[mythtv-users] HDMI audio: plughw:0, 7 works but hdmi:CARD=NVidia doesn't

[Dave Badia]

So I upgraded to 24-fixes and found that hdmi:CARD=NVidia doesn't give
me sound but plughw:0,7 does.  (I never tried hdmi:CARD=NVidia prior
to .24)
I didn't think it was a big deal but then I upgraded to JYA's 24-fixes
to get TrueHD and friends going - now I see that plughw:0,7 won't
allow me to enable those.   So it seems I must solve to get
hdmi:CARD=NVidia working after all

I've running on gentoo 2.6.37 vanilla kernel and ALSA 1.0.23.  I have
2 sound cards: an ECS GT220 connected to my AVR via HDMI and a Turtle
Beach Riviera which is now unused ever since I got HDMI audio working
with plughw:0,7 a few months back.

I tried to get back to basics by using aplay and speaker-test to test
the hdmi:CARD=NVidia device out, but I can't get it working

Gives me sound through HDMI:
aplay -Dplughw0,7 SURROUNDTEST_DD_640.wav
speaker-test -D plughw:0,7 -c 6

No sound through HDMI:  (no errors just no sound)
speaker-test -D hdmi:CARD=NVidia -c 6
speaker-test -D hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0 -c 6
(tried a couple of other combos with -c 8, etc)

I've checked and the audio devies are unmuted in alsamixer (think they
have to be in order for plughw:0,7 to work anyway)

dave at newdawk ~$ aplay -L
hdmi:CARD=NVidia
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=CMI8738
    C-Media CMI8738, C-Media PCI DAC/ADC
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=CMI8738,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8738, C-Media PCI DAC/ADC
    Front speakers
rear:CARD=CMI8738,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8738, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    Rear speakers
surround40:CARD=CMI8738,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8738, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=CMI8738,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8738, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=CMI8738,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8738, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=CMI8738,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8738, C-Media PCI 2nd DAC
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
iec958:CARD=CMI8738,DEV=0
    C-Media CMI8738, C-Media PCI DAC/ADC
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output


Thanks in advance!
Dave