Mailing List Archive: MythTV: Users

mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio

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aaranya+mythtv at gmail

Nov 23, 2009, 4:48 PM

Post #1 of 17 (2215 views)
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mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio

Hi,

I'm having PulseAudio woes with MythTV. I'm using Ubuntu Karmic with
audio through NVidia's HDMI. PulseAudio on Karmic works pretty well
and I am able to use it without problems with XBMC and other
applications. The problem is that when I try to EXEC XBMC through
MythTV, PulseAudio is still suspended so I get no sounds and no video
on XBMC. Also, XBMC starts using 100% CPU and I have to kill -9 it to
recover. I searched a bit and I tried the
EXPERIMENTALLY_ALLOW_PULSE_AUDIO=1 option. XBMC works fine, but
MythTV starts to lose audio when watching a video.

I also tried setting it up as described here:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Configuring_Digital_Sound#PulseAudio, but
then I get no sound with MythTV.

Any ideas how to work around it? Is there some way to unblock
PulseAudio when I EXEC something from MythTV? I would like to have
mythfrontend to continue being the launching area for other media
applications.

Thanks,
Akshat
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nick.rout at gmail

Nov 23, 2009, 4:55 PM

Post #2 of 17 (2177 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 1:48 PM, Cool Frood <aaranya+mythtv [at] gmail> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm having PulseAudio woes with MythTV. I'm using Ubuntu Karmic with
> audio through NVidia's HDMI. PulseAudio on Karmic works pretty well
> and I am able to use it without problems with XBMC and other
> applications. The problem is that when I try to EXEC XBMC through
> MythTV, PulseAudio is still suspended so I get no sounds and no video
> on XBMC. Also, XBMC starts using 100% CPU and I have to kill -9 it to
> recover. I searched a bit and I tried the
> EXPERIMENTALLY_ALLOW_PULSE_AUDIO=1 option. XBMC works fine, but
> MythTV starts to lose audio when watching a video.
>
> I also tried setting it up as described here:
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Configuring_Digital_Sound#PulseAudio, but
> then I get no sound with MythTV.
>
> Any ideas how to work around it? Is there some way to unblock
> PulseAudio when I EXEC something from MythTV? I would like to have
> mythfrontend to continue being the launching area for other media
> applications.

Is it possible to set xbmc to NOT use pulse audio?
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aaranya+mythtv at gmail

Nov 23, 2009, 5:08 PM

Post #3 of 17 (2179 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 7:55 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout [at] gmail> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 1:48 PM, Cool Frood <aaranya+mythtv [at] gmail> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm having PulseAudio woes with MythTV. I'm using Ubuntu Karmic with
>> audio through NVidia's HDMI. PulseAudio on Karmic works pretty well
>> and I am able to use it without problems with XBMC and other
>> applications. The problem is that when I try to EXEC XBMC through
>> MythTV, PulseAudio is still suspended so I get no sounds and no video
>> on XBMC. Also, XBMC starts using 100% CPU and I have to kill -9 it to
>> recover. I searched a bit and I tried the
>> EXPERIMENTALLY_ALLOW_PULSE_AUDIO=1 option. XBMC works fine, but
>> MythTV starts to lose audio when watching a video.
>>
>> I also tried setting it up as described here:
>> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Configuring_Digital_Sound#PulseAudio, but
>> then I get no sound with MythTV.
>>
>> Any ideas how to work around it? Is there some way to unblock
>> PulseAudio when I EXEC something from MythTV? I would like to have
>> mythfrontend to continue being the launching area for other media
>> applications.
>
> Is it possible to set xbmc to NOT use pulse audio?

I suppose that could be done, but I went through a bunch of
combinations just to make XBMC work, and I don't want to go through
the pain of disabling PulseAudio and get everything working again.

-Akshat
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brian at interlinx

Nov 23, 2009, 6:54 PM

Post #4 of 17 (2175 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

On Mon, 2009-11-23 at 19:48 -0500, Cool Frood wrote:
> Hi,

Hi,

> I'm having PulseAudio woes with MythTV.

Yeah. I have not even begun to investigate what the issues are but why
can't we all just get along? :-/

As to your specific issue however: you would be served by my previous
suggestion that mythfrontend, rather than suspending pulseaudio when it
starts up, suspends it when it starts playback and resumes it when it's
done.

That suggestion doesn't appear to have gotten much uptake though.

b.

