[mythtv-users] HELP!!! Sound lost from all but HDTV shows.

Thu Oct 4 02:44:27 UTC 2007

Marc wrote:
>
> Sorry if this gets duplicated. But apparently the moderator has not 
> approved my email from last night.
>
> I need help..
>
> I watched recordings Sunday night without any issues, Both recorded 
> from HD-5000 and from PVR-350/500.
>
> I watched a downloaded anime in Xine Sunday night, again without any 
> issues.
>
> Monday night Oct 1^st came home and watched an HD show and then went 
> to watch a show from the PVR.. and I had no audio. Try as I might I 
> could not get the audio to play at all.
>
> I checked the anime I watched the night before, It too would not play 
> audio.
>
> I play any show recorded with the HD card and I get audio.
>
> I send all my audio out through my SPDIF optical out from my Mobo.
>
> Again I mention that I had not changed anything on my system in the 
> past month prior to this happening. Attempting to resolve this I 
> recompiled my kernel using alsa included with the kernel and not a 
> separate package. Both were and are 1.0.14
>
> Kernel : Linux version 2.6.22-gentoo-r5 (root at asgard) (gcc version 
> 4.1.2 (Gentoo 4.1.2 p1.0.1)) #1 SMP Tue Oct 2 19:59:45 EDT 2007
>
> Alsa : Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.14 (Thu 
> May 31 09:03:25 2007 UTC).
>
> lspci
>
> <..snip..>
>
> lsmod
>
> <..snip..>
>
> aplay -l
>
> **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
>
> card 0: ICH5 [Intel ICH5], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel ICH5]
>
> Subdevices: 1/1
>
> Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
>
> card 0: ICH5 [Intel ICH5], device 4: Intel ICH - IEC958 [Intel ICH5 - 
> IEC958]
>
> Subdevices: 1/1
>
> Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
>
> aplay -L
>
> default:CARD=ICH5
>
> Intel ICH5, Intel ICH5
>
> Default Audio Device
>
> front:CARD=ICH5,DEV=0
>
> Intel ICH5, Intel ICH5
>
> Front speakers
>
> surround40:CARD=ICH5,DEV=0
>
> Intel ICH5, Intel ICH5
>
> 4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
>
> surround41:CARD=ICH5,DEV=0
>
> Intel ICH5, Intel ICH5
>
> 4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
>
> surround50:CARD=ICH5,DEV=0
>
> Intel ICH5, Intel ICH5
>
> 5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
>
> surround51:CARD=ICH5,DEV=0
>
> Intel ICH5, Intel ICH5
>
> 5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
>
> null
>
> Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
>
> As I said anything recorded from the HD card plays audio whether or 
> not the actual source was a True HD show or it it was an NTSC 
> broadcast recorded from a digital channel will play via passthrough.
>
> Please help.
>
> My only other option is that my receiver went bad but if that was the 
> case then I don't think any of the passthrough should work.
>
> Tell me if you need any more info.
>

If you are pumping everything through SPDIF, then either something 
changed in your asound.conf or within the output device as configured 
within mythtv. Check out the SPDIF wiki entry and go through the steps 
there to confirm that everything is as it should be.
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Configuring_Digital_Sound_with_AC3_and_
SPDIF

The finicky thing with pumping everything via SPDIF is that if you have 
just one setting incorrect, it can cause a variety of symptoms..

-Rich

That's just it Rich.. I haven't changed anything and it worked fine the day
before..
Here is my asoundrc

# ~/.asoundrc or /etc/asound.conf
# ALSA configuration file

##### USAGE #####
# Save this file as "~/.asoundrc" (for user-specific sound configuration) or
# "/etc/asound.conf" (for system-wide sound configuration) and specify ALSA
# device names ad described in the next section.

##### DEVICE NAMES #####
# This configuration file defines four devices for use by the user.  Those
# devices are "analog", "mixed-analog", "digital", and "mixed-digital".  The
# user may also re-define "default" to be identical to one of the
above-named
# devices (i.e. to send all sound output to the digital output unless
otherwise
# specified).  Use the device names as described below:
#  - "analog" outputs to the analog output directly and (at least on
software
#  sound cards) blocks other audio output.  After playback completes,
"queued"
#  sounds are output in sequence.
#  - "mixed-analog" mixes audio output from multiple programs into the
analog
#  output (so you can hear beeps, alerts, and other noises while playing
back
#  an audio stream).
#  - "digital" outputs to the digital output directly.  Since most (all?)
#  digital outputs expect 48kHz PCM audio, this may not work for some
playback
#  (i.e. CD's--which are 44.1kHz PCM audio--or 32kHz audio streams from TV
#  recordings, etc.).
#  - "mixed-digital"

# All other devices created within this file are used only by the
configuration
# file itself and should /not/ be used directly.  In other words, do not use
# the devices "analog-hw", "dmix-analog", "digital-hw", or "dmix-digital".

##### IMPORTANT #####
# To make this ALSA configuration file work with your sound card, you will
need
# to define the appropriate card and device information for the "analog-hw"
and
# "digital-hw" devices below.  You can find the card and device information
# using "aplay -l".

##### Configuration File #####

# 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).
#
# Note, also, that as of ALSA 1.0.9, "software" sound cards have been
modified
# such that their default "default" device is identical to the
"mixed-analog"
# device.  Whether using an ALSA version before or after 1.0.9, it does no
harm
# and has no affect on performance to redefine the device (even if the
# redefinition does not change anything).  Also, by using this ALSA
# configuration file, you once again have access to unmixed analog output
using
# the "analog" device.
pcm.!default {
  type plug
## Uncomment the following to use (unmixed) "analog" by default
#  slave.pcm "analog-hw"
## 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"
}

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

# Alias for (converted) analog output on the card
# - 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 card
# - Note that as of ALSA 1.0.9, "software" sound card definitions redefine
# "default" to do mixing, meaning this device is different from "default"
and
# allows playback while blocking other sound sources (until playback
# completes).
pcm.analog {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "analog-hw"
}

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

# Alias for (converted) mixed analog output on the card
# - This will accept audio input--regardless of rate--and convert to the
rate
# required for the dmix plugin (in this case 48000Hz)
# - Note that as of ALSA 1.0.9, "software" sound card definitions redefine
# "default" to do mixing, meaning this device is identical to "default" for
# "software" sound cards.
pcm.mixed-analog {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "dmix-analog"
}

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

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

# Alias for mixed (converted) digital (S/PDIF) output on the card
#  - 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 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 card
# 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
#  - Uncomment one of the below or create a new "device N" line as
appropriate
#    for your sound card or 
#  device 1
#  device 4
}

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

# Alias for digital (S/PDIF) output on the card
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate, channels, and format
pcm.digital-hw {
  type hw
  card 0
#  device 1
#  - Comment out "device 1" above and uncomment one of the below or create a
#    new "device N" line as appropriate for your sound card or 
#  device 2
  device 4
}

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

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

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