Show Posts

1

Users / HDMI audio problem - everything _looks_ OK, but no sound

« on: August 02, 2009, 05:10:43 pm »

I am having trouble with HDMI audio - I initially ran the AVWizard, had no audio despite selecting HDMI, pretty much expected this since I'd read about needing to upgrade nvidia drivers and alsa. I have upgraded nvidia drivers to 185.18.29 and alsa to 1.0.20, then I re-tried the AVWizard, still no sound. Went to a command line and did some testing with aplay can't get any sound, although to me everything looks OK using the tests/troubleshooting steps I've found here and on other forums regarding getting this working.

My motherboard has onboard NVidia, with HDMI out and can do audio over HDMI (audio over hdmi works fine with the same setup under WinXP, so the hardware is definitely working).

I am trying aplay -Dplughw:0,3 /usr/share/sounds/foo.bar which returns "Playing raw data foo.bar : unsigned 8 bit, rate 8000 Hz, Mono
It looks like it should be playing but nothing is heard from the speakers on the TV.

alsamixer shows various channels - master, pcm, front and center are all unmuted and set to high settings, IEC958, IEC958 D and IEC958 1 are present, they are not muted, their volumes are set to 00 and are not adjustable - I presume this is normal since they are digital outputs?

aplay -l shows:
Card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
Subdevices 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Surely that's the correct device, and when I aplay to hw:0,3 it should just feed the digital audio straight to that output, but doesn't seem to work.

Any ideas?

2

Users / Grey screen on MD

« on: July 29, 2009, 04:02:50 pm »

Hi,

I just installed an MD, the mainboard is as ; http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=3081 and the graphics is an onboard Nvidia 8100.

Netboot install goes fine, I have no problem running the AV wizard and everything seems to set up OK, but then after the AVWizard the machine just hangs at a grey screen with a mouse pointer, as though X is starting but nothing is starting after that. Rebooting just gives more of the same.

Here's the xorg.conf from the MD;

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "XFree86 Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
# RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "record"
Load "xtrap"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "v4l"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Unknown Monitor Model"
Modeline "1920x1080" 148.5 1920 1960 2016 2200 1080 1082 1088 1125
HorizSync 20-500
VertRefresh 59-61
EndSection

Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "NoAccel" # [<bool>]
#Option "SWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "ColorKey" # <i>
#Option "CacheLines" # <i>
#Option "Dac6Bit" # [<bool>]
#Option "DRI" # [<bool>]
#Option "NoDDC" # [<bool>]
#Option "ShowCache" # [<bool>]
#Option "XvMCSurfaces" # <i>
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "Unknown Vendor Name"
BoardName "Unknown Board Name"
Option "LinearAlloc" "16384"
#BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
# Option "NoDDC" "true"
Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
Option "renderAccel" "true"
Option "NoDDCValue"
Option "UseEDID" "false"
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, AllowInterlacedModes, AllowNon60HzDFPModes"
Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
Option "UseEvents" "true"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1920x1080"
Virtual 1920 1080
EndSubSection
Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
Option "renderAccel" "true"
Option "NoDDCValue"
Option "UseEDID" "false"
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, AllowInterlacedModes, AllowNon60HzDFPModes"
Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
Option "UseEvents" "true"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
Option "TVStandard" "1080p"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "true"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "false"
Option "BlankTime" "0"
Option "StandbyTime" "0"
Option "SuspendTime" "0"
Option "OffTime" "0"
Option "AIGLX" "Off"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "False"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "False"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "False"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "False"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "False"
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "true"
Option "RENDER" "true"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "False"
EndSection

Any pointers?

thanks

3

Users / Samba share content not being detected

« on: July 28, 2009, 04:01:22 am »

Following on from my previous post about storage, I took the advice of posters here and went for a plain samba share. I created my share but linuxmce did not auto detect it, so I followed the advice at http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Howto:_Using_Network_Shares and manually added the file server as a child device of the core, I then did sudo /usr/pluto/bin/Configure_1837.sh -d <device number> to get the server scanned and as expected the orbiter popped up messages asking me what I wanted to use the share for, I selected to use it and use the linuxmce directory structure, I then entered the username and password to use.

I waited a while but no directory structure was created, so I manually created a pictures directory and put some pictures in there, but nothing has been detected by linuxmce - i've reloaded the router and rebooted the core.

I've tested connecting by mounting the volume from the core and it works fine, I've checked that I typed the username and password correctly by deleting the child device and recreating it again so I got asked again for the password, so I am certain it is correct.

What could be happening here, and how do I debug it?

thanks

4

Users / Storage - where and how to mount it?