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aaranya+mythtv at gmail

Nov 23, 2009, 7:47 PM

Post #5 of 17 (2175 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:54 PM, Brian J. Murrell <brian [at] interlinx> wrote:
> On Mon, 2009-11-23 at 19:48 -0500, Cool Frood wrote:
>> Hi,
>
> Hi,
>
>> I'm having PulseAudio woes with MythTV.
>
> Yeah. I have not even begun to investigate what the issues are but why
> can't we all just get along? :-/
>
> As to your specific issue however: you would be served by my previous
> suggestion that mythfrontend, rather than suspending pulseaudio when it
> starts up, suspends it when it starts playback and resumes it when it's
> done.
>
> That suggestion doesn't appear to have gotten much uptake though.
>
> b.
>

Hmm, at the very least, PulseAudio could be resumed on starting an
external program and suspended when it returns. I'll look at the code
and see if I can hack it together.

Akshat
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nick.rout at gmail

Nov 23, 2009, 7:51 PM

Post #6 of 17 (2171 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 4:47 PM, Cool Frood <aaranya+mythtv [at] gmail> wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:54 PM, Brian J. Murrell <brian [at] interlinx> wrote:
>> On Mon, 2009-11-23 at 19:48 -0500, Cool Frood wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>>> I'm having PulseAudio woes with MythTV.
>>
>> Yeah. I have not even begun to investigate what the issues are but why
>> can't we all just get along? :-/
>>
>> As to your specific issue however: you would be served by my previous
>> suggestion that mythfrontend, rather than suspending pulseaudio when it
>> starts up, suspends it when it starts playback and resumes it when it's
>> done.
>>
>> That suggestion doesn't appear to have gotten much uptake though.
>>
>> b.
>>
>
> Hmm, at the very least, PulseAudio could be resumed on starting an
> external program and suspended when it returns. I'll look at the code
> and see if I can hack it together.

Yes, you could run a script that does (in pseudocode)

enable-pulseaudio
xbmc
disable-pulseaudio

and then you could put that in the EXEC statement in your menu entry.

Or you could just run xbmc without pulse audio. Simple really.
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brian at interlinx

Nov 24, 2009, 4:10 AM

Post #7 of 17 (2127 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

On Tue, 2009-11-24 at 16:51 +1300, Nick Rout wrote:
> Or you could just run xbmc without pulse audio. Simple really.

Or mythtv could do the right thing and only suspend pulse while it needs
the audio device.

Or even better, mythtv could actually work with pulseaudio. But as I've
said, I don't know what the issues are that are preventing it currently.
I suspect there are complaints of latency perhaps.

I wonder if it could be compensated for. i.e. if myth were to be able
to ask pulse what the latency is, it could push the audio out that much
ahead of the video.

b.

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nick.rout at gmail

Nov 24, 2009, 10:53 AM

Post #8 of 17 (2105 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 1:10 AM, Brian J. Murrell <brian [at] interlinx> wrote:
> On Tue, 2009-11-24 at 16:51 +1300, Nick Rout wrote:
>> Or you could just run xbmc without pulse audio. Simple really.
>
> Or mythtv could do the right thing and only suspend pulse while it needs
> the audio device.
>
> Or even better, mythtv could actually work with pulseaudio. But as I've
> said, I don't know what the issues are that are preventing it currently.
> I suspect there are complaints of latency perhaps.
>
> I wonder if it could be compensated for. i.e. if myth were to be able
> to ask pulse what the latency is, it could push the audio out that much
> ahead of the video.

I am talking about solving the problem now, not when some developer
shooses to change something.
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anothersname at googlemail

Nov 24, 2009, 11:22 AM

Post #9 of 17 (2103 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

2009/11/24 Nick Rout <nick.rout [at] gmail>:
> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 1:10 AM, Brian J. Murrell <brian [at] interlinx> wrote:
>> On Tue, 2009-11-24 at 16:51 +1300, Nick Rout wrote:
>>> Or you could just run xbmc without pulse audio. Simple really.
>>
>> Or mythtv could do the right thing and only suspend pulse while it needs
>> the audio device.
>>
>> Or even better, mythtv could actually work with pulseaudio. But as I've
>> said, I don't know what the issues are that are preventing it currently.
>> I suspect there are complaints of latency perhaps.
>>
>> I wonder if it could be compensated for. i.e. if myth were to be able
>> to ask pulse what the latency is, it could push the audio out that much
>> ahead of the video.
>
> I am talking about solving the problem now, not when some developer
> shooses to change something.
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

Guys

I didn't see the start of this thread but surely your PA problem only
lasts for the first couple of seconds when you playback a recording?

I never used PA until Fed11 (because frankly it didn't work properly
for me), but now have it setup with MythTV and even have LIRC
controlling the volume within mythtv to a spdif output.

