Switch between HDMI audio device and Analog from the System Tray

[Pykler]

Switch between HDMI audio device and Analog (and other audio devices) from the System Tray ... I hate having to click on "Sound Settings" and waiting for it to open in a new window and then clicking the device to switch to ... then having to do all that again to revert it.

You can place the switcher instead of that stupid RythmBox area that is completely useless.

[Timothy Arceri (t-fridey)]

The workflow you describe is my less frequent than the use of Rhythmbox. And its also not really a that hard to do what you want.

[Pykler (hnassrat)]

Well thats your personal opinion so it is not a general rule!

How is clicking on rythmbox from unity "harder" and requires a special area in the taskbar ... whereas opening up the settings and waiting for it is "easier"

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

I agree with Timothy that this is probably not a problem that many people are encountering, and thus not paper cut material, for the following reasons: since :

1. The general audio-related use case of a computer running Ubuntu will be to either plug something into the 3.5mm audio jack or simply use the built-in speakers.
2. The general use of HDMI is on modern TVs, and while I know there are home theatre PCs out there running Ubuntu, I don't believe the HTPC scene is very big, and certainly does not include the 'average user', which is where the paper cuts project focuses its attentions

That said, maybe including attached audio devices in the sound menu might be a nice improvement, instead of a bug fix. I'm not just talking about output either. Perhaps including others, such as:

1. Portable media players, which will open in the default music manager when selected
2. Output, which will switch to that device for output
3. Input, similar to output.

I'm going to draw some attention to this from the desktop team, and see what they think about doing that.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

I'll mark the paper cuts task as incomplete for now. Generally this wouldn't be our thing, but if the Desktop team like the idea, and it's not going to be too complicated to implement, then maybe it's something a competent programmer can get stuck into.

[Pykler (hnassrat)]

Well most laptops today have an HDMI port, some no longer have VGA at all for output. If they are running ubuntu, you will need to plug in the TV (or projector) then proceed with going into the display settings to get the HDMI to clone then go into the sound settings to do the audio part.

In windows, if you plug anything into the HDMI port, it automatically switches the audio device, unless you manually change it back. I like how ubuntu gives you the control, but I think having the ability to switch between audio devices in a quicker/easier way would be very cool.

[Timothy Arceri (t-fridey)]

"How is clicking on rythmbox from unity "harder" and requires a special area in the taskbar ... whereas opening up the settings and waiting for it is "easier""

My first reply wasn't as clear as it could have been. Although I think you miss the point of the rhytmbox shortcuts it is as you say not that usefull for opening the application but IS very useful for switching songs without having to switch from your current focused application, this workflow is likely to happen many times in one user session where as changing output is a once off thing.

I very much object to having settings like this added to the applet as they will make the applet crowded and are of no use to the majority of users. Also gnome-settings provides a simple centralized location for all settings I don't think its a good idea to start moving settings to other locations on the desktop.

Although you don't seem to realise it your actual problem seems to be two other things.
1. the gnome settings window is slow to load on your system (on my desktop pc its instant)
2. there's no auto detection for output.

based on your comments it seems likely that if gnome-settings window loaded quicker for you there would be no need to add this to the applet.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.