[MPlayer-dvb] DVB Audio connectivity [was:] DVB Playback Issues

[Derek Ivey]

Hi Bill,

Here is the computer we're using: http://partner.aopen.com/source/news/de7000_20100329-aoe.htm

I checked it out and I believe if there are any connections between the video card and sound, it would be on the board somewhere. Sound works fine when we launch alsa's speaker-test command (speaker-test -c 2).
The only cable we're plugging into the monitor and TV is an HDMI cable. We're running kernel 2.6.38.4… not sure if there are any issues with that or not.

Thanks,
Derek
 
On Dec 27, 2011, at 1:18 PM, Bill Pringlemeir wrote:

> [sorry about gmail's stupid formatting issues]
> 
> On 20 Dec 2011, divey at versatile.com wrote:
> 
>> I'm actually not sure if my screens accept AC3 input. I tried two
>> different screens… an Elo 4200L
>> (http://www.elotouch.com/products/ids/4200L/default.asp) and a Dynex
>> DX-24E150A11. I did not find any mention of AC3 for either of them and
>> the audio settings don't reveal any useful information.
> 
> There are a couple of ways you can connect audio.  It sounds like you
> want to use the speakers attach to your monitor.
> 
> PC   video card    <-- HDMI -->               Monitor
>      audio card    <-- TRS -->
> 
> The 2nd way needs an audio card hooked to the video card,
> 
> PC   video card    <-- HDMI -->               Monitor
>      ^
>      internal cable
>      v
>      audio card
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS_connector
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdmi
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spdif
> 
> Hdmi supports both audio and video in a single cable.  The previous
> generation of audio and video cabling was DVI and 'spdif'.  The 'spdif'
> connectors were either coax or fiber optic (probably multi-mode).
> Because of bandwidth considerations, the only way to send 5.1 sound over
> spdif was to encode the signal (like mp3).  This encoding is called AC3.
> The HDMI audio is suppose to support all of the SPDIF, plus more.
> However, I believe that your monitors may not support HDMI sound.  The
> ATSC (North American TV) uses an 'AC3' encoding.  So, spdif, AC3 and
> HDMI sound are sometimes used loosely to mean the same things.
> 
> You need to have alsa setup to play these different connectivities
> before mplayer can begin to use it.  So do you have the 'TRS' connector
> plugged in or are you just using an HDMI cable and getting sound?  How
> are games, error beeps, etc playing.  You may have 'speaker-test'
> installed with alsa-utils.  You can use this to see if a cable is needed
> or not.  Ie, you might have the both cables to the monitor, but actually
> only be using HDMI.
> 
> All this said, the stream you uploaded seems very messed up to me.  I
> would try something from 'dvb-apps' or something non-mplayer to grab a
> stream.  Also, from about 2.6.31-2.6.36, there was some re-organizing of
> the Linux DVB drivers.  It made the code more sensible, but there are
> lots of changed to the TV capture cards during these releases.
> 
> Hth,
> Bill Pringlemeir.
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