[mythtv-users] remote frontend; ALSA not working

[Christopher Singley]

crossposted from a less appropriate forum; all assistance greatly  
appreciated.
---

so i got the mythtv backend working - audio,video, record, playback.
i built the frontend; i was able to get it to connect to the backend.
the frontend can playback video from backend, but no audio.

ALSA is working on the frontend system; aplay, mpg123, mplayer all work.  
how can i get mythtv to send sound out to ALSA?

i am using a soundblaster live card with an .asoundrc i swiped from these  
helpful people:
http://www.wilson-stowe.com/mythfiles/debian_and_myth.html

--------------
# Override the default output used by ALSA.

# If you do not override the default, your default

# device is identical to the (unmixed) analog device

# shown below.  If you prefer mixed and/or digital

# output, uncomment the appropriate four lines below

# (only one slave.pcm line).

#pcm.!default {

#  type plug

## Uncomment the following to use mixed analog by default

#  slave.pcm "dmix-analog"

## Uncomment the following to use unmixed digital by default

#  slave.pcm "digital-hw"

## Uncomment the following to use mixed digital by default

#  slave.pcm "dmix-digital"


#}


# Alias for analog output on the Sound Blaster Live! (hw:0,0)

# - This is identical to the device named "default"--which

# always exists and refers to hw:0,0 (unless overridden)

# - Therefore, we can specify "hw:0,0", "default", or "analog"

# to access analog output on the Sound Blaster Live!

pcm.analog {

  type plug

   slave.pcm "analog-hw"

   }


# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the Sound Blaster Live! card

ctl.analog {

   type hw

   card 0

   }


# Alias for (rate-converted) mixed analog output on the

# Sound Blaster Live! (hw:0,0)

#  - This will accept audio input--regardless of rate--and

# convert to the rate required for the dmix plugin

# (in this case 48000Hz)

pcm.mixed-analog {

  type plug

  slave.pcm "dmix-analog"

  }


# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the Sound Blaster Live! card

ctl.mixed-analog {

    type hw

    card 0

}


# Alias for (rate-converted) digital (S/PDIF) output on the

# Sound Blaster Live! (hw:0,3)

#  - This will accept audio input--regardless of rate--and

# convert to the rate required for the S/PDIF hardware

# (in this case 48000Hz)

pcm.digital {

  type plug

  slave.pcm "digital-hw"


  }

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the Sound Blaster Live! card

ctl.digital {

  type hw

  card 0

  }


# Alias for mixed (rate-converted) digital (S/PDIF) output on the

# Sound Blaster Live! (hw:0,3)

#  - This will accept audio input--regardless of rate--and

# convert to the rate required for the S/PDIF hardware

# (in this case 48000Hz)

pcm.mixed-digital {

  type plug

  slave.pcm "dmix-digital"

  }

  # Control device (mixer, etc.) for the Sound Blaster Live! card

ctl.mixed-digital {

  type hw

  card 0

}


# The following devices are not useful by themselves.  They

# require specific rates, channels, and formats.  Therefore,

# you probably do not want to use them directly.  Instead use

# of of the devices defined above.


# Alias for analog output on the Sound Blaster Live! (hw:0,0)

# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate,

# channels, and format

pcm.analog-hw {

  type hw

  card 0

# The default value for device is 0, so no need to specify

  }


#Control device (mixer, etc.) for the Sound Blaster Live! card

ctl.analog-hw {

  type hw

  card 0

  }


# Alias for digital (S/PDIF) output on the Sound Blaster Live! (hw:0,3)

# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate,

# channels, and format

pcm.digital-hw {

   type hw

   card 0

   device 3

}


#Control device (mixer, etc.) for the Sound Blaster Live! card

ctl.digital-hw {

  type hw

  card 0

  }


# Direct software mixing plugin for analog output on

# the Sound Blaster Live! (hw:0,0)

# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate,

# channels, and format

pcm.dmix-analog {

  type dmix

  ipc_key 1234

  slave {

   pcm "analog-hw"

   period_time 0

   period_size 1024

   buffer_size 4096

   rate 48000

   }

  }


# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the Sound Blaster Live! card

ctl.dmix-analog {

   type hw

   card 0

  }


# Direct software mixing plugin for digital (S/PDIF) output

# on the Sound Blaster Live! (hw:0,3)

# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate,

# channels, and format

pcm.dmix-digital {

  type dmix

   ipc_key 1235

   slave {

   pcm "digital-hw"

   period_time 0

   period_size 1024

   buffer_size 4096

   rate 48000

   }

  }


# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the Sound Blaster Live! card

   ctl.dmix-digital {

   type hw

   card 0

    }
	
----------------------

running mythsetup on the frontend, i have tried using ALSA:default,  
ALSA:analog, ALSA:hw:0,0, ALSA:mixed-analog settings for sound output...  
all to no avail. mind you, the whole time ALSA is loaded and playable by  
other applications.

i also have OSS emulation enabled and the modules are loaded, yet using  
/dev/dsp or dev/sound/dsp doesn't work either.

this about exhausts my feeble knowledge of sound under linux; might there  
be an ALSA guru who can give me a push in the right direction?

so close, and yet so far away....