[SOLVED] HDMI Audio Passthrough Not Working
#1
Hi,

I cannot select my Audio output device (called "HDMI2") as the Passthrough output device. Out of the three audio outputs my machine has (analog, S/PDIF, and HDMI) only the S/PDIF output is available in the Passthrough output device selection. All three audio outputs are available in the Audio output device selection.

When I play a file with AC-3 encoded multi-channel audio I don't get any sound unless I switch Audio output to "Analog" rather than "HDMI". Playing a file with just stereo (or un-encoded) audio works fine.

I was able to get mplayer to play the same file (MKV with AC-3 encoded 5.1 surround sound) by passing the audio through to my receiver using the ALSA hw:0,8 card (see aplay -l at the bottom). However, XBMC's auto-detection logic seems to disallow the "HDMI2" card as the Passthrough output device.

The receiver is on when I start XBMC (which is running as a system service and the xbmc user is part of the audio group), but whether it's on or off doesn't seem to matter - I still can't select anything but the S/PDIF device as the Passthrough output device.

I have also tried disabling all passthrough settings (e.g. claiming that my receiver is capable of AC-3, DTS, etc. decoding), but that didn't help either.

My specs:

I am running XBMC 12.3 on Arch Linux x86-64 with kernel 3.1.14 on an Intel Core i3-4130T Haswell CPU using an ASRock H87M-ITX motherboard. I am connecting the on-board HDMI output to a Yamaha RX-V375 AVR, which according to its specs supports Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD decoding.

aplay -l
aplay -L
Full Debug Log

What am I doing wrong? How can I get XBMC to allow me to select my "HDMI2" card as the Passthrough output device?

Thanks,
Marek
Reply
#2
There is no HDMI2 as TYPE_HDMI device

only: m_deviceType : AE_DEVTYPE_PCM

looks like a selfmade asound.conf -> try with OpenELEC from usb stick if that works - you know for sure that's a configuration issue.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
Reply
#3
AH!

Now I see - you have some pulseaudio installed and running. So pulse might block the real HDMI output. Either suspend pulse or remove it or install a v13 version which can use it for dts and ac3, eac3. and if you watch aplay -L correctly you see that there is no device listed for your hdmi out, so if aplay -L does not find it, we don't either.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
Reply
#4
(2014-04-24, 08:20)fritsch Wrote: There is no HDMI2 as TYPE_HDMI device

only: m_deviceType : AE_DEVTYPE_PCM

looks like a selfmade asound.conf -> try with OpenELEC from usb stick if that works - you know for sure that's a configuration issue.

You are right on the money. I do have a self-made asound.conf and removing it has solved the problem. Thank you very much.

However, seeing as there is a morass of audio outputs (see aplay -l from the previous post) I wanted to have an asound.conf that would select a default device (card 0, device 8, which is the correct HDMI output) for other applications. Do you know what is wrong with the asound.conf that I have and how I could fix it to work in both XBMC and other applications?

asound.conf

(2014-04-24, 08:23)fritsch Wrote: AH!

Now I see - you have some pulseaudio installed and running. So pulse might block the real HDMI output. Either suspend pulse or remove it or install a v13 version which can use it for dts and ac3, eac3. and if you watch aplay -L correctly you see that there is no device listed for your hdmi out, so if aplay -L does not find it, we don't either.

Actually, PulseAudio is not installed. I don't know why there is a pulse entry in aplay -L. But you are also right that aplay -L does list only the "ALC892 Analog" outputs and none of HDMI ones. This is probably also due to my self-made asound.conf, so any help or tips you could provide on how to write an asound.conf that would allow me to select the HDMI output as passthrough in XBMC would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Marek
Reply
#5
pulse device comes from libasound2-plugins - if you have them.

Use that asound.conf:

Code:
pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm "hw:0,8"
  }
}
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
[SOLVED] HDMI Audio Passthrough Not Working0