2011-05-21, 21:41
This is an issue that has been annoying me for quite a while now, and it's not exactly XBMC-specific, but I'm hoping someone has solved it...
I have XBMC 10.1 on a Mac Mini (OSX 10.6) plugged into a stereo system via an optical audio cable. If nothing is being played, instead of silence I get crackles, snaps, and pops coming through the speakers. This happens when I'm at the desktop, surfing the web, etc. As soon as a sound plays, the crackling stops, then when the sound is done it resumes crackling.
When looking through menus inside XBMC it does not happen. If I pause a movie, it starts crackling almost immediately. It did this in Plex as well (part of the reason I switched). And here's the odd part -- when I first started using XBMC (Dharma beta 4), there was no crackling when pausing a movie. But the official 10 release and 10.1 both have crackling when I pause.
After lots of investigation, I think what's happening is that the optical port is being shut down to conserve power. There are no settings that I can find to keep it on all the time. Programs like KeepSoundAwake and Antipop work sporadically, at best. I actually modified the Antipop script to make it more aggressive and it is still not working well enough for me.
I'm guessing that the Dharma beta version was doing something to keep the audio channel open, but that was changed with the official release. It would be nice to have that changed back, but I'd really like to find a real system-wide solution to this crackling. Apple is no help. Just getting them to acknowledge this problem is frustrating. Getting them to respond or to return a phone call is impossible. Has anyone else solved this issue? Any programs that work under Snow Leopard? Or would a USB sound card bypass this issue?
I have XBMC 10.1 on a Mac Mini (OSX 10.6) plugged into a stereo system via an optical audio cable. If nothing is being played, instead of silence I get crackles, snaps, and pops coming through the speakers. This happens when I'm at the desktop, surfing the web, etc. As soon as a sound plays, the crackling stops, then when the sound is done it resumes crackling.
When looking through menus inside XBMC it does not happen. If I pause a movie, it starts crackling almost immediately. It did this in Plex as well (part of the reason I switched). And here's the odd part -- when I first started using XBMC (Dharma beta 4), there was no crackling when pausing a movie. But the official 10 release and 10.1 both have crackling when I pause.
After lots of investigation, I think what's happening is that the optical port is being shut down to conserve power. There are no settings that I can find to keep it on all the time. Programs like KeepSoundAwake and Antipop work sporadically, at best. I actually modified the Antipop script to make it more aggressive and it is still not working well enough for me.
I'm guessing that the Dharma beta version was doing something to keep the audio channel open, but that was changed with the official release. It would be nice to have that changed back, but I'd really like to find a real system-wide solution to this crackling. Apple is no help. Just getting them to acknowledge this problem is frustrating. Getting them to respond or to return a phone call is impossible. Has anyone else solved this issue? Any programs that work under Snow Leopard? Or would a USB sound card bypass this issue?
