[LINUX] HOW-TO get quickly started with Acer Aspire Revo 1600 - Guide for XBMC Dharma
#61
Thanks, OP updated!
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Dharma Quick Setup Guide:
XBMC tips on the TechNazgul Blog
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#62
psxstudio Wrote:wow... so many problems with Dharma running on Revo. Dang! Glad I stayed with old XBMCFreak v.11 (perhaps 12...forgot, it's been a long time) on my Revo R3610. Everything is working great so I put off the upgrade. Although, in near future when I upgrade my receiver w/ HDMI (still using the old one w/o HDMI) I'll have to upgrade. Not looking forward to it though. =[

I am using an old reciever that doesn't have HDMI either, but I picked up one of these..Works great with my harmony remote (they have a device for it). It strips the audio from the HDMI and sends it out to the receiver via Optical...

The only CON i see is that there is a 2-3 sec delay when the audio kicks in on my receiver when starting or coming out of pause..not a bid deal to me for the price or the ability to use HDMI..

HDMI Switch with Optical Out under $50
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#63
myrison Wrote:@Skeeto -> No, I have XBMC Live Dharma 4 on two different systems and don't have that problem on either. So I'm no help on that one. Glad you got it working though!

@polaroo -> I doubt this exact guide will work for you as you'll need non-NVIDIA drivers. You should just try the normal XBMC Live distro and then work on making sure you have all the right drivers for your system installed. While I'm happy to -try- to help, you're probably better served looking for someone else who has set up the same card to see if they have more specific information for you.

The card that I'm using has the NVIDIA chipset.

I tried to configure using the following instructions:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-current-modaliases nvidia-settings
sudo wget http://pastebin.com/download.php?i=f5f9654bb -O /etc/asound.conf
sudo wget http://pastebin.com/download.php?i=f2e38265 -O /usr/share/alsa/cards/HDA-Intel.conf

After doing this, I set the following:

HDA NVidia
HDA NVidia

The funny thing is that this does not work unless I reboot once after the initial boot. Seems very strange to me. Has anyone seen this?
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#64
Thanks OP for the excellent write-up. Followed it exactly and got a fully working Acer Revo 1600. The only thing I had to do was to un-mute ie659 (or something) channel in Sound Mixer (in Programs) to get sound working.

I had a full blown Ubuntu with XBMC 9.xx that had an intermittent sound problem. Yesterday after doing Ubunu update, it stopped booting. I got fed-up and decided to take this route. This setup is so much better. Thanks for writing it up.
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#65
myrison Wrote:Thanks, OP updated!

Myrison,

I wanted to share some things that I encountered with my update to Dharma RC2 since we both have a Revo 1600 and I believe a Denon 3808ci. I used the stock xbmc Live image and have been upgrading with the package tools. I manually upgraded the Nvidia drivers to NVIDIA-Linux-x86-260.19.21. Everything worked fine except for the multi-channel audio. My speakers were switched for each respective side/rear speakers. I wanted to share how I fixed this so others don't have to go all over the place looking.

Testing the speaker channels:
1. ssh into the Revo as root and kill xbmc. (/etc/init.d/xbmc-live stop)
2. start the X11 server w/o xbmc. (startx)
3. ssh into the Revo from a 2nd window as user xbmc (i.e. your xbmc user ID that you installed with)
4. Run the speaker test for the number of channels you have. I used 8 channels for 7.1 (speaker-test -Dhdmi -c8 -r192000 -FS32_LE)
5. note where the sound is coming from with respect to what the test is indicating. The number next to the source is used to figure out the mapping below.
6. if you have speakers switched in order, edit the /etc/asound.conf file that was mentioned at the beginning of this thread.
7. in asound.conf, find the pairs of speakers switched and swap the number of each to the right of the '.' in the ttable list. (ex. If 0.0 and 1.1 are switched, change them to: 0.1 and 1.0)
8. Save the file, reboot and start over from step 1 until the channels match up.

Here is my modified map file:

Code:
pcm.!hdmi-remap {
type asym
playback.pcm {
type plug
slave.pcm "remap-surround71"
}
}

pcm.!remap-surround71 {
  type route
  slave.pcm "hw:0,3"
  ttable {
    0.0= 1
    1.1= 1
    2.6= 1
    3.7= 1
    4.2= 1
    5.3= 1
    6.4= 1
    7.5= 1
  }
}

Hope this helps someone.
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#66
Hey Joe, thanks for posting. I haven't gone to RC2 yet, but just to clarify, are you saying that in previous updates, you didn't have any problems with screwed up channel mappings, but in RC2, you did?

Thus far, I've been able to get them mapped correctly in each beta release using the files in the OP.

Thanks.
------------------------------------------
Dharma Quick Setup Guide:
XBMC tips on the TechNazgul Blog
------------------------------------------
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#67
myrison Wrote:Hey Joe, thanks for posting. I haven't gone to RC2 yet, but just to clarify, are you saying that in previous updates, you didn't have any problems with screwed up channel mappings, but in RC2, you did?

