[mythtv-users] Debug Atom/Ion HDMI audio?

[Michael Wisniewski]

On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 10:29 AM, Mike Perkins <mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk>
wrote:

> On 09/10/15 14:47, Michael Wisniewski wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Oct 7, 2015 at 12:19 AM, Tom Harris <thom.j.harris at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> I recently switched my frontend to a Zotac Zbox with an Atom 330 and Ion
>>> GPU.  I've worked out most of the issues, but still have one remaining
>>> problem that I'm having a hard time debugging.
>>>
>>> The audio has very frequent dropouts, where there will be no sound for a
>>> fraction of a second.  These little hiccups are sometimes bad enough to
>>> be
>>> unwatchable.
>>>
>>> - The program seems to be okey.  I've played the same video on my TV via
>>> DNLP and it played perfectly.
>>> - The video shows no interruption, only the audio has problems.
>>> - Audio/Video output is over HDMI to a Yamaha soundbar
>>>
>>> In the past, I had used this hardware for a myth frontend.  At that time
>>> my display was 720p, it's now doing 1080p.  Could 1080p be stressing the
>>> Ion?
>>>
>>> I tried running mythfrontend with "-verbose audio" and didn't get any
>>> audio logs.  Any pointers on how to debug the audio issue?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I don't have an Ion box, but I do have an Ion2.  I had a few problems,
>> but
>> finally got things working properly.  I did have audio dropouts,
>> especially
>> when browsing the EPG.  Some things I did to resolve this was...
>>
>> "On the frontend, if you go
>> into the settings -> audio, you choose what audio card to use and the
>> capabilities of that card (IE: dolby digital, plus, dts(?), things like
>> that). In there, there's a checkbox for '5.1 upmix'. "
>>
>> Disable that 5.1 upmix.
>>
>> Source: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/584464?#584464
>>
>> The other thing I did was change the "Apperance/Theme" to OpenGL.  I think
>> this fixed a lot of the issues too.  Finally, I followed the wiki page for
>> the 'vdpau' stuff.
>>
>> Also, make sure you're using the nvidia driver and not the open source
>> one.  I even had issues with the nvidia driver included with mythbuntu.
>> It's a pain, but I have to reinstall the driver by hand everytime I do a
>> kernel update.  If it's of any help, I'm using the following driver on my
>> frontend...
>>
>> NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.76.run
>>
>> This is for an Ion2, so I would make sure your Ion is supported with this
>> driver version.
>>
>> Strange. Installing the nvidia driver on a stock Debian, following the
> instructions, sets it up as a DKMS build[1]. This means that it is
> automatically rebuilt every time there is a kernel update. No tinkering or
> pain involved.
>
> Of course, Ubuntu may do things different.
>
> [1] https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers
>
> --
>
>
Mike,

So Ubuntu should do this and it does.  I've just experienced a few glitches
with the video driver after a kernel update.  I don't know if it's my junky
receiver or the video driver, but it seems like it looses sync.  After a
reinstall of the driver, it works a lot better.

I have a "flagship" Onkyo receiver that's had a known problem with the HDMI
daughter board.  I've had it replaced two or three times now and it works
OK....but I think it might loose sync when it's cold...which means that the
solder point on it is junk.  Or, maybe it's something else....

In any case, I just reinstall the driver for the video card after the
kernel updates to prevent possible future problems.

Mike
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