XBMC Live - sound OK, Boxee - not so much

[lament]

Hey all,

Just got an HTPC set up:

Intel Dual Core E5200 2.5GHz
Zotac 9300-D-E mini-ITX motherboard
2GB Corsair DDR2 800
2.5" Samsung 160GB HDD
SilverStone Sugo SG05 case

connected via HDMI to an Onkyo 606 receiver

XBMC