Hi!

I really don't understand how the multimedia sound settings are supposed to work.

My computer has two sound cards, but switching for example between the two cards as they are listed under section Music doesn't result that the sound moving from my stereo to my headset.

I'd like for example to be able stereo for listening to music and video, and headset for skype. Is it possible?

Thanks for any pointer och help...

At this time Skype does not support the settings found in System Settings > Multimedia. Only KDE applications ( such as Amarok, Dragon Player, etc ) will follow these settings.

Ok.

But how about the settings in System Settings > Multimedia?
Is there some explanation somewhere of their functionality?

For each item in the left-hand panel, the right-hand panel lists the devices that could be used with it. If the top one fails to function it falls back to the next, and so on until it finds one that works. The Backend tab lists possible backends that you have installed. If you have both gstreamer and xine there it's possible to swap between them. That's about all there is to say. Basically, you rarely need to touch anything there.

Ok

But what's the difference between category "Video", "Communication" and "Music"?
As I have two sound cards HDA Intel and Audigy SE, does that mean I choose Audigy SE for "Video" and "Music" but HDA Intel for "Communication"?
The only backend listed i Xine. Would GStreamer add some functionality?

Then there's question och KDE apps versus other apps like VLC. Wouldn't be nice to know which app uses which sound functionality?

karye wrote:But what's the difference between category "Video", "Communication" and "Music"?As I have two sound cards HDA Intel and Audigy SE, does that mean I choose Audigy SE for "Video" and "Music" but HDA Intel for "Communication"?The only backend listed i Xine. Would GStreamer add some functionality?Then there's question och KDE apps versus other apps like VLC. Wouldn't be nice to know which app uses which sound functionality?

I haven't the faintest idea of the differences but for each category you can use the Test button, checking out which ones work best. If you use PulseAudio there's not much point in messing with them, because a failure of one just makes it try the next on the list until it finds one that works. I did experiment with this when a first had some problems with my Intel sound, but in the end, going back to defaults was my best option.

As for backends, I've seen conflicting advice. Some say one works best, some say the other. I suggest you do what I did, install both and switch between them until you find what is best for you. I'm running the xine backend now, but with earlier versions the gstreamer backend worked best for me. Switching between them will do no harm, and might answer your question.

karye wrote:Ok

But what's the difference between category "Video", "Communication" and "Music"?
As I have two sound cards HDA Intel and Audigy SE, does that mean I choose Audigy SE for "Video" and "Music" but HDA Intel for "Communication"?

Applications can tell Phonon what they are (video-players, music-players, etc.), and get different outputs based on that.

karye wrote:The only backend listed i Xine. Would GStreamer add some functionality?

Xine is at the moment the best supported and maintained backend.