[senwong]

Hi guys,

I need serious help - I just can't figure out how to get digital sound working for xbmc.

XBMC & digital out works flawlessly from WindowsXP, but how do I get it working from Linux?

I've got Ubuntu 8.10, and the current Atlantis release of XBMC. For sound I'm using the onboard sound of the motherboard (asus a8n sli premium).

aplay -l shows me the following:

Karte 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], Gerät 0: Intel ICH [NVidia CK804]
Untergeordnete Geräte: 1/1
Untergeordnetes Gerät '0: subdevice #0
Karte 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], Gerät 2: Intel ICH - IEC958 [NVidia CK804 - IEC958]
Untergeordnete Geräte: 1/1
Untergeordnetes Gerät '0: subdevice #0

For the xbmc config (Audio Output Device & Passthrough Output Device) I've tried various combinations of default, spdif, and iec958. None of them worked.

I've got this problem since the beginning, meaning Ubuntu 8.04 and the Atlantis beta 1, and read the various posts regarding sound issues. Seems everybody got his problems somehow resolved, mostly with some .alsarc tweaking. I've had no success with that.
In 8.04, using
"mplayer somedvd.iso -ao alsa:device=iec958 -ac hwac3" gave me digital out.

My last shot where these two guides, where I've tried to get it working with pulseaudio:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=877811

So, if anybody's got a tip, I'd be thankful. I don't care whether I use pulseaudio or alsa, I just want XBMC digital out working... pleeeeaaase...

Regards,
wong.

[Mackan2]

is iec958 muted in alsamixer??

[senwong]

Just verified that one, yes it's muted.

"IEC958 Playback AC97-SPSA" is muted.
There is also a switch called IEC958, which is enabled.
Under options, the "IEC958 Playback Source" is set to PCM.

I've also tried disabling the switch, or changing the playback source to "IEC958 In".

No effect. I don't have a clue what I'm doing here, just monkeying my way to all the options and hoping for a sound.

[JM.Black]

I'm not sure if you're also trying to make this work via HDMI, but it seems like the iec958 solutions have been pretty similar from what I've seen. You might want to check out this post, as it's the only thing I can get to work to get analog & digital passthru working on my iec958 setup (in my case, it is onboard an ATI HDMI card but I doubt it should matter).

I have a problem with that configuration, however, in that the 'Audio' portion of XBMC does not work at all. I have taken a cursory look into the differences between how the sound card is opened in dvdplayer and paplayer, and it appears that there are some special cases handled in dvdplayer that are not in paplayer, having to do with the iec958 chipset. If I get a patch working, I'll be sure to get something up on the forums about it.

HTH

[senwong]

No, your proposed .asoundrc (with edited device number) didn't change anything.. after restarting alsa, still no sound.

[jessr]

senwong, I had the same problem. For me this was no XBMC issue, but i had to change a Unbuntu 8.10 setting.
In submenu System - Preferences - Sound i changed option 'Autodetect' in 'Intel ICH5 with ALC655 Intel IC5 – IED958 (ALSA)'. Now I have my digital out back.
Hope this helps.

[senwong]

jessr, no, didn't work.

[kumppix]

Removing PulseAudio did trick for me...now using only ALSA. This way I've got digital out working in Intrepid.

Code:

sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio
sudo apt-get install esound
sudo rm /etc/X11/Xsession.d/70pulseaudio

You might wanna backup "70pulseaudio" before removing it

Disable/remove "PulseAudio Session Management" from sessions.

From Sound preferences you can set all Autodetect.

Reboot.

[senwong]

this resulted in still no sound at all, but videos playing way too fast.

removing esound, and reinstalling pulseaudio fixed the speed issue. still no digital sound.