HDMI AUDIO a Success finally

[rodercot]

Hey ALL,

So I finally have 1080P video and HDMI audio on my ASUS M3N78-VM and the Asus P5N7A-VM (as of this evening)

Asus M3N78-VM bios version 0507 int. and ext. codec selected and HDMI audio out.
Asus P5N7A-VM - shipped bios (actually I did not even look at the rev) bios codec - Auto, HDMI Output

It is a bit tricky BECAUSE Alsa 1.0.18a driver will not compile on 2.6.24 with --all-cards options and you need this.

I also dwnlded and installed the NVIDIA 180.11 driver from the ftp site do a search for it and you will find it.

OK.. here is how I did this.

On a clean install to hard drive with XBMC Live 8.10 - from desktop

ctl-alt-f2

Login - xbmc
password - xbmc or whatever you used at install

sudo apt-get update - let it run

sudo apt-get install wget - let it install

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r` - let it install saying Y or N when required.

download the NVIDIA driver

wget ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/180.11/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.11-pkg1.run

now install the NVIDIA driver

sudo telinit 1

cd /home/xbmc

sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.11-pkg1.run

say no to the first question then yes to the rest.

Now sudo reboot - your driver is installed

now the fun stuff with alsa update.

go here and download the latest script.

keep the page open for reference.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=962695 - it is rev 1.14

**UPDATE** to save having to run this script twice do this step here first**

copy the script to your /home/xbmc directory from an ftp client or the like then

cd /home/xbmc
tar xvf AlsaUpgrade-1.0.x-rev-1.14.tar
sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.x-rev-1.14.sh -d

(This will download all the alsa 1.0.18 files to your /usr/src directory and create the required Alsa directories for you.)

sudo reboot

after boot - ctl-alt-f2 and login again

now go here and dwnld the snapshot - if the link does not work you can get it from this page as well.

ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kerne...napshot.tar.gz

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6249579&postcount=65

once you have that file on your windows machine. ftp in to your XBMC Live machine and copy it into your

/home/xbmc directory

now do these steps on your XBMC machine via putty or on the console

cd /home/xbmc
sudo tar xvvf alsa-driver-snapshot.tar.gz
cd alsa-driver
sudo ./configure --with-cards=all --with-card-options=all --with-sequencer=yes --with-oss=yes --prefix=/usr
sudo make

when completed do this.

cd alsa-driver (if you are not already in this directory)
sudo cp -rf * /usr/src/Alsa-1.0.18a/alsa-driver-1.0.18a

NOW once that is completed

cd /usr/src/Alsa-1.0.18a

cd alsa-lib-1.0.18
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

cd ..
cd alsa-utils-1.0.18
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

cd /home/xbmc

now you can run the script

sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.x-rev-1.14.sh -i

Note the (-i)

This will install the latest 1.0.18a version of alsa for you.

I had to do this a couple times to get it to take.

sudo reboot

after the reboot you can go back to your shell login and run alsamixer - you should now have either an HDA NVIDIA MCP78 HDMI (generic 10de) or a HDA NVIDIA MCP7A HDMI (generic10de) and the alsmixer version should be 1.0.18. If this is not the case the install did not take and you will have to run the script with the -i again.

Once this is all done and the desktop is up and running

go into settings-system-audio and change the passthrough device to hdmi from default or iec958 whatever it is now. Do not forget to change your bios from SPDIF to HDMI output.

This has taken me nearly two weeks to get sorted out.

I have tested Everything.

2 channel Stereo
Mono
Dolby Digital & (Plus)
DTS & (HD)
2 channel Pcm
DVD playback
Music sources MP3 and FLAC.

The only thing I do not have is navigation sound but I usually turn that off anyhow. I have not tested the Spdif output and I am not going to, this is working and I am leaving it alone.

PLEASE back up your userdata info first in case something goes wrong. Mine worked but I cannot be sure all will and also if you have the latest Nvidia driver and alsa version installed then just try changing your passthrough device setting to hdmi.

hope this helps, it has been a while, I got this board in like may of this year.

rgds,

Dave

[Matt Devo]

how about multichannel flac or Dolby TrueHD? I assume it will pass multichannel FLAC as 6/8-ch PCM

[rodercot]

how about multichannel flac or Dolby TrueHD? I assume it will pass multichannel FLAC as 6/8-ch PCM

Matt,

I do not have any mult-channel flac stuff encoded to try, I tried a couple Re-authored BD discs that I encoded with DTS-HD and they were fine so I would assume that Dolby is the same I am not sure if I have any with a trueHD track I think that I converted them all the std 640 ac3 when I did my HD-DVD's but I will check and let you know.

Dave

[rodercot]

UPDATE to this,

I had to change both items under settings-system-audio to hdmi. I had a couple of files that would not play. Nothing in alsamixer would do anything.

I do have now under alsmixer an iec958 switch as well as pcm they seem to make no difference and the device is now actually NVIDIA MCP78 HDMI instead of VIA VT1708B Analog.

Dave

[BLKMGK]

180.11xx NVIDIA drivers are still sort of beta yes? Will this work as well with 177.xx drivers? I am trying to get this working on a different ASUS board and was trying to stay away from the new accelerated drivers until they were more fully baked so am curious :)

[rodercot]

180.11xx NVIDIA drivers are still sort of beta yes? Will this work as well with 177.xx drivers? I am trying to get this working on a different ASUS board and was trying to stay away from the new accelerated drivers until they were more fully baked so am curious :)


well I did try this with 177.82 as well and could not seem to get the card to change from VT1708b to Nvidia HDA MCP78 HDMI. If you have 177.82 and alsa 1.0.18a installed you can try to just change the output in audio settings to read hdmi and try it. Remember to change your settings in your bios. I think your board uses just the alc88x or is it alc12xx chipset. I am not sure if the bios settings are the same as mine.

I did read a few posts from google searches that say they have had it working with 177.82.

I got this running first on a full Ubuntu 8.10 install with I think 177.82, the 177.80 driver that comes vanilla will not work. With a full version Ubunutu install I had to go into system - preferences - sound and change the defaults to the hdmi device and then I got test noise but could still not get output with vlc or gzine or Ubuntu itself, but XBMC output it fine on HDMI via the change in audio preferences.

I will say the new beta driver seems to be OK. I have had no issues and it actually looks richer in color with playback.

I did still got a couple audio dropouts with DVD playback twice during a whole movie last night. Streaming movies or music from the nas seemed fine. I also tested a couple dts audio cd's and they played fine as well.

Dave

[BLKMGK]

Do you know anything about this ALSA patch and is it required? http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15279769#post15279769

I will be really happy once this is working and I can stop mucking with it. I only get 1 and 2 hour spurts of time to do it and I'll be out of town for a bit starting tomorrow so it's quite frustrating! Trying to do this for someone else as a test build with at least one other wanting one when I'm done so there's a bit of pressure:eek: Appreciate the help! I wish the Live disk would just work with this, I'd be SO happy! Guess I'd learn less too...

[rodercot]

Do you know anything about this ALSA patch and is it required? http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15279769#post15279769

I will be really happy once this is working and I can stop mucking with it. I only get 1 and 2 hour spurts of time to do it and I'll be out of town for a bit starting tomorrow so it's quite frustrating! Trying to do this for someone else as a test build with at least one other wanting one when I'm done so there's a bit of pressure:eek: Appreciate the help! I wish the Live disk would just work with this, I'd be SO happy! Guess I'd learn less too...

I have not seen that patch. It would be nice if they attached a name to it. IE my via patch was VIA patch.c in sound/pci/hda folder, but for 1.0.18a the patch was already included. I do notice in that patch that they spec the alc1200 chipset and the mcp78 (My board) and Mcp7a (p5nXX-vm boards)

All you can do is try it and see. I cannot see where that patch is suppose to be installed. I know that when I ./configure for --all-card --all-options as with my post above it did compile the nvhdmi and mcp78 hdmi req'd files and patches of which both are in the sound/pci/hda directory of Alsa-1.0.18a

What chipset is on your board. I mean North and South Bridge not audio? The two common are the MCP78 and MCP7A seem to be the newest and if so than my solution above should work.

Dave

[rodercot]

how about multichannel flac or Dolby TrueHD? I assume it will pass multichannel FLAC as 6/8-ch PCM

Matt,

if you want to post a small M/C flac file for me to dwnld somewhere I will test it and let you know.

Dave

[BLKMGK]

Chipset appears to be MCP7a according to this -> http://www.linux-tested.com/results/asus_p5n7a-vm.html I can tell you that I used a script to compile my ALSA too so I am not sure what compile options got thrown into it. Link to the tutorial is here -> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=962695

I don't suppose there's a chance anyone has plans to update the XBMC Live image to add the latest ALSA and NVIDIA drivers? Pretty please? :laugh:

[Geekzilla]

I don't suppose there's a chance anyone has plans to update the XBMC Live image to add the latest ALSA and NVIDIA drivers? Pretty please? :laugh:
Is your sticking point on this using HDMI audio instead of spdif? This board is working great for me with the current Live with a few tweaks, albeit I am using spdif.

