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Mythbuntu, only mythtv plays sound, doesn't release sound card?

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porrifolius at gmail

Sep 15, 2012, 4:51 PM

Post #1 of 7 (457 views)
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Mythbuntu, only mythtv plays sound, doesn't release sound card?

Hello.

Until recently I had an Ubuntu 10 mythtv setup (sorry, I forget the
mythtv version). I could watch content in mythtv with sound coming
out over the SPDIF. When I wasn't watching content in mythtv I could
get sound out of apps in another X session, or using mpd, etc over the
SPDIF.

I've just upgraded to Mythbuntu 12.04.1. Now mythtv (0.25.2+fixes) is
the only application that can output sound, even when I've shutdown
the mythtv front and back ends I don't get any sound... even when
doing:

root $ aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Noise.wav

Any tips on how to diagnose and fix this sorry state of affairs?

Thanks very much.
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icicimov at gmail

Sep 16, 2012, 2:47 AM

Post #2 of 7 (429 views)
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Re: Mythbuntu, only mythtv plays sound, doesn't release sound card? [In reply to]

On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 9:51 AM, P Orrifolius <porrifolius [at] gmail> wrote:

> Hello.
>
>
> Until recently I had an Ubuntu 10 mythtv setup (sorry, I forget the
> mythtv version). I could watch content in mythtv with sound coming
> out over the SPDIF. When I wasn't watching content in mythtv I could
> get sound out of apps in another X session, or using mpd, etc over the
> SPDIF.
>
>
> I've just upgraded to Mythbuntu 12.04.1. Now mythtv (0.25.2+fixes) is
> the only application that can output sound, even when I've shutdown
> the mythtv front and back ends I don't get any sound... even when
> doing:
>
> root $ aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Noise.wav
>
>
> Any tips on how to diagnose and fix this sorry state of affairs?
>
>
> Thanks very much.
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

Ubuntu 12.04 is notorious for leaving users with no desktop sound after
upgrade. Nothing to do with MythTV which is just very good in detecting the
sound system and configuring the sound on its own.

Install the "pavucontrol" package for pulseaudio and enable the appropriate
output. Alternatively, create ".asoundrc" file in the user home directory
to set the default ALSA sound device. There was a thread regarding this
recently, actually more than one, so search the archive or google for help
with creating the asoundrc file.

porrifolius at gmail

Sep 16, 2012, 12:19 PM

Post #3 of 7 (423 views)
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Re: Mythbuntu, only mythtv plays sound, doesn't release sound card? [In reply to]

> Ubuntu 12.04 is notorious for leaving users with no desktop sound after
> upgrade. Nothing to do with MythTV which is just very good in detecting the
> sound system and configuring the sound on its own.
>
> Install the "pavucontrol" package for pulseaudio and enable the appropriate
> output. Alternatively, create ".asoundrc" file in the user home directory to
> set the default ALSA sound device. There was a thread regarding this
> recently, actually more than one, so search the archive or google for help
> with creating the asoundrc file.

Ok, thanks. I don't appear to have pulseaudio installed but I'll take
a look into the .asoundrc and see if that helps things.

Though in fact it was a fresh install, and I did actually have sound
for a short period. I think it was up until the first time I played
content through myth... but the other slightly out-of-the-ordinary
thing I did was try out the linux Spotify client. It had sound, for a
wee while, but maybe it's at fault for messing up my sound config
somehow. It's uninstalled now but no change in sound capabilities.

Thanks
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peper03 at yahoo

Sep 16, 2012, 1:50 PM

Post #4 of 7 (419 views)
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Re: Mythbuntu, only mythtv plays sound, doesn't release sound card? [In reply to]

On 16/09/12 21:19, P Orrifolius wrote:
>> Ubuntu 12.04 is notorious for leaving users with no desktop sound after
>> upgrade. Nothing to do with MythTV which is just very good in detecting the
>> sound system and configuring the sound on its own.
>>
>> Install the "pavucontrol" package for pulseaudio and enable the appropriate
>> output. Alternatively, create ".asoundrc" file in the user home directory to
>> set the default ALSA sound device. There was a thread regarding this
>> recently, actually more than one, so search the archive or google for help
>> with creating the asoundrc file.
>
> Ok, thanks. I don't appear to have pulseaudio installed but I'll take
> a look into the .asoundrc and see if that helps things.
>
> Though in fact it was a fresh install, and I did actually have sound
> for a short period. I think it was up until the first time I played
> content through myth... but the other slightly out-of-the-ordinary
> thing I did was try out the linux Spotify client. It had sound, for a
> wee while, but maybe it's at fault for messing up my sound config
> somehow. It's uninstalled now but no change in sound capabilities.

