<div><span style><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">Ok, here is a question about connecting HD TV, 5.1 </font><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">surround system and MythTV. I want to say sorry in front if it sounds little bit dumb or if it doesn't make sense :-) I was messing up with this last night so thought I would ask here if it is possible at all since my knowledge of ALSA is pretty poor.</font></span></div>
<div><span style><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div><span style><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">I have the surround connected to the TV via HDMI (it's an entertainment unit with DVD player). I have the MythTV box connected to the TV via HDMI as well. I'm sending the audio from the TV to the surround system via optical cable (since the TV doesn't have ARC).</font><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif"> Can I still get surround sound from MythTV with this connection? I know I can buy optical cable switch and have both optical outputs, from the TV and Myth (yes MythTV box has one too), connected to the surround but I'm just trying to avoid adding some more cables to the cable forest I have behind the TV stand *sigh*</font></span></div>
<div><span style><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div><span style><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">Some info about MythTV sound card:</font></span></div><span style><div>
<span style><br></span></div>igorc@mythtv:~/bluray$ aplay -l</span><br style><span style>**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****</span><br style><span style>card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC889A Analog [ALC889A Analog]</span><br style>
<span style> Subdevices: 1/1</span><br style><span style> Subdevice #0: subdevice #0</span><br style><span style>card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC889A Digital [ALC889A Digital]</span><br style><span style> Subdevices: 1/1</span><br style>
<span style> Subdevice #0: subdevice #0</span><br style><span style>card 2: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]</span><br style><span style> Subdevices: 1/1</span><br style><span style> Subdevice #0: subdevice #0</span><br style>
<br style><span style>igorc@mythtv:~/bluray$ aplay -L</span><br style><span style>null</span><br style><span style> Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)</span><br style><span style>front:CARD=SB,DEV=0</span><br style>
<span style> HDA ATI SB, ALC889A Analog</span><br style><span style> Front speakers</span><br style><span style>surround40:CARD=SB,DEV=0</span><br style><span style> HDA ATI SB, ALC889A Analog</span><br style><span style> 4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers</span><br style>
<span style>surround41:CARD=SB,DEV=0</span><br style><span style> HDA ATI SB, ALC889A Analog</span><br style><span style> 4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers</span><br style><span style>surround50:CARD=SB,DEV=0</span><br style>
<span style> HDA ATI SB, ALC889A Analog</span><br style><span style> 5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers</span><br style><span style>surround51:CARD=SB,DEV=0</span><br style><span style> HDA ATI SB, ALC889A Analog</span><br style>
<span style> 5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers</span><br style><span style>surround71:CARD=SB,DEV=0</span><br style><span style> HDA ATI SB, ALC889A Analog</span><br style><span style> 7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers</span><br style>
<span style>iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0</span><br style><span style> HDA ATI SB, ALC889A Digital</span><br style><span style> IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output</span><br style><span style>hdmi:CARD=HDMI</span><br style>
<span style> HDA ATI HDMI, ATI HDMI</span><br style><span style> HDMI Audio Output</span><br style><br style><br style><span style>igorc@mythtv:~/bluray$ cat /proc/asound/card2/codec#0 </span><br style><span style>Codec: ATI RS690/780 HDMI</span><br style>
<span style>Address: 0</span><br style><span style>Function Id: 0x1</span><br style><span style>Vendor Id: 0x1002791a</span><br style><span style>Subsystem Id: 0x00791a00</span><br style><span style>Revision Id: 0x100000</span><br style>
