[mythtv-users] nForce4 Audio on FC4, it plays some of the time....

Wed Nov 2 16:12:43 EST 2005

I had a very similar problem. I was finally able to figure out that KDE was messing with my alsa settings everytime it started, even when I told it not to. You can test this by opening up alsamixer and while your audio is playing, mess with the settings until you hear something.  I solved this problem by simply putting a script in KDE's /.Autostart folder, so after KDE starts, my mixer settings go back to the way I want them.  You can find more detail at http://www.dastrup.com/template_mythtv.asp and look in the Audio section.

________________________________

From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org on behalf of Jason Sharpe
Sent: Wed 11/2/2005 2:01 PM
To: mythtv-users at mythtv.org
Subject: [mythtv-users] nForce4 Audio on FC4, it plays some of the time....

Hey All!

I have been playing with FC4 a couple of months now just learning and playing. Something I wanted to tackle was getting spdif optical output on my MOBO working so I can run Myth.

I have been partially successful, but I am sure I am missing something. First off my stats:

-FC4 x86 (latest kernel installed with yum update on a fresh install)(Sorry at work, not in front of the box)
-AMD64 4200+ (Dual Core)
-MSI K8N Platinum Mobo
-2 Gig of Ram
-Gigabyte GeForce 6800 Vid Card
-Plenty of HD Space!
-Running KDE

I hooked up an coax optical cable from my on-board sound to my receiver and I followed the instructions at : http://www.mythtv.info/moin.cgi/DigitalSoundHowTo <http://www.mythtv.info/moin.cgi/DigitalSoundHowTo> 

I had a hard time getting the nForce4 audio to work. After searching online for a while I was able to find other people that selected OSS in the KDE Sound Control Center. Then after locking the frequency to 48k I was about to get the optical port on the mobo to light up. 

On the HOW TO there is a link for a test .au file. I downloaded that file and if I double click it it opens the default audio player. I can't remember the name of it, but I believe it starts with "a" and is only 4 or 5 letters long. (I couldn't find a default package list for FC4 online to try to remember what the name is.) It plays just fine if I just play the audio file that way. 

#aplay -l shows this: 

# aplay -l 
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices **** 
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 0: Intel ICH [NVidia CK804] 
Subdevices: 1/1 
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 2: Intel ICH - IEC958 [NVidia CK804 - 
IEC958] 
Subdevices: 1/1 
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 [/CODE]

I used the .asoundrc listed below as suggested by the HOWTO:

# 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 nForce2/4 (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 nForce2/4
pcm.analog {
 type plug
 slave.pcm "analog-hw"
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the nForce2 card
ctl.analog {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Alias for (rate-converted) mixed analog output on the
# nForce2 (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 nForce2 card
ctl.mixed-analog {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Alias for (rate-converted) digital (S/PDIF) output on the
# nForce2 (hw:0,2)
#  - 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 nForce2 card
ctl.digital {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Alias for mixed (rate-converted) digital (S/PDIF) output on the
# nForce2/4 (hw:0,2)
#  - 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 nForce2 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 nForce2 (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 nForce2/4 card
ctl.analog-hw {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Alias for digital (S/PDIF) output on the nForce2/4 (hw:0,2)
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate,
# channels, and format
pcm.digital-hw {
 type hw
 card 0
 device 2
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the nForce2/4 card
ctl.digital-hw {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Direct software mixing plugin for analog output on
# the nForce2/4 (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 nForce2/4 card
ctl.dmix-analog {
 type hw
 card 0
}

# Direct software mixing plugin for digital (S/PDIF) output
# on the nForce2/4 (hw:0,2)
# 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 nForce2/4 card
ctl.dmix-digital {
 type hw
 card 0
}

Following the instructions on the HOWTO I test the audio output with

"aplay -D digital /mythtv/Desktop/english.au" 

It reports that it is playing the audio file and goes back to a prompt, but I don't hear anything. I have also tried "mixed-digital" as the device but still no audio.

However if I just double click the .au file, it plays in the default player just fine.

Also "ALSA:default" or "ALSA:hw:0,2" as the device doesn't produce sound either. 

The same thing happens with MythMusic, if I put "ALSA:digital" for the sound device for MythMusic the visualization start and the time counter starts, but no sound...

I must be missing something here, but I can't find it.

I can provide more info when I get home (Kernel Version, The Default Program that is playing the AU file and producing sound, etc) but I thought if anyone knew what to try based on what I have provided, it might point me the right way. 

Thanks in advance!

Jason

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 9423 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20051102/1a91fcac/attachment-0001.bin