HD Audio and flickering Display issues after upgrade
#1
Hi folks.

I was happily running with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and Kodi 16.x, and last night decided to run a system update, which pulled in the new Kodi V17. I tend to avoid system updates as they always cause issues, (for one, the old Xbox DVD remote needs its driver recompiled every time) and this time was no exception.

Its a Intel G3220 CPU with the onboard video, so uses the Intel drivers. The system is a dedicated HTPC, and boots directly into Kodi and is only controlled by remote.

With V17 installed, the video playback didnt work at all. Transpires i needed a newer video driver or something, and the fix was to upgrade to 16.04. So i upgraded to 16.04, and set off down the usual path of making it all work again!

I've fixed most things, but there are two issues i'm stumped with at the moment.

First of all, passthru audio. On 14.04 i didnt use PulseAudio, it simply wasnt installed. 16.04 reinstalled it, and it seems that removing it is harder on the newer versions, so i followed the instructions to turn it off (autospawn=no in the config file). Once completed Passthru was working, however HD Audio was not.

I've attached a debug log, showing me playing both a DTS-MA and the Dolby True HD file. With the DTS file, the reciever shows normal DTS, rather than DTS-MA. With the Dolby file, the reciever shows 2.0 PCM as the input.

The second issue, while more minor, is there seems to be some weirdness going on with mode changes on the display. For instance, when the display dims, the TV flicks black, and then pops up "HDMI1" as though theres been a mode change, then it resyncs and displays the dimmed image. Similarly when you undim the screen, the same thing happens. The screen will undim, then after a moment the TV will say "HDMI1 1080p/50hz" as though there was a mode change. Same thing happens when video playback commences. The video will start playing, audio will start, and then the display will go black, and after a moment will resync and again display "HDMI1 1080p/60hz" (or some other frequency, depending on the video)

It never used to do this on the old system at all!

Log file is here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/prjz27w4trewl7y/kodi.log?dl=0

Cheers
Kev
Reply
#2
I should also add, that the HD audio options do not appear in the Audio menu as they did in the previous version, beside the "DTS Capable reciever" etc.
Reply
#3
I've put the log on pastiebin instead, maybe that'll encourage some responses?

https://www.pastiebin.com/58c054ee60025
Reply
#4
No-one have any ideas?

I'm looking at this:

Enumerated ALSA devices:
09:10:32.255 T:140481839249792 NOTICE: Device 1
09:10:32.255 T:140481839249792 NOTICE: m_deviceName : hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0
09:10:32.255 T:140481839249792 NOTICE: m_displayName : HDA Intel
09:10:32.255 T:140481839249792 NOTICE: m_displayNameExtra: ONK TX-SR608 on HDMI
09:10:32.255 T:140481839249792 NOTICE: m_deviceType : AE_DEVTYPE_HDMI
09:10:32.255 T:140481839249792 NOTICE: m_channels : FL,FR,LFE,FC,BC,BL,BR,FLOC,FROC,BLOC,BROC,TFC,TC,TFL,TFR,UNKNOWN1
09:10:32.255 T:140481839249792 NOTICE: m_sampleRates : 32000,44100,48000
09:10:32.255 T:140481839249792 NOTICE: m_dataFormats : AE_FMT_RAW,AE_FMT_S16NE,AE_FMT_S16LE,AE_FMT_RAW
09:10:32.255 T:140481839249792 NOTICE: m_streamTypes : STREAM_TYPE_AC3,STREAM_TYPE_DTSHD,STREAM_TYPE_DTSHD_CORE,STREAM_TYPE_DTS_1024,STREAM_TYPE_DTS_2048,STREAM_TYPE_DTS_512,STREAM_TYPE_EAC3,STREAM_TYPE_TRUEHD

You can see the amp is clearly signalling that it can do DTSHD and TRUEHD, but the sampleRates values only goto 48000, which presumably isnt enough...

Is this a driver issue? A config issue?

It worked before the upgrade, but i dont have a debug log from then to see what samplerates were showing on the old version.
Reply
#5
That DTSHD is NOT from the AVR. It's by us - we only evaluate the samplerates and dataFormats on startup.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
Reply
#6
ah ok, so somethings going on and the AVR isnt passing the correct edid?

Not sure what to do, i did make a small wiring change to my config around the same time as upgrading, so i'm going to try reverting that first off to see if that makes any difference.

Can you recommend a decent edid parser? I've used get-edid | parse-edid but it doesnt seem to give any of the audio details.

edid-decode says this:

Audio data block
Linear PCM, max channels 1
Supported sample rates (kHz): 48 44.1 32
Supported sample sizes (bits): 24 20 16

but i've seen other dumps online with much more detail...
Reply
#7
Ok edid-decode is actually fine.

Went into the amp config and disabled "output HDMI Audio to TV" and then rescanned the EDID:

Audio data block
Linear PCM, max channels 1
Supported sample rates (kHz): 192 176.4 96 88.2 48 44.1 32
Supported sample sizes (bits): 24 20 16
Linear PCM, max channels 7
Supported sample rates (kHz): 192 176.4 96 88.2 48 44.1 32
Supported sample sizes (bits): 24 20 16
AC-3, max channels 7
Supported sample rates (kHz): 48 44.1 32
Maximum bit rate: 1016 kHz
DTS, max channels 7
Supported sample rates (kHz): 48 44.1
Maximum bit rate: 1016 kHz
One Bit Audio, max channels 5
Supported sample rates (kHz): 44.1
Dolby Digital+, max channels 7
Supported sample rates (kHz): 48 44.1
DTS-HD, max channels 7
Supported sample rates (kHz): 192 176.4 96 88.2 48 44.1
MAT (MLP), max channels 7
Supported sample rates (kHz): 192 96 48


I presume when its set to forward the audio to the TV, for some reason it forwards the basic EDID...

Soo, i guess we want to capture the EDID with that setting turned off, save it somehow, and then switch the "output HDMI Audio to TV" back on and hope the amp accepts the DTSHD etc.
Reply
#8
Well touch wood the HD Audio stuff seems to be fixed.

I used the guide you wrote here: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2148505

Saved the valid EDID data with the setting turned off, then turned the setting back on and rebooted and it seems to work Smile DTS HD is sent thru to the receiver and plays fine.


Its a slightly odd setup, but the HDMI Out feed from the AVR to the TV goes into a small splitter box which breaks out the audio and sends it to another room. Hence HDMI Audio Out needs to be enabled, but for some reason doing so means the AVR uses a basic EDID instead (perhaps the TV's EDID?). The amplifier has "zone2" mode which you would think would be perfect for doing what i need, except for some reason it wont send HDMI audio out to zone2, only signals its recieved from analog. I like to be able to send both music from Kodi and music from SkyTV out to the other room, and they're both connected with HDMI.


Just need to sort the mildly annoying mode changes that the TV is doing now. Maybe i'll take a video of whats going on.
Reply
#9
Disable "Adjust Refreshrate" - if you mean these as annoying.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
HD Audio and flickering Display issues after upgrade0