[mightydh]

providing your amp is fine,

Out of curiosity, what AVR do you have? I am suspecting that my cheap Onkyo might be having a handshake issue and that might be the root cause after I upgrade the Kernel.

[Adam_D]

Mines also an Onkyo but is a TX-NR609. The HDMI LED on the front flashes followed by a nice "click" and then the sound kicks in.

[basco]

@mightydh

try the following as a starting point:

- if you use forced edid files in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, remove them.
- start xbmc, switch off "Adjust refresh rate.." and "Sync playback to...." and exit
- switch all off: unplug(!) tv, receiver off, htpc off)
- switch receiver on
- switch htpc on (make sure xbmc starts automatically ofcourse)
- switch tv on

try to play an DTS-HD MA file and let us know what the result is... :o)

[mightydh]

@mightydh

try the following as a starting point:

- if you use forced edid files in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, remove them.
- start xbmc, switch off "Adjust refresh rate.." and "Sync playback to...." and exit
- switch all off: unplug(!) tv, receiver off, htpc off)
- switch receiver on
- switch htpc on (make sure xbmc starts automatically ofcourse)
- switch tv on

Will do tonight and update. I have not edited my edid files (I have not found a "edid files for dummies" guide). What is the theory that this will correct?

I should be getting my Denon AVR-1612 tomorrow for testing this weekend after PAX East. FYI: Onkyo ht rc230 is the current AVR.

[basco]

just remove any edid files from your xorg.conf if any at all.
i think you might have the same issues with your new receiver.

the theory is as follows:
frodo (AE, older versions wheren't that smart automatically detects receivers.
so far so good.
but some receivers pass through the edid of the display to your graphics card at a certain point in time (@ switch on of the display).
xbmc detects this and uses the audio edid of your display.
your display can't output DTS-HD MA, so it's edid info does not contain a valid DTS-HD MA section.
forcing your amp edid in xorg.conf does not work to fix this so far because as soon the display edid is pased through to your htpc by the receiver it will be used by xbmc (i'm still debugging this).

what brand of display have you got? it might be display related. my display sends new edid info every time the refresh rate changes also, so i loose MA audio as soon as xbmc syncs refresh rate, that's why set if to off for now.

a hardware fix would be to use a hdmi cable wihout E-DCC wires TO YOUR DISPLAY and force edid in xorg.conf (not tested; or you can cut pins 15 and 16 from the hdmi cable).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#DDC

[fritsch]

Na AE is not that intelligent :-)

[basco]

yeah.... AE...
let me rephrase that

some other piece of software on your htpc

[mightydh]

All - I swapped out my Onkyo and put in a new Denon AVR. All seems fixed. Apparently the Onkyo was cheap for a reason and did not handshake properly.

[basco]

on my onkyio i have a setting under hdmi submenu called 'control' if you enable it (and it's subsequent options) you should be ok with your onkyo.

[Morrtin]

Sorry to pump this threat up again but I am lost.

I have the same problem with my INTEL setup. I understood upgrading to newest kernel solves the problem because a patch from
intel is included. But I am using Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS which has kernel 3.2.0.41

Additional to XBMC duty this server provides my groupware Zarafa (which is released for 12.04) I am "scared" to upgrade my kernel.

Do you thing it is still a quite safe approach to upgrade the kernel?
or would it be better to implement intel patch?

Kernel upgrade is very nice described in the Wiki (Intel Linux Modifications for HD Audio) but I didn't find any "nice" guide how to implement the patch.

My Hardware:
CPU - Intel Core i3-2105, HD Graphics 3000
Mobo - ASUS P8H77-I, H77 (Sockel-1155, dual PC3-12800U DDR3)

So I have S/PDIF and HDMI (but only using HDMI)

[fritsch]

No - you also should not run htpc software on a productive server.

[flitter2009]

The kernel upgrade worked for me, it was quite easy (certainly easier than the patch).

[Morrtin]

I know what you mean.

But the server is only for me, so not a big "productive" here. At the moment I would go the route of upgrading the kernel.

Off topic: Just a short inside info: I had an extra computer for XBMC (actually two) so I started to play around with remote database and thumbnails.
But as I like to use something like Maraschino (in the long run) I need a XBMC 24/7 (not only the database) - So the idea raised to have one computer
doing all - only one computer (server) is running nearly 24/7 and not two (server and htpc). I will still try to achieve this but if there are to many stones on the
road I have to switch to a two computer system again anyways :-(

[fritsch]

For all:

Code:

mkdir ~/3.9.0
cd ~/3.9.0

For 64 bit:

Code:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-raring/linux-headers-3.9.0-030900-generic_3.9.0-030900.201304291257_amd64.deb http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-raring/linux-headers-3.9.0-030900_3.9.0-030900.201304291257_all.deb http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-raring/linux-image-3.9.0-030900-generic_3.9.0-030900.201304291257_amd64.deb

For 32 bit:

Code:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-raring/linux-headers-3.9.0-030900-generic_3.9.0-030900.201304291257_i386.deb http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-raring/linux-headers-3.9.0-030900_3.9.0-030900.201304291257_all.deb http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-raring/linux-image-3.9.0-030900-generic_3.9.0-030900.201304291257_i386.deb

Followed by for all:

Code:

sudo dpkg -i *deb
sudo update-grub

If you are on intel, also edit /etc/default/grub
and change the line "quiet splash" to "i915.i915_enable_rc6=0 quiet splash"
followed by:

Code:

sudo update-grub

Now just reboot.

[Morrtin]

Thank you fritsch

Am I correct I have to do also the following as I have SPDIF and HDMI

aplay -L | grep -i iec958

If you find S/PDIF on the same card as your intel hdmi rmmod the module that drives your S/PDIF.

What does "rmmod the module" mean?