[LtHummus]

When playing video files in XBMC, everything works fine if the file has Dolby Digital or DTS audio in it. If the file has mp3 audio, I get no sound. My computer is hooked up via HDMI to an Onkyo A/V receiver which plays the audio and forwards the video on to the television.

I have an Aspire Revo 3610 (which has an integrated Nvidia graphics card) running Ubuntu Linux 10.10. I have uninstalled PulseAudio. I installed xbmc from the SVN ppa (I am currently running XBMC 10.0 r35648..compiled December 17, 2010). My xbmc.log file can be viewed at http://pastebin.com/GAhvKT1Z. Note that in my debug log I play two files, the first one has mp3 audio and I get no sound. The second file has Dolby Digital 2.0 and sound works as expected.


Here are some useful things from my box:

Code:

xbmc@xbmc-desktop:~$ uname -a
Linux xbmc-desktop 2.6.35-28-generic #50-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 18 19:00:26 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux

Code:

xbmc@xbmc-desktop:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC662 rev1 Digital [ALC662 rev1 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

A screenshot of my XBMC audio output configuration can be viewed at http://i.imgur.com/r6Wa4.jpg

Thanks for looking and for any advice!

[LtHummus]

Well my Ubuntu install died (for unrelated reasons) so I ended up reinstalling Ubuntu 10.10 and reconfiguring and everything works now. Weird.

[drowd]

I tried searching for this on the forums and wound up here, it seems to be a difficult thing to search for.

Anyway, I am in an almost identical configuration (xbmc live 10.10, acer aspire revo hooked to onkyo receiver via hdmi) with the same problem. mainly DTS, AC3 all play just fine, but relatively recently it seems, mp3 audio refuses to play.

It's starting to look like im going to have to reinstall given the solution for the OP, but it would be nice if there was a resolution to this. Anyone else have this problem too?

[jingo_man]

yes, i am having a similar issue. able to view all the movies and tv shows on my local network, with familiar formats.

unable to hear any audio from web flash/rtmp streams, which i think are either MP3 or AAC endoded stereo audio.

also have an onkyo AVR, but with an Asus P5N7A-VM based HTPC system, also using NVidia HDMI.

i am near to the point of a fresh install, i just cant bring myself to actually bring on this world of pain... was holding out for some assistance to troubleshoot & progress, but the clock is ticking! haha.

[jingo_man]

either of you guys able to install couple of add-ons for me please, just to test with your now-working-installs-after-reinstall platforms?

liveonlinefooty (from repository.mortstar.addons-1.2.0.zip)

livestreams (from repository.divingmule.addons.zip, i think)

both use online web flash streams, which i CANNOT get audio working. video streams flawlessly! top one is a subscribed service, so if you can help i will provide the user auth details. the second has 100's of streams - anything that is the same format as the previous would be useful.

any help would be appreciated guys.

[Gryph]

You'll probably need a custom asound.conf file to sort this out. I used to have that problem with my old setup.

Try editing /etc/asound.conf - and use the following:

---------
pcm.!default {

type plug
slave {
pcm "hdmi"
}

}

-------

I can't remember if I needed "hdmi" or "hw:0,3"

Also have a look here: http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=HOW-TO_set_u...,_or_GT240

[jingo_man]

thanks for the tip off, gryph

i had a thought it would be in this area.

i think i had a system corruption too, with dodgy messages from System Updates, etc.

i installed Maverick, which still had the same problem, even with a fresh install. i tried a bunch of /etc/asound.conf files, from the dozens of tutorials, guides and forum threads that are available...

in the end, i reinstalled yet again back to lucid. this seemed to do the trick. i dont even have the above file in my setup! but analog/sd audio is playing. all the add-ons and plugins have returned, namely the 2 i listed below as well as youtube and others.

no clue what the resolution was, and dont think i can list "reinstall o/s" as a fix...

[Gryph]

The joys of trying to sort out audio over HDMI - If I had any hair left it would've been pulled out last time I tried to sort it out on Maverick.

Then when I installed Natty I tried this setup: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=96316 - As I wanted to see if I could get DTS-HDMA and first install it just worked.
I'm too scared to touch it now. I've learnt the hard way "If it ain't broke don't touch it"

[stevellion]

Gryph - Many thanks, your asound.rc fixed my SPDIF woes - that happened after a kernel update within Natty. Now it all works fine again.

My .asoundrc now is like this:

Code:

pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm "hw:0,1"
  }
}

Previously, it was this - which was a bit unreliable, but generally worked (until the kernel upgrade)

Code:

pcm.dmixer {
  type dmix
  ipc_key 1024
  slave {
    pcm "hw:0,1"
    period_time 0
    period_size 1024
    buffer_size 8192
    #periods 128
    #rate 44100
    rate 48000
  }
  bindings {
    0 0
    1 1
  }
}

Think is, I've never really quite understood what .asoundrc does in detail..
But.. now it works, that will do