[koztya]

hi, All

recently I upgraded my xbmc 11 installed on ubuntu to xbmc 12 frodo, and I got problem with sound during movie playback.
when I start play movie then I get no sound via passthrough, if I stop playing and try playing again then after 5-10 such tries I finally get sound.
before upgrade I never had such problem.
I removed ubuntu and installed xbmcbuntu from xbmcbuntu-12.00-RC3.Intel-NVIDIA.iso
and I have the same problem - no sound via passtrough, after several start/stops - sound works.
for sure I tried xbmcbuntu 11 - and sound works normally.
my receiver is some of Sven music sets..
when I have no sound then receiver anyway reports that it gets Dolby Digital. sven's receiver showes some moving text when it gets dolby digital, and when I have such problem with sound then such text starts writing again and again, i.e. looks like receiver gets new dolby digital stream, then after moment it gets again new dolby digital stream and so on..

here is my debug log - http://paste.ubuntu.com/1509660/
aplay -l:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: AD198x Digital [AD198x Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[koztya]

is there anything that I can test or try to change in config?

I tried <streamsilence>1</streamsilence> at advanced config. it didn't solve the problem.

[crlorentzen]

Hi koztya,

Unfortunately it looks like no-one has any ideas. I looked at the log and don't see any of the failures that I have seen with Frodo. All I can suggest is to use aplay -L to see the device name that can be used with the speaker-test -D <device> -c 2 test. I expect that it will be iec958 like my system.

So when you see the problem try this. Stop the playback, get into a terminal on your system and try
$ speaker-test -D iec958 -c 2
let us know the results.

It's also possible that the sink is getting stuck in data instead of audio mode or vice versa
I used to play with the iecset tool on my system.
$ iecset

Sorry if this doesn't help or is things you already tried.

[koztya]

hi, crlorentzen

So when you see the problem try this. Stop the playback, get into a terminal on your system and try
$ speaker-test -D iec958 -c 2
let us know the results.

when I try to do it then I hear some noise from left and right speakers. so I guess that means that speakers work ok.
but as I said I have only problem with dolby digital (and dts) passthrough, and other sounds like xbmc interface sounds works normally. so speaker-test tests not passthrough..

It's also possible that the sink is getting stuck in data instead of audio mode or vice versa
I used to play with the iecset tool on my system.
$ iecset

I get next output if I do not play movie:
Mode: consumer
Data: audio
Rate: 48000 Hz
Copyright: permitted
Emphasis: none
Category: PCM coder
Original: original
Clock: 1000 ppm

and if I play movie I get next output (in both cases - have I sound problem or no):
Mode: consumer
Data: non-audio
Rate: 48000 Hz
Copyright: permitted
Emphasis: none
Category: PCM coder
Original: original
Clock: 1000 ppm


is anything else that I can test? or solution is only downgrade to eden version?
today this problem ever worse, I need to start/stop play movie 20-30 times before I get ac3 sound...

[koztya]

I tried to install OpenELEC 3.0 RC 1 (2.99.1) [XBMC-Frodo]
it seems to work without these sound problems.
what is difference in sound setup with xbmcbuntu?

[negge]

I tried to install OpenELEC 3.0 RC 1 (2.99.1) [XBMC-Frodo]
it seems to work without these sound problems.
what is difference in sound setup with xbmcbuntu?

It's based on Ubuntu which means it comes with its own set of problems and bugs.

[koztya]

info just for reference if someone will have similar problem. now I have installed debian wheezy, removed pulseaudio from it, configured xbmc-standalone and sound works fine, no any similar problem.
I would prefer to use simpler solution with xbmcbuntu, but if debian just works then it's ok too :o)
though that's really strange...