[mythtv-users] Ubuntu. HDMI sound. OK to remove pulse audio?

Jean-Yves Avenard jyavenard at gmail.com
Thu Sep 30 09:31:09 UTC 2010


On 30 September 2010 01:47, Mark Hutchinson <markhsa at gmail.com> wrote:
> I have Trunk running and have a white noise problem that there is a related
> bug for with white noise.
> I use Pulseaudio-default as my myth selected sound device and this worked
> fine with .23.
> This is with HDMI audio and Nvidia 220 card.
>
> Have any other Ubuntu 10.04 users removed pulse and use a different sound
> option with working HDMI?

If you intend to use mythtv on a dedicated front end, you are better
off using ALSA for audio.
Pulse doesn't allow digital passthrough, and it will resample and
convert most audio you will play which add a non-required overhead.

If when you use myth you do not care about any other audio coming out
of other applications, then there too, you are much better off using
ALSA.

If none of the above is true, then you may use pulse, with the
required disclaimer : pulse will give you lots of headache and
unexpected behaviour.

ALSA is by far the best choice for using Myth, all other audio methods
available on linux (except OSS) add an extra layer on top of ALSA.
With ALSA mythtv is able to talk directly to the hardware of your
audio card, giving you less overhead, less audio conversion and of
course, with HDMI you'll be able to enjoy high-definition up to 8
channels audio.

My $0.02
Jean-Yves


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