<span style>No Modem Function Group found</span><br style><span style>Default PCM:</span><br style><span style> rates [0x40]: 48000</span><br style><span style> bits [0x2]: 16</span><br style><span style> formats [0x5]: PCM AC3</span><br style>
<span style>Default Amp-In caps: N/A</span><br style><span style>Default Amp-Out caps: N/A</span><br style><span style>GPIO: io=0, o=0, i=0, unsolicited=0, wake=0</span><br style><span style>Node 0x02 [Audio Output] wcaps 0x201: Stereo Digital</span><br style>
<span style> Converter: stream=0, channel=0</span><br style><span style> Digital: Enabled</span><br style><span style> Digital category: 0x0</span><br style><span style>Node 0x03 [Pin Complex] wcaps 0x400381: Stereo Digital</span><br style>
<span style> Pincap 0x00000094: OUT Detect HDMI</span><br style><span style> Pin Default 0x18560010: [Jack] Digital Out at Int HDMI</span><br style><span style> Conn = Digital, Color = Unknown</span><br style><span style> DefAssociation = 0x1, Sequence = 0x0</span><br style>
<span style> Pin-ctls: 0x40: OUT</span><br style><span style> Unsolicited: tag=00, enabled=0</span><br style><span style> Connection: 1</span><br style><span style> 0x02</span><br style><br style><br>This file I created when I installed MythTV 0.20 in 2008 to make my sound work over HDMI output (not sure if I still need it):<div>
<br style><span style>igorc@mythtv:~/bluray$ cat /home/igorc/.asoundrc</span><br style><span style># ALSA library configuration file</span><br style><br style><span style># Include settings that are under the control of asoundconf(1).</span><br style>
<span style># (To disable these settings, comment out this line.)</span><br style><span style>#</home/igorc/.asoundrc.</span><span style>asoundconf></span><br style><span style>pcm.card0 {</span><br style><span style> type hw</span><br style>
<span style> card 0</span><br style><span style>}</span><br style><br style><span style>pcm.dmixer {</span><br style><span style> type dmix</span><br style><span style> ipc_key 1025</span><br style><span style> slave {</span><br style>
<span style> pcm "hw:2,3"</span><br style><span style> period_time 0 </span><br style><span style> period_size 2048</span><br style><span style> buffer_size 32768</span><br style><span style> rate 48000</span><br style>
<span style> channels 6 # added this to try mixing 6 channels in the stream</span><br style><span style> }</span><br style><span style> bindings {</span><br style><span style> 0 0</span><br style><span style> 1 1</span><br style>
<span style> }</span><br style><span style>}</span><br style><br style><span style>pcm.skype {</span><br style><span style> type asym</span><br style><br style><span style> playback.pcm "dmixer"</span><br style>
<span style> capture.pcm "card0" </span><br style><span style>}</span><br style><br style><span style>pcm.!default {</span><br style><span style> type plug</span><br style><span style> slave.pcm "skype"</span><br style>
<span style>}</span><br style><br style><br style><span style>igorc@mythtv:~/bluray$ dmesg | grep -i alsa</span><br style><span style>[ 17.958820] cx2388x alsa driver version 0.0.7 loaded</span><br style><span style>[ 18.133429] cx88[0]/1: CX88x/0: ALSA support for cx2388x boards</span><br style>
<br style><br style><span style>igorc@mythtv:~/bluray$ lsmod | grep ^cx</span><br style><span style>cx22702 6140 1 </span><br style><span style>cx88_dvb 22321 1 </span><br style><span style>cx88_vp3054_i2c 2207 1 cx88_dvb</span><br style>
<span style>cx88_alsa 10033 1 </span><br style><span style>cx8800 32442 0 </span><br style><span style>cx8802 14957 1 cx88_dvb</span><br style><span style>cx88xx 80221 4 cx88_dvb,cx88_alsa,cx8800,</span><span style>cx8802</span><br style>
<br style><br style><span style>igorc@mythtv:~/bluray$ cat /proc/asound/version </span><br style><span style>Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.</span>
<div><span style><br></span></div><div><span style>I'm on Mythbuntu 10.04 with MythTV 0.23-fixes and ancient ALSA 1.0.21 looks like so no ELD. I have selected ALSA:default for device in the MythTV audio settings, 5.1 for channels and have DTS box ticked. The sound works both with the recordings and videos playback (both mplayer and internal player) but I didn't have any AC3 video handy to test last night ...</span></div>
</div><div><span style><br></span></div><div><span style>Thanks in advance for reading this.</span></div><div><span style><br></span></div><div><span style>Igor</span></div>