How to pass audio via HDMI (Fedora 7)

[Andrew Junev]

Hello All,

I was going to use HDMI to transfer sound as well as video to my SONY
LCD TV. The problem is that I don't really know how to do it. 

My video adapter (ASUS EN8600GT/HTDI) has an SPDIF-in connector to
pass the audio stream through HDMI interface. I connected my
motherboard's SPDIF-out to this one. 
Then I un-muted 'IEC958' as described here:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Configuring_Digital_Sound_with_AC3_a...

But all my attempts to play any audio file gave me no sound. Is there
anything else I need to do?

My TV accepts "Two channel linear PCM; 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz; 16, 20 and
24 bits" audio over HDMI input.

When I'm trying to play back a file via mplayer it says the audio
stream is 2-channel, 48000Hz PCM. So it should be fine... But I still
get no sound.

What else could be wrong?

My motherboard has one internal and one external S/PDIF output. I
don't think there is a difference between them, but the internal one
is connected to the video card. I read the manual but it said nothing
about configuration of the S/PDIF in terms of which one to use. So I
assume both outputs should work at the same time... But I might be
wrong here.

I would appreciate any help!

-- 
Best regards,
 Andrew

[Mikkel]

Andrew Junev wrote:
>  Hello All,
>  
>  I was going to use HDMI to transfer sound as well as video to my SONY
>  LCD TV. The problem is that I don't really know how to do it. 
>  
>  My video adapter (ASUS EN8600GT/HTDI) has an SPDIF-in connector to
>  pass the audio stream through HDMI interface. I connected my
>  motherboard's SPDIF-out to this one. 
>  Then I un-muted 'IEC958' as described here:
>  http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Configuring_Digital_Sound_with_AC3_a...
>  
>  But all my attempts to play any audio file gave me no sound. Is there
>  anything else I need to do?
>  
>  My TV accepts "Two channel linear PCM; 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz; 16, 20 and
>  24 bits" audio over HDMI input.
>  
>  When I'm trying to play back a file via mplayer it says the audio
>  stream is 2-channel, 48000Hz PCM. So it should be fine... But I still
>  get no sound.
>  
>  What else could be wrong?
>  
>  My motherboard has one internal and one external S/PDIF output. I
>  don't think there is a difference between them, but the internal one
>  is connected to the video card. I read the manual but it said nothing
>  about configuration of the S/PDIF in terms of which one to use. So I
>  assume both outputs should work at the same time... But I might be
>  wrong here.
>  
>  I would appreciate any help!
>   
I only know a little about using the spdif output, so all I can
offer are some general troubleshooting tips.

Dumb question time:
 Are you sure both jacks are outputs?
 Did you check the slider level for the IEC958?
 Did you check to see if there is more then one IEC958 entry?
 Did you try configuring mplayer to use the spdif output?

You may want to post the output of "aplay -L" and "aplay -l". You
may also want to try using aplay from the command line to play a
sound file. A .wav file is a good choice. (aplay does not play
mp3s.) From the web site: (with slight modification.)

aplay -D ALSA:spdif something.wav

Mikkel
-- 

  Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

[Andrew Junev]

Sunday, November 4, 2007, 8:17:03 PM, you wrote:

>  Andrew Junev wrote:
> > Hello All,
> > 
> > I was going to use HDMI to transfer sound as well as video to my SONY
> > LCD TV. The problem is that I don't really know how to do it. 
> > 
> > My video adapter (ASUS EN8600GT/HTDI) has an SPDIF-in connector to
> > pass the audio stream through HDMI interface. I connected my
> > motherboard's SPDIF-out to this one. 
> > Then I un-muted 'IEC958' as described here:
> > http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Configuring_Digital_Sound_with_AC3_a...
> > 
> > But all my attempts to play any audio file gave me no sound. Is there
> > anything else I need to do?
> > 
> > My TV accepts "Two channel linear PCM; 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz; 16, 20 and
> > 24 bits" audio over HDMI input.
> > 
> > When I'm trying to play back a file via mplayer it says the audio
> > stream is 2-channel, 48000Hz PCM. So it should be fine... But I still
> > get no sound.
> > 
> > What else could be wrong?
> > 
> > My motherboard has one internal and one external S/PDIF output. I
> > don't think there is a difference between them, but the internal one
> > is connected to the video card. I read the manual but it said nothing
> > about configuration of the S/PDIF in terms of which one to use. So I
> > assume both outputs should work at the same time... But I might be
> > wrong here.
> > 
> > I would appreciate any help!
> > 
>  I only know a little about using the spdif output, so all I can
>  offer are some general troubleshooting tips. 
>  Dumb question time:
>   Are you sure both jacks are outputs? 
According to my MB manual, they are both outputs.

>   Did you check the slider level for the IEC958? 
There's no slider. It can only be muted. As far as I know, you can't
change volume level of a digital output. Volume control is done at the
external amplifier.

>   Did you check to see if there is more then one IEC958 entry? 
There's only one. I just checked that again.

>   Did you try configuring mplayer to use the spdif output? 
Yes, I tried all the mplayer settings I could think of.
Still no sound...

>  You may want to post the output of "aplay -L" and
> "aplay -l". You
>  may also want to try using aplay from the command line to play a
>  sound file. A .wav file is a good choice. (aplay does not play
>  mp3s.) From the web site: (with slight modification.) 
>  aplay -D ALSA:spdif something.wav 
I tried this one too, but there's still no sound...

Here's the output of "aplay -L" and "aplay -l":

[root@frontend1 ~]# aplay -L
default:CARD=Intel
    HDA Intel, ALC883 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC883 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC883 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC883 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC883 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC883 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC883 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
[root@frontend1 ~]# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC883 Analog [ALC883 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC883 Digital [ALC883 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
[root@frontend1 ~]#


-- 
Best regards,
 Andrew