Re: Re: alsa on 2.6 kernels, spdif patch

Quoting Ilkka Urtamo <[email protected]>:

> Tim Dodge wrote:
>
> | I can comfirm that the gentoo ~x86 version (I think this is v1.0.7),
> | outputs digitally via the s/pdif.
> |
> I have plain gentoo installation in my xbox and used emerge 
> xbox-sources to get my 2.6.x with 1.0.5
> alsa(latest xbox-sources in portage). There was no indication of 
> spdif for xbox in those files.
> grepped and searched a bit. There was XBOX mentioned but as far as i 
> can read the code, it was
> nothing to do with spdif. Nor I could find how to enable it or get it 
> working.

You need to emerge the ~x86 version (v1.0.7) of alsa-driver and let it
overwrite the modules created by xbox-sources.

> mplayer complained if i tried to use -ac hwac3 and naturally i got 
> nothing out from the spdif line
> (light was on in the line but no data).
> With the latest patch from David it sure work. And my AV seems to be 
> just happy with the data coming
> in. (Yamaha RX-V640)

I believed that mplayer was broken in respect to hwac3 digital output -
it ignores the alsa device you set and uses a hardcoded digital device
that doesn't exist in the xbox.

I assume that it's this device that David's patch adds in?

I followed the mplayer mailing list for a while and there were a few
moans about mplayer's hwac3 implementation, from users of other
intel8x0 implementations as well.

Xine allows you to set the hwac3 device correctly, I guess because one
of the alsa programmers wrote the hwac3 handling for it.

Mplayer does seem to take notice of the alsa device you set for PCM
output. I'm currently using mplayer with '-ac a52,' to get Dolby Stereo
(digital) PCM output.

To be honest I'm now not sure what is broken.

The xbox is definitiely not the only intel8x0 hardware that lacks the
device.

I'm inclined to believe that the device shouldn't be there, that Xine is
handling AC3 passthrough the "alsa-correct" way, and that mplayer is
making a wrong assumption. But I stand to be corrected :)

Tim



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