[Geekzilla]

Also, I noticed there is a setting in the bios to select hdmi audio or spdif audio. Have you fooled around with that yet?

[rodercot]

Is your sticking point on this using HDMI audio instead of spdif? This board is working great for me with the current Live with a few tweaks, albeit I am using spdif.


BLKMGK,

If you are using Live then I think the Kernel maybe your restriction with HDMI audio, reading through all the posts on the A/V forums they all talk about 2.6.27+ Kernel and we are using 2.6.24, which could pose a problem. BUT if Geekzilla has Spdif working that means that his aplay -l must be showing a digital device as well as an Analog, now if it is seeing the correct device is the next question.

Geekzilla can you post the output of your aplay -l please.

I am still not sure where they are putting that patch in to compile with. You cannot just drop the file into the alsa-driver directory so it would need to be saved as a patch.?

rgds,

Dave

[BLKMGK]

I am currently using an install of Ubuntu 8.1, I am attempting to get HDMI audio. This is being built as an "appliance" for a friend and to test how well a Celeron CPU can handle high bitrate 1080 content. If I could do this with a LiveCD I'd be thrilled but I am just as happy installing it.

aplay -l outputs this for me:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Kernel info:
2.6.27-9-generic #1 SMP

NVIDIA driver is 177.80 per the NVIDIA applet.

Playback in the audio properties applet is set to Generic 10de NVIDIA MCP7a HDMI (OSS Mixer). Digital-1 and PCM-2 are unmuted, volume is up. Video playback is awful with dropped frames, likely due to bad video synch.

Ideas?

[rodercot]

I am currently using an install of Ubuntu 8.1, I am attempting to get HDMI audio. This is being built as an "appliance" for a friend and to test how well a Celeron CPU can handle high bitrate 1080 content. If I could do this with a LiveCD I'd be thrilled but I am just as happy installing it.

aplay -l outputs this for me:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Kernel info:
2.6.27-9-generic #1 SMP

NVIDIA driver is 177.80 per the NVIDIA applet.

Playback in the audio properties applet is set to Generic 10de NVIDIA MCP7a HDMI (OSS Mixer). Digital-1 and PCM-2 are unmuted, volume is up. Video playback is awful with dropped frames, likely due to bad video synch.

Ideas?

Well loooking at that output, I think if you were to upgrade your Video driver to 177.82 Minimal and switch the Bios to HDMI Output from Spdif, you just may get lucky, remember to change the defaults in XBMC to read hdmi and hdmi. Playing with the mixer changed nothing in my case other than master volume, I am not sure why your OSS Mixer is getting the HDMI if you change to alsa mixer what card does it show.

Dave

[Geekzilla]

Geekzilla can you post the output of your aplay -l please.
I modified my audio drivers here. (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=41576)

aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[rodercot]

Ok Guys,

I went out and picked up a P5N7A-VM and ran the same setup I ran on my M3N78-VM with XBMCLive 8.10 and the HDMI output is working.

I have tested 5.1 dd and dts streaming from Network and DVD playback.
2 ch pcm,
Stereo
Mono

I have not tested flac or mp3 music playback yet but I am sure it will be fine.

I need to change one step in my process which I will do right now.

So my method should work for all NVIDIA chipset boards.

One thing I found funny is that I could not get sound from the on-board Spdif connector, I had to use my Spdif connector plugged into the Spdif out on the board (the three pin connector)

This took me less than an hour this time.

good luck with it AND THIS DOES WORK WITH XBMCLive and the current 2.6.24 kernel, I installed the Nvidia 180.11 driver, I did not try with the 177.82.

rgds,

Dave

[Snowflake]

MOST EXCELLENT!

Thanks very much, Dave, for validating that what i'm trying to set up will get there in the end. :) Now if I could just get the module options to stick around after a reboot, i'd be set and my DiNovo would keep working.

Can I add something of use that you didn't mention yet and might bite someone else as well: the BIOS default is for digital audio to be sent to the SPDIF port, not to HDMI. This must be changed in the BIOS. Otherwise, my setup uses an out-of-the-box P5N7A-VM.

[rodercot]

MOST EXCELLENT!

Thanks very much, Dave, for validating that what i'm trying to set up will get there in the end. :) Now if I could just get the module options to stick around after a reboot, i'd be set and my DiNovo would keep working.

Can I add something of use that you didn't mention yet and might bite someone else as well: the BIOS default is for digital audio to be sent to the SPDIF port, not to HDMI. This must be changed in the BIOS. Otherwise, my setup uses an out-of-the-box P5N7A-VM.

No Problems, If I could just make a living testing hardware - LOL.

One thing to add, I watched the new Mummy DVD (crap by the way) Maybe it's because Fraser never ages, but heck even Indy got old :D and I like Maria Bello - but she does not work in that part. Anyhow back to this, watched the whole movie with no audio dropouts at all from the DVD playback.

But in further testing on some hd and BD rips I am getting major frame drops and some stutter as well as high 90-100% cpu usage on both cores during playback I am going to test both the 180.16 drivers and the 177.82 drivers and see what happens. I may try and up the gpu mem in the bios as well. I see that it is 256 in the bios stock and that should be more than enough. I cannot believe that NVIDIA has not figured a way to offload the cpu to the gpu yet. " I'm givin' er all she's got captain" dear old Scotty.

The 8200 chipset peformed better than this 9300 is, but the detail and color depth with this new board is amazingly rich in comparison, I did have to play with the contrast and brightness settings for the 9300 chipset.

Dave

[BLKMGK]

My system now working but NOT for MP3. Thanks to Chaos for figuring it out -> http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=257476&postcount=268

Note, you WILL need more memory than 256, bump it to 512. The VDAPU discussions I have been reading have highlighted this as an issue when doing GPU acceleration at least. VDAPU is the GPU acceleration speedups for H.264 in ffmpeg. That code hasn't migrated to XBMC, requires the 180.xx BETA drivers, and will be PROFILE specific. Me, I'm happy with CPU decoding until this is no longer specific to profile since NOTHING I have meets their profile specs <sigh> I would be careful running the 180.xx drivers guys, they are bigtime beta and still under heavy development.

I also found that a 3ghz Celeron won't cut it. I'm overclocking a E7300 to the exact same speed as the Celeron was and it's flawless! I will be trying it stock speed at other's request soonest.

I'd like to figure out why MP3 aren't playing back for me, help would be appreciated - Chaos has the same issue. I did have the SPIDF correctly set blah blah, his one line fix saved me.

P.S. Just ripped Mummy myself, stop spoiling it! ;) I do think it sucks that the female co-star didn't come back - that will ruin it for sure :(

[rodercot]

Well I upped the frame buffer to 512 and still have the same amount of frame drops.

I tested the Aviator HD rip and it is perfect. Casino Royal Bd rip is terrible, Transformers HD rip - is not watchable.

Turned the 8200 back on to test and they all play perfect except transformers still had problems. Probably my Megui settings for that one, I'll have to rerip it and try it again.

What settings are you running for your 7300 in the bios, I have mine all set to auto with the exception of the frame buffer. I am tempted to swap out my 8400 from this machine to the new board and try it.

Ironically, I am getting the best playback with the 177.82 driver.

as for your MP3's I had the same problem until I changed the second property in settings - system - audio from default to hdmi and iec958 to hdmi. They would not play otherwise no matter what setting in alsamixer I played with.

Dave

[BLKMGK]

From memory on the E7300 - 10X 1200 for FSB, pretty sure that is correct but I can double check for you in a day or two. Booted at like 3.06ghz as I recall. My meGUI settings are pretty heavy and so far playback seems fine on my setup. I can share them if you would like in a few days.

What board are you using that you have added an 8400 to? This new build I have done has an onboard 9300 and is detailed here -> http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9999386

My audio settings are hdmi hdmi, toggling DTS capable receiver seems to be the only thing that changes anything but still no MP3 audio <shrug> this build is for someone else to play movies on so I am not too worried but it is still annoying to not have MP3 audio <shrug>

P.s. Come to think of it I saw mention of new alsa tools for the new driver. Is everyone installing those too or are they coming along with the new driver? Makes me wonder if maybe that's why alsa doesn't seem effected by changes in the mixer - maybe we've not got the right utils?

[rodercot]

From memory on the E7300 - 10X 1200 for FSB, pretty sure that is correct but I can double check for you in a day or two. Booted at like 3.06ghz as I recall. My meGUI settings are pretty heavy and so far playback seems fine on my setup. I can share them if you would like in a few days.

What board are you using that you have added an 8400 to? This new build I have done has an onboard 9300 and is detailed here -> http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9999386

My audio settings are hdmi hdmi, toggling DTS capable receiver seems to be the only thing that changes anything but still no MP3 audio <shrug> this build is for someone else to play movies on so I am not too worried but it is still annoying to not have MP3 audio <shrug>

P.s. Come to think of it I saw mention of new alsa tools for the new driver. Is everyone installing those too or are they coming along with the new driver? Makes me wonder if maybe that's why alsa doesn't seem effected by changes in the mixer - maybe we've not got the right utils?

