Yet Another ATI/HDMI Audio thread

jozeph78 · 2012-05-27 05:44

Hey guys. I'm trying to get 5.1/DTS passthrough to my reciever though my ATI card. I've done quite a bit of searching and generally understand the problem but would like it resolved without caveats such as killing system navigation sounds and obliterating pulse audio. Also most of the posts I've seen are at least 8-10 months old. I'm wondering if anything has changed with Ubuntu 12.04, Catalyst 12.4 (hmm coincidence?).and XMBC 11.

This is way harder than it should be and shouldn't have compromises with screwing sound of the system. I'm thinking of adding a page to the wiki when I get this all figured out. I found an excellent guide for Nvidia, but ATI is full of woe and pain.

Please help! =)

Here's my aplay -l output, I've got two ATI cards, on board and 4350 dedicated. I'm trying to get the dedicated card to work.

Code:

jhirn@sonata:~$ aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****

card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]

  Subdevices: 1/1

  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: VT1708S Digital [VT1708S Digital]

  Subdevices: 1/1

  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 2: VT1708S HP [VT1708S HP]

  Subdevices: 1/1

  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]

  Subdevices: 1/1

  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

And aplay -L:

Code:

jhirn@sonata:~$ aplay -L

default

    Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server

sysdefault:CARD=SB

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    Default Audio Device

front:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    Front speakers

surround40:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers

surround41:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers

surround50:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers

surround51:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers

surround71:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers

iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Digital

    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

dmix:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    Direct sample mixing device

dmix:CARD=SB,DEV=1

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Digital

    Direct sample mixing device

dmix:CARD=SB,DEV=2

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S HP

    Direct sample mixing device

dsnoop:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    Direct sample snooping device

dsnoop:CARD=SB,DEV=1

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Digital

    Direct sample snooping device

dsnoop:CARD=SB,DEV=2

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S HP

    Direct sample snooping device

hw:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    Direct hardware device without any conversions

hw:CARD=SB,DEV=1

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Digital

    Direct hardware device without any conversions

hw:CARD=SB,DEV=2

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S HP

    Direct hardware device without any conversions

plughw:CARD=SB,DEV=0

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Analog

    Hardware device with all software conversions

plughw:CARD=SB,DEV=1

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S Digital

    Hardware device with all software conversions

plughw:CARD=SB,DEV=2

    HDA ATI SB, VT1708S HP

    Hardware device with all software conversions

hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0

    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0

    HDMI Audio Output

dmix:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3

    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0

    Direct sample mixing device

dsnoop:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3

    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0

    Direct sample snooping device

hw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3

    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0

    Direct hardware device without any conversions

plughw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3

    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0

    Hardware device with all software conversions

jozeph78 · 2012-05-27 23:22

So, asound, no asound... ~/.asoundrc or /usr/share/xbmc/asound.conf? What goes in there?

Do I need to update Alsa. Remove ALSA? Disable pulse?

There are way too many threads on this and blog posts. I've tried about 8 different approaches and none have enabled DTS or 5.1 passthrough. Even the wiki has incomplete and conflicting info, not to mention some dead links (for upgrade alsa script).

Anyone? I really hope I don't have to go back to windows just becasue a basic feature isn't working.

jozeph78 · 2012-05-28 00:09

Well I was able to get 5.1 output using VLC through ALSA and hw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3 (DIrect hardware device without any conversions).

No mucking about with asound or alsa. It just worked. Wish I could say the same for xbmc.

Apologies for sounding testy, but there's a lot of deprecated advise on the wiki that's very misleading (for natty or older).

jozeph78 · 2012-05-28 00:54

Solved

So after mucking about with everything imaginable, I got it working with no asound.conf/acsoundrc muckery.

I installed this version of xbmc, not sure if it makes a difference:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=116996 (I chose the eden stable branch)

In xbmc, I chose Defualts(alsa) for audio and Defaults(pulseaudio) for pass through. I have DTS and AC3 capable receiver checked as well. Everything works, and I didn't need to go down the rabbit hole of upgrading alsa or bastardizing my system. Awesome!

I guess I should note that HDMI is the default sound output in Ubuntu. I'm also on 12.04 with 12.4 ATI closed source drivers.

To the wiki maintainers, I would recommend cleaning some of the suggestions up for older distros. It's nice for reference but digging around that deep with asound, alsa, pulse etc.. was a red herring, and I'm a fairly tech savvy dude. In the end i didn't have to do any of the stuff recommended to get what I consider the base case working.

I am subscribed to this thread and will reply to anyone who would like to ask questions. I'm glad to help because only community could build a piece of software this awesome.

Thanks for XMBC and tolerating my frustration.

vidkun · 2012-05-28 22:53

Awesome. This will save me some time on an upcoming build. Thanks.

Might I suggest that you write a quick detailed guide for how you got working and submit it to the wiki to help others in the same situation as you.

As you said, "I'm glad to help because only community could build a piece of software this awesome."....the same goes for its documentation.

vidkun Junior Member Posts: 12 Joined: Jan 2010 Reputation: 0	2012-05-28 22:53 Post: #5 Awesome. This will save me some time on an upcoming build. Thanks. Might I suggest that you write a quick detailed guide for how you got working and submit it to the wiki to help others in the same situation as you. As you said, "I'm glad to help because only community could build a piece of software this awesome."....the same goes for its documentation.
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