[mythtv-users] Soundblaster live and AC3 for MythDVD help

[Graeme Woollett]

Paul Miller wrote:

>I've also been trying to get AC3 to work with my SB Live! Platinum 
>(not 5.1).  It works perfectly in Windows and PowerDVD, so I know 
>it's capable.  How are you executing xine or mplayer?  Is there a 
>program to test AC3 without a DVD?  I created /etc/asound.conf based 
>on yours and restarted alsa, yet I did not notice any differences.
>
>I noticed that you have a couple more alsa control devices than I 
>have..  Do I need to somehow enable my Live Drive II?
>$ ls -1 /dev/snd
>controlC0
>hwC0D0
>midiC0D0
>pcmC0D0c
>pcmC0D0p
>pcmC0D1c
>pcmC0D2c
>pcmC0D2p
>timer
>
>If I execute mplayer (1.0-pre6-0.2) with
>mplayer dvd:// -ao alsa:device=spdif -ac hwac3
>my Yamaha receiver switches back and forth between PCM and Digital.  
>It should say Digital if AC3 is working (both interfaces are actually 
>digital).  I also noticed a message saying that "Sample format big 
>endian AC3 not yet supported".
>
>For xine (libxine1 1.0-1), I made the changes to my .xine/config file 
>and didn't notice any difference than before any changes.  It outputs 
>PCM only with the signal is significantly attenuated compared to 
>mplayer, with no degradation in quality.
>
>I'm using Debian/unstable with kernel 2.6.9 and alsa-base 1.0.7-2.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Thanks!
>-Paul
>
>On Tuesday 04 January 2005 7:04 pm, Kyle Rose wrote:
>  
>
>>Gregg Farhat <3gemail at gmail.com> writes:
>>    
>>
>>>Okay.  I have an onboard sound card which is disabled, and the
>>>sblive. The sound currently works through the SPDIF for mythtv
>>>and mythvideo, but when I play a DVD I get static. I don't intend
>>>to sound dumb, but I did not know how to handle the entrys with
>>>multiples. Here is what I get from  lsmod | egrep snd
>>>
>>>snd_emu10k1            88521  1
>>>snd_rawmidi              21733  1 snd_emu10k1
>>>snd_pcm                   83529  1 snd_emu10k1
>>>snd_timer                  25413  1 snd_pcm
>>>snd_seq_device         6473  2 snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi
>>>snd_ac97_codec        58821  1 snd_emu10k1
>>>snd_page_alloc          8393  2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
>>>snd_util_mem            3521  1 snd_emu10k1
>>>snd_hwdep                6597  1 snd_emu10k1
>>>snd                           45477  10
>>>snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_s
>>>eq_device,snd_ac97_codec,snd_util_mem,snd_hwdep
>>>soundcore                 7713  1 snd
>>>      
>>>
>>So, for now I'd blacklist snd_seq_device, snd_rawmidi, and
>>snd_hwdep. Here's what I have:
>>
>>snd_intel8x0
>>snd_ac97_codec
>>snd_pcm_oss
>>snd_mixer_oss
>>snd_pcm
>>snd_timer
>>snd
>>snd_page_alloc
>>
>>Okay, so once you do this, here's my /etc/asound.conf (or
>>.asoundrc):
>>
>>pcm.krose-dmix {
>>  type dmix
>>  ipc_key 3516
>>  ipc_key_add_uid yes
>>  slave {
>>        pcm "hw:0,0"
>>        period_time 0
>>        period_size 1024
>>        buffer_size 4096
>>        rate 48000
>>  }
>>}
>>
>>pcm.dsp0 {
>>  type plug
>>  slave.pcm "krose-dmix"
>>}
>>
>>ctl.mixer0 {
>>  type hw
>>  card 0
>>}
>>
>>pcm.!default {
>>  type plug
>>  slave.pcm "krose-dmix"
>>}
>>
>>I actually *only* have problems with AC3 output with mythtv, and
>>only on the first attempt: all subsequent attempts succeed.  I have
>>no problems with xine.  I'd just make sure you have the following
>>lines in your .xine/config:
>>
>>audio.a52_pass_through:1
>>audio.alsa_a52_device:iec958:AES0=0x6,AES1=0x82,AES2=0x0,AES3=0x2
>>audio.alsa_mmap_enable:0
>>audio.alsa_default_device:default
>>audio.driver:alsa
>>
>>The alsa_a52_device line may be commented out; if so, you should be
>>able to leave it as-is.
>>
>>Lemme know how this works.
>>
>>Cheers,
>>Kyle
>>    
>>
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>  
>
Your the man Kyle.  Dolby Digital and DTS now work on my SB Live DE 5.1 
card with Xine.
Be sure to post this to the alsa list if you haven't already.

Thanks very much for your detective work, its MUCH appreciated.

Graeme Woollett