[mythtv-users] SO Close to completing my setup! Recurring sound issues!

[Cedric Tefft]

jamesjtucker at comcast.net wrote:

> Ok, i have been at this for almost a week now. Thru the help of this 
> list and a few *nix junkie pals, i have managed to get a more or less 
> complete setup.
>
> For some reason, however, my  sound problems just wont go away. I have 
> alsa configured per the docs, using the command line.
>
> When i do the /usr/sbin/alsactl store, Myth has worked in the past 
> until i reboot.
>
I had a similar problem under Fedora Core 2.  On startup, the frontend 
would occasionally complain about not being able to open the sound 
device /dev/dsp and when I was watching LiveTV or a recording it would 
generate a stream of audio buffer overflow errors (and give me no 
sound).  It was very inconsistent, and I never did figure out what the 
root cause was, but I got around the problem by telling KDE not to use 
the sound system at all:

Start the KDE control center, go to Sound & Multimedia -> Sound System, 
and uncheck "enable the sound system".


> While trying to resolve this, a friend who i trust told me that i 
> should try "/usr/sbin/alsactl --file /etc/asound.state store"
>
> This didnt help anything either.
>
> Now i have other issues. On the left channel, i can get fairly loud 
> sound, but the right is not there, although if i listen close i can 
> hear an "echo" about 3 sounds behind.
>
Guessing , but maybe one of the audio plugs is loose?  Assuming you have 
at least one 3.5mm headphone plug in your audio setup, try fiddling with 
it a little bit.  I have seen the case where it's necessary to back the 
plug out of the jack just the barest fraction of a millimeter to get the 
left and right channels coming through loud and clear.  Anyway, I didn't 
have this problem with my Myth setup, so it may be unrelated to your 
other issue.

- Cedric