The P5N7A has the 7300 in it and my desktop machine I am typing on has an 8400 in it. Write now I am in the middle of a AutoGK 6 season conversion of the xfiles or I would try it now.

I tried a 5% overclock with no luck at all - no boot, I tried 8x1200 - No boot. The is the newly small box 7300 in comparison to the original larger retail packaging. Do you recall if you upped your voltages at all.

Dave

[BLKMGK]

Voltages were untouched on my build. Default FSB for the CPU was 800mhz as I recall, I bumped that to over 1K for sure. Mine is a retail CPU. Are yuo sure your heatsink is properly seated etc.? These CPU seem to overclock VERY easily and we're only talking about a few hundred mhz to get from 2.6 to 3ghz :(

[rodercot]

Voltages were untouched on my build. Default FSB for the CPU was 800mhz as I recall, I bumped that to over 1K for sure. Mine is a retail CPU. Are yuo sure your heatsink is properly seated etc.? These CPU seem to overclock VERY easily and we're only talking about a few hundred mhz to get from 2.6 to 3ghz :(


Yes I got it, I left the ratio at auto and set the overclock to Linked and the fsb to 1200 and the memory to 3:2 ratio I think which leaves it at 800 for the ram. I tested the same problem files and they were perfect other than Transformers which as I said I have always had problems with, so I need to rerip it anyhow.

That being said the price difference between the 7300 and the 6600Q or even 8200 is not enough of a concern that I would likely buy one of those instead. In my case I will swap the 8400 for the 7300 and all will be grand I would assume.

rgds,

Dave

[BLKMGK]

Ah okay, I should have mentioned - I unlinked memory and FSB. I left the memory set to it's rated 800mhz and simply bumped FSB only. I have decent memory that would probably run past it's spec but I didn't want to throw potentially troubleshooting that into the mix as well! I wanted this dirt simple so that others could follow if they wished.

I have a Q6600 in one of my desktops. It BARELY makes 3ghz and is quite hot having required a voltage bump to do it, not a good choice IMO. More than 2 cores doesn't make sense for XBMC and it's a 65nm process chip to boot - not a good choice IMO. It is also $190 vs $120 for the CPU I'm running so the build price climbs.

Likewise with the 8200 you bump build price and I was trying to keep this low - I agree it's a good CPU for this if you do not mind spending the extra $40. However if you read threads here people are all trying to get AMD CPUs to work because the silly things cost a few bux less and failing to playback 1080 video. So I was trying to do this cheaply enough that they would have an alternative that actually worked! :D

The biggest difference between the 7200 and 8200 is additional cache and FSB. Since the 7200 can cut the mustard I don't care about the cache and am saving some money. $40 is about what that case cost me... :D

[Snowflake]

Looks like I spoke too soon. Since I don't have the network cable set up yet next to the TV I have been moving my XBMC over to my computer desk for setup, and then moving it back to the TV for test. I thought after the latest updates to the thread everything woudl be working, but it seems not. My Audio is still non-functional. To be fair, I had already installed the linuxant drivers from another test, so I didn't follow the steps above exactly... Maybe my ALSA installation is still wrong. I'll try starting from scratch tonight and follow the steps line by line to see if I get the same results.

I went poking in the BIOS again and read the message a little closer regarding the HDMI/SPDIF out setting. I'm wondering now whether that needs to be set to HDMI or not, it looks like this only needs to be changed if you're routing the SPDIF to a plug-in graphics card and not using the onboard one.

My audio settings are hdmi hdmi
Can you tell me where you've set this? Is this on the Audio Settings page in XBMC? Right now (from memory) the first option on that page gives me (Analog|Digital) as options, and lower down there's two settings that you have to enter manually, one is "default" and the other is "iecNNNN" (or something like that). Are these last two where you set both to "hdmi"? If so, maybe that's where my system doesn't work.

[rodercot]

Yes the two setting you are going to change to hdmi are the default and iec958 to read hdmi.

A quick test of this all is to run alsamixer after you run you script install and make sure that Alsa is seeing your Generic 10de MCP7A HDMI device, it is a good idea to go into alsa and make sure that all your iec958 devices are now unmuted and the like just to be safe. after the install on the P5N7A-VM I ended up with like three iec958 switches in playback and one in capture mode as well.

if you have a movie playing while you cange the settings to hdmi you need to stop the movie and restart it to pick-up the change in output settings.

This is install should overwrite your other Alsa install as stated in the link to the script page.

rgds,

Dave

[BLKMGK]

What rodercot said! Also, in my case changing the setting for DTS receiver was necessary to get movie audio. Not sure if that is because of the soundtracks or what but before that I had interface audio and not video audio. This is hooked to my flat panel right now and not my stereo and it was required <shrug>

On the road tonight but tomorrow night or Friday I can go through all the settings if you want. We'll get you working!

[Snowflake]

Just about to head off to bed (had to take a night off playing with the damn thing or my wife would have a fit... :), but I'll give the hdmi/hdmi setting a try tomorrow night and see how it works. If it doesn't, i'm going to give it one last try from the top, with the latest instructions. It would be great if these mods (latest alsa, latest nVidia) could be included in a new Live release (8.11?).

[Snowflake]

Update: Frustration.

Started fresh, with a brand new install of 8.10 Live.
Followed the entire script. The only difference is that the current Alsa script is now 1.15 instead of 1.14. Otherwise, everything went as planned.
Only had to run the install once with the -i flag, alsamixer on the next reboot said I had the right version (1.18) and the right device (NVIDIA MCP7A HDMI).
All playback items in alsamixer unmuted.

But! No audio over HDMI. I switched the iec958 setting to hdmi first, no luck. If I switch the "default" to hdmi, my videos all play back at double-speed. ?!?!?!?!

An aplay -l gives me this (typed by hand, but should be accurate):

Card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I seem to recall reading in another thread somewhere that you need to create an alsa config file somewhere that tells it to use card3? Does that ring any bells?

Sigh. So near, yet so far. The video looks great otherwise. Too bad I can't hear it! :)

Update: running speaker-test doesn't generate any audible output either. I'm using this command:

speaker-test -Dplughw:0,3 -c2

[katzoo]

Try adding this line to your asound.conf file.
defaults.pcm.device 3
Device 3, is now your default audio device. For passthrough to work you have to change from IEC958 to default in XBMC audio configuration.

[Snowflake]

@katzoo:

That's the update I remember seeing somewhere. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the file it's supposed to go in. Where can I find the asound.conf file?

I looked in /etc/ last night for an alsa.conf, aplay.conf, etc. but don't remember seeing an asound.conf there. Not to say that it's *not* there, I just don't remember seeing it and I was looking at all the files that started with "a" pretty closely trying to find something sound related.

Maybe I have to create it, if i'm running an otherwise stock installation maybe there wouldn't be one unless I wanted to change something?

[rodercot]

I did not have to change any other files than the ones quoted. Are you hooking to a TV or a rcvr.

You also updated the alsa-lib and alsa-utils correct.

If you are hooked into your TV, turn off the radio buttons in audio settings for dts and Dolby Digital.

When you open alsamixer does it say version 1.0.18 at the top of the mixer page.

you are typing hdmi in lower case correct.

Dave

[BLKMGK]

Snowflake - the file is .asoundrc (hidden by default due to the period) and it will be listed in your logged in user's HOME directory - it won't exist by default in my experience. Just create a text file by that name and insert the text. Also note that there's another set of text to try in that file as well that has been suggested to work, I hope to test that this evening. Hope that is clearer for you....

Talked about here -> http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=34235

Edit: Uh oh, looks like *I* may be the confused one! In my case I needed an .asoundrc file in my home directory. You guys are talking about something in etc which I never had to do! :shocked:

[katzoo]

Yeah,you can just create the file.
sudo pico /etc/asound.conf

[Snowflake]

I did not have to change any other files than the ones quoted. Are you hooking to a TV or a rcvr.
To a TV. Viewsonic N4285P.

You also updated the alsa-lib and alsa-utils correct.
Hmm... I followed the script in your first post... That included the alsa-lib and alsa-utils config/make/make install bits. I remember doing it, is there a way to confirm that it all worked?

If you are hooked into your TV, turn off the radio buttons in audio settings for dts and Dolby Digital.
Thought I tried that last night, but in any case i've done it now.

When you open alsamixer does it say version 1.0.18 at the top of the mixer page.
Yes.

you are typing hdmi in lower case correct.
Yes. Right now I have "audio output device" set to default, and "passthrough output device" set to hdmi.

(quick check) Nope, still no go.

[Snowflake]

Update: SUCCESS! Yippee!