I had the same problem recently. I found that trying to play anything
other than recordings/videos in Myth resulted in silence (even Internet
Video). It turned out that by default everything was going through the
'Line out' jack.

I created /etc/asound.conf with the following:

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "spdif"
}

to force the SPDIF output to be the default. Now I get sound from other
programs.

I haven't figured out if it's possible to get Myth to share the audio
output with other applications via ALSA (e.g. Skype running in the
background still has no sound if I'm watching something) but although it
would be nice, it's only once in a blue moon that I actually need/want
it so I've not felt the need to investigate further.

Richard.

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porrifolius at gmail

Sep 16, 2012, 3:37 PM

Post #5 of 7 (420 views)
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Re: Mythbuntu, only mythtv plays sound, doesn't release sound card? [In reply to]

> I had the same problem recently. I found that trying to play anything other
> than recordings/videos in Myth resulted in silence (even Internet Video).
> It turned out that by default everything was going through the 'Line out'
> jack.
>
> I created /etc/asound.conf with the following:
>
> pcm.!default {
> type plug
> slave.pcm "spdif"
> }
>
> to force the SPDIF output to be the default. Now I get sound from other
> programs.

Thanks, Richard. That's a great improvement.

I've been trying random incantations in /etc/asound.conf / ~/.asoundrc
without any success.

Using your suggestion I can get sound from other apps, with a couple
of limitations....

1) there seems to be a few seconds delay before sound will start playing
2) no concurrent sound from different applications (as you point out)
3) I have to quit the last application (Chromium and mpd at least),
even if it's no longer playing sound, before myth can play.

Perhaps 1 is due to going through 'plug' with software conversions?
Would 'hw' be better?
Perhaps need to go through 'dmix' to fix 2?
Probably solved by fixing 2?

Trouble is I'm not sure how to go about changing the asound.conf.
What are the possible types and slave devices? 'plug' and 'spdif' are
not anything listed by aplay -L.

Myth output currently goes through ALSA:hw:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1... though
when some other app is using it I get a '...is invalid or not useable'
message.

Thanks.
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mythtv at hambone

Sep 16, 2012, 6:17 PM

Post #6 of 7 (419 views)
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Re: Mythbuntu, only mythtv plays sound, doesn't release sound card? [In reply to]

On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 6:37 PM, P Orrifolius <porrifolius [at] gmail> wrote:

> Trouble is I'm not sure how to go about changing the asound.conf.
> What are the possible types and slave devices? 'plug' and 'spdif' are
> not anything listed by aplay -L.
>

I'm no wizard at the settings in .asoundrc but this page helped me out a
lot.

http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Asoundrc

Perhaps it can help you. I settled on the dmix plugin, using nearly the
same code that is shown on this site (just changing the card and device
numbers).

Hope that helps,
Jerry

porrifolius at gmail

Sep 17, 2012, 2:23 AM

Post #7 of 7 (400 views)
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Re: Mythbuntu, only mythtv plays sound, doesn't release sound card? [In reply to]

> I'm no wizard at the settings in .asoundrc but this page helped me out a
> lot.
>
> http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Asoundrc

Thanks everybody.

I've finally settled on a pretty simple config, updating the defaults
to use my digital output and use the dmix plugin.

/etc/asound.conf:

defaults.ctl.card 0
defaults.pcm.card 0
defaults.pcm.device 1

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "dmix"
}

I've got myth directly using the iec958 output, and hence locking any
other apps out when it's playing. It seems the best option as I'm
trying to get straight digital out for all content and dmixing stereo
music with dts movies makes for an unhappy av receiver.

Still a few problems, a second or two before sound plays and my av
receiver freaks out sometimes if you try to play music during a movie
and needs to be turned off/on before it will interpret anything other
than DD/DTS. (Note to others: keep this in mind when trying to figure
out your config... mysterious breakages can be misleading!)

Good enough though.

Thanks for you help.
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