Thus far, I've been able to get them mapped correctly in each beta release using the files in the OP.

Thanks.

I cannot say if it has changed, as RC2 was the first time that I started testing with 8-channel LPCM. The core audio was working fine and I was fighting 1080i judder issues. I just think that it is strange that your setup and mine behave differently since we are using the same hardware. Maybe it is different because you are using XBMC Freak. I went back to the stock live CD and applied fixes manually where needed.
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#68
Jonect - the problem I've had on every version has been that if I chose 7.1 in the audio settings, multichannel PCM audio is completely random and just plain doesn't work. I've opened a bug report on it, but thus far, it hasn't gotten any traction. Do you have 7.1 working 100% now? That'd be very good news if so. If you think it's working, would you mind testing the sample file in that report and let me know if it works when you have your audio output set to 7.1?

Thanks!
------------------------------------------
Dharma Quick Setup Guide:
XBMC tips on the TechNazgul Blog
------------------------------------------
Reply
#69
myrison Wrote:Jonect - the problem I've had on every version has been that if I chose 7.1 in the audio settings, multichannel PCM audio is completely random and just plain doesn't work. I've opened a bug report on it, but thus far, it hasn't gotten any traction. Do you have 7.1 working 100% now? That'd be very good news if so. If you think it's working, would you mind testing the sample file in that report and let me know if it works when you have your audio output set to 7.1?

Thanks!

I downloaded your file and played it on my setup. It appeared as 7.1 multi-channel on the receiver and 5.1 on XBMC. This is not very scientific, but I used a Vu meter on my phone and it appears to having the same mapping problem that I had on 7.1 MKV to 7.1 Receiver. On the rear channels, left rear was coming out left side and right rear was coming out right side. Each time I played it, the result was the same.

I'm no expert on ALSA, but is that map that I edited just for 7.1 in? Do we need to have a 7.1 to 7.1 mapping and a 5.1 to 7.1 mapping also?

Most of my content is AC3 core (stereo) or AC3 pass-through (5.1) and it has appeared OK but I didn't pay that close attention to the rear since it is hard to tell without measuring each speaker. My 5.1 and 7.1 HD audio files are now coming from MakeMKV which is supposed to just re-package, so I'm not using FLAC. I don't think that matters since this appears to be a channels-in to channels-out issue only.

I'm going to run some more tests and report back later, now that I know that there may still be some issues that I may have not noticed. Do you have any links to reliable 5.1 and 7.1 speaker identification media files? Here are the only ones that I know of. XBMC seems to cut off the first channel (front left) while trying to initialize the stream.
http://jkft.info/xbmc/testfiles/channelid/

-- Clif
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#70
---Note, I've almost completely edited this from the original reply as it took me awhile to figure out what was happening with the sample file in the post above---

First off, I updated to RC2 last night with a fresh XBMCfreak install (so we're still on a slightly different install since they do make some mods to their system config), but we are on the same release of XBMC. After installing RC2, I installed the latest version of the NVidia drivers, and then followed the steps in the OP to fix the center channel mapping.

Quote:Fix the screwed up channel mapping in multi-channel PCM (i.e. FLAC and TrueHD tracks) by downloading these two files
“sudo wget http://pastebin.com/download.php?i=f5f9654bb -O /etc/asound.conf”
”sudo wget http://pastebin.com/download.php?i=f2e38265 -O /usr/share/alsa/cards/HDA-Intel.conf”
reboot for good measure

Before changing the channel mapping, I confirmed that the default mapping was still broken, which was the case. (Center comes from surround left with PCM material on 5.1, and on 7.1, I had no dialog at all)

After updating the channel mapping, I confirmed that all 5.1 material (PCM, DTS, etc.) played as expected on the correct channels when XBMC was set to output at 5.1, which it did. The bug from previous versions remained (more below)

Next....Re: better sample files:

I do have a TrueHD 7.1 file, but nothing else. Also, I think there are errors in those sample files you linked to with the side & rear channels, so I wouldn't rely on those. Here is a link to the sample 7.1 TrueHD file.

The majority of the confusion with speaker-test (in my understanding) comes from the fact that the test itself is incorrectly referring to the side & rear channels (it calls sides rears and vice-versa) so you have to be very careful when using speaker-test's output.

The way you can confirm which channels they are calling what is by running a 6-channel test (speaker-test -Dhdmi -c6). When you do this, speaker-test correctly plays sound out of the side surround channels (the 4th and 5th channel in 5.1 surround), BUT as it's playing sound out of those speakers, the screen displays "rear right, rear left."

Then, when you flip to an 8-channel test, (speaker-test -Dhdmi -c8) it adds in 2 more channels, calling them side left, side right, but playing sounds out of the back speakers. Since the difference between 7.1 and 5.1 is those back two channels, speaker-test is adding sound to the right channels in the test, but calling them by the wrong name.

Here is a sample output from speaker-test to explain what I mean.