Not sure whether this accomplishes the same thing in a different way or not, but this worked:

This in /home/xbmc/.asoundrc:
pcm.dmixer {
type dmix
ipc_key 1024
ipc_key_add_uid false
ipc_perm 0660
slave {
pcm "hw:0,3"
rate 48000
channels 2
format S32_LE
period_time 0
period_size 1024
buffer_time 0
buffer_size 4096
}
}

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "dmixer"
}

Audio settings:
digital
off
off
default
default

Thanks to BLKMGK, that thread you linked to had these settings. I copied them here just to bring everything into one place. For what it's worth, I believe /etc/asound.conf and ~/.asoundrc perform the same function. On a traditional, multi-user system, the one in /etc would perform "system-wide" configuration, and the one in ~/ would perform per-user configuration. In this case, since xbmc always runs as the same user, the distinction is irrelevant (but it's important to know what you've changed, just in case you have to go back and do it again later for some reason... :).

[BLKMGK]

I will try swapping some of my settings in XBMC to match your's and see if I get sound in MP3 - are you getting that?

[Snowflake]

I will try swapping some of my settings in XBMC to match your's and see if I get sound in MP3 - are you getting that?
Haven't tested that yet, just realized that xbmc doesn't seem to support NFS shares, so i've gotta figure out how to set up Samba shares on my file server (Promise NS4300N).

[GileraGFR]

Oh there's so many peeps to thank now everything is working - BLKMGK, Snowflake, Chaos_666, ashmaston, spozen, rodercot (from various threads)

I have the same board P5N7A-VM, with everything that has been posted here i have sound through HDMI including mp3's and menus.

Just so its clear, following the guide on page 1 of this thread.

Using this in /home/xbmc/.asoundrc:
pcm.dmixer {
type dmix
ipc_key 1024
ipc_key_add_uid false
ipc_perm 0660
slave {
pcm "hw:0,3"
rate 48000
channels 2
format S32_LE
period_time 0
period_size 1024
buffer_time 0
buffer_size 4096
}
}

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "dmixer"
}

Audio settings:
digital
off
off
default
default

Thank-you everyone!!!

EDIT: Incase it matters for someone else, i had to unmute the 'IEC958 1' in alsamixer.

[rodercot]

Hey All,

Are you all running hdmi a/v to a TV. I am running the living room through my rcvr and the bedroom machine to a TV.

With DVD playback, I am still getting little skips or pauses here and there but only on DVD playback, Streaming over the network seems fine so far.

Have you guys noticed this at all.

Any ideas!

Thanks,

Dave

[Snowflake]

My HDMI goes straight to the TV, I haven't put a receiver in my media room yet. Hope to run a set of surround speakers and get a proper receiver eventually so this will eventually become an issue.

For now, everthing sound-wise works. MP3 playback too.

[BLKMGK]

In my case this box is straight to a TV, yeah I am seeing some skips with SD DVDs played from a mounted USB drive. Downloaded 720P content though plays quite smooth :( I am having other issues with some other DVD played locally too -> http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42462

Looks like with some tweaks folks have MP3 working, I will try for this tomorrow myself. I swear I'm going to have to get another of these boards for my system just so I can play along with everyone else lol!

[GileraGFR]

Mines going straight to my tv too.

Just tried a retail dvd (Matrix Revolutions) and a self encoded one (Taken) and no issues at all, both play flawlessly. Haven't done anything at all with regards to playing with settings, dvdrom cache is at 4096kb which is default i think, only fitted the drive today. Sorry rodercot no suggestions but if you want me to post any of my settings just let me know.

Your right BLKMGK, i'm glad i've had peeps progressing along at the same time as me with the same board, never happens to me too often, lol.

On a side note, my only issues now which aren't massively important is a loud psu (small form factor one so no decent replacements about) and hopefully getting my system to suspend and then power back on from remote.

[matyhaty]

Hi all.
Wasnt sure whether to put this in the main HDMI audio page - so played safe in here!

The Situation:
Want a nice media center - running XBMC. Ive run XBMC on xbox'es for years, and love its simplicity and stability. Have tried the windows alternative, but its just not as good.

The Hardware:
Shuttle SN68G2 with a quieter fan and PSU
Nvidia 9400GT with HDMI Out
Some ram and CPU!
500gb Harddrive.

The Progress:
Installed XBMC LIve 8.10 last night onto the HDD - perfect, runs though the HDMI - looks lovely.
Remote (MCE) works out of the box
ITs quick and stable

The Issue
NO SOUND!
Well not quite true, sound works fine out of the analog stuff, and the motherboard has no SPDIF onboard. Obvious choice here is to use HDMI Audio - but alas - I couldnt get it to work.I followed the tutorial through, but alas no joy:
- when installling the NVIDIA driver upgraded it error-ed. IS this meant to happen (presuming not). Said somthing about couldnt find a kernal match.
- Alsamixer, had no menchon of HDMI anywhere
- tried to alsa script with the -i three times.

The solution?
What is the best option?
Shall i plug away at the HDMI audio? Im not a skilled linux user tho.
- any advice over what could be causing it not to happen?

Do i buy a SPDIF sound card (like this one -is it going to work?)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/7-1-Surround-Sound-Card-SC-7600/dp/B0017QG0N2

[rodercot]

180.11xx NVIDIA drivers are still sort of beta yes? Will this work as well with 177.xx drivers? I am trying to get this working on a different ASUS board and was trying to stay away from the new accelerated drivers until they were more fully baked so am curious :)

BLKMGK,

I found this one yesterday, with respect to hd (.mkv) playback where I was having issues I though with the rip itself, Thanks to harry and this little tidbit, I am now watching those same rips with less than 60% cpu usage and less than 20 dropped frames from like 200 before.

http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?p=260052#post260052


Dave

[rodercot]

The Issue
NO SOUND!
Well not quite true, sound works fine out of the analog stuff, and the motherboard has no SPDIF onboard. Obvious choice here is to use HDMI Audio - but alas - I couldnt get it to work.I followed the tutorial through, but alas no joy:
- when installling the NVIDIA driver upgraded it error-ed. IS this meant to happen (presuming not). Said somthing about couldnt find a kernal match.
- Alsamixer, had no menchon of HDMI anywhere
- tried to alsa script with the -i three times.

Hey!

Sorry you are having troubles. Is your nividia on-board or a separate card. This tut was wirtten for an on-board nvidia gpu and chipset. Not sure if your shuttle has that or not. if you are getting kernel header match errors, then you missed the sudo apt-get update and or the build-essential (headers install) from the tut.

The driver install will create those for you IF they find the match already installed in your case they did not.

your mainboard will likely have an spdif pinout on it and the same pinout input on the video card which would take a cable like an OLD CD rom style pc audio cable or very similar, to pass the digital to the hdmi output on the video card and then your bios would likely need to be set to route the hdmi audio this way.

anyhow, if you want to stick with it then I would suggest a clean re-install and start from the top of the tut line by line slowly. making sure as you proceed that each step installs without error.

I tried to look in the manual for your shuttle, I could not get any layouts of the m/b in it, but in specs it lists a spdif in and out. Also if you are running an nvidia pci-e card make sure and set your init first VGA to pci-e/x setting and up the frame buffers to at least 256 from 128.

rgds,

Dave

[matyhaty]

rodercot

The graphics is PCI-E serpate card.
The shuttles does have geforce 7 on board, however no DVi or HDMI - so useless for my needs.

Ill look for the SPDIF out tho, i did see shuttle do a PC-17 part, which is a header bit for it, but if it can go straight to graphics card -even better.

I definatly did all lines of the tutorial, but no harm in re-doing thats for sure

Any other tips?
Is it worth me taking a picture of any errors and posting here?

Many many thanks

[rodercot]

rodercot

The graphics is PCI-E serpate card.
The shuttles does have geforce 7 on board, however no DVi or HDMI - so useless for my needs.

Ill look for the SPDIF out tho, i did see shuttle do a PC-17 part, which is a header bit for it, but if it can go straight to graphics card -even better.

I definatly did all lines of the tutorial, but no harm in re-doing thats for sure

Any other tips?
Is it worth me taking a picture of any errors and posting here?

Many many thanks

The thing I cannot get straight in my head is this, you do not have an onboard hdmi connector, hence you are not going to get the HDMI audio device in the alsamixer I would assume.

If the current NVIDIA driver did not install then your HDMI port on the NVIDIA is not likely active, you need to get the driver working sans errors.

I would link up the spdif out from the board and look for the spdif in on the card there must be one, there seems to be one on all the hdmi pci-e cards and then in alsamixer you will need to for sure unmute any iec958 devices you find to enable that on-board spdif output.

Then by changing the settings in xbmc to force hdmi I would think it would work for you.

you may need to create the asoundrc files as it seems some have had to do if you read through this post.

but first step I would start from scratch clean and setup the bios as a first step.

Dave

[matyhaty]

ok, so this is where im at....

the motherboard has a 6 pin sdpif out
after a 60mb download of a layout, connected pin 6 and 4, to the graphics card, using the lead provided with the card.

