[Project5]

Good afternoon everyone,

I've been having issues getting XBMC working properly on any audio file that contains ac3. The problem is that I get a brief period of loud static, and then no audio at all.

My setup: XBMC box -> hdmi -> tv
(optionally -> optical -> 5.1 a/v receiver, but we can leave that out until ac3 works since it shows the same problem)

Note that both the tv and the a/v receiver are capable of decoding the same ac3 file when played from my laptop. The xbmc box plays non-ac3 files just fine.

My aplay -l:

Code:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC887 Analog [ALC887 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC887 Digital [ALC887 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

My aplay -L:

Code:

null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=NVidia
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Digital
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Digital
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Digital
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Analog
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, ALC887 Digital
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    Hardware device with all software conversions

The workaround I've been using is to deselect ac3 capable receiver, but then due to the bug described here, I can only get stereo out.

On the a/v receiver, this was tested with:

Code:

$ speaker-test -Dplughw:0,3 -c6

And only front left and front right did anything.

I have tried setting audio output device to

Code:

Custom: plughw:0,3

as other threads have suggested, but that just picks the same device as hdmi, and as expected shows the same issue.

What should I try out to get ac3 passthrough working over hdmi?

[Project5]

This is with the AT3IONT-I motherboard from ASUS. Is there anything that can be done, or any additional information that I can provide?

[Silverlock]

I actually found it easier to go for the whole thing: xbmc -> hdmi -> tv -> optical -> a/v receiver. With navigation sounds turned *off*, audio output set to HDMI and audio output device and passthrough output device set to hdmi (ALSA), I get ac3 and dts working on the receiver. The TV only gives static, but I can live with that. I mucked around with it a bit and did have ac3 working at one point, but at the moment I can't remember exactly what I did.

[Project5]

I seem to get static on both the tv and the receiver. Anything else that I can try?