[mythtv-users] SO Close to completing my setup! Recurring soundissues!

[Thomas M. Pluth]

jamesjtucker at comcast.net wrote:

> Ok, i have been at this for almost a week now. Thru the help of this 
> list and a few *nix junkie pals, i have managed to get a more or less 
> complete setup.
>
> For some reason, however, my  sound problems just wont go away. I have 
> alsa configured per the docs, using the command line.
>
> When i do the /usr/sbin/alsactl store, Myth has worked in the past 
> until i reboot.
>
I had a similar problem under Fedora Core 2.  On startup, the frontend 
would occasionally complain about not being able to open the sound 
device /dev/dsp and when I was watching LiveTV or a recording it would 
generate a stream of audio buffer overflow errors (and give me no 
sound).  It was very inconsistent, and I never did figure out what the 
root cause was, but I got around the problem by telling KDE not to use 
the sound system at all:

Start the KDE control center, go to Sound & Multimedia -> Sound System, 
and uncheck "enable the sound system".


> While trying to resolve this, a friend who i trust told me that i 
> should try "/usr/sbin/alsactl --file /etc/asound.state store"
>
> This didnt help anything either.
>
> Now i have other issues. On the left channel, i can get fairly loud 
> sound, but the right is not there, although if i listen close i can 
> hear an "echo" about 3 sounds behind.
>
Guessing , but maybe one of the audio plugs is loose?  Assuming you have 
at least one 3.5mm headphone plug in your audio setup, try fiddling with 
it a little bit.  I have seen the case where it's necessary to back the 
plug out of the jack just the barest fraction of a millimeter to get the 
left and right channels coming through loud and clear.  Anyway, I didn't 
have this problem with my Myth setup, so it may be unrelated to your 
other issue.

- Cedric

You might try starting up alsamixer and checking that the volumes are up on
both channels.  I had problems with the AUX input, ADC and DAC only having
the volume up on the right channel.  Play around with the volumes, then
store the settings again with "alsactl store".

Also, if you're using KDE, go into the Control Center, Sound & Multimedia
and uncheck "Restore settings"