I tried to get this working, but had no luck. It sounds like what I am looking to do, which is a nice simple setup that allows me to pass DTS and AC3 audio over to my receiver.
I currently have the a52 plugin installed and using that to output my 5.1 surround, but it's been a little flaky and I'd like a more permanent solution. I'm not sure if have that installed would conflict in anyway with trying to setup the audio with the methods described here. From the aplay output below, you can see my nVidia card is residing at hw:1,3, so that is what I used in place of other devices. I also tried both the Defaults (ALSA)/passthrough and Custom settings, and neither worked with or without DTS and AC3 selected.
aplay -L
Code:
default
Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
pulse
Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
Front speakers
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Digital
IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
dmix:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Digital
Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Digital
Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Digital
Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Analog
Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
HDA Intel PCH, ALC892 Digital
Hardware device with all software conversions
a52:CARD=PCH
HDA Intel PCH
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
HDMI Audio Output
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
Hardware device with all software conversions
a52:CARD=NVidia
HDA NVidia
aplay -l
Code:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC892 Analog [ALC892 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC892 Digital [ALC892 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
sudo dmesg | grep HDMI
Code:
[ 13.492753] HDMI status: Pin=4 Presence_Detect=0 ELD_Valid=0
[ 13.516748] HDMI status: Pin=5 Presence_Detect=0 ELD_Valid=0
[ 13.532811] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input7
[ 13.532874] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input8
[ 16.397961] HDMI hot plug event: Pin=5 Presence_Detect=1 ELD_Valid=0
[ 16.408755] HDMI status: Pin=5 Presence_Detect=1 ELD_Valid=0
[ 16.416761] HDMI hot plug event: Pin=5 Presence_Detect=0 ELD_Valid=1
[ 16.424762] HDMI status: Pin=5 Presence_Detect=1 ELD_Valid=1
[ 17.216787] HDMI: detected monitor TX-SR313
[ 17.216788] at connection type HDMI
[ 17.216791] HDMI: available speakers: FL/FR LFE FC RL/RR
[ 17.216795] HDMI: supports coding type LPCM: channels = 2, rates = 44100 48000 88200 176400 192000 384000, bits = 16 20 24
[ 17.216799] HDMI: supports coding type LPCM: channels = 6, rates = 44100 48000 88200 176400 192000 384000, bits = 16 20 24
[ 17.216801] HDMI: supports coding type AC-3: channels = 8, rates = 44100 48000 88200, max bitrate = 640000
[ 17.216804] HDMI: supports coding type DTS: channels = 8, rates = 48000 88200, max bitrate = 1536000
[ 17.216806] HDMI: supports coding type DSD (One Bit Audio): channels = 6, rates = 48000
[ 17.216808] HDMI: supports coding type E-AC-3/DD+ (Dolby Digital Plus): channels = 8, rates = 48000 88200
[ 17.216811] HDMI: supports coding type DTS-HD: channels = 8, rates = 48000 88200 176400 192000 384000
[ 17.216813] HDMI: supports coding type MLP (Dolby TrueHD): channels = 8, rates = 88200 192000