[marigo]

Hello,

I have installed XMBCbuntu 11.0 beta3 and still have some issues with the correct setting for audio.

I followed this wiki but this give me no sound at all.

When I change both audio options (audio and passthrough) to custom "plughw:1,1" I have audio enabled in movies, but then I have no sound from TV channels xbmc receives from tvheadend.

I have searched for more info to deal with this issue and the things I get is "alsamixer" and "asound.conf". but then....I am lost.

Could someone give me a hint?

Here is the output from aplay -l

Code:

marigo@XBMC:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 1: VT1708S Digital [VT1708S Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[fat-tony]

I found that xbmc defaulted to the wrong language track on TV programmes. In my case most of my local DVB-T channels broadcast two sound tracks. The 1st track is the main dialogue track and the second one is marked (nar) which is for audio narration for vision impaired viewers. xbmc seemed to dafault to this track when available and it is silent (broadcaster setting). I had to manually switch to the first track for each channel. Your case may be different, but it's worth a try to bring up the information bar in the GUI and check how many audio channels are available.
Your 1,1 setting looks correct. I have been using HDMI sound under 0,3 in my config and now have switched to S/PDIF which is also 1,1 in my case. The settings work for me on the relevant cables.

[marigo]

Thanks for replying.

I've checked the channels and see if there where different audio tracks. Well, on some HD channels there are, but changing them makes no difference. I think it has something to do with alsamixer, but everything is unmuted there.

Actually I did make the ~/.asoundrc file and copied the following parameters:

Code:

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

But that didn't do the trick.

[fat-tony]

The title of your thread indicates that you are using S/PDIF. Is this a coaxial or optical cable connection into an amplifier or a tv? Is it possible that the amplifier or TV is set to a mode that supports DD or DTS signals (like those that work for you from movies) and won't support PCM? I'm not sure that you need the plughw setting, but that you should start by selecting the sound card in the xbmc gui - there may be several options for the SPDIF connection. Do you have navigation sounds enabled in the GUI and do they work? If you start tweaking the .asoundrc file before you have basic sound working you may further complicate your problem. If alsamixer is showing that you have S/PDIF selected and that all channels are unmuted, then you should be good to go.

[marigo]

I am using S/PDIF via an optical cable towards my home cinema receiver. There is not much to configure there on the input settings.

I have played with the sound settings in XBMC, but they all give "failed to initialize audio device". Only when I choose custom and add the plughw:1,1 there. movie sounds works. I don't have navigation sound but I can live with that.

Maybe I screwed up the audio thing and is a fresh install a good idea.

[marigo]

Hmmm, the problem seems to be between the mediabox and the chair. When I turned the volume, on the receiver, to almost maximum I can hear sound from the speakers so there is some signal. Again going into alsamixer and put all available channels to highest level. This seems to be the issue. I feel somewhat embarrassed.

Thx for thinking with me.