[mythtv-users] All sound out S/PDIF (was: Dolby Digital Signal indicator on Receiver)

[David Snider]

Michael T. Dean wrote:
> On 05/18/2008 02:14 AM, Bob Sully wrote:
>   
>> Still no luck with getting stereo streams to play in mythfrontend (using
>> the internal player for recordings, or mythmusic) if a file with Dolby
>> Digital 5.1 sound is played first.
>>
>> I can play any videos, no matter what the sound codec is, within myth with
>> this: "mplayer -fs -zoom -quiet -vo xv -ao alsa:device=spdif -afm hwac3
>> %s").
>>
>> Right now, I still have to exit mythfrontend and run "iecset audio 0",
>> then restart the frontend to play a stereo recording if I have watched a
>> 5.1 show before it.
>>     
>
> That's due to a misconfiguration of your audio system.
>
>   
>>   This is the case with my combined BE/FE machine (uses
>> an Asus P5K-Deluxe/Wifi motherboard) and my upstairs frontend (ABit
>> AN8-32X).  I do not have to do this if I play only recordings with DD 5.1
>> audio.
>>
>> The previously mentioned work-around with a remote would be an interim
>> fix, if I used a remote (I don't; I use RF keyboards on both machines).
>>
>> Has anyone yet found a fix for this within mythfrontend, so that the
>> internal player for recordings and music will allow ALL sound to go out
>> via the S/PDIF interface?
>>   
>>     
>
> It has nothing to do with Myth.  It's completely an audio configuration 
> issue.
>
>   
>> If not...this is a feature request (or is it a bug-fix request? - not
>> sure).  ;-)
>>     
>
> System configuration bug.  :)
>
> Mike
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>   
I recently just ran into this exact same issue.  I don't know why, but 
after I upgraded to .21, (and alsa, and my kernel, and a bunch of stuff) 
only the digital passthrough stuff worked.  I'm on gentoo and found a 
file named /etc/asound.names.  In it I found device names that I didn't 
see through the typical aplay -L.   One was named plug:spdif.  After 
going through line by line on the names running aplay -D <name> 
/usr/share/sounds/alsa/Noise.wav (an analog file).  I finally heard 
sound when I used plug:spdif.  So, in MythFrontend, I changed the 
default alsa device from ALSA:default to ALSA:plug:spdif and now 
everything works perfectly.