[mythtv-users] Simultaneous analogue (analog) and S/PDIF output

Alex Butcher mythlist at assursys.co.uk
Fri Jan 14 11:42:04 UTC 2011


Hi -

Before we go through this round, I feel it might be useful to elaborate on
my setup, as I get the distinct impression(!) you feel my use case is
"batshit crazy" or similar. :-)

As previously stated, my MythTV box connects to my SD CRT TV using analogue
SCART, fed from the PC's front analogue audio outputs and the VGA connector
(as it happens, via a homebrew VGA-to-RGB SCART adaptor, but it'd be the
same if one was using composite video or S-Video outputs).  It also connects
to my 5.1 receiver/amp via optical S/PDIF.  I don't have any spare analogue
inputs on the receiver, otherwise I'd probably give it an analogue
connection to the receiver as well.

Usually, I leave my receiver connected but powered off, and listen to stereo
audio through my TV.  As most of the content I watch with MythTV is usually
only stereo, this is not usually a problem.  If I watch a movie recorded
from UK DVB-T broadcast (i.e.  I suspect it may have a Dolby Pro-Logic
soundtrack still encoded on the two stereo channels), or a DVD with
DD5.1/DTS soundtrack(s), I might well mute my TV and use my receiver for
surround sound.  If it's late at night, though, I might just watch it with
TV sound and my receiver off.

Ideally, I'd like MythTV and ALSA combined to do what my PS2, XBox and cheap
DVD player can do easily; output sensible analogue stereo at all times (I
don't really care which combination of channels they use to generate the
stereo pair when playing >2 channel soundtracks unless it can also be
tweaked /as the content is playing/), and output PCM 2.0, Dolby Digital 2.0,
5.0, 5.1 or DTS over digital when any of those types of soundtracks are
selected by the user.  Maybe some kind of advanced manual channel mapping
for too, but that would just be making MythTV /better/ than appliances!



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