6 being the spdif out pin
4 being a ground pin

gave it a quick try from the cd - no joy

- so time for a clean hdd install.
reformatted the disc, (option 0 - followed it through)

once installed, checked the bios, for the HD option. The options are auto or disabled, so left on auto.

so, ran XBMC, from the HDD, system - settings - audio hardware, - digital - no sound - boo hoo

so what now:
i did some research:

aplay -l says:
card0: hda nvidia alc883 analog
card1: "" "" "" digital

i went in alsamixer and unmuted the digital iec thing.

any ideas?
the other issue is to actually test that the spdif is working at all - im presuming in my not so logical mind, you dont need to say hdmi audio, as the graphics card is getting the feed from the on onboard sound card, or do i still need to do the tutorial steps from start to end?

thanks

[Bahndit]

I wanted to report that I have had success with rodercot's guide on a Asus P5N7A-VM with an E8400/2GB RAM running XBMC Live 8.10, NOT ubuntu 8.10, installed to a 4GB Patriot Xporter USB Thumb drive. I followed the guide exactly (well except that I did everything but install the new NVIDIA drivers through ssh'ing in from my Mac. I found that was much easier since I could essentially copy&paste command lines from the guide).
Again, I followed the guide to install the newer NVIDIA drivers then alsa 1.0.18a. Once that was done I had to unmute the iec958 devices in 'alsamixer' then change the default and passthrough both to 'hdmi' in XBMC audio settings. I didn't have to reconfigure my asoundrc files.
So far I have full audio playback for all movies and music. I haven't had time to extensively test so I haven't experienced any hiccups that Rodercot mentioned. I look forward to testing out if I can play Dolby TrueHD files and the like as soon as I can.
:grin:Rodercot:grin:, three cheers for you for figuring this out and taking the time to write up the guide!

Merry Christmas Everybody,
Will

(Sorry, MatyHaty I wish I had some help for you)

[rodercot]

Glad you had success with it, just a note on TrueHD, I ripped a BD the other day with the TrueHD, I left it as truehd to try it and it cannot pass it, It would play the movie although very badly and the sound would come and go, looking at the info while watching the movie it was jumping all over the place from 5.1 to 2 to 4 etc channel. I ended up remuxing the moved with the trueHD downconverted to normal AC3.

Dave

[Matt Devo]

Glad you had success with it, just a note on TrueHD, I ripped a BD the other day with the TrueHD, I left it as truehd to try it and it cannot pass it, It would play the movie although very badly and the sound would come and go, looking at the info while watching the movie it was jumping all over the place from 5.1 to 2 to 4 etc channel. I ended up remuxing the moved with the trueHD downconverted to normal AC3.

Dave

why re-encode to AC3? why not FLAC and let XBMC pass to your receiver as 6-ch LPCM?

[Bahndit]

Rodercot,
Would you mind checking to see if a multi-channel FLAC works?

I went poking around and I discovered that FFmpeg supports the decoding of Dolby TrueHD but the FFmpeg libraries that XBMC uses have not been updated yet to reflect this ability.
"Also, FFmpeg now has floating point PCM support and supports MLP/TrueHD decoding" - http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/

(I wonder how hard it would be to update it on our own for fun?) It is likely that DTS-HD works already because XBMC is just reading the CORE track that is contained in a DTS-HD track. (The CORE track is the same as a regular DTS track.)
dts hd is partly supported in xbmc on linux/windows atleast. it will decode/passthrough as if it was standard dts.

ac3 hd aka truehd will be mostly supported when we update our ffmpeg libs. (won't be before we release).
-Will

[rodercot]

Rodercot,
Would you mind checking to see if a multi-channel FLAC works?

I went poking around and I discovered that FFmpeg supports the decoding of Dolby TrueHD but the FFmpeg libraries that XBMC uses have not been updated yet to reflect this ability.
"Also, FFmpeg now has floating point PCM support and supports MLP/TrueHD decoding" - http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/

(I wonder how hard it would be to update it on our own for fun?) It is likely that DTS-HD works already because XBMC is just reading the CORE track that is contained in a DTS-HD track. (The CORE track is the same as a regular DTS track.)

-Will

I do not have a m/c flac file. Only two channel. If someone would post something somewhere I will grab it and try it out.

process for converting to m/c flac I am not sure. Do you need to convert all 6 channels to .wav first. I have not tried this.

Dave

[Freddo]

you might want to check out eac3to, it let's you convert various audio formats, DTS-MA or TrueHD into 6ch Flac in one step.

[rodercot]

you might want to check out eac3to, it let's you convert various audio formats, DTS-MA or TrueHD into 6ch Flac in one step.

Using tsmuxer then eac Ya! I guess I do not have all the codecs installed, I just tried to demux the lpcm from a bd it came up as two wave files, my options under demux are greyed out.

Anyhow, this is probably not the forum to be discussing this stuff...

rgds,

Dave

[Matt Devo]

Using tsmuxer then eac Ya! I guess I do not have all the codecs installed, I just tried to demux the lpcm from a bd it came up as two wave files, my options under demux are greyed out.

Anyhow, this is probably not the forum to be discussing this stuff...

rgds,

Dave

sent you a PM about this

[McBooCZech]

Hi all,

My success story:

MB: M3N78-EM
Graphics: Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 8300
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5050e (2 x 2.6GHz, 45W!!!)
RAM: 4GB

XBMC Live 8.10 installed on the HD

I was strictly followed rodercot's "manual".
I have to small problems only during the install:

1)
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`

for me worked:
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

2)
in the alsamixer I did not see the iec958 devices. The problem was my monitor is too narrow and all iec958 devices were out of the screen. It took me 3 fresh new re-installation of the XBMC before I figured it out.
The moral: if you do not see your iec958 devices, try to use ritht arrow on the keyboard and go as fare right as you can.
you can mute and unmute devices by pressing "m" key repeatedly


After a successful installation it was necessary to follow Snowflake's advice and create the file /home/xbmc/.asoundrc:

wiht the code in it:

pcm.dmixer {
type dmix
ipc_key 1024
ipc_key_add_uid false
ipc_perm 0660
slave {
pcm "hw:0,3"
rate 48000
channels 2
format S32_LE
period_time 0
period_size 1024
buffer_time 0
buffer_size 4096
}
}

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "dmixer"
}



After that the easiest part, settings in the XBMC:
Audio settings:
digital
off
off
default
default

I hope this can help to some others as it helped to me.


to snowflake:
I have Logitech DiNovo keyboard as well and I am heading the same problems.
mabybe following (acording to: http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/grosses-problem-mit-ubuntu-8.10:-mit-logitech/#post-1670396) can help:

in the file: /etc/default/bluetooth

change HID2HCI_ENABLED=1 to HID2HCI_ENABLED=0

I did not try it yet, but it looks from the comments in the file, it can solve our problem.

thanks a lot, Rodercot

Petr

[McBooCZech]

to snowflake

unfortunately I have discovered right now there is not file /etc/default/bluetooth on the XBMC. I was checking this on my Ubuntu 8.10 machine when I was writing my previous posting and the file exists there. So I have supposed it will be the same on the XBMC.

Any advices?

Petr

[Bahndit]

So I finally got around to figuring out how to make my own Blu-Ray Rips and I was really excited about the possibility of passing multi-channel PCM through this new setup.
My first experiment is with a John Mayer concert on Blu-Ray. As Rodercot already tested, XBMC does not currently decode Dolby TrueHD tracks, which is what happens to be on this disc (IMO, The best part of the experience on discs like this are the amazing lossless soundtracks.) So I though I would try and convert it to a multi-channel FLAC soundtrack
I used BLKMGK's guide (Thank you BLKMGK for putting that together!) for ripping HD-DVDs as a starting point. I didn't touch the video to save time but I used eac3to to re-encode the soundtrack to FLAC. The whole process wasn't too bad after I started doing it. It still took a couple of hours in all but I was left with a new MKV file with my HD video and FLAC soundtrack.
The file plays beautifully EXCEPT that my receiver is only receiving a stereo signal from my XBMC box. Pressing 'O' during playback suggests that the audio file is what it is supposed to be (flac, 96000Hz, 5:1) but I am getting no love on my receiver end. I am I doing something wrong or is XBMC or the drivers just not there yet. I desperately want to digitize my Blu-ray library with HD Audio so I hope we can figure this out.

Now I need some sleep since I have to get up in 3 hours to go to work :(

-Will

[BLKMGK]

I *think* that all XBMC needs to do is pass the data straight through to the receiver - it's uncompressed audio right? There's no decoding is there? Well okay for FLAC there is I guess.

Anyway as it stands now I have no computer capable of outputting this attached to a receiver that can handle it. That said I think I need to upgrade :D I have been ripping all my stuff with 5.1 AC3. If I thought I could put the 7.1 track in with the 5.1 and be able to toggle it in the container during playback I might try using both, I have also not ever tried FLAC. :( I guess if I breakdown and do a new motherboard on my main box I can help figure this out - box I have on HDMI right now is attached straight to a TV. I agree that if XBMC needs changes to handle this that it would be nice to have now that we have a digital output that can apparently handle the new stuff :D

[rodercot]

I *think* that all XBMC needs to do is pass the data straight through to the receiver - it's uncompressed audio right? There's no decoding is there? Well okay for FLAC there is I guess.

