HDMI audio working with Ubuntu 9.04- not with XBMC
#1
I have HDMI audio working with my Ubuntu 9.04 but not with XBMC. I have an audio card with a S/PDIF cable connected to a 9400GT which is connected to the TV via a HDMI cable. I can play audio and video in Ubuntu and it comes out of the TV nicely but I get no audio in XBMC. I tried various configs with the Audio Output & Passthrough settings in XBMC but I have yet to get it right. Any help would be appreciated. Thanx.

xbmc@xbmc:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ICE1724 [ICEnsemble ICE1724], device 0: ICE1724 [ICE1724]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: ICE1724 [ICEnsemble ICE1724], device 1: ICE1724 IEC958 [ICE1724 IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

xbmc@xbmc:~$ cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Compiled on Nov 9 2009 for kernel 2.6.28-16-generic (SMP).

Audio Output Device: default, ICE1724, custom hw:0,1, custom plughw:0,1
Passthrough Outpu Device: iec958, hdmi, custom
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#2
going to take a shot here but did you try changing the output on audio output to plug:hdmi?
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#3
I just tried it with "plug:hdmi" and didn't work. Thanx for the try.

What's driving me crazy is that I can play MP3 files and videos all day long using Ubuntu's media player and the HDMI audio is perfect but XBMC just will not play the audio. I'll keep trying the audio setups. Once you start looking at the various audio settings and configs, it's daunting to know there are so many places and so many variables.
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#4
If you have your spdif connected to your hdmi card, then your audio device is the spdif - not the hdmi card.

Try changing your audio settings to:

Audio output device - default
Passthrough device - IEC958
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#5
Exclamation 
Ok, I got it to work!!!!!! Here's the details:

Ubuntu 9.04
nVidia 9400GT low profile (DVI to HDMI cable to HDTV)
Azuntech X-Studio 5.1 low profile audio card
(hard to find l/p audio card with S/PDIF, no special drivers needed)

# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ICE1724 [ICEnsemble ICE1724], device 0: ICE1724 [ICE1724]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: ICE1724 [ICEnsemble ICE1724], device 1: ICE1724 IEC958 [ICE1724 IEC958]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Config as such:

Ubuntu Sound Config
System> Preferences> Sound:

Sound Events- ICEnsemble ICE1724 ICE1724 IEC958 (ALSA)
Music and Movies- ICEnsemble ICE1724 ICE1724 IEC958 (ALSA)
Audio Conferencing- ICEnsemble ICE1724 ICE1724 IEC958 (ALSA)
Sound Capture- ALSA - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
Default Mixer Tracks- ICEnsemble ICE1724 (Alsa mixer)
(make sure appropriate devices are unmuted)

XBMC Sound Config
Audio output----------------------------Digital
-Dolby Digital (AC3) Capable receiver-----off
-DTS Capable Receiver-------------------off
Audio ouput device----------------------custom
Custom audio device---------------------plughw:0,1
Passthrough output device---------------iec958 or hdmi
Downmix multichannel audio to stereo-----on
(if you don't have this on, you only
hear music or sound effects)

The most important part was to reference iec958 device--> plugw:0,1 and turning off Dolby Digital & DTS. The last two settings will disable the audio if you have it enabled.

One small hurdle to get over is that I don't have navigation sounds in XBMC. I may put that to bed unless someone throws me an easy dog bone.
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#6
Correction:

I did some more playing around with the audio settings and found you can enable Dolby without affecting the HDMI output.

-Dolby Digital (AC3) Capable receiver-----on
-DTS Capable Receiver-------------------off

Make sure DTS is off or you will hear didley.

Update:

You may also need to turn off Dolby as well. With the settings above, I started to watch Lord of the Rings last night and I heard no sound. I turned off Dolby and heard sound. It must be related to a codec.
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