[mythtv-users] Followed Digital Sound setup, many how-to's, and still completely lost.

[Rich West]

*sigh*  I am reluctantly sending this to the listt, but no matter what I 
try, I cannot seem to get consistent results from any of the "digital 
sound" how-to's.

Goal:
Pump all sound out via SPDIF and let my receiver do the work.

Near Goal:
Hey, I would be content if I just had to switch the input on my receiver 
from the TV setting (L/R stereo in)) to my DVD setting (Optical 5.1 
Audio in).

What I have tried so far:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Configuring_Digital_Sound#ALSA_Utilities, 
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Dolby_Digital_Out_(AC3,_SPDIF) (I have FC5, 
but I thought some of it might apply), along with following a couple of 
threads in the list.

Here's where I am at:
Optical audio connection from S/PDIF to receiver is in place.
Stereo L/R audio connection from stereo-out to receiver is in place.
With no /etc/asound.conf or .asoundrc file, I can play output via the 
command line: aplay -D plug:spdif english.au
With a basic /etc/asound.conf set to have SPDIF by default (via the 
gentoo wiki), I can't play english.au as above because of a format 
error, but I can send static sound using a snipped of an ac3 stream that 
I have if send to the default device or explicitly to the plug:spdif..  
To my surprise, mpg321 happily plays my mp3's (although, the sound is 
sped up slightly).  I can still specifically output to -D plug:spdif 
successfully.
With the asound.conf from the MythTV wiki (which explicitly states that 
it is not needed for FC5 and FC6), I can still output to the specific 
device -D plug:spdif
Regardless of the above, mplayer properly sends out the ac3 audio over 
SPDIF via either the command on the MythTV wiki or the one from the 
Gentoo wiki.

All of my tests with MythTV come up with nothing.  I've tried different 
iterations of enabling AC3 to SPDIF pass through, setting the pass 
through device to be "ALSA:defaut", "ALSA:spdif", "ALSA:plug:spdif", 
"ALSA:iec958:{ AES0 0x02 }" (this one shows up in the pull down).  I've 
also tried different audio output devices (/dev/dsp and /dev/adsp) with 
the same options above.

Of course, I could say the heck with it, and use mplayer as my default 
DVD player.  However, I personally like the internal player to myth with 
its better integration with the remote, the menu system (for video 
adjustments), & etc.

Although I've read the Wiki's, How-To's, and other postings, I just feel 
like I am missing something simple here...

-Rich