OS X Trouble With Audio Output
#1
Hey. I'm new here, but I've been using XBMC for a while. I'm currently having some audio troubles with XBMC Frodo. I have a library of blu-rays I've dumped without re-encoding into mkv files. A lot of these have high quality audio formats. I'm aware that some of them like TrueHD and other ones can't be sent through the HDMI cable by OS X so XBMC converts it, and that's fine. This doesn't have anything to do with that. The example I'm going to show is just DTS. My receiver is fully capable of decoding anything I'm likely to feed to it. DTS is no exception.

Here's my hardware:
iMac Late 2012
3.4 Ghz Intel Core i7
32GB 1600 Mhz DDR3
HDMI audio output
Yamaha RX-V673 Receiver

XBMC Version:
12.2

XBMC Log:
http://pastebin.com/uArqNEiK

Description of what's going on in the log:
1. Attempt to start XBMC with 'Encoded Digital Audio' turned on by mistake in Audio Midi Setup. Results in a crash. I change the setting back to '8ch-24bit Integer'.
2. I play a video file with DTS audio. I get no audio output. Receiver says on the front 'Decoder Off'.
3. This last time before I click on the file I change the output format in Audio Midi Setup to 'Encoded Digital Audio'. I then click. I get audio. Receiver says 'DTS'.

What I'm having to do is before I play any file with an audio format like DTS, AC3, etc. I have to manually change the output format in Audio Midi Setup to 'Encoded Digital Audio'. If I don't I won't get audio. Sometimes, however, I can fiddlefart with the video's audio settings, alternating back and forth between 'Optical/Coax' and 'HDMI' and can very infrequently get the audio to work then.
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#2
Try output "Default" in xbmc...
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#3
It is set to 'Default'. I've changed it to 'HDMI' and back. It still behaves the same way regardless of what it is set to. I have to go to Audio Midi Setup and set the output to 'Encoded Digital Audio' before clicking the video to get any sound.
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#4
I have a similar setup - macmini 2012 and Yamaha rx v367 - and i don't have this Problem - please post debug log (wiki)
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#5
I always use "Default" settings for this and never have these kinds of bugs the error starts when you tried something wrong with custom settings.
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#6
The debug log is already posted in the original post (http://pastebin.com/uArqNEiK). If you want me to try something else I can provide more. The first time I played a file I got no audio, but the second time I did after I manually changed the format setting in Audio MIDI Setup before playing the file.

To make sure this mess wasn't because of some config error prior to performing what was necessary for the log up above I trashed XBMC's settings, started fresh, and imported my library. I don't use many custom settings. I don't have any skins or programs, and the only settings that are changed are the ones necessary to get this kind of audio in the first place. Audio output is HDMI. Speaker config is 7.1, Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver is checked, DTS capable receiver is checked, and multichannel LPCM capable receiver is checked. Audio output device is 'Default', but it doesn't matter if it's 'Default' or 'HDMI' there the behavior's the same. Not a single setting elsewhere is modified.

XBMC is changing the format to Encoded Digital Audio when I just play the file, but for some weird reason most of the time I get no audio.
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#7
Turn off lpcm and try to config the speakersetup in xbmc to 2.0 (no worries passthrough will still be multichannel) - also try Setting the Mode to optical/coax might help...
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#8
That didn't change anything, but I think I've figured out what's going on.

The HDMI audio out is the default audio output for the system. I play alerts and such through the internal speaker, but everything else goes to HDMI. The reason why I can switch it over to 'Encoded Digital Audio' in Audio MIDI Setup and have the audio work is because that causes the default audio output to switch to something else. The reason why I have to do it on subsequent videos is because the audio output switches back once playback is done.

It appears either OS X is reluctant to give up the default audio output for some bizarre reason or XBMC is somehow asking for it improperly. I'm guessing the former. If I manually make another output the default sound output in Audio MIDI Setup and tell XBMC to use HDMI for the output instead of 'Default' XBMC works flawlessly. I can live with this. I'll just switch the default to something else before using XBMC. I'm not going to be using it like this much longer anyway. I'll be switching over to a Mac Mini similar to your setup once I'm through moving.
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#9
odd - well the default audio device is queried through the common coreaudio api as far as i can tell. Not sure how we could do this wrongly...
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