I have no latency issues after the first say 2 seconds of a recording
or video playback.
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aaranya+mythtv at gmail

Nov 24, 2009, 12:01 PM

Post #10 of 17 (2096 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

> Guys
>
> I didn't see the start of this thread but surely your PA problem only
> lasts for the first couple of seconds when you playback a recording?
>
> I never used PA until Fed11 (because frankly it didn't work properly
> for me), but now have it setup with MythTV and even have LIRC
> controlling the volume within mythtv to a spdif output.
>
> I have no latency issues after the first say 2 seconds of a recording
> or video playback.
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

The problem isn't with MythTV being able to use ALSA while PA is
running. The problem is other apps not being able to function
properly while MythTV is running. MythTV currently disables PA on
startup, so no PA-based app can run while MythTV is running.
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anothersname at googlemail

Nov 24, 2009, 12:46 PM

Post #11 of 17 (2091 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

2009/11/24 Cool Frood <aaranya+mythtv [at] gmail>:
>> Guys
>>
>> I didn't see the start of this thread but surely your PA problem only
>> lasts for the first couple of seconds when you playback a recording?
>>
>> I never used PA until Fed11 (because frankly it didn't work properly
>> for me), but now have it setup with MythTV and even have LIRC
>> controlling the volume within mythtv to a spdif output.
>>
>> I have no latency issues after the first say 2 seconds of a recording
>> or video playback.
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtv-users mailing list
>> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
>> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>
>
> The problem isn't with MythTV being able to use ALSA while PA is
> running. The problem is other apps not being able to function
> properly while MythTV is running. MythTV currently disables PA on
> startup, so no PA-based app can run while MythTV is running.
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

Err.....No it doesn't

What does happen is that MythTV outputs to Alsa (assuming that's what
you've setup in your settings), you then need to ensure the
alsa-plugins-pulseaudio (or the equivalent for your distro) is
installed (and also the pulseaudio-module-lirc or your distro
eqivalent) if you want to drive volume using your remote.

So the stepping path for output then becomes....

MythTV --> ALSA --> Pulseaudio

If PA wasn't working on my system I couldn't control the volume using
my remote as I had to program it into my .lircrc file to specifically
drive the PA commands.

I know I came late to this conversation but if I can help let me know.
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johnnyjboss at gmail

Nov 24, 2009, 12:49 PM

Post #12 of 17 (2094 views)
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Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 2:46 PM, Another Sillyname
<anothersname [at] googlemail> wrote:
> 2009/11/24 Cool Frood <aaranya+mythtv [at] gmail>:
>>> Guys
>>>
>>> I didn't see the start of this thread but surely your PA problem only
>>> lasts for the first couple of seconds when you playback a recording?
>>>
>>> I never used PA until Fed11 (because frankly it didn't work properly
>>> for me), but now have it setup with MythTV and even have LIRC
>>> controlling the volume within mythtv to a spdif output.
>>>
>>> I have no latency issues after the first say 2 seconds of a recording
>>> or video playback.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> mythtv-users mailing list
>>> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
>>> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>>
>>
>> The problem isn't with MythTV being able to use ALSA while PA is
>> running. The problem is other apps not being able to function
>> properly while MythTV is running. MythTV currently disables PA on
>> startup, so no PA-based app can run while MythTV is running.
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtv-users mailing list
>> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
>> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>
>
> Err.....No it doesn't
>
> What does happen is that MythTV outputs to Alsa (assuming that's what
> you've setup in your settings), you then need to ensure the
> alsa-plugins-pulseaudio (or the equivalent for your distro) is
> installed (and also the pulseaudio-module-lirc or your distro
> eqivalent) if you want to drive volume using your remote.
>
> So the stepping path for output then becomes....
>
> MythTV --> ALSA --> Pulseaudio

Hey I had to do this on MythBuntu and now when I press Vol+ or Vol- I
see the onscreen QT at the bottom and some other on screen overlay a
the tope right - some sort of pulse OSD widget that I assume is part
of the XFCE environment. It seems redundant to have them both - does
anyone know how to disable this?

>
> If PA wasn't working on my system I couldn't control the volume using
> my remote as I had to program it into my .lircrc file to specifically
> drive the PA commands.
>
> I know I came late to this conversation but if I can help let me know.
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
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anothersname at googlemail

