2011-06-10, 09:02
xhbl, awesome job. I hope the fact that this patch won't be mainstreamed doesn't discourage you, as you can see from the 200+ posts, it is well received.
Initially, I had the ~3 frames/sec issue reported by veens34 and sirkonsta. But the following fixed it (BTW, while I resolve the issue, I don't really understand the fix, so, you might not have to do all these steps, these steps could break your computer, etc):
---My installation steps------------------------------------------------------
The steps I followed:
(1) Compiled 10.1 and the patch source on my HTPC; selected outputs very similar to the first post in this thread. This is when I had very, very slow video rendering (e.g. 20% of normal speed). However, turning "off" the analog audio channel immediately returned playback to normal. Since my Phenom II 555x4 should handle 720p easily, I assumed there was a fault with the sound functionality.
(2) Remove all pulse audio components (sudo apt-get autoremove pulseaudio). This may not be required, but I don't need pulse, and removal was the easiest way to know it wasn't conflicting. This probably breaks other applications' audio, but I didn't care.
(3) Install ALSA Mixer (sudo apt-get install gnome-alsamixer).
(4) Reboot.
(5) Set alasmixer devices to their eventual use in XBMC (e.g. I checked the IEC958 box in the mixer tab for my motherboard sound device (tab named "RealTek ALC887") because I was using that for SPDIF output; and in the Soundblaster tab, I unchecked IEC958 because I was using it for analog audio).
(6) At a terminal window I launched MM System Selector (gstreamer-properties), and selected the default inputs and outputs as "ALSA -- Advanced Linux Sound Architecture." For output device, I selected my SPDIF output device ("ALC887-VD Digital"). This appears to be required -- SPDIF would not work for me (with or without pulse) unless this was set. This is the only thing here that appeared 100% repeatable under every configuration I tried. For the input device, I selected "Default."
(7) At a terminal window, I used "sudo aplay -L" to get a list of valid devices that can play audio.
(8) I selected my two devices and noted their ALSA "names"
(a) e.g. for my analog card, I found "plughw:CARD=CA0106,DEV=0" for my Soundblaster card (CA = Creative Audio).
(b) likewise for my SPDIF pass through found "iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0" to be my MB output. I knew this because the output of "aplay -L" indicates ATI SB below this line -- and because my MB calls the onboard sound ATI (even though it has RealTek chips).
(9) Started xbmc and configured it, being sure that the analog 2.0 source was listed first on the XBMC GUI screen. I used the ALSA names to create a custom audio device for the analog device (the analog device was the one slowing up video playback) E.g. I used Audio Output Device = Custom; name = plughw:CARD=CARD0106. But, for the SPDIF, I used the 'standard' name given to the onboard audio ("HDA ATI Audio"). Using the ALSA name here did not work for me, but I needed to use the ALSA name in the pass-through input box (e.g. "iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0" for pass-through, not the default "iec958").
(10) I copied the asound.conf file from /home/[my-username]/xbmc/system/asound.conf to /home/[my-username]/.asound.conf. Again, I'm not sure this was required, but I know that ALSA prefers .asound.conf files in home directories, and this insured I knew which asound file was being used.
(11) I rebooted and tested.
---Patch Testing------------------------------------------------------------
Ubuntu 11.04; XBMC 11.1; Audigy SE
--Settings Used--
XBMC Settings Output 1: Analog/2.0/Boost On/Custom/plughw:CARD=CARD0106
XBMC Settings Output 2: Optical_Coax/7.1/Boost On/DD Compatible/DTS Compatible/HDA ATI Audio/iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0
--Results--
- 2.0 source
- played on 2.0 TV speakers, normal
- played on 5.1 speakers (passed through 7.1 receiver) -- audio plays at two front speakers, low frequencies to .1 speaker.
- audio sync between the two outputs was perfect within my hearing tolerance
- 5.1 audio test file source
- played on 2.0 TV speakers -- all 5.1 encoded tracks downmixed into 2.0 tracks
- played on 5.1 speakers (passed through 7.1 receiver) -- audio plays on all 6 speakers, track encoding (L/C/R/SL/SR/SW) accurate
- audio sync between the two outputs was perfect within my hearing tolerance
- 7.1 test files
- I have no 7.1 test file
- MP3 Audio Test File
- played on 2.0 TV speakers --played normal (note: using custom name = "front:CARD=CARD0106" caused mechanical sounding music with audible scratching for mp3s, but normal movie playback)
- played on 5.1 speakers (passed through 7.1 receiver) -- audio plays on two front speakers
- I couldn't discern if there was a sync issue.
- Video performance
- VAPPI (?) acceleration was checkable, uncheckable
- No video hangups, video is very fast
--Test Limitations--
- I don't use crossovers -- so I didn't test them
- I may have injured other applications' audio on the computer, a non-issue for me
- There is definitely a ~1 second hangup when entering the audio configuration menu
- There may be a slight hangup when starting a movie
--Conclusion--
Overall, a giant relief to finally get this setup in a permanent manner that keeps others in the household from trying to adjust audio/video settings.
