[SOLVED] SPDIF / HDMI Sound problem LinuxMCE 0810

[pw44]

Hi all,

my MOBO is an ASUS M3N78-VM, with the ASUS SPDIF-SA expansion port.
The optical SPDIF port of the MOBO is not recognized, but the one from the expansion port is.
So, i was able to have optical SPDIF output to the AV amp, and selecting it from the AVWizard menu works (audio volume, dolby and dts).

Problem: some video files (DVD images - diretory with audio_ts and video_ts) plays the image, but not sound.

To verify what is happening, i booted another partion, with kubuntu 8.10, same kernel (2.6.25-15), same alsa upgrades (1.0.21-4). Using kaffeine, the same file played with sound.
Sometimes, when kde is starting (kmix is launched) i can hear the "kde welcome" sound from the hdmi (my LCD TV),  on this environment.

Using Webadmin -> media director  under sound card = standard sound, audio settings = SPDIF Toslink and Use AC3/DTS pass-through is marked.

The output of the alsa settings (LinuxMCE environment) are:

------------ output of aplay -l -----------------      
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****            
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: VT1708B Analog [VT1708B Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2                                                    
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0                                          
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1                                          
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: VT1708B Digital [VT1708B Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1                                                      
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0                                            
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]        
  Subdevices: 1/1                                                      
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0                                            
------------ output of aplay -L -----------------                      
front:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0                                                
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog                                          
    Front speakers                                                      
surround40:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0                                            
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog                                          
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers                      
surround41:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0                                            
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog                                          
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
    HDMI Audio Output
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
------------ output of cat /proc/asound/devices -----------------
  0: [ 0]   : control
  1:        : sequencer
  4: [ 0- 0]: hardware dependent
  7: [ 0- 3]: hardware dependent
 16: [ 0- 0]: digital audio playback
 17: [ 0- 1]: digital audio playback
 19: [ 0- 3]: digital audio playback
 24: [ 0- 0]: digital audio capture
 33:        : timer

/etc/asound.conf:
pcm_slave.spdif_convert48k {                                                    
        pcm "spdif"                                                            
        rate 48000                                                              
}                                                                              

pcm.spdif_playback {
        type plug  
        slave spdif_convert48k
}                            

pcm_slave.hdmi_convert48k {
        pcm "hdmi"
        rate 48000
}

pcm.hdmi_playback {
        type plug
        slave hdmi_convert48k
}

pcm.asym_spdif {
        type asym
        playback.pcm "spdif_playback"
        capture.pcm "plughw:0"
}

pcm.asym_hdmi {
        type asym
        playback.pcm "hdmi_playback"
        capture.pcm "plughw:0"
}

pcm.asym_analog {
        type asym
        playback.pcm "plug:dmix"
        capture.pcm "plughw:0"
}
pcm.!default asym_spdif

Beside this, the volume is not manageable.
I also tried, under LinuxMCE to use KDE, but under this environment, aplay -l return no cards, but sudo aplay -l returns the card list.
libdvdcss2, w32codecs are installed (i did it after installing LinuxMCE 0810).
Is there any error i could not find, in order when playing this files having the sound working?

TIA,

Paulo

[jimbodude]

The sources that you say you have no audio with are AC-3 sources.  I have a similar issue with the M2NPV-VM's digital audio expansion port (M2NPV-VM doesn't have digital connectors onboard).  It has something to do with a bad AC-3 passthrough setting somewhere...

Try this:
Go into the web admin --> Wizard --> Devices --> Media Directors.  Under the media director with the issues, select "Manual configuration" as the sound device.  Reboot the machine.

At this point, I find that AC-3 passthrough begins working, and I can listen to audio and play non-AC-3 videos.  However, I lose audio in MythTV (live tv, or recordings played via Myth).  I'm not sure what the cause of this is - I looked at it a while ago, but didn't come up with anything conclusive.

[pw44]

Hi jimbodude,
i tried your hit, and it worked. I did try another way, leaving WebAdmin -> Wizard -> Device -> Media Director: Audio Settings = SPDIF Toslink and unchecked the Use AC3/DTS pass-through option.
It also worked and my PVR-150 under mythtv is working with sound.
Now all my video files and DVD's are working with sound, including on menu (did not work before).
Regarding the PVR-150, i simply don' t know how, but the problem of returning to the main menu after selecting an option on mythtv. Now it's playing TV with sound.
Thx a lot for the hint!