Anyway as it stands now I have no computer capable of outputting this attached to a receiver that can handle it. That said I think I need to upgrade :D I have been ripping all my stuff with 5.1 AC3. If I thought I could put the 7.1 track in with the 5.1 and be able to toggle it in the container during playback I might try using both, I have also not ever tried FLAC. :( I guess if I breakdown and do a new motherboard on my main box I can help figure this out - box I have on HDMI right now is attached straight to a TV. I agree that if XBMC needs changes to handle this that it would be nice to have now that we have a digital output that can apparently handle the new stuff :D


BLKMGK,

uncompressed will not pass on SPDIF but HDMI ONLY, as far as I know. I converted a file as well and has the same results, stereo only. Matt informed me that alsa needs to be setup to pass 6 channel pcm, I have not played with that yet - possibly setup in the .asoundrc file per channel output - not sure. This would make sense, I watched Kill Bill BD last night on my LG player in 7.1 Uncompressed and that is what the rcvr see is a MULTI-CHANNEL 7.1 signal input.

I am right now playing with live and the image builder trying to get a XBMCLive intrepid test. It's a learning curve since there is not an intrepid generic i386 platform yet. Luigi is offering lots of advice, I hope I can get to testing it later. fingers crossed.

Dave

[BLKMGK]

Ah okay, for some reason I thought you guys WERE using HDMI for your audio - no???? I thought that was what all of us in this thread were shooting for heh. Mind you I get great 5.1 via HDMI, still no stereo:sniffle:

[rodercot]

Ah okay, for some reason I thought you guys WERE using HDMI for your audio - no???? I thought that was what all of us in this thread were shooting for heh. Mind you I get great 5.1 via HDMI, still no stereo:sniffle:

OK DOH! maybe I misunderstood your post. Yep I just reread your post. OOOPS! Mybad sorry.

SPDIF will not pass uncompressed full bandwidth pcm.

HDMI should pass everything to a rcvr to decode it and yes we are using HDMI for audio.

Dave

[Snowflake]

Ah okay, for some reason I thought you guys WERE using HDMI for your audio - no???? I thought that was what all of us in this thread were shooting for heh. Mind you I get great 5.1 via HDMI, still no stereo:sniffle:
I'm using HDMI for my audio too. Currently just playing through to the TV, but eventually i'll have a receiver in between driving some 5.1 (at least) speakers.

[BLKMGK]

So I guess the real question is what was\is Bahndit using..?

[Bahndit]

I don't know why but I couldn't help but chuckle after reading the last few posts. :) Sorry for the confusion, I am in fact using HDMI for my audio output. Just to clarify I install custom home theaters and sell AV gear for a living so I've got a good handle on the different types of audio video outputs :nod: :grin: I've got big speakers as well as a big TV so I would love to figure this HD audio stuff out.
I am still learning my way around Linux but I am not afraid to try stuff out and I would love to contribute to the fight. If someone will point me in the right direction with the alsa 6 channel stuff for HDMI I will get on it. I wish we could just bitstream the native codec to an off board decoder (receiver) but if we could get LPCM working it would be awesome.

Thanks again to BLKMGK and rodercot for your helpful and informative posts.

-Bahndit

[rodercot]

So In thinking through this a little bit, with sacd what was the bandwith - Frequency it was High I know but it was decoded internally and passed through the 6 channel out on the player.

My LG BH200 outputs 7.1 channel uncompressed audio to my Denon 988 across 7 channels in lpcm and it decodes it.

Did we discuss what the limitation is of just taking the LPCM track and leaving it as is and muxing that with your h264, vc1 etc video file and trying it. We said the codec would not pass TrueHD right now but it does pass dts-hd but I have not tried DTS MA.

Dave

[alanwww1]

As i know TODAY stands:

Windows:
- 24bit/192khz stereo LPCM sound through SPDIF works (more channel is not possible because of SPDIF bandwith limitation)

- 24bit/192khz 7.1 Multichannel LPCM sound through HDMI works. (Nvidia 8xxx, 9xxx integrated motherboards or AMD 4xxx dedicated video cards.)

- AC3, DTS 2ch lpcm works with most of the motherboards and soundcards.

- Dolby Digital HD and DTS HD Master audio bitstream pass over HDMI does not work yet. The first card will be Auzentech's new soundcard to make this happen, but only with certain closed source software players.

Linux:

- AC3, DTS, 2ch lpcm works with a lot of soundcards and integrated solutions through SPDIF and HDMI (over hdmi only with ALSA 1.018a)

- 24bit/192khz 7.1 multichannel lpcm over HDMI IS NOT POSSIBLE yet on any linux platform due to driver limitations. Maybe in the future we will have a chance to get a driver update from Nvidia ot AMD.

- Dolby Digital HD and DTS HD master audio bitstream will not be possible for a long long time on Linux platform due to content protection requirements.

So the only way to enjoy HD Ausio right now is getting a good 192khz, 24bit capable ANALOG card, decode the HD stream woth eac3 or ffmpeg and play it through multichannel analog output. For this you have to enable multichannel analog audio in the advancedsettings.xml in XBMC. I can help out with that if someone is interested.

Correct me if i am wrong with something

[BLKMGK]

Well shoot, I thought the big hurdle was getting HDMI audio working and that once done we could just toss the uncompressed audio track out the digital port and the receiver would do the rest. It's sounding like that's not the case at all and that there's still additional crap preventing it - including DRM on the audio track over and above the crypto on the BD to begin with?! Seriously? Wow, that sux! So some sort of 6.1 FLAC track sent in a way the receiver can handle it doesn't sound so nutz after all maybe? Am starting to not feel so bad about not having added the speakers to make my setup 7.1 :no:

[rodercot]

Can we list all the formats with HD and BD and what passes and what does not.

This is what I see and I am talking on HDMI

you have

STD DD passes
STD DTS passes
DD plus passes
DD TrueHD - does not
DTS HD 1536 - It works on my system I get the 1536 bit rate in XBMC on playback.
DTS MA - have not tried
5.1, 6.1, 7.1 LPCM - does not pass
DTSHD to FLAC is passed as 2CH PCM. this is what I tried and it plays, I only tested the audio file renamed to .ts
* Now this is confusing to me, when I encoded this way did it take the 6CH and downmix to 2CH. Is that how eac is converting the files. Is there a way to check that FLAC file I encoded to see what information it really does contain. You know thinking about the FLAC file size actually ended up being smaller than the same DTS-HD Demux. *

DD TrueHD to FLAC - I have not tried this but I would think the same as the above with DTSHD.

Dave

[Matt Devo]

Dave,

use MediaInfo to make sure your .flac file is 6-ch and not 2-ch (I'm guessing it is 6-ch and alsa is only passing 2-ch out via HDMI).

[BLKMGK]

Check the eac3to thread on Doom9. To do some of the codecs you need 3rd party codecs, the internal codec is all I've used but I know it checks for others. First post in that thread speaks to this as to what is "best" and what is needed for what...

[Bahndit]

From what I understand what we need to figure out is how to get ALSA to pass multi-channel PCM out the HDMI port. FFmpeg currently supports the decoding of Dolby True-HD, although not the ffmpeg libraries currently included in XBMC. When the libraries are updated XBMC will essentially be passing ALSA a multi-channel pcm track just like it is now with FLAC. DTS-HD/MA is another story. The reason that it is working now is because of the way that the DTS-HD codec was designed. DTS-HD is completely backwards compatible with old DTS decoders. DTS-HD/MA tracks have at their core a basic DTS track (lossy) that the codec then builds off of to make the track lossless. That is why the DTS-HD tracks are working for Rodercot. Hopefully in the future we can get native support for all of the HD codecs but if FLAC sounds just as good as the native codecs I would be estatic to get it working. It was mentioned earlier in the thread that ALSA may just need to be configured to get LPCM working. What do I need to do so to see if that is the case?

[rodercot]

From what I understand what we need to figure out is how to get ALSA to pass multi-channel PCM out the HDMI port. FFmpeg currently supports the decoding of Dolby True-HD, although not the ffmpeg libraries currently included in XBMC. When the libraries are updated XBMC will essentially be passing ALSA a multi-channel pcm track just like it is now with FLAC. DTS-HD/MA is another story. The reason that it is working now is because of the way that the DTS-HD codec was designed. DTS-HD is completely backwards compatible with old DTS decoders. DTS-HD/MA tracks have at their core a basic DTS track (lossy) that the codec then builds off of to make the track lossless. That is why the DTS-HD tracks are working for Rodercot. Hopefully in the future we can get native support for all of the HD codecs but if FLAC sounds just as good as the native codecs I would be estatic to get it working. It was mentioned earlier in the thread that ALSA may just need to be configured to get LPCM working. What do I need to do so to see if that is the case?


check this link out and see if it helps at all.

http://alsa.opensrc.org/SurroundSound

Dave

[Bahndit]

Okay well my excitement is a bit diminished since I realized that this changelog (see other post (http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=262824&postcount=16)) also aplies to ALSA 1.0.18 (http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Changes_v1.0.17_v1.0.18) So now I need to confirm whether or not the NVIDIA drivers currently support multichannel LPCM in Linux. If so then it is back to .asoundrc for me. Thanks for your work anyways.
In the AVS forum it was suggested that I use PulseAudio to make this happen. What do you guys think?