« on: July 27, 2009, 05:07:32 pm »

Hi,

I have just built an 0810 alpha core, the storage is on another machine and for security reasons I am keeping it encrypted and doing the enc/de-cryption at the mce core where the storage will be mounted. So the file server provides iscsi devices, the core sees them as though they were local drives (/dev/sdb1, sdc1 etc...), then cryptsetup luksOpen is run to mount these crypt disks as /dev/mapper/crypt_audio, crypt_video etc. etc. which are then given an ext3 filesystem and mounted somewhere useful.

Everything works fine in testing - I can mount the drives from the core on test folders in /mnt and read/write data to and from them no problem.

What I want to know is this:

1. Where should I mount the disks? What locations will linuxmce use, or can I just set it up to use my existing mount points under /mnt somehow?

2. Because the mount disks script requires a password to unlock the encryption, it is better that I can ssh in after boot has finished and manually run the script to remount the disks. Can I do it like this, or will something break because the core starts without being able to see the data during boot?

3. If (2) will break something by mounting the disks after boot, how can I mount them earlier remotely? Since I cannot ssh in to the console, how would I go about getting a remote console so that I can access the password prompt during boot remotely?

4. If (3) (remote console during boot) looks difficult, is there some way I could let the server boot as plain kubuntu, ssh in, mount the storage then manually start the linuxmce services? I could pick my way through /etc/rc*.d and see what looks like it's connected to linuxmce, then move it to a script to be run manually, but it would be great if there was an easier way? Any suggestions?

thanks

Paul

5

Users / Real CPU requirements for 1080p/i

« on: June 06, 2009, 08:31:31 pm »

Ok, here's the deal - I don't have a totally unlimited budget, but want to future proof the MD I'm building and want it to play back the most complex scenes in x624 highest bitrate blu-ray rips flawlessly. The logic being that building it right this time is cheaper than building it twice.

I don't mind too much if there are small issues with 1080i, as I understand 1080i content is very rare and I could tolerate that being 99% perfect with tiny issues on very complex scenes, but 1080p must be absolutely 100% flawless at the highest bitrates and with the most complex scenes.

What CPU do I need?

I'm going to use a AN-M2HD board by the looks of it with 4GB of 800mhz RAM, content will be streamed over gigabit LAN (PXE booting the MD).

First I considered an AMD x2 5600+ as I'd heard it would do the job, but then I saw a page in the wiki mentioning issues with very complex scenes. I have now found the 7750 BE which is a phenom, 2.7ghz, apparently performance is on a par with the x2 6000+. Will this be adequate? I could overclock it a little if needed, but of course noise of cooling fans is an issue so would prefer not to. Will any of the AMD processors do flawless h624 1080p ? If I have to go to an Intel CPU that would suck, as I'd then have to find a mobo with everything I need (chiefly HDMI out and onboard nvidia).

thanks

6

Users / Dolby TrueHD - how to do it

« on: June 06, 2009, 05:45:06 pm »

I'm planning a linuxmce install and want the MD in the lounge (just an MD, core will be elsewhere) to be capable of Dolby TrueHD, which is uncompressed audio which exceeds the bandwidth of S/PDIF - the only way to get TrueHD as I understand it is to use HDMI 1.3a compliant devices and cables so the audio is passed over the HDMI cable along with the video, which I like the idea of anyway as less cables can't be a bad thing. The audio will then be DAC'd on my AV receiver and a HDMI passthru will take the video on to the TV.

I'm planning on using an Abit AN-M2HD as the board for the lounge MD, but this would need to change if this board cannot do audio over HDMI as TrueHD is a requirement.

I have read http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Audio_over_HDMI and also http://ubuntu-ky.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6714092

I'm normally pretty technical, but my media-fu is poor and I don't know my way around ALSA all that well, so I'd appreciate a couple of pointers if anyone can assist.

It looks like alsa 1.0.19 and kernel 2.6.27-11 are prerequisites - I'm pretty sure these will be newer than the 710 release of linuxmce - I don't mind building a new kernel and alsa, but it also occurs to me that the alpha2 candidate of 810 has been out a few months now - what is it's status, is it fairly stable and usable? If that did it out of the box and there were no major stability issues I could probably cope with running the alpha.

Any advice greatly appreciated - I feel a bit out of my depth here as I've never built a media box before and all the little dependencies and compatibility issues seem like they can easily catch you out - ideally someone will reply saying they've done exactly what I want to on the exact same board then I can go ahead and order it, but for now I'm going to hang back to ensure I've got everything covered.

Thanks

Paul