[jimbodude]

...yes, that "works"... you've disabled the digital AC3 passthrough... you won't get surround sound - everything will be downmixed (on the MD) to stereo, which - to me at least - defeats the purpose of watching movies...

In my solution, I have AC3 passthrough working for DVDs and such with all channels (5.1 surround) coming though the fiber.  All the "happy lights" on my receiver turn on when this happens, and the sound quality is noticeably better and more clear.

If you heard the dolby digital and DTS samples during AVWizard, then your receiver supports this, and I would suggest that you enable it.  Otherwise, there is really no point in using the big expensive fiber cable, or having more than 2 speakers in the room.

[pw44]

You are right. I set to manual setting, and doing this, i' m not able to check the digital AC3 passthrough

[jimbodude]

That's correct.  Checking it would have no effect anyway - hence the "manual" part.

In my case, after setting to manual the AC-3 passthrough for DVDs and A52 streams "just works", as does normal stereo audio and video.  The only thing that does not work is audio in MythTV.  I'm not sure if that's caused by a Myth setting issue, or an ALSA configuration issue, or what...

[pw44]

Yes, you're right. Doing it - manual settings -, i got all, DTS, Dolby, AC3 and stereo.
Thx again.

[jimbodude]

Do you have audio in MythTV?

[pw44]

Yes, i do have audio in mythtv. But please don' t ask me how..... until yesterday, mythtv was behaving weird, i.e every action i asked, it entered and returned back to the main menu.
The only thing that happened was that i removed the pvr-150 card (webadmin, wizard, devices, media director, pvr capture card) and then rebooted.
After boot, lmce recognized again my card... and suddenly, i had 2 pvr-150 cards.
Well, after trying the audio stuff today, i gave mythtv a try (watch tv from the lmce menu) and it worked, video and audio.

[jimbodude]

Have you rebooted since you changed the audio settings to manual? Or just reloaded the router?  I sometimes have both working if I start with toslink selected, then change to manual, but don't reboot.

I'm just trying to see how similar this is to what I have - if it's a very similar problem for the newer M3N boards, there is greater cause to dig into it.

[pw44]

Yes, every time i tryed a change, i rebooted, just to be sure that everything was starting fresh.
May sound stupid, but LinuxMCE 0810 is still beta, and sometimes i' m unsure.
Under pure linux, i would restart the services from /etc/init.d.
Regarding mythtv, i' m really a newbie and need to read and test before being able to give some opinion about.... but for me, mythtv seams confusing....
I' m looking for a ir remote (sender and receiver) really plug and play for LinuxMCE.... some hints? In Brazil is very hard to find good stuff.... usually i need to buy it on ebay... like the pvr-150. Just could not find it in Brazil.
BTW, the test i' m doing with pvr-150 is using the coax input.... not tested yet the separate video and audio inputs....

[jimbodude]

Something about that sound setting changes differently at boot time then when you just reload the router - I'm not sure what, though.  Thanks for the confirmation - this sounds very similar to what I have.  I may revisit this issue if I have time...

I'm not sure what you're getting at with MythTV being confusing...  LinuxMCE wraps all the complexity away, leaving you with a channel changer button.

I don't like IR remotes - I use a DT360 almost exclusively.  DT366's are more widely available.  The best IR transceiver is the USB-UIRT - search the forum to see general agreement.

[merkur2k]

Mythtv has separate audio configuration, and there currently is no syncronization between it and lmce. you can go into the setup in mythtv and change the passthru settings there.
also, with digital sound you will never have volume control other than the amp it is plugged into.

[Marie.O]

Mythtv has separate audio configuration, and there currently is no syncronization between it and lmce. you can go into the setup in mythtv and change the passthru settings there.
also, with digital sound you will never have volume control other than the amp it is plugged into.

One day mr lazy-ass will get of his lazy ass and build the link

[jimbodude]

Yes, I understand all that.

I don't have any media in MythTV that has AC3, so that's not an issue.  When I was looking into this, I fumbled around with Myth's sound settings, but nothing helped.

I might look more at this later next week.  Now that we have the nice channel changer on the orbiter (thanks Thom!) I've been using Myth more... But I do love my AC3 for movies... Switching back and forth is no longer an acceptable option.

Do either of you have an idea of what configurations are affected by changing the MD's sound setting to "manual configuration"?