been no system updates that affected the volume. Remember that the volume reading of "15" or "30" on MX Player is not a percentage--it's simply an absolute level, like a volume dial going to 10 (or 11, if you're Spinal Tap). The reason it can go to 30 on MX Player is that using the software decoder for audio allows you to double the max volume of 15 (which is the max on hardware decoder).

If you know of anyone else with a Nexus 7, just compare yours with theirs, and you'll probably find that your device is behaving normally. Or compare it with a working display model at your local electronics store.

 

[10dorado]

You shouldn't be puzzled. All am stating is that the device is sold based on the fact that it is something more than an eReader. It is "supposed" to be able to store and play music as well as videos from a variety of sources and formats.
All I ask is that when using the product, based on its advertised features, I should be able to hear it. I don't expect much from the internal speaker(as I almost never use it) but I do expect that, if using headphones, that I would be able to hear the audio playback from a movie format at such a volume that I can understand what is being said by the actors. This is not the case on either Nexus 7 I own.
I have done all the recommended "fixes" that the tech support folks asked me to try and their suggestion is that I return the device for an exchange. While I can do this I am not confident it has even a little chance of solving the, seemingly inherent, lack of feature functionality. It also seems that looking at comment posted by others that this was not a problem until JellyBean or the latest update to it.
My comment about the "30", was just a comment, to define what I was seeing so that I could get valuable feedback from this group. I could care less what number or system they use to define the volume as long as I can hear the content.
I mean, if there is an app, s/w download or other "fix" for this then I am all ears and will try anything. If not, I need to return the product for a refund and find a product that can be used on an airplane during long flights.I would hate to go back to using my cell phone to watch movies, but, I do get enough volume from either my Droid Razr Maxx or my Samsung Galaxy IV to perform this task, but with a much smaller screen and no where near the total storage available as on the tablets.

 

[B. Diddy]

Ok, no problem. I was just puzzled because your previous posts made no reference to any other reported problems of lower sound after the Jellybean updates. This has not been an overly common complaint in these forums, so your concern about software or hardware updates from Google took me by surprise. It also wasn't clear to me that you understood how the volume levels worked on MX Player, because in your original post, you noted that "the best I can get is 30% volume." There's clearly a big difference between 30% volume and an absolute level of 30 out of 30 volume, so I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.

It would be helpful to know if you noticed a sudden change in the maximum volume on your Nexus 7 after a Jellybean update, because yes, that'd be a definite problem, likely traceable to the update. And it would also be helpful to know if you are able to compare the maximum volume of your Nexus 7 with that of another unit (perhaps a store display unit), to see if there's a definite difference, or if that's just how the Nexus 7 is.

 

[mr_nobody]

It would be helpful to know if you noticed a sudden change in the maximum volume on your Nexus 7 after a Jellybean update, because yes, that'd be a definite problem, likely traceable to the update. And it would also be helpful to know if you are able to compare the maximum volume of your Nexus 7 with that of another unit (perhaps a store display unit), to see if there's a definite difference, or if that's just how the Nexus 7 is.

The only change to the volume that happened with 4.2 was it broke all of the volume boosting apps that some people had been relying on to get a decent volume level so...

 

[Rindog]

OP, have you tried Dice Player, their sound setting allows 100%, 200%, 300%,400% audio settings. Whatever that means, however, the 400% does seem louder.

 

[zaax12]

I have this problem and I think it is to do with ice cream sandwich

 

[B. Diddy]

We're talking about the Nexus 7, which came with Jellybean. It never had ICS.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Simon Morgan]

This is a real problem with the latest OS (4.4.2) - it's driving me nuts. My problem is playing back movies only, music seems to be fine.

Although, it won't let me move the slider bar more, despite me accepting the warning message.

FIX it PLEASE, ASUS / Google.
:'(

 

[superfrank2812]

This is a real problem with the latest OS (4.4.2) - it's driving me nuts. My problem is playing back movies only, music seems to be fine.

Although, it won't let me move the slider bar more, despite me accepting the warning message.

FIX it PLEASE, ASUS / Google.
:'(

This