[kaczor47]

I am running XBCM Live (xbmcfreak maverick v2) on an ACER Revo 3610.
Because of my lousy tv and overscanning issues, I am forced to do video over VGA and audio over spdif [*]

The problem is that I cannot seem to get multi-channel audio to work over SPDIF (2-channel audio works fine). It works over HDMI, but this is not an option for me unfortunately.

edit:forgot to add, iec958 is selected in the audio settings, s/pdif is unmuted in the audio mixer/alsamixer.

More importantly - 2 channel audio works fine over spdif. Just not multichannel. I played a bunch of sample files, all work over hdmi, not spdif.


I am posting below the output of aplay -L and my .asoundrc . Could some kind soul help me in tweaking the latter - I don't understand the syntax. I am assuming my problem can be fixed by modifying .soundrc

Thanks in advance to everyone! (I hate linux)

[*] Once I plug in an hdmi cable into the revo, it no longer outputs the video over VGA - I looked in the bios but could not figure out a way to force video over VGA with audio only on HDMI...

.asoundrc :

Code:

pcm.both {
        type route
        slave {
                pcm multi
                channels 6
        }
        ttable.0.0 1.0
        ttable.1.1 1.0
        ttable.0.2 1.0
        ttable.1.3 1.0
        ttable.0.4 1.0
        ttable.1.5 1.0
}

pcm.multi {
        type multi
        slaves.a {
                pcm "hdmi_hw"
                channels 2
        }
        slaves.b {
                pcm "digital_hw"
                channels 2
        }
        slaves.c {
                pcm "analog_hw"
                channels 2
        }
        bindings.0.slave a
        bindings.0.channel 0
        bindings.1.slave a
        bindings.1.channel 1
        bindings.2.slave b
        bindings.2.channel 0
        bindings.3.slave b
        bindings.3.channel 1
        bindings.4.slave c
        bindings.4.channel 0
        bindings.5.slave c
        bindings.5.channel 1
}

pcm.hdmi_hw {
        type hw
        card 0
        device 3
        channels 2
}

pcm.hdmi_formatted {
        type plug
        slave {
                pcm hdmi_hw
                rate 48000
                channels 2
        }
}

pcm.hdmi_complete {
        type softvol
        slave.pcm hdmi_formatted
        control.name hdmi_volume
        control.card 0
}

pcm.digital_hw {
        type hw
        card 0
        device 1
        channels 2
}

pcm.analog_hw {
        type hw
        card 0
        device 0
        channels 2
}

Code:

kaczor@XBMCLive:~$ aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
both
multi
hdmi_formatted
hdmi_complete
default:CARD=NVidia
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
    HDMI Audio Output
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Digital
    Direct sample mixing device
dmix:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Digital
    Direct sample snooping device
dsnoop:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Digital
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Digital
    Hardware device with all software conversions
plughw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
    Hardware device with all software conversions

[slash]

If you want to use S/PDIF you should select iec958 in XBMC's the audio settings.

- Are you connecting the XBMC audio output to an amplifier ?
- You should run alsamixer and unmute iec958

[kaczor47]

If you want to use S/PDIF you should select iec958 in XBMC's the audio settings.

- Are you connecting the XBMC audio output to an amplifier ?
- You should run alsamixer and unmute iec958

Hi, thanks for the reply. Indeed, I am connecting it to a Yamaha amp.

I neglected to mention these

- iec958 is selected in the audio settings
- s/pdif is unmuted in the audio mixer/alsamixer

More importantly - 2 channel audio works fine over spdif. Just not multichannel. I played a bunch of sample files, all work over hdmi, not spdif.

[poofyhairguy]

SPDIF lacks the bandwidth for multichannel PCM. It can only handle two channel PCM. Unless you have the audio in a DTS or AC3 track that is bit-streamed, then two channel is the best SPDIF can do. That is why HDMI is considered such an upgrade- it CAN handle multichannel PCM.

[kaczor47]

Thanks, that is indeed the case - dts works fine.

I guess that I need to try and find a way to output video through vga and audio via hdmi. This is not a xbmc task, but a general revo problem, I suppose.

(Or get a decent tv that does not overscan hdmi like this.)