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Zbox hd-id11
#31
codexile Wrote:It seems to depend on my probe_mask whether all 4 show up or not.

hydog: If you pull up a little bit on your HDMI cable on the back of the unit, does the video go out? The connection on mine seems really flaky. Wondering if it's a defect with my particular unit or not.

Post-Setup Blues: Anandtech guide didn't solve my problems. The patch step fails, probably because the patch was made for 1.0.22.1-2 and the current alsa from svn is 1.0.23-2. I do get some audio output but it's really fast choppy audio.

This error is repeated over and over in the logs and seems relevant. Just for the record PulseAudio is not installed:
23:50:57 T:2587855728 M:1962946560 WARNING: CALSADirectSound::GetSpace - get space failed. err: -32 (Broken pipe)

I reinstalled XBMC Live and s/pdif optical audio works out of the box so I'm gonna use that for now. If anybody figures out this HDMI audio thing please let us know how to get it working on the hd-id11.

I don't have the HDMI issue you state -- and still am running into issues getting HDMI audio to work...i think it is a combination of me being a newbie with XBMC and no-one really posting a successful install story other than anandtech..

Waiting patiently..
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#32
Here's how I got it working:

Install XBMC
  1. Downloaded XBMC Live repackaged by xbmcfreak (v14): http://www.xbmcfreak.nl/en/xbmcfreak-livecd-9-11-v14/
  2. Boot the ISO and install to disk. I installed it on a USB key
  3. Near the end of the install, when asked to create a user, I used 'xbmc'. Some services are configured to use a user called 'xbmc' (samba for example)
  4. Upon booting the new install, X/XBMC-Live would not start. Login at the console.
  5. Make sure network is working (ex: ping google.com)

Install NVIDIA Proprietary Drivers
  1. Download the latest NVidia Proprietary driver (195), install requirements and install the driver.
    Code:
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install build-essential cdbs fakeroot dh-make debhelper debconf libstdc++6 dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)
    wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/195.36.24/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-195.36.24-pkg1.run
    sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-195.36.24-pkg1.run
  2. Reboot.
  3. Upon reboot, XBMC should now start. Sound is not working yet though.

Upgrade ALSA
  1. Download the AlsaUpgrade script that's been created by a user on the Ubuntu forums: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6589810
  2. Install requirements and unpack the AlsaUpgrade archive
    Code:
    sudo apt-get install wget
    tar xvf AlsaUpgrade-1.0.23-2.tar
  3. Use the script to download, compile and install the newest ALSA version. Be very patient as this will take a while.
    Code:
    sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.23-2.sh -d
    sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.23-2.sh -c
    sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.23-2.sh -i
  4. I confirmed that everything was installed by checking the version of aplay
    Code:
    xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ aplay --version
    aplay: version 1.0.23 by Jaroslav Kysela <[email protected]>
  5. Configure module options. Add the following to /etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf
    Code:
    options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=0 probe_mask=0xffff,0xfff2
  6. Configure ALSA. Add the following to /etc/asound.conf
    Code:
    pcm.!default hdmi:NVidia
    pcm:iec958 hdmi:NVidia
  7. Configure PulseAudio. You need this for sounds from XBMC's interface and outside XBMC. Add this to /etc/pulse/default.pa
    Code:
    load-module module-alsa-sink device=hw:1,3
  8. Reboot
  9. See if Nvidia HDMI is detected (I had only one Nvidia device)
    Code:
    xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ aplay -l
    **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
    card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
      Subdevices: 1/1
      Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
    card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
      Subdevices: 1/1
      Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
    card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
      Subdevices: 0/1
      Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

    xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ aplay -L
    null
        Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
    front:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
        HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
        Front speakers
    surround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
        HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
        4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
    surround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
        HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
        4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
    surround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
        HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
        5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
    surround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
        HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
        5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
    surround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
        HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog
        7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
    iec958:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
        HDA Intel, ALC888 Digital
        IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
    hdmi:CARD=NVidia
        HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
        HDMI Audio Output
  10. Enable the S/PDIF channel in alsamixer.
    Code:
    xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ alsamixer
    # Press F6, select HDA Nvidia
    # Press 'M' on S/DPIF to unmute it
  11. In XBMC, select Digital Output and HDA NVIDIA HDMI

    If you did everything right, sound should now be working in XBMC's interface and Audio/Videos. Good luck!
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#33
I'm on the verge of a mental breakdown. I can't get this SOB working for love nor money.
I've took the drastic step of re-installing twice now and I can't work out where the wheels are falling off.
I've only got as far as the nvidia drivers step cron0. That was easy enough...
After that the ALSA driver part just never seems to work. EDIT. Seems my initial script download may have been bad. Downloaded again and it's installing now. Fingers crossed.
Why oh why do these things have to wreck a Bank Holliday weekendSad
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#34
let's hope that 1.0.23 will find its way into the backports soon...

anyways, I found another alsa upgrade step-by-step, maybe this will help:
http://monespaceperso.org/blog-en/2010/0...ynx-10-04/
OpenElec Standalone --> Asus Chromebox 'Panther' --> Onkyo TX-NR709 --> Sony 55" X85C Android TV (also with Kodi!)
Asus Chromebox EZ Script
Kodi on Sony Bravia Android TVs
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#35
I did some 1080p MKV H264 playback performance testing.
While some codecs use more CPU power than others, any player that supports DXVA works just fine.
I tested XBMC's DSPlayer port, and the XBMC trunk's native DXVA2 support.
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#36
Thanks for the info in this post, it's been very helpful, however..
Even if I change permissions I can't edit the asound.conf or the sound.conf so thats as far as I get on the tut above.

