[wdedalus]

I'm trying to get XBMC setup with my new custom-built Hackintosh. Having a bit of a sound nightmare - and have no idea if it's the hackintosh or the program. I'm pretty sure it's XBMC, because when I watch films through DVDPlayer through the OS, I get no problems at all.

Here's what happens when I try to play a movie via XBMC:

1) I play a movie. Sound is messed up - like I'm only hearing the rear channels of the surround channel.

2) I mess with the audio settings and set it to this:
audio output = "optical/coax" (had been set to "analog" before)
speaker config = 5.1 (this remains the same as before)
audio output device = built-in output (had been set to "Default" before)

3) Voila! 5.1 surround. I stop the film and play a different one. A deafening ticking sound. AAAARGH!

4) I go into settings and change the output to analog. Now the image hangs up...like it's playing 1 frame of the video every second. Sound is gone entirely. I change back to optical/coax and nothing changes (still hung-up picture and no sound).

5) I stop the film. Re-start it. Still hanging up picture / no change.

6) I quit the program, then re-launch it.

7) Now the same film I just tried plays fine.

8) I try a different film. Now I'm back at step 1. Only way to fix the sound is to change the audio output, then re-start the program.

This happens whether I'm switching between a DVD or something on the local drive.

[RipT]

The XBMC Audio Engine is a mess on OSX. So not terribly surprising that it's bad on a hackintosh.

Typically, you should set the Audio Output to whatever you are actually using (HDMI, or Optical if you want surround sound).
Set Speaker Config to 2.0 (It's along story, but it won't stop the surround sound on passthroughs)
Set all the passthrough options per whatever your surround sound receiver can handle, typically AC3, DTS and Multichannel-LPCM all enabled. Another long story on caveats to this, but at least enable AC3 passthrough if you want to play DVDs.
Set audio output device to whatever you are using (or Default, which should be the same)
Open Audio-MIDI setup in your Utilities folder and set to 2 channels if your using HDMI (another long story? You bet it is)

Now try to play your 5.1 channel DVD or whatever else.

This assumes you are using XBMC 12 Frodo, or a recent nightly. If it's 11 Eden or earlier, I don't know what to do.

[wdedalus]

Thanks for the advice, RipT.

I'm on XBMC 12. Tried all that. My hackintosh doesn't have an optical out, and HDMI doesn't carry sound - so the only sound output I have is the audio (mini) jack in back. Strangely, it plays 5.1 if I play through Mac's DVDPlayer...? Just on XBMC does it have the issues...

Still no dice. Any other ideas?

[RipT]

I'm afraid I don't understand your system setup. An audio (mini) jack sounds like a headphone jack which could never have 5.1 sound. Unless it is mini-toslink like a real mac would have which can act as a headphone jack or an optical jack with the right adapter. Maybe you could describe your setup in some detail, both computer, operating system, sound system, video display and cables connecting it all.

XBMC 12 does have audio engine issues, especially on osx. One thing you might try is using XBMC 11 (Eden). I use it on an old powerbook which can't run Frodo, and it's pretty reliable.