no audio after a period of inactivity

[sroeder]

Hi All,

I have a pretty strange problem on my new Mac Mini. I'm currently using 0.9.21.12563 with a Samsung TV Via HDMI Audio. If I shut down the TV and leave Boxee by itself, after several hours the audio stops working. I have tried leaving it paused, stopped and alseep and the result is always the same. Restarting Boxee causes the sound to start working again immediately.

Has anyone had an experience like this?

Thanks in advance.

[ezramoore]

I use a different but similar setup. DVI to HDMI for video, and audio over fiber.
I leave Boxee and my Mac Mini on all the time, and sometimes Boxee will report that it 'Failed to initialize audio device.' A reboot fixes it. Sometimes it will continue to play the audio for a certain encoding type, and not for others.

In your situation I would try multiple file types and see if there are any you can play. Note the encoding type for each, audio and video encoding, just to get all the data.

Next, try hitting play once the audio quits working and unplug your HDMI cable, that should switch the Mac back to the internal speaker. Make sure you volume is turned down to a reasonable level.

Let us know how all that goes.

[sroeder]

Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately this didn't seem to help. All I ended up with was no audio and funky colours on the display. It appears that restarting boxee is the only solution i've found so far.

[ezramoore]

What happened when you unplugged the HDMI cable and tried to play it out the in-built speaker?

[sroeder]

No sound at all. As soon as you enable HDMI audio you lose volume control. Given that there was no monitor, I wasn't able to play with the settings.

[sroeder]

I have a small update on this issue. In an effort to debug the problem I went with Plex. After a period of inactivity it was also happening there. Either it's an XBMC issue or audio driver issue on OSX. I would be curious to hear if anyone else out there has run into this issue.

[Knifeyspoony]

I have 2010 mac mini sending audio over hdmi to a sony av receiver then to a samsung tv and I've had this same problem. Restarting does fix it but a permanent solution would be nice.

[sroeder]

I'm sorry I don't know what relevance your post has. There is no service provider in this chain. Only an issue with audio in Boxee/Plex. No issues exist with audio in VLC or Quicktime.

[niltz0]

I have this same issue on Windows Vista. I have the latest build of Boxee (Boxee Beta 0.9.22.13692 for Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7), and in the previous version I never had this issue. Something changed in the new version to start causing this as that is the only thing that I changed on my machine.

[wilsonta]

Exact issue here. I have a new Uni-body Mac Mini and a Samsung TV. The mac is plugged directly into the TV via HDMI.

There is no problem for me with Plex/XBMC/VLC/Quicktime/Frontrow.

Only solution I have found so far is to restart Boxee.

[sroeder]

I went so far as to RMA my mac mini, now I still have the same issues. This is clearly an unibody/boxee/plex/xbmc problem. Has anyone come up with a solution? This is really frustrating.

[jpapester]

Same proble here. Unibody Mac Mini using the digital out for audio and HDMI for video. On startup the audio works fine, after watching a movie with audio during the entire playing time, when the movie ended, Boxee was no longer producing sound.

[tauchris]

This sounds a lot like the problem I'm having, too. Similar setup: 2010 Mac Mini, HDMI to Yamaha receiver then to Samsung TV. In my experience, there are some things I can do to trigger Boxee's bad behavior-- For example, playing Netflix movies *ALWAYS* directs audio to the Mac Mini speakers, no matter what. Really frustrating! I can play a .ISO and the sound goes through HDMI again, back to Netflix = back to Mac speakers. Pandora sometimes goes HDMI, sometimes goes Mac speakers, and sometimes just stops making sound entirely. Have to restart Boxee.

Does anyone have any idea what is causing this?

Chris

[ksimeon]

I have the same problem on Windows 7 Ultimate x64, Samsung TV (video & audio via HDMI), Nvidia GeForce 210, running current NVidia drivers and Boxee version as of the date of this post.

I'm not entirely sure what is triggering the problem. If I switch my TV input away from my Boxee machine and watch my DVR for a while, then switch back, I don't have sound. Restarting Boxee fixes the problem. This may be due to inactivity in Boxee, or possibly it may have to do with the HDMI link on my video card going into a funky state when I switch over to my DVR. From reading this thread it seems that most folks having this problem are running Samsung TVs.

The problem is definitely specific to Boxee however, as when it is occurring I am able to Alt-Tab to other apps on my HTPC and get sound from them, but nothing out of Boxee.

[snakefinger]

I've been having the same problem. Mac Mini > HDMI + Optical Audio out > Sony Soundbar. Audio stops working after viewing a movie file. Not everytime, but often enough. Restart of Boxee fixes the problem. What's up?

[tauchris]

I would be grateful for any help on this issue. This is not the only thread that addresses more or less the same issue, and nobody has posted a satisfactory answer elsewhere, either. It's disappointing.

I recently bought an internet-ready bluray player. Instead of investing in a Mac Mini and external storage just to run Boxee, I'm starting to wish I had only bought the bluray player. For $100, I get much better video quality (no jutter, no framerate issues, crispy upscaling) no-guesswork sound, and all the apps I really cared about (Pandora, Netflix, etc.), plus some PPV/VOD services I dont' see on Boxee (Vudu and CinemaNow). AND I get an IR remote control that just flat WORKS, and which my Harmony remote already knows about, as compared to Boxee on my Mac, which leaves me groping for my iPhone everytime I want to watch a movie. <sigh>

I'm sad-- Boxee looks awesome. But in my opinion, the lack of support and the significant hurdles just make it seem pointless. The only thing I would really miss is being able to play my ripped DVD library. And hey-- I am not able to play ripped Bluray's anyway on the MacMini-- at least not without a *LOT* of extra work for each and every rip.

Still keeping my fingers crossed and hoping Boxee steps up... but losing faith fast.... :-/

[Spiffman]

Guys, I would like to point out that ALL other sound than Boxee sound works after inactivity. Its ONLY boxee that is muted and for me its only solved by closing Boxee and starting it again.

With that said, I do not think its a driver issue, its a Boxee issue.
Proof being that all other sound is working fine. Well at least for me :)

My setup is Macmini -> hmdi -> philips LED 32PFL7695H/12

[skottles]

I recently got a refurb MacMini 4,1 and am seeing the same issue described in this thread. Audio stops working in boxee when the app idles long enough. Quitting and relauncing fixes the issue. My system consists of a vizio tv plugged directly into the mini with an hdmi cable, no receiver in the mix.

[joshua_m]

this happens to me as well. I thought it was something to do with me turning off my television.

I have a gigabyte mobo with vid/audio over HDMI to a television.

[borjat]

Guys, I would like to point out that ALL other sound than Boxee sound works after inactivity. Its ONLY boxee that is muted and for me its only solved by closing Boxee and starting it again.

With that said, I do not think its a driver issue, its a Boxee issue.
Proof being that all other sound is working fine. Well at least for me :)

My setup is Macmini -> hmdi -> philips LED 32PFL7695H/12

Same problem here... with a very similar configuration:

MacMini -> HDMI -> Philips 32PF5531D...