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charles_h_r73861333
Participant
October 10, 2017
Question

Flash Player to Operate in Exclusive Mode

  • October 10, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 402 views

I've become very frustrated with the audio quality of Flash Player, and I finally figured out what's going wrong.

Up until Windows XP, Flash playback would be played back as is.  If a live stream playing back in Flash player was audio that was sampled at 44k it would play back at 44k; if it was sampled at 48k, it would play back at 48k.

Then, starting with Windows Vista, all of that changed.  An additional processor was added into the path by Windows.  This additional processor normally operated in shared mode, where any and all sounds generated by any application was sent through this one processor.  It was supposed to provide "convenience."  The problem was that to make it work, not only did the processor re-sample everything, which meant that everything would play back at whatever the sample rate that was dialed into the driver, but it also meant that everything was dragged through this additional level of processing, which meant that by the time it hit one's ears, it had been dragged down a whole generation, -- and sounded it.

Enter exclusive mode.

At that point, some media player applications implemented what was called exclusive mode.  Exclusive mode operated as follows:  If the application was playing back a 44k audio stream, and the Windows processor was set at 48k, it didn't make any difference.  With the media player application holding a ticket for exclusive mode in its hand, the processor would pass the stream unchanged, un-resampled, un-reprocessed, with the result that the sound was worlds better.

One example of a media player that would play back in exclusive mode was the JRiver Media Center.

So here's what I'm looking for.

Is there a way to play back audio streams, and audio-video streams, that play back in Flash in a browser, into exclusive mode, so that any and all re-sampling/re-processing/screwing-around by the Windows processor is prevented and one can hear the original stream without the loss in generation and quality?

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

jeromiec83223024
jeromiec83223024
Inspiring
October 10, 2017

All access to the sound hardware from Flash Player is mediated by both the browser and the operating system.  Standalone applications generally have more flexibility, and in most instances, aren't tasked with both playing content while simultaneously defending against crafted, malicious content.

If you're looking for this kind of flexibility, you're probably better off with as strategy that involves capturing the audio stream (or downloading the audio payload), and then playing it back in a dedicated audio application that meets your needs.

C
charles_h_r73861333Author
Participant
October 10, 2017

I agree that using a capture ap, and then listening to the stream later from an ap that has exclusive mode, like JRiver, is the ideal.  Unfortunately some sites cannot be captured.  One of those sites, to which I listen regularly, is Sirius.  So a capture ap cannot be the solution for a site like that unfortunately.  The only solution I've found for Sirius so far is to listen to it on an ancient Windows XP box.  But that is a very rickety proposition because of the age of XP.   I had a bit of a scare last year when Firefox for XP could no longer play Sirius.  I finally found a Band-Aid in the form of a special browser, Pale Moon, that still had a robust version for XP and could handle Sirius.  But eventually, as Sirius itself modernizes and changes its site, no doubt that solution too will go the way of the dodo bird.

So, before my XP option closes down again, which is probably imminent, the only other solution that I've found, theoretically, is to listen to it in exclusive mode.

And that's where I've hit a brick wall, because Sirius is only available live through a Flash wrapper, and the only Flash wrapper that operates in the equivalent of an exclusive mode is the one in the Windows XP environment. 

Unless Flash changes its mind and decides to offer exclusive mode in modern operating systems.

jeromiec83223024
jeromiec83223024
Inspiring
October 11, 2017

You're more than welcome to file a feature request over at http://tracker.adobe.com/.  If there's sufficient community interest, it would make the radar for consideration. 

Just for background (and to set expectations), Audio in Flash Player is extraordinarily complex -- mostly as a result of longevity and accretion -- so this kind of change would be difficult and expensive, *if* it's even within our sphere of control.  Making a definitive determination as to feasibility is a research project in and of itself, but my experience with this product and audio in particular says that this is an ugly problem at best.

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