[BLKMGK]

Not familiar with using PulseAuduio but know that at least until recently it had issues with XBMC and folks were killing it or removing it (sticky (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40249) in the Linux forums as a matter of fact) - I've done neither but I am running SVN versions and one of the required packages is libpulse-dev. SVN versions have been tweaked to better work with PulseAudio apparently but I've not run into issues. That said stereo sound for MP3 not working on that box either <ahem>

May be ordering the Asus board for my primary box soon and be able to spend more time troubleshooting...

[xanium4332]

Just another 'me too' reply.

Mobo: Asus P5N7A-VM
CPU: Intel E8400 (3GHz)
RAM: 4Gb OCZ Stuff (cheap).

Your guide worked perfectly, thank you. Also note that the graphics drivers don't HAVE to be upgraded, I tried with both the 180.x and 177.x and hdmi audio works fine.

I haven't tried 5.1 LPCM over hdmi (don't have the hardware, but will do), so I'm interested to hear if that works or not.

Also note that sound is output through the DVI port also. I have a DVI->HDMI cable and accidently noticed I got sound when plugged into the board's DVI port.

Again thanks for the guide, James

[alanwww1]

We will have no help from having Pulseaudio, because it all depends on Alsa. We will have to get Alsa support for HDMI Multichannel LPCM. But i think Alsa devs need help from Nvidia with the implementation.

[xanium4332]

Erm, seems like a version bump (or something) has now caused the alsa-driver patching to fail, any ideas?

(This is on a fresh install, after my previous post).

James

[BLKMGK]

Why are you patching ALSA?

[rodercot]

Erm, seems like a version bump (or something) has now caused the alsa-driver patching to fail, any ideas?

(This is on a fresh install, after my previous post).

James


I would not play with this, you will break your system. I have another machine running Mythbuntu with the latest SVN compiled yesterday, I also built and installed 2.6.28-ultimate kernel and the latest Nvidia Beta driver of 180.18 and still no luck with lpcm.

You will have to roll back to alsa-1.0.18a it should still be in your /usr/src dir as when it downloaded via the script. just recompile it and reboot with the script and -i

Dave

[xanium4332]

Sorry, I said the wrong thing.

I meant the kernel-snapshot, when being patched during 'sudo make', fails now. Going back and using a snapshot from the 31st solved the problem for me. I'm not sure that the 31st is the last working date, I just knew it was working at that time so picked it.

Sorry about the confusion, James

[rodercot]

Sorry, I said the wrong thing.

I meant the kernel-snapshot, when being patched during 'sudo make', fails now. Going back and using a snapshot from the 31st solved the problem for me. I'm not sure that the 31st is the last working date, I just knew it was working at that time so picked it.

Sorry about the confusion, James


did you happen to run a

apt-get dist-upgrade or the like.

Dave

[matyhaty]

hi all

for us lesser mortals, i wonder if someone can help:

im looking for good old basic hdmi audio - for now getting top notch flawless sound is a lesser priority, and i guess for many its the same.

As it happens i do have a very nice bose system, linked to a samsung r700 cinema receiver, but just getting hdmi audio is the main thing for me....

some have said need upgrade graphics, some not
some have done snowflakes stuff (to which i do not understand)

would anyone be able (and kind enough) to write a fools example to the best bet of getting hdmi working, in a basic form, which will play simple movies and mp3s etc.

if the basics are there, maybe it will be in the next release defacto,..,,,.

many thanks

Matt

[rodercot]

hi all

for us lesser mortals, i wonder if someone can help:

im looking for good old basic hdmi audio - for now getting top notch flawless sound is a lesser priority, and i guess for many its the same.

As it happens i do have a very nice bose system, linked to a samsung r700 cinema receiver, but just getting hdmi audio is the main thing for me....

some have said need upgrade graphics, some not
some have done snowflakes stuff (to which i do not understand)

would anyone be able (and kind enough) to write a fools example to the best bet of getting hdmi working, in a basic form, which will play simple movies and mp3s etc.

if the basics are there, maybe it will be in the next release defacto,..,,,.

many thanks

Matt

Matt,

I do not have a video card with HDMI out on it that I can test in your configuration. I still think with the cable from the spdif port out on the board to the spdif in on the sound card and then at min 177.82 Nvidia Drivers and you will need the latest alsa for sure anyhow, The combo of the two should force alsa to see the output I would think.

If you look at the Nvidia forums there are possibly some ideas in there as well that could help you out.


Dave

[mr_raider]

That's incorrect. The default 177.80 with Ubuntu 8.10 will work fine as long as you upgrade ALSA to 1.018a on the Geforce 8200. I can't speak for the 9300.

There is a simple comand line utility to install nvidia drivers in ubuntu called envyng.

Upgrading the Alsa is easy enough as shown in the first post.

[BLKMGK]

EnvyNG didn't put in the drivers I thought I needed, I moved to Ubuntu 8.1 to solve that. I then used the repository drivers.... Upgrading ALSA was done via the script highlighted here.

SPID/f cable to port on video card gives you audio yes but of no greater bandwidth than SPID/f would have if run to a receiver so it not exactly the same as what we are talking about here and likely doesn't require the latest ALSA and video drivers to use. It's "cheating" so to speak IMO.

[xanium4332]

No, I didn't dist-upgrade. I also repeated the process exactly, twice, to the same problem. Simply finding a earlier snapshot fixed the problem.

[vercingetorige]

When i try to install NVIDIA driver, NVIDIA software installer says:
"Unable to find the system utility LD"

How can i install LD in XBMC live?

Bye!

[rodercot]

When i try to install NVIDIA driver, NVIDIA software installer says:
"Unable to find the system utility LD"

How can i install LD in XBMC live?

Bye!

That is a new one for me, I do not recall ever seeing that error. Is there anything else it says.

you did sudo apt-get update

then sudo apt-get install wget build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`

and you could try sudo apt-get install LD as well.

if not google that error.

Dave

[vercingetorige]

That is a new one for me, I do not recall ever seeing that error. Is there anything else it says.

you did sudo apt-get update

then sudo apt-get install wget build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`

and you could try sudo apt-get install LD as well.

if not google that error.

Dave

My problem was in:
sudo apt-get install wget build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`

Can i use AlsaUpgrade-1.0.x-rev-1.18 ?
THX

[vercingetorige]

I can't find alsa upgrade script..
Any idea?

Bye!

[vercingetorige]

Found alsa script..
Only registred can download..
Waiting for autorization from forum...

Bye!

[rodercot]

Found alsa script..
Only registred can download..
Waiting for autorization from forum...

Bye!

You could actually use Olympia's script as well. which works just a little bit easier than the ubuntu provided script. I am not sure if you will still need to run with the -snap option or not. It seems that with Alsa 1.0.19 you do not need the snapshot.

The link to the wiki file. I peruse back and forth from my own files to Olympia's provided guide all the time. I have pretty much got it committed to memory now though :D

The link:

http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=HOW-TO:_Install_XBMC_for_Linux_on_Ubuntu_8.10_(Intrepi d)_step-by-step

Rgds,

Dave

[vercingetorige]

I have tried your guide with alsa "19" and shapshot..
No sound from hdmi connector..

If you can, post a guide with olimpia script... (Thanx!)

Do you now if next version of XBMC (in development..) are with Audio on HDMI implemented?

Bye!

[rodercot]

I have tried your guide with alsa "19" and shapshot..
No sound from hdmi connector..

If you can, post a guide with olimpia script... (Thanx!)

Do you now if next version of XBMC (in development..) are with Audio on HDMI implemented?

Bye!

Did you unmute the iec958 channels in alsamixer and the link I supplied is the latest guide.

Dave

[vercingetorige]

Thanx, sound now is working!!

Now, I work for my old xbox remote control on XBMC...
Work in progress!!

[rodercot]

Thanx, sound now is working!!

Now, I work for my old xbox remote control on XBMC...
Work in progress!!

What Dongle are you going to use for lirc.

It is very easy to modify the dongle that came with the Xbox DVD playback kit. There is a how-to on the xbox-scene web-site under tutorials. It is simple I went to radio shack and bought a cheap USB to USB extension cable cut it in half, took the Xbox dongle apart and soldered on the four wires (careful the ground (black wire) is shielded). If you do this right you can still use it in the Xbox later as well.

then just set up lirc. get the lircd file for Xbox remote from google. I think the xbox codes are still mapped in the Lircmap file included with XBMC all versions.

