ac3 passthrough no longer works

[marc@…]

Hardware: athlon xp 2400+, Soundblaster Live!, Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500
OS: debian linux, mostly testing, with some unstable bits.

I have a hardware setup which used to work. I've done some software upgrades,
and now it doesn't. Unfortunately, I don't have a record of exactly what
configuration worked before, and rolling back individual pieces didn't make it
work again. When it did work, the "Dolby Digital" light on the DTT2500 came on.

various relevant bits:

# uname -a
Linux central-air-conditioning 2.4.23 #1 Mon Jan 12 22:16:31 EST 2004 i686 GNU/Linux
# lspci -n -s 0b.0
00:0b.0 Class 0401: 1102:0002 (rev 07)
# lspci -v -s 0b.0
00:0b.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 07)

Subsystem: Creative Labs CT4760 SBLive!
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
I/O ports at b400 [size=32]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1

# cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 0.9.8.
Compiled on Jan 12 2004 for kernel 2.4.23 with versioned symbols.

mplayer comes from the mplayer-k6 deb on ftp.nerim.net.

I've tried a bunch of different commands:

mplayer -v -ao alsa dvd://

works, but of course it gives analog audio, and only in two channels

mplayer -v -ao alsa -ac hwac3 dvd://

gives no audio at all

mplayer -v -ao alsa:device=default -ac hwac3 dvd://

gives loud static

mplayer -v -ao alsa:device="iec958={CARD 0 AES0 0x2 AES1 0x82 AES2 0x0 AES3
0x2}" -ac hwac3 dvd://

gives no audio

I'll attach the output of each of the above.

I've seen some indication that this may be fixed in CVS, but the comments in the
other bug reports aren't specific enough for me to be sure. I'd rather not
start down the path of rebuilding things if that's not the cause of my troubles.

Thanks!

[marc@…]

mplayer -v -ao alsa dvd://

[marc@…]

mplayer -v -ao alsa -ac hwac3 dvd://

[marc@…]

mplayer -v -ao alsa:device=default -ac hwac3 dvd://

[marc@…]

mplayer -v -ao alsa:device="iec958={CARD 0 AES0 0x2 AES1 0x82 AES2 0x0 AES3 0x2}" -ac hwac3 dvd://

[marc@…]

Oh, if it matters, the DVD is "The Matrix"

[reimar]

(In reply to comment #0)

work again. When it did work, the "Dolby Digital" light on the DTT2500 came on.

How is this DTT2500 connecter to the soundcard? Also try -ao alsa:device=spdif
and -ao alsa:device=hw=1.0 etc...

[marc@…]

The dtt2500 is connected with an RCA-connectored coax cable SPDIF out on the
sblive's LiveDrive. This is how it used to work, and continues to work for pcm
sources and a source connected to line in on the card's back panel.

I tried
mplayer -v -ao alsa:device=spdif -ac hwac3 dvd://
and
mplayer -v -ao alsa:device=hw=1.0 -ac hwac3 dvd://

Neither works. I'll attached the output from these, too.

[marc@…]

mplayer -v -ao alsa:device=spdif -ac hwac3 dvd://

[marc@…]

mplayer -v -ao alsa:device=hw=1.0 -ac hwac3 dvd://

[reimar]

Any news on this? We have a more active alsa maintainer nowadays...