[blackwhitekez]

In the audio settings for Kodi there is a volume level you can set. Kodi then starts playback at that volume when ever you start playing back a new audio or video track.

The problem is that Kodi is setting the system volume control instead of its own volume each time and I may not want the system volume to be turned up to full each time that Kodi starts playback.

I have to set Kodi's volume control up high (such as 0 db) to ensure there is enough volume level for playback of all track including quiet ones. But then Kodi uses this to adjust the overall volume level in the system to 0 db each time it starts to play back. If I have a few tracks that I am playing back, every time I have to keep turning down the master volume of the system using the keyboard controls.

When I set a volume level on my system using the keyboard I expect it to stay at that level and not be turned up and down by applications. Kodi should be setting its own volume level as an application, not the master sound level of the computer.

[fritsch]

Please use the forum search ... this was answered 100 times. It's a misconfiguration of pulseaudio, namely: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio - search for flat-volumes. Kodi does exactly what your have configured in your pulseaudio server. It has its own stream and only adjusts this stream. Now with the misconfiguration is very wide-spread, let me cite it for you from the arch wiki:
 
flat-volumes scales the device-volume with the volume of the "loudest" application. For example, raising the VoIP call volume will raise the hardware volume and adjust the music-player volume so it stays where it was, without having to lower the volume of the music-player manually. Defaults to yes upstream, but to no within Arch (and also Ubuntu).
Note: The default behavior upstream (namely yes) can sometimes be confusing and some applications, unaware of this feature, can set their volume to 100% at startup, potentially blowing your speakers or your ears. This is why Arch defaults to the classic (ALSA) behavior by setting this to no.

In short, configure your system correctly. and set flat-volumes = no

[blackwhitekez]

I did search this forum. If this is such a common issue it needs to be explicitly addressed in the official Kodi documentation or wiki.

[fritsch]

It has nothing to do with kodi! It's a generic pulseaudio setting, which some distribution leave their users alone. Major distributions like Ubuntu ship a sane default since many years. Even roling release / bleeding edge distros like ARCH do that.

So, which distribution do you run that ships a user unfriendly default?

[fritsch]

See: http://kodi.wiki/view/PulseAudio#Known_issues

[blackwhitekez]

Further to that it appears Ubuntu sets the flat-volumes to no and Debian sets it to yes.

[fritsch]

Further to that it appears Ubuntu sets the flat-volumes to no and Debian sets it to yes.

 Yeah, debian. It's a server distribution not meant for the desktop. It needs a deep knowledge to get the same out of the box experience as e.g. Ubuntu ships. Different target market. You will see that again, when you try to watch / listen to certain files with their "broken patched" kodi (They use ffmpeg 3.4 in combination with v17 kodi, that is only compatible up to ffmpeg 3.1):-(

Edit: I added Debian to the affected list.

[fritsch]

And on topic: Does that fix your issue?

[blackwhitekez]

Yes it does. Thankyou very much.

And Debian is very suitable for desktops, it doesn't quite have the polish of Ubuntu yet they are happy to base their distro off it....

[blackwhitekez]

Can't say I have noticed any difference in Kodi performance and the system running Debian is used for hours a day every day for playback

[blackwhitekez]

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepor...bug=541538

[fritsch]

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepor...bug=541538

 2009!