Regards,

Dave

[deey001]

I have followed all the steps and cannot get the audio to work.

I have a few questions.

1. If you go to the sound options and run a test does the audio work?

2. Does the audio work in every application?

My setup goes as follows:

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy
NVidia Driver is installed.
Alsa has been upgrade to 19
Bios Rev:0504

.asoundrc has been created in the /home/'profile'/ directory.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Danny

[Antioch]

Success in XFCE! Xubuntu 32-bit 9.04 Beta.

For 9.04 Beta theres nothing that needs to be done, per this guide. Simply activate the restricted nVidia drivers (but you'll eventually want to install the newest drivers to use VDPAU) and change the sound setting to hdmi.

However, there is no "settings-system-sound" dialogue box in Xfce and that stumped me for a while. Instead I simply created an .asoundrc as per this post:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=276711&postcount=96
(There is an alternative (http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=257476&postcount=268) config that I didn't try as the first one claims to work with menu sounds in XBMC but I haven't tested yet).

All that's left to do is go into the sound mixer, select the sound card "HDA nVidia," select the following controls: Master, IEC95B, IEC95B2, and enable the latter 2 in the "switches" tab.

This worked for me. I immediately had an mp3 running in totem.

Just wanted to let fellow XFCE users know -- as well as inform people that once you upgrade to 9.04 you won't need to mess with new alsa packages.

Don't forget to enable HDMI audio in the BIOS!

[Ozman]

I have followed this guide (and a number of others first), but I cannot get hdmi audio.

Specs
MB M3N78-EM
Arch linux (built 2 days ago)
xbmc (svn from 2 days ago)
42" lcd tv
alsa 1.020

Steps
Bios set to internal + external codec, hdmi out
.asoundrc as suggested in /home/xbmc
xbmc settings as suggested ( I have also tried "hdmi + default" and "hdmi x2"

I have also tried the tv settings with pcm/auto and mpeg/dolby.

am I missing something (apart from sound ???)?

[plue]

With NVIDIA driver if you disable EDID in xorg to use Modlines of standard HD resolutions, you will lost HDMI audio.

You can check by enabling again EDID (the default behavior).

But if you don't want to use the EDID resolutions nor any other options, you should use this options:


Option "RandRRotation" "False"
Option "TwinView" "False"
Option "UseEdidFreqs" "False"
Option "UseEdid" "True"
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "True"
Option "UseEdidDpi" "False"
Option "DynamicTwinView" "False"
Option "ModeValidation" "AllowNon60HzDFPModes,NoEdidMaxPClkCheck,AllowInter lacedModes,NoHorizSyncCheck,NoVertRefreshCheck,NoD FPNativeResolutionCheck,NoVesaModes,NoEdidModes,No XServerModes,NoPredefinedModes,NoUserModes"
Option "UseEvents" "True"

[foxie2]

Hi guys, Do you know if a similar setup to this will work on the Acer Revo?

I have got everything up and running except surround sound. When i turn dolby and DTS on i get 'noise' so i have to downmix. I have searched everywere!

Thanks

[erhnam]

Hi guys, Do you know if a similar setup to this will work on the Acer Revo?

I have got everything up and running except surround sound. When i turn dolby and DTS on i get 'noise' so i have to downmix. I have searched everywere!

Thanks

Yes! I have the same problem. Would be very nice to have the solution for this.

[plue]

I have got everything up and running except surround sound. When i turn dolby and DTS on i get 'noise' so i have to downmix.

I have my Zotac ION MB connected to my AMP and the AMP to the TV all with HDMI. So my AMP gets the sound from HDMI.

In other to test other scenarios I have connected the PC to the TV with HDMI and then TV to the AMP by SPDIF (optical or coxial). When I try to send the surround (AC3 and DTS) signal by xbmc, the AMP sounds only loud noise (even in DTS case forcing the AMP to decode the noise as DTS).

So I propose that if this is your case, test to connect the SPDIF to your AMP directly and configure the both digital out to iec958 and analog to plug:iec958.

I don't know if Acer Revo has SPDIF output, but if not maybe you will have to wait until the driver support some headers frame needed in such cases but I currently don't know anything about HDMI frame parameters nor why some TV didn't forward the surround to the AMP.

[foxie2]

hey plue

I have my setup just like yours i.e. hdmi to amp then hdmi to tv. I dont use the sound on the tv and it doesnt have an spdif out to test.

The Acer revo doesnt have an spdif out only analog or HDMI. I think we may have to wait until nvidia update the drivers to include this in linux. It is capable of 7.1 surround but that must only be windows. The strange thing is i get noise which means something is being sent via hdmi.

[erhnam]

Hi guys, Do you know if a similar setup to this will work on the Acer Revo?

I have got everything up and running except surround sound. When i turn dolby and DTS on i get 'noise' so i have to downmix. I have searched everywere!

Thanks

I have solved the problem. It's related to your receiver or tv. I bought a new receiver (Onlyo 507) and all my problems are gone now. With AC3 and DTS enabled I no longer have the noise sound!

[.mad]

I have followed this guide (and a number of others first), but I cannot get hdmi audio.

Specs
MB M3N78-EM
Arch linux (built 2 days ago)
xbmc (svn from 2 days ago)
42" lcd tv
alsa 1.020

Steps
Bios set to internal + external codec, hdmi out
.asoundrc as suggested in /home/xbmc
xbmc settings as suggested ( I have also tried "hdmi + default" and "hdmi x2"

I have also tried the tv settings with pcm/auto and mpeg/dolby.

am I missing something (apart from sound ???)?

I have the same board, running Ubuntu Jaunty. Have you tested both mp3 and ac3 audio?

Within XBMC I only get ac3 and dts audio files to play, files with mp3 audio just play but no sound.
The weird thing is in Totem and Rythmbox I can play mp3 just not in XBMC.

Anybody got a clue?

[foxie2]

im pretty sure its not my reciever as i know the same receiver will play 5.1 from the ps3 using lpcm. I hope its not the receiver as i dont want to have to buy a new one.

[.mad]

I tryed again on a fresh Ubuntu 9.04 install (alsa 1.18).
I got sound outside of XBMC with all files inside XBMC only AC3 and DTS.

I did an update using the script from ubuntuforums to Alsa 1.20 but still the same.

If I have an .asoundrc with

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave {
pcm "hdmi"
}
}

I get a the menu click sound in xbmc but still no mp3 audio playback.
Without an asound.conf menu clicks in xbmc don't work but ac3/dts still does.

I tryed a all other suggested asound configs from this thread but allways the same, menu sounds and ac3/dts works...

anybody else got some clever asound.conf for me to try, or any other suggestions?

[prn_star]

ok, I hate to say it but you know what fixed this for me? using hdmi instead of HDMI
I guess case matters?

[.mad]

Here's what I did:

This is what worked in Ubuntu Jaunty.

Tell pulse to load the module for hdmi
In a Terminal do:

sudo gedit /etc/pulse/default.pa

below
### Load audio drivers statically (it's probably better to not load
### these drivers manually, but instead use module-hal-detect --
### see below -- for doing this automatically)
#load-module module-alsa-sink
#load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:1,0
#load-module module-oss device="/dev/dsp" sink_name=output source_name=input
#load-module module-oss-mmap device="/dev/dsp" sink_name=output source_name=input
#load-module module-null-sink
#load-module module-pipe-sink

I added the line
load-module module-alsa-sink device=hw:0,3
where 3 is the number your device is listed under with aplay -l

reboot!

in xbmc I have both device and passthrough set to default now instead of hdmi...et voila, sound with all files!

original guide found in German Ubuntu forum (http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/information-:-sound-ueber-hdmi-mit-ubuntu/?highlight=hd#post-2057365)

cheers
MAD

[SKiNNiEH]

This did wonders for me:

aplay -l gives me:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: HDA Generic [HDA Generic]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0



In my case HDMI is card1, device 3 so i run: sudo alsamixer -c 1
Unmuted the device by hitting the M key.
I then saved the volume info: sudo alsactl store 0

Created .asoundrc, located in /home/xbmc/:
sudo nano /home/xbmc/.asoundrc


pcm.!spdif {
type hw
card 1
device 3
}

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave {
pcm "spdif"
}
}


And my xbmc is set to:

- Audio Output: Digital
- Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver: On
- DTS Capable receiver: On
- Audio Output device: default
- Passthrough device: default
- Downmix multichannel audio to stereo: On

Setting the output and passthrough device to "default", matches the naming in asoundrc. I'm not sure if that is related, but it did start to work for me from then on. Also menu sounds work.

Setting "Downmix multichannel audio to stereo" fixed a certain wmv that otherwise would not produce audio. All other media (mkv's) are playing with AC3 or DTS 3/2.1 no problem.

---

I also upgraded my ALSA to 1.0.20, but it only started to work after doing the above things.

Good luck!