5-channel test:

Quote:speaker-test -c6

speaker-test 1.0.22

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 6 channels
[...extra lines removed...]
0 - Front Left
4 - Center
1 - Front Right
3 - Rear Right
2 - Rear Left
5 - LFE

And now, the 8-channel test: (the channels in red are the 'new' ones that were not present in the 6-channel test)

Quote:speaker-test -c8

speaker-test 1.0.22

Playback device is default
[...extra lines removed...]
0 - Front Left
4 - Center
1 - Front Right
7 - Side Right
3 - Rear Right
2 - Rear Left
6 - Side Left
5 - LFE

Based on that, I THINK you've been fooled by speaker-test and now actually flipped your channel mapping (sides replaced for rears, etc.) by editing your channel map.

Please use the file above to test and see how your 7.1 plays with your edited channel map. Given that sample comes from Dolby, I think it's safe to say that the mappings are correct. It should confirm that your sides & rears are now flipped with your new channel mapping when playing 7.1 material. When I play it, it plays correctly on all seven speakers, and I did not change the channel mapping like you did a few posts up. (though I did change the mapping using the instructions in the original post, you did that too right?)

Now, re: my bug report & the sample file.

To clarify, the bug is NOT with 7.1 material. 7.1 PCM actually plays just fine. The bug is with all 5.1 PCM audio and only when XBMC is set to output to 7.1. For that reason, the fact that XBMC was showing 5.1 and your receiver 7.1 was correct. The source material was 5.1, and on my machine, if I have it set to 7.1 output, the dialogue rarely comes out of the center speaker like planned.

Under these conditions, channel mapping for PCM is random. It changes randomly to send the center channel to the back left, the side left, back right, etc. even though you are playing the same file over and over.

This behavior is annoying, but not hugely so as I just leave my system output to 5.1 99% of the time, and when I know I have a 7.1 track to play, I switch the output in XBMC's settings.

If you can play that sample file with XBMC set to output 7.1 and get dialog out of the center channel every time, then definitely let me know. If that turns out to be the case, I'll try a non-XBMCfreak install and see if that has different results.

Thanks for your help with this. Having two people test with exactly the same system definitely helps rule out a lot of variables.
------------------------------------------
Dharma Quick Setup Guide:
XBMC tips on the TechNazgul Blog
------------------------------------------
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#71
myrison Wrote:The majority of the confusion with speaker-test (in my understanding) comes from the fact that the test itself is incorrectly referring to the side & rear channels (it calls sides rears and vice-versa) so you have to be very careful when using speaker-test's output.

...

If you can play that sample file with XBMC set to output 7.1 and get dialog out of the center channel every time, then definitely let me know. If that turns out to be the case, I'll try a non-XBMCfreak install and see if that has different results.

Thanks for your help with this. Having two people test with exactly the same system definitely helps rule out a lot of variables.

I didn't realize that the speaker-test program was broken also.
I did my speaker-test and pulled the links for the test files from alanww1's post that everyone seems to point to. http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=59877 Apparently, he didn't realize that speaker-test was broken either.

I tested with your linked DD 7.1 speaker ID file above and as you suspected, I had swapped my side and rear speakers from the bad speaker-test results. I reverted back to the the corrections that you suggested and everything is fine for that test file. I located a 5.1 speaker ID file that we can compare results from. 5.1 test file: http://www.lynnepublishing.com/surround/...d_test.wma

Using the same mapping that you are using which is fine for 7.1 content, I got the following results:

Spoken Channel............Rendered Channel
-------------------------------------------------
Center..........................Side Left
Front Right...................Front Right
Rear Left......................Center
Front Left.....................Front Left
Rear Right....................Sub ? (Hard to tell)
Sub.............................Side Right (Just a guess)
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#72
Big Grin 
First of all, thank you! Uninstalling/re-installing newer Nvidia drivers is just what my fresh live install needed (apparently). My side right and sub are still swapped, as are the side left and center, but I can modify my receiver to work around that for now. Of course if anyone knows how to fix feel free to inform me (running 5.1 over HDMI, and I tried swapping numbers in asound.conf).

Anyway, the point of my post is just to provide an updated link for the most recent Nvidia drivers.

ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-....19.29.run

I used that in place of what you had and it worked beautifully.
Thanks again!
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#73
please check out this thread
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=87986
the first steps solved my audio problems, but I also did the nvidia upgrades anyways. I notice during nvidia upgrade steps you are pulling down a new asound.conf

takes a little tinkering. I dont have mine set to 5.1 since I'm only doing HDMI to tv audio, and I also dont have Dolby Digital AC3 enabled.

so my Audio output tab looks like.
Audio output : HMDI
Speaker Config : 2.0
Boost volume : enabled.
Dobly Digital AC3 : disabled
DTS : enabled.
Audio output device : hdmi
Psssthrough output device : hdmi
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[LINUX] HOW-TO get quickly started with Acer Aspire Revo 1600 - Guide for XBMC Dharma1