2009-03-26, 21:17
Hello all,
I have been flirting with Linux for years and finally made the permanent switch only after I saw Vista so I am still quite a noob. I purchased a Dell Precision 380 from a local surplus outlet to use as an HTPC. I failed to do sufficient research prior to purchasing an HDMI capable video card and wasted money on an Nvidia 9400 series card before I realized that the Nvidia board only pass along the audio from an existing SPDIF header which the 380 doesn't have sooooo.... I grabbed an OEM ATI 3450 board off ebay to have the integrated audio chip and am having some issues getting things going. I have been researching but there is sooo much information in the forums right now on the subject of ALSA, Pulseaudio, HDMI and the 3450 that I'm a thoroughly confused about what to do.
I have Kubuntu Intrepid 8.10 running on the Precision 380 and the only hardware change I've made is to upgrade to the ATI 3450 video card and turn off the mobo's integrated audio chipset. I've installed the ATI drivers from AMD's website and the HDMI video works great on my 42" LCD TV. I have several video players installed but the only one that successfully sends the audio along with the video is Dragon Player. Kaffeine, VLC and XBMC have video but no audio.
When I began, XBMC video played extremely fast, a little research revealed that this is because XBMC syncs the video using the audio i.e. no audio track and the video plays as fast as the processor can send it. I found a thread on another forum that suggested adding a .asoundrc file to my home directory containing:
pcm.!spdif {
type hw
card 0
device 3
}
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave {
pcm "spdif"
}
aplay -l revealed that card 0 and device 3 were the correct settings for my system and it has made a difference, the video from XBMC plays at the correct rate (as far as I can tell) but still has no audio. The speaker icon in the system tray reveals no way to adjust the volume level, just a check box over IEC598 (i think, I'm away from the machine just now). The Dragon Player still has audio through the HDMI interface and has an integrated volume control that functions properly but turning up the volume in Kaffeine, VLC or XBMC to maximum still produces no audio.
What's the difference in the way Dragon Player handles audio that allows it to work while other applications (e.g. XBMC) won't? I love XBMC, I've been using it on my kids old Xbox for a while now as an HTPC on an SD TV but I want an HTPC with HDMI capability for the 1080P LCD TV. Launching videos in a discreet video player is fine for me for now but I really want to get XBMC working so the rest of my family can operate it. I'd appreciate any help I can get and if you need any output or config files, just let me know.
Thank you,
Linoobius
I have been flirting with Linux for years and finally made the permanent switch only after I saw Vista so I am still quite a noob. I purchased a Dell Precision 380 from a local surplus outlet to use as an HTPC. I failed to do sufficient research prior to purchasing an HDMI capable video card and wasted money on an Nvidia 9400 series card before I realized that the Nvidia board only pass along the audio from an existing SPDIF header which the 380 doesn't have sooooo.... I grabbed an OEM ATI 3450 board off ebay to have the integrated audio chip and am having some issues getting things going. I have been researching but there is sooo much information in the forums right now on the subject of ALSA, Pulseaudio, HDMI and the 3450 that I'm a thoroughly confused about what to do.
I have Kubuntu Intrepid 8.10 running on the Precision 380 and the only hardware change I've made is to upgrade to the ATI 3450 video card and turn off the mobo's integrated audio chipset. I've installed the ATI drivers from AMD's website and the HDMI video works great on my 42" LCD TV. I have several video players installed but the only one that successfully sends the audio along with the video is Dragon Player. Kaffeine, VLC and XBMC have video but no audio.
When I began, XBMC video played extremely fast, a little research revealed that this is because XBMC syncs the video using the audio i.e. no audio track and the video plays as fast as the processor can send it. I found a thread on another forum that suggested adding a .asoundrc file to my home directory containing:
pcm.!spdif {
type hw
card 0
device 3
}
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave {
pcm "spdif"
}
aplay -l revealed that card 0 and device 3 were the correct settings for my system and it has made a difference, the video from XBMC plays at the correct rate (as far as I can tell) but still has no audio. The speaker icon in the system tray reveals no way to adjust the volume level, just a check box over IEC598 (i think, I'm away from the machine just now). The Dragon Player still has audio through the HDMI interface and has an integrated volume control that functions properly but turning up the volume in Kaffeine, VLC or XBMC to maximum still produces no audio.
What's the difference in the way Dragon Player handles audio that allows it to work while other applications (e.g. XBMC) won't? I love XBMC, I've been using it on my kids old Xbox for a while now as an HTPC on an SD TV but I want an HTPC with HDMI capability for the 1080P LCD TV. Launching videos in a discreet video player is fine for me for now but I really want to get XBMC working so the rest of my family can operate it. I'd appreciate any help I can get and if you need any output or config files, just let me know.
Thank you,
Linoobius
