Use of VLC Media player on laptops will void the speaker warranty, says forums and Facebook posts. I didn't know any thing about such an issue with VLC player till then. However you might have heard some sounds while playing music or movies at full volume on your laptop for a very long time. I have noticed it once in my ASUS laptop, but i thought it was the problem I was facing. Some say that it is the VLC Sound boost feature, VLC claims that it is a lame excuse from the part of hardware manufacturers to prevent you from claiming warranties. Lets see if VLC player can actually void your Laptop Warranty.
VLC media player lets you increase the sound level massively upto 200% ( of initial volume by using the scroll wheel or by pressing Ctrl+Up on windows. You can further increase the volume by pressing Ctrl+E and slide the bars to the top. I tried this on my spare earphone and when i already reached 200%, i was hearing screeching sound hurting my ears. I also tried sliding the Graphic equalizer to the max, I wasn't hearing any of the music, I had to unplug the earphone before it was destroyed. Yes, At that Volume VLC can destroy your unsupported speakers!
The bad part is that most laptop manufacturers like HP wont let you claim the warranty for the speakers because you used unsupported software! Here is what I could gather from the VLC forums. A user reported that he couldn't claim warranty on the speakers destroyed by VLC. Obviously VLC can't be blamed completely because there is no hardware restriction that limits the audio output after safe limits.
VLC media player lets you increase the sound level massively upto 200% ( of initial volume by using the scroll wheel or by pressing Ctrl+Up on windows. You can further increase the volume by pressing Ctrl+E and slide the bars to the top. I tried this on my spare earphone and when i already reached 200%, i was hearing screeching sound hurting my ears. I also tried sliding the Graphic equalizer to the max, I wasn't hearing any of the music, I had to unplug the earphone before it was destroyed. Yes, At that Volume VLC can destroy your unsupported speakers!
The bad part is that most laptop manufacturers like HP wont let you claim the warranty for the speakers because you used unsupported software! Here is what I could gather from the VLC forums. A user reported that he couldn't claim warranty on the speakers destroyed by VLC. Obviously VLC can't be blamed completely because there is no hardware restriction that limits the audio output after safe limits.
They told that it was because of VLC. According to them VLC required speakers with 5 amperes of current and the laptop's speakers only supported 3 amperes. And since the problem was caused by using unsupported software, we'll have to shell it out from our own pocket.Here is the reply from the VLC forum administrator,
Clearly not.This is a stupid excuse from big american brands that don't understand anything at computers.VLC allows you to over-amplify a file (audio above 100%) and that can lead to saturation in the audio output.But, VLC uses all the normal Windows APIs, and sound is output to the speakers through the drivers. The problem of those misdesigned laptops is that the audio drivers are outputting waves that are too strong for the speakers.
So how can you protect the speakers while using VLC Player on your laptop or costly speakers? Make sure that you don't go above 100% of the volume bar and don't use tweaks to increase the sound beyond the safe limit. Please comment below if you had any issue? Did this make VLC your least favorite media player?
