[tooney]

Hello !!!

First of all, I want to warn you and apologize for my poor english, coz' I'm french

I have an annoying issue to make my soundcard work. I know this problem was many times discussed, but I wasn't able to solve it. I search for one week, but it doesn't work! It makes me crazy

So here is my configuration :

Motherboard : Asus P5Q3 Deluxe
Soundcards : Onboard Intel HDA - Theatron Agrippa DTS (Club3D)
System : Linux 9.10 (minimal install) + XBMC 9.11
A/V Receiver : Onkyo TX-SR 607 (connected with coaxial cable)

I installed minimal XBMCbuntu with following this tuto.
Everything seemed to work well, and I tried to watch a video :

• Video with mp3 encoded : output only on the front speakers
  
• Video with AC3 encoded : ouptut only on the front speakers
  

I tried many installations / configurations :

• With my two soundcards activated
  
• Only with the onboard card activated
  
• Only with the Theatron card activated
  

But the result was the same...

I did many searches on the web, and I tried many and many solutions...

I decided to make basical tests with aplay and mplayer. I have downloaded on this site an AC3 file who plays alternatively on each speaker (front right, front center, front left, rear left, rear right) :

Code:

mplayer -ao alsa:device=plughw=0.2 -ac hwac3 www_lynnemusic_com_surround_test.ac3

or :

Code:

mplayer -ao alsa:device=plughw=1.1 -ac hwac3 www_lynnemusic_com_surround_test.ac3

for playing sound with each card on each speaker. I only had sound with my front speakers... Same thing in XBMC...

So I made still more changes (that I can't remember... I think I played with "iecset audio") and I saw a change in XBMC :

• Video files with stereo sound were played on every speaker with a perfect sound! (I thought) Yep !!! (when configuring my A/V Receiver in format "Pure Audio")
  
• But for video in AC3, no sound at all, and auto-select of the A/V Receiver switches from DTS to no DTS to DTS to no DTS ...
  

When launching the same commands with mplayer and AC3, I can only hear "crackling" in the front speakers. No sound rear...

I tried to upgrade my alsa version with this script (from 1.0.20 to 1.0.22.1). Same result!

I haven't tested for the moment, but I have a dual-boot with Windows XP on this computer. So I will test the AC3 file to see if I obtain the same result.

Here are details about my installation :

cat /proc/asound/cards

Code:

user@pchc:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [CMI8770        ]: CMI8738-MC8 - C-Media CMI8770
                      C-Media CMI8770 at 0xe800, irq 10
1 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
                      HDA Intel at 0xf9ff8000 irq 21

aplay -l

Code:

user@pchc:~$ sudo aplay -l
**** Liste des PLAYBACK périphériques ****
carte  0: CMI8770 [C-Media CMI8770], périphérique 0 : CMI8738-MC8 [C-Media PCI DAC/ADC]
  Sous-périphériques: 1/1
  Sous-périphérique: #0: subdevice #0
carte  0: CMI8770 [C-Media CMI8770], périphérique 1 : CMI8738-MC8 [C-Media PCI 2nd DAC]
  Sous-périphériques: 1/1
  Sous-périphérique: #0: subdevice #0
carte  0: CMI8770 [C-Media CMI8770], périphérique 2 : CMI8738-MC8 [C-Media PCI IEC958]
  Sous-périphériques: 0/1
  Sous-périphérique: #0: subdevice #0
carte  1: Intel [HDA Intel], périphérique 0 : AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
  Sous-périphériques: 1/1
  Sous-périphérique: #0: subdevice #0
carte  1: Intel [HDA Intel], périphérique 1 : AD198x Digital [AD198x Digital]
  Sous-périphériques: 1/1
  Sous-périphérique: #0: subdevice #0

aplay -L

Code:

user@pchc:~$ sudo aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
front:CARD=CMI8770,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8770, C-Media PCI DAC/ADC
    Front speakers
rear:CARD=CMI8770,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8770, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    Rear speakers
surround40:CARD=CMI8770,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8770, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=CMI8770,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8770, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=CMI8770,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8770, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=CMI8770,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8770, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=CMI8770,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8770, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=CMI8770,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8770, C-Media PCI DAC/ADC
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
front:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, AD198x Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, AD198x Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, AD198x Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, AD198x Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, AD198x Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, AD198x Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, AD198x Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

cat /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

Code:

user@pchc:~$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
# autoloader aliases
install sound-slot-0 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-0
install sound-slot-1 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-1
install sound-slot-2 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-2
install sound-slot-3 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-3
install sound-slot-4 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-4
install sound-slot-5 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-5
install sound-slot-6 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-6
install sound-slot-7 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-7

# Cause optional modules to be loaded above generic modules
install snd /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist snd-ioctl32 ; /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist snd-seq ; }
#
# Workaround at bug #499695 (reverted in Ubuntu see LP #319505)
install snd-pcm /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-pcm $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist snd-pcm-oss ; : ; }
install snd-mixer /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-mixer $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist snd-mixer-oss ; : ; }
install snd-seq /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-seq $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist snd-seq-midi ; /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist snd-seq-oss ; : ; }
#
install snd-rawmidi /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-rawmidi $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist snd-seq-midi ; : ; }
# Cause optional modules to be loaded above sound card driver modules
install snd-emu10k1 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-emu10k1 $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist snd-emu10k1-synth ; }
install snd-via82xx /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-via82xx $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist snd-seq ; }

# Load saa7134-alsa instead of saa7134 (which gets dragged in by it anyway)
install saa7134 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install saa7134 $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist saa7134-alsa ; : ; }
# Prevent abnormal drivers from grabbing index 0
options bt87x index=-2
options cx88_alsa index=-2
options saa7134-alsa index=-2
options snd-atiixp-modem index=-2
options snd-intel8x0m index=-2
options snd-via82xx-modem index=-2
options snd-usb-audio index=-2
options snd-usb-us122l index=-2
options snd-usb-usx2y index=-2
options snd-usb-caiaq index=-2
# Ubuntu #62691, enable MPU for snd-cmipci
options snd-cmipci mpu_port=0x330 fm_port=0x388
# Keep snd-pcsp from being loaded as first soundcard
options snd-pcsp index=-2
# Power down HDA controllers after 10 idle seconds
options snd-hda-intel power_save=10 power_save_controller=N

Any help would be welcomed because I'm a little lost...


Tooney.

[midna]

ya, i'm in the same boat. I've tried dozens of configurations and reinstallations but get no where..... I'm thinking that support for ac3 is minimal at best...

[tooney]

Hello Midna,

I finally was able to make it work!!!

I just make a new installation of XBMCBuntu without changing any parameter in asound.conf or other file.

On my A/V Receiver, I selected a specific input, which must be named "DVD something i can't remember".

With this parameter, the sound just was played on the front and rear speakers!!!

And best of all, the A/V Receiver switched alone between DTS and Dolby Digital (depending of the encoding of the sound)!

If this can help... Good luck with this problem, because I lost my hairs trying to solve it

[Azzir]

Heya Tooney,

Glad you were able to make this work, however I REALLY don't want to install XBMCbuntu when I've so nearly got my HTPC to a working condition (finally got tear free playback last night).

I finally got S/PDIF (coax) output working from the P5Q3 onboard audio card, however it only outputs to the front speakers...

If someone can help, I'd REALLY appreciate it, as I don't have many hairs to start with!!