Sufficed to say it's not a problem. with 1.0.23 installed XBMC plays Xvid via HDMI to my TV and AC3/5.1/DTS etc through SPDIF through my amp and this is how I wanted it anyway so getting as far in the setup as I have is as much as I really NEEDED... the rest would have been a bonus.

Anyway, I'm still not 100% happy with playback. Xvid's seem to have some screen tear, relatively frequently right through the middle of the picture. There are a few other issues that I'm putting down to my TV rather than the Zotac at the mo. I've got to read up on manually editing the TV resolution settings because the highest it'll go to is 720p so thats another headache due today when I'm hung over as well.

The fan's still too noisy and xbmc keeps defaulting all my video's to extreme letterbox mode so I have massive black borders no matter how many times I tell it to keep other settings as default.
Ironically my other HTPC has an ATI card where everything worked right out of the box with no messing what so ever (video/audio needed no tweaks at all, sound over hdmi and passthrough). I thought XBMC was supposed to have better support for nvidia than ATI?
Still very underwhelmed with the Zotac it has to be said.
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#37
cron0 Wrote:Here's how I got it working:

Thanks for posting this. I am finally enjoying my zbox. It is not perfect, but at least now i have HDMI audio, and am able to watch stream TV/Movies, including 720/1080.. a couple of minor tweaks to your notes, but overall - good job!
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#38
So I am getting my ZBOX with the ION2 in three days time Smile When I was doing some research on the ZBOX reading some reviews I came across this review (Which has already been posted here actually Smile)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3702/zotac...han-ion1/5

Now close to the END of the article he also complains about HDMI audio and shows some "Simple" steps on how he got it working ... and I quote:

Quote:The NG-ION works in both capacities. Playing individual H.264 content under Windows 7 was fully hardware accelerated. Getting the XBMC Live image to work took some effort. While it'll install to the system just fine, getting audio working requires an update to the alsa driver that comes on the image as well as a bit of tinkering. After installing the XBMC Live 9.11 CD image to the drive, I followed these instructions to update the Alsa Driver with one slight change to the process:

1. download the script and save it somewhere
2. cd <your-download-dir>
3. tar xvf AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.tar
4. sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh -d
5. sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh -s
6. sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh -c
7. sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh -i
8. sudo shutdown -r 0

For me, step #5 was critical in getting the process to work. Afterwards, I had to download and apply the patch mentioned here to get the GT218 GPU recognized. Finally I followed the last two steps made in this post and got sound working in XBMC.

Let me know if this helps you guys out there that have the Zbox already and running XBMC
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#39
mine should arrive in a day or two - not impressed with the initial feedback on the fan though!
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#40
So I am getting my ZBOX with the ION2 in three days time Smile When I was doing some research on the ZBOX reading some reviews I came across this review (Which has already been posted here actually Smile)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3702/zotac...han-ion1/5

Now close to the END of the article he also complains about HDMI audio and shows some "Simple" steps on how he got it working ... and I quote:

Quote:The NG-ION works in both capacities. Playing individual H.264 content under Windows 7 was fully hardware accelerated. Getting the XBMC Live image to work took some effort. While it'll install to the system just fine, getting audio working requires an update to the alsa driver that comes on the image as well as a bit of tinkering. After installing the XBMC Live 9.11 CD image to the drive, I followed these instructions to update the Alsa Driver with one slight change to the process:

1. download the script and save it somewhere
2. cd <your-download-dir>
3. tar xvf AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.tar
4. sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh -d
5. sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh -s
6. sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh -c
7. sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh -i
8. sudo shutdown -r 0

For me, step #5 was critical in getting the process to work. Afterwards, I had to download and apply the patch mentioned here to get the GT218 GPU recognized. Finally I followed the last two steps made in this post and got sound working in XBMC.

Let me know if this helps you guys out there that have the Zbox already and running XBMC
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#41
Anastrophe Wrote:mine should arrive in a day or two - not impressed with the initial feedback on the fan though!

I think one will always get noise and the "silent" systems the chips will prob step down on power to reduce the heat. So its a catch 22....

I don't mind the sound, it's going straight into my AV cabinet which is enclosed and has silent computer fans at the top drawing and inserting air Smile
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#42
automateXBMC:

Ignore those Ananadtech instructions. They rely on an older version of alsa and their patch doesn't work with the current code. It's more trouble than it's worth.

Follow cron0's instructions to the letter and you should come out with working HDMI audio. It worked for me. The only thing I can tell that's different from what I had been doing is updating to the proprietary NVidia driver. This seems to be a necessary step.

Thanks cron0! True digital audio is finally mine!
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#43
codexile Wrote:automateXBMC:

Ignore those Ananadtech instructions. They rely on an older version of alsa and their patch doesn't work with the current code. It's more trouble than it's worth.

Follow cron0's instructions to the letter and you should come out with working HDMI audio. It worked for me. The only thing I can tell that's different from what I had been doing is updating to the proprietary NVidia driver. This seems to be a necessary step.

Thanks cron0! True digital audio is finally mine!


I completely agree. I started with the old script/patch and it did not work out for me at all. I used the original instructions at the begining of this thread successfully and have repeated it a second time. As mentioned, if there is no sound.conf, just create one. Overall, Great writeup on this!!! It saved me a lot of time. I vote for pinning this somewhere.
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#44
I had one of these boxes and already returned it. The wireless performance on these zotac boxes is atrocious. The don't support 5ghz for one. My system was about 15 feet from an access point and the reception and throughput was terrible.
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#45
last question hopefully for me...does anyone have advice/links on the power settings in BIOS or a xbmclive setup for the remote to power on/off wake from sleep, etc...
The remote does work while in xbmc, but just not the powering part..

It is the HA-IR01SV unit
http://www.amazon.com/Company-MediaGate-...563&sr=8-1

Thanks
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