[mythtv-users] tearing my hair out with audio over hdmi

[Matt Harrison]

On 10/03/2011 15:03, Craig Cook wrote:
 > I know you are using Gentoo, what exact hardware are you using?
 >
 > Maybe someone with the same hardware can add some ideas (if the alsa 
1.0.24 tips
 > do not help).
 >
 > Craig

Well as per Jean-Yves previous messages yesterday, I went back and 
checked the setup. I Managed to get the userspace alsa upgraded to 
1.0.24 but I cannot find a kernel that provides that version. The most 
recent in gentoo portage is 2.6.37 and that is still on 1.0.23. I was 
considering starting with a vanilla 2.6.38 but I wanted to confirm that 
had 1.0.24 before I started.

As for exact hardware, this is the machine I purchased:

http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=12705

Here is the lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Host Bridge (rev b1)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 LPC Bridge (rev b2)
00:03.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.2 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SMBus (rev b1)
00:03.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.5 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Co-processor (rev b1)
00:04.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller 
(rev b1)
00:04.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller 
(rev b1)
00:06.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller 
(rev b1)
00:06.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller 
(rev b1)
00:08.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP79 High Definition Audio 
(rev b1)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Bridge (rev b1)
00:0b.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SATA Controller (rev b1)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:15.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:16.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:17.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:18.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation ION VGA (rev b1)
04:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless 
Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. 
RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)

And the audio stuff:

flipflop ~ # aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

flipflop ~ # aplay -L
null
     Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=NVidia
     HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
     Default Audio Device
front:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
     HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
     Front speakers
surround40:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
     HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
     4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
     HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
     4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
     HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
     5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
     HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
     5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
     HDA NVidia, ALC888 Analog
     7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
     HDA NVidia, ALC888 Digital
     IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
     HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
     HDMI Audio Output



I have just been back over to the XBMC liveCD to try and find some more 
clues, the livecd is using 2.6.32 and alsa 1.0.23 so it doesn't look 
like upgrades are required.

I have tried, as per Jean-Yves previous mail to use the hdmi:DEV=x 
syntax with speaker-test, along with just about every other syntax I 
have found and still no audio.

Most of the syntaxes which other people suggest, such as "hdmi", 
"hw0,3", "plughw0,3" etc appear to work with speaker-test but produce no 
audio. If I try them with aplay, I get messages like this:

aplay: set_params:1065: Channels count non available

I'm dreading the thought of having to give up and get some speakers to 
use with the analog channel. It certainly won't be such a neat setup if 
I have to do that.

I don't think it's the asound.conf at fault as nothing works even 
referencing the hardware directly, so I'm ruling that out for now I 
think (of course I stand prepared to be wrong).

Please let me know if there's anything else I can provide.

Many thanks

Matt