Nov 24, 2009, 12:53 PM

Post #13 of 17 (2096 views)
Permalink

Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

2009/11/24 Johnny Walker <johnnyjboss [at] gmail>:
> On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 2:46 PM, Another Sillyname
> <anothersname [at] googlemail> wrote:
>> 2009/11/24 Cool Frood <aaranya+mythtv [at] gmail>:
>>>> Guys
>>>>
>>>> I didn't see the start of this thread but surely your PA problem only
>>>> lasts for the first couple of seconds when you playback a recording?
>>>>
>>>> I never used PA until Fed11 (because frankly it didn't work properly
>>>> for me), but now have it setup with MythTV and even have LIRC
>>>> controlling the volume within mythtv to a spdif output.
>>>>
>>>> I have no latency issues after the first say 2 seconds of a recording
>>>> or video playback.
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> mythtv-users mailing list
>>>> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
>>>> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>>>
>>>
>>> The problem isn't with MythTV being able to use ALSA while PA is
>>> running. The problem is other apps not being able to function
>>> properly while MythTV is running. MythTV currently disables PA on
>>> startup, so no PA-based app can run while MythTV is running.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> mythtv-users mailing list
>>> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
>>> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>>
>>
>> Err.....No it doesn't
>>
>> What does happen is that MythTV outputs to Alsa (assuming that's what
>> you've setup in your settings), you then need to ensure the
>> alsa-plugins-pulseaudio (or the equivalent for your distro) is
>> installed (and also the pulseaudio-module-lirc or your distro
>> eqivalent) if you want to drive volume using your remote.
>>
>> So the stepping path for output then becomes....
>>
>> MythTV --> ALSA --> Pulseaudio
>
> Hey I had to do this on MythBuntu and now when I press Vol+ or Vol- I
> see the onscreen QT at the bottom and some other on screen overlay a
> the tope right - some sort of pulse OSD widget that I assume is part
> of the XFCE environment. It seems redundant to have them both - does
> anyone know how to disable this?
>
>
>>
>> If PA wasn't working on my system I couldn't control the volume using
>> my remote as I had to program it into my .lircrc file to specifically
>> drive the PA commands.
>>
>> I know I came late to this conversation but if I can help let me know.
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtv-users mailing list
>> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
>> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

I guess that the widget on the bottom is the MythTV OSD volume slider?
Which MythTV OSD theme are you using?

Not sure about the other widget, could be many things depending on
your desktop environment.
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jarpublic at gmail

Nov 24, 2009, 2:31 PM

Post #14 of 17 (2076 views)
Permalink

Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

> Hey I had to do this on MythBuntu and now when I press Vol+ or Vol- I
> see the onscreen QT at the bottom and some other on screen overlay a
> the tope right - some sort of pulse OSD widget that I assume is part
> of the XFCE environment. It seems redundant to have them both - does
> anyone know how to disable this?

I believe it is the XFCE Volume Daemon. It is causing me all kinds of
grief. I was just about to start a thread on it. I disabled by going
to Xfce 4 Settings Manger -> Session and Startup -> Application
Autostart and then unchecking XFCE Volume Daemon. I have only done one
restart but the volume seems to work, no popups, and mythfrontend
didn't crash on the first start after a reboot. So those are all
pluses for me.
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johnnyjboss at gmail

Nov 24, 2009, 2:34 PM

Post #15 of 17 (2088 views)
Permalink

Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 4:31 PM, Johnny <jarpublic [at] gmail> wrote:
>> Hey I had to do this on MythBuntu and now when I press Vol+ or Vol- I
>> see the onscreen QT at the bottom and some other on screen overlay a
>> the tope right - some sort of pulse OSD widget that I assume is part
>> of the XFCE environment. It seems redundant to have them both - does
>> anyone know how to disable this?
>
> I believe it is the XFCE Volume Daemon. It is causing me all kinds of
> grief. I was just about to start a thread on it. I disabled by going
> to Xfce 4 Settings Manger -> Session and Startup -> Application
> Autostart and then unchecking XFCE Volume Daemon. I have only done one
> restart but the volume seems to work, no popups, and mythfrontend
> didn't crash on the first start after a reboot. So those are all
> pluses for me.

these are indeed all good signs - I'll go try that - thanks.

> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
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jarpublic at gmail

Nov 24, 2009, 2:49 PM

Post #16 of 17 (2077 views)
Permalink

Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

>> I believe it is the XFCE Volume Daemon. It is causing me all kinds of
>> grief. I was just about to start a thread on it. I disabled by going
>> to Xfce 4 Settings Manger -> Session and Startup -> Application
>> Autostart and then unchecking XFCE Volume Daemon. I have only done one
>> restart but the volume seems to work, no popups, and mythfrontend
>> didn't crash on the first start after a reboot. So those are all
>> pluses for me.
>
> these are indeed all good signs - I'll go try that - thanks.

I may have spoken too soon. I saw that in another forum. It seems to
have addressed the black OSD popup, but I still get things muted by
default when i boot up. I am looking into that still.
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jarpublic at gmail

Nov 24, 2009, 3:12 PM

Post #17 of 17 (2080 views)
Permalink

Re: mythfrontend 0.22 with PulseAudio [In reply to]

>> these are indeed all good signs - I'll go try that - thanks.
>
> I may have spoken too soon. I saw that in another forum. It seems to
> have addressed the black OSD popup, but I still get things muted by
> default when i boot up. I am looking into that still.

I got it all working now, I had to stop "Volume Control" from starting
as well. I posted my solution in another thread to avoid high jacking
this one anymore, since my issue was Xfce related and not pulseaudio
related.
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