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bionemesis · 2012-11-30, 19:55

My HTPC has run XBMC fine in the past. Most recently, it had been running fine under Windows 8 and OpenELEC prior to that. I decided to scrap the Win8 install because, quite frankly, I'm not impressed with Win8. It would also occasionally lose audio and require a reboot to restore. This began my problems.

Since removing Windows 8, I have not been able to get HDMI audio working in XBMC. I have gone through Windows 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit, Ubuntu (32-bit and 64-bit), Linux Mint (32-bit and 64-bit) and OpenELEC 2. In Linux, I could get it working without the "Failed to initialize audio" error, but it was nothing but static. Otherwise, no matter what I chose in the XBMC audio settings, it would error out with "Failed to initialize audio".

Now, here is where things get strange. In every single OS I have tried, audio works fine in the OS itself, and XBMC makes normal sounds when moving around in the interface. With the current Windows 7 32-bit I am running, I can configure my speakers in Windows for 5.1 and test without issue. Anything I open in VLC, including files with surround sound tracks, plays audio beautifully. But no audio in XBMC. What am I missing?

PS: I tried running the latest beta of XBMC, just to see, and had the same issue but terrible video playback. Running latest nightly isn't a great idea for me as I use MySQL for my library and share it between multiple machines at home. I also pulled in another machine to rule out my receiver and it worked fine.

**PatK** · (This post was last modified: 2012-11-30, 22:02 by PatK.)

Audio is part of your hardware, either on the mb part of the gfx card would need the drivers installed. Sounds like you have the drivers installed, but looks like the switch from analog local to HDMI is at issue... there is a possibility of an incorrect setting with the HDMI ouput playback devices on the PC. I'd first check in Frodo settings>system>audio output> audio output device and audio pass through device is set for direct sound->HDMI ouput and ensure you have Audio output HDMI. Note these changes will require a re-start of XBMC to take effect (at least from what I've noticed).

So Windows 8 is as bad as that... hmm. Stick with Frodo Beta, the nighties are being fine tuned.

bionemesis · 2012-11-30, 22:04

No luck, I'm afraid. Drivers are installed and up to date. And as mentioned in my original post, both native Windows and VLC are able to use full 5.1 surround.

baijuxavior · 2012-12-01, 09:18

Try Direcsound instead of WASAPI in xbmc audio settings.

bionemesis · 2012-12-01, 09:21

Tried that already. Have tried all options under audio.

darbyweb · 2012-12-01, 17:34

Cant help you out with this other than i have EXACTLY the same issue running Eden on Win8

HDMI is playing fine in the OS and during XBMC navigation, but if a select anything other than Analog i get the same Failed to Initialize...

Would try a Frodo build but using the Control4 driver for control which only works with Eden at present

Will subscribe in case anyone has any other suggestions

Livin · 2012-12-01, 23:14

If you have really tried fresh installs of multiple OSes , then everything you describe points to only two possibilities...
1) hardware problem
or
2) not configuring XBMC or OS properly

I've used dozens of XBMC builds (beta & released Eden & Frodo alpha & beta) on Win7 x64 with at least 15 different NVidia driver versions (released, beta, and leaked/mod'd)... they all work perfectly for me.

If you are using a clean install of Win7 and latest official Nvidia drivers for your PC...
a) set the OS default audio output to the HDMI
-- test in the OS audio control panel... you should hear twinkle sounds in all the speakers. If not, you have a problem. If you hear it, move to the next step
b) install XBMC clean
c) set XBMC settings: DirectSound, speakers to 5.1
-- play a movie.

It will work if you have not messed with anything else.

bionemesis · 2012-12-01, 23:18

You just described, in detail, exactly what I already did with Windows 7 32 and 64 bit. I'm with you, thinking hardware. It's just strange that the OS sound works fine. 5.1 speaker test outputs great. And xbmc navigation sounds work too. I'll try and pick up a video card to test on Monday.

rwspears · (This post was last modified: 2012-12-02, 10:49 by rwspears.)

You say you used another PC or perhaps a blueRay player or even a PS3 device to test DTS or AC3 audio via the HDMI connection and it works passing through the audio?

It is possible that PCM audio is working to the receiver through the HDMI but the DTS AC3 isn't.

bionemesis · 2012-12-02, 11:15

Yes, I used another PC successfully. What would cause DTS AC3 to fail?

**jjd-uk** · 2012-12-02, 15:28

Check out my new thread http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=146911

If you're getting "Failed to initialize audio" while using WASAPI then you may not have Exclusive Mode configured in Windows.

See Item 2. Check exclusive mode settings

More info on wiki @ http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Win...udioEngine

bionemesis · 2012-12-03, 03:19

So I went through everything and the only thing out of place is that there is nothing listed under encoded formats. It then occurred to me the one thing I've been doing differently that could explain part of my issue.

When I do a fresh install, I can't use me wireless hd and projector due to refresh rate limitations. So I have to hook up a monitor and set everything up first, leaving the audio to last after hooking back into the projector.

These last few times though, instead of going direct from the pc to the monitor, I've been going through the receiver to the monitor. My theory at this point is that the monitor at the end is the problem and hooking back into the projector isn't allowing the pc to pick up the change properly and permit ac3. Although Hdmi, the monitor doesn't appear to support hdcp.

If I'm right, I should be able to install Windows or Linux again and bypass the receiver until I'm ready to setup the custom refresh rate. It appears that there is no easy way to force the pc to pickup the change. Even uninstalling the driver didn't work. After reinstall and restart, the pc still had the custom refresh rate configured. That tells me whatever faulty settings that existed before, still exist. I'll try a fresh install tonight bypassing the receiver and see how it goes.

**jjd-uk** · 2012-12-03, 12:22

OK something is definitely wrong at the OS level if nothing is listed in encoded formats.

Since you're going through the receiver make sure any HDMI Control (CEC) settings are turned off/disabled

Also check whether your receiver supports HDMI audio passthrough to the receiver HDMI out, you've not stated your make of receiver but this is normally in your HDMI settings and on Onkyo is called "Audio TV Out" and on Yamaha it's "Audio Output" with a "TV" or "Amp" selection. This should be disabled or set to Amp as it will be sending the audio abilities of the device connected to the receiver HDMI out to the PC and not the audio abilities of the receiver.

bionemesis · 2012-12-03, 23:35

Yes, CEC settings were enabled on the receiver. I have disabled and am installing Windows 7 fresh. My attempt at bypassing the receiver exposed that the receiver is the culprit. I was able to get everything working great in Linux using optical audio and bypassing the receiver for HDMI. I'd still rather use HDMI though, as bypassing the receiver means changing the source on my wirelessHD switch each time. Annoying (it came with a remote, but I can't find the damn thing).

All said though, I'm dying to figure out what changed. All I can think now is that something is broken on the receiver. I picked up another video card to rule that out and the same problem existed. If this works with CEC disabled, awesome. But CEC would have been enabled this whole time. I just wonder if something is different with Windows 8 and CEC and it caused the receiver to start looking at the PC differently. Although, I would think a different graphics card would have overwritten those changes. Strange, strange, strange ...

bionemesis · 2012-12-04, 00:48

All fixed! Windows 7 is installed and XBMC is running with full AC3 over HDMI. So, something must have caused my receiver to suddenly start caring about CEC, whereas it never has before. It could very easily have been the configuration of PC > Receiver > non-HDCP compliant monitor instead of my previous use of PC > non-HDCP compliant monitor. Or Windows 8, or Linux Mint 14. In any case, I'm happy and it's working. Thanks for all the help everyone!