[User 34959]

I realize since this is a system wide issue there might be better places to ask for help.. But i'll start here.

Problem is that every time audio playback starts, there's a small chunk missing from the beginning, maybe about 0.5 seconds. This happens with all kind of audio tracks (pcm, ac3, dts). Every one of those formats play just fine, after the initial silence.
Also, every time i, let's say skip mp3 tracks in XBMC, i can see the pcm led turn off and back on in my av receiver.

System specs: Full intrepid desktop, Abit i-n73hd with Realtek ALC888 (optical to a Yamaha AV receiver), i've tried alsa .19 and .20. All kinds of audio should be directed to optical out. Pulseaudio is removed from the system.

Do i need to modify my asound.conf or what? My asound.conf looks like this, if i remove it i lose stereo sounds in XBMC and Rhythmbox etc.

Code:

pcm.!default {
        type hw
        card 0
        device 1
}

Code:

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Code:

aplay -L
front:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC888 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
    HDMI Audio Output
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)

Any help is appreciated.

[ronie]

I believe this is an issue with the receiver, not Ubuntu.

Check this thread for some more info:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=50015

[User 34959]

There isn't any problems in Windows.. I never really paid attention to receiver leds while using Windows, but there's no such pause/silence there, that's for sure.

[prae5]

I have the same problem with both of my Yamaha amps - it is the amp. If i use my Cambridge Audio amp I don't have this problem. It is the amp, although i only get it at the start of audio playback - can't say i've ever noticed it during playback or seeking.

[User 34959]

In that case it sounds (:p) like it's alsa which doesn't play nicely with Yamaha. Maybe i'll try live and see if the problem exists there.

[ronie]

Mine is a Sony, same problem.
Although i'm convinced there's no solution, i hope someone will prove me wrong. :-)

Please report back if you find a fix.

[User 34959]

Hmm http://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documenta...ersave.txt

Note that you might hear click noise/pop when changing the power state. Also, it often takes certain time to wake up from the power-down to the active state.

This sounds very familiar..

[ronie]

Hmm http://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documenta...ersave.txt



This sounds very familiar..

i checked it's current state:
cat /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
0

so mine's disabled. i guess it's disabled by default.

[topfs2]

Just a fyi, XBMC will close and reinit the audiorenderer on skip. If it's passing through the playlist (no skip) it won't necessarily do it, just if the samplespecc changes.

It's a known issue which we are trying to mend and I for one is hoping to fix it until next point release.

It has also been suggested that xbmc should send nulldata when nothing is playing to keep the receivers busy to stop crackling, but is impossible with current design. perhaps MasterAudio will be able to fix this though. BUt I'll leave thoose questions to phi to answer.


Cheers,
Tobias

[ronie]

thanx for the feedback topfs2. good to know it's being looked at.

[topfs2]

I have implemented a first trial to fix this now incase you want to test it

http://trac.xbmc.org/changeset/20234

It should keep the Audio Renderer even on music skips os techincally it should work like when you play through a playlist in the normal way even if you skip.

It will only do this now when the samplerate and such are same, if you want to ensure this even more you can do as on XBox and force the samplerate to a specific samplerate with an advancedsettings like this:

Code:

<advancedsettings>
  <audio>
  <resample>96000</resample>
  </audio>
</advancedsettings>

[User 34959]

Nice :cool2: I'm having some weird vdpau issues with post-Babylon svn builds, so i'm gonna stick with it for now.

[User 34959]

I did a clean Jaunty install yesterday and that annoying pause is gone, navigation sounds work. :cool2:

[topfs2]

I did a clean Jaunty install yesterday and that annoying pause is gone, navigation sounds work. :cool2:

Thx for getting back on the topic, really nice to hear that it worked!

Cheers,
Tobias.