Initially, I had the ~3 frames/sec issue reported by veens34 and sirkonsta. But the following fixed it (BTW, while I resolve the issue, I don't really understand the fix, so, you might not have to do all these steps, these steps could break your computer, etc):
---My installation steps------------------------------------------------------
The steps I followed:
(1) Compiled 10.1 and the patch source on my HTPC; selected outputs very similar to the first post in this thread. This is when I had very, very slow video rendering (e.g. 20% of normal speed). However, turning "off" the analog audio channel immediately returned playback to normal. Since my Phenom II 555x4 should handle 720p easily, I assumed there was a fault with the sound functionality.
(2) Remove all pulse audio components (sudo apt-get autoremove pulseaudio). This may not be required, but I don't need pulse, and removal was the easiest way to know it wasn't conflicting. This probably breaks other applications' audio, but I didn't care.
(3) Install ALSA Mixer (sudo apt-get install gnome-alsamixer).
(4) Reboot.
(5) Set alasmixer devices to their eventual use in XBMC (e.g. I checked the IEC958 box in the mixer tab for my motherboard sound device (tab named "RealTek ALC887") because I was using that for SPDIF output; and in the Soundblaster tab, I unchecked IEC958 because I was using it for analog audio).
(6) At a terminal window I launched MM System Selector (gstreamer-properties), and selected the default inputs and outputs as "ALSA -- Advanced Linux Sound Architecture." For output device, I selected my SPDIF output device ("ALC887-VD Digital"). This appears to be required -- SPDIF would not work for me (with or without pulse) unless this was set. This is the only thing here that appeared 100% repeatable under every configuration I tried. For the input device, I selected "Default."
(7) At a terminal window, I used "sudo aplay -L" to get a list of valid devices that can play audio.
(8) I selected my two devices and noted their ALSA "names"
(a) e.g. for my analog card, I found "plughw:CARD=CA0106,DEV=0" for my Soundblaster card (CA = Creative Audio).
(b) likewise for my SPDIF pass through found "iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0" to be my MB output. I knew this because the output of "aplay -L" indicates ATI SB below this line -- and because my MB calls the onboard sound ATI (even though it has RealTek chips).
(9) Started xbmc and configured it, being sure that the analog 2.0 source was listed first on the XBMC GUI screen. I used the ALSA names to create a custom audio device for the analog device (the analog device was the one slowing up video playback) E.g. I used Audio Output Device = Custom; name = plughw:CARD=CARD0106. But, for the SPDIF, I used the 'standard' name given to the onboard audio ("HDA ATI Audio"). Using the ALSA name here did not work for me, but I needed to use the ALSA name in the pass-through input box (e.g. "iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0" for pass-through, not the default "iec958").
(10) I copied the asound.conf file from /home/[my-username]/xbmc/system/asound.conf to /home/[my-username]/.asound.conf. Again, I'm not sure this was required, but I know that ALSA prefers .asound.conf files in home directories, and this insured I knew which asound file was being used.
(11) I rebooted and tested.
---Patch Testing------------------------------------------------------------
Ubuntu 11.04; XBMC 11.1; Audigy SE
--Settings Used--
XBMC Settings Output 1: Analog/2.0/Boost On/Custom/plughw:CARD=CARD0106
XBMC Settings Output 2: Optical_Coax/7.1/Boost On/DD Compatible/DTS Compatible/HDA ATI Audio/iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0
--Results--
- 2.0 source
- played on 2.0 TV speakers, normal
- played on 5.1 speakers (passed through 7.1 receiver) -- audio plays at two front speakers, low frequencies to .1 speaker.
- audio sync between the two outputs was perfect within my hearing tolerance
- 5.1 audio test file source
- played on 2.0 TV speakers -- all 5.1 encoded tracks downmixed into 2.0 tracks
- played on 5.1 speakers (passed through 7.1 receiver) -- audio plays on all 6 speakers, track encoding (L/C/R/SL/SR/SW) accurate
- audio sync between the two outputs was perfect within my hearing tolerance
- 7.1 test files
- I have no 7.1 test file
- MP3 Audio Test File
- played on 2.0 TV speakers --played normal (note: using custom name = "front:CARD=CARD0106" caused mechanical sounding music with audible scratching for mp3s, but normal movie playback)
- played on 5.1 speakers (passed through 7.1 receiver) -- audio plays on two front speakers
- I couldn't discern if there was a sync issue.
- Video performance
- VAPPI (?) acceleration was checkable, uncheckable
- No video hangups, video is very fast
--Test Limitations--
- I don't use crossovers -- so I didn't test them
- I may have injured other applications' audio on the computer, a non-issue for me
- There is definitely a ~1 second hangup when entering the audio configuration menu
- There may be a slight hangup when starting a movie
--Conclusion--
Overall, a giant relief to finally get this setup in a permanent manner that keeps others in the household from trying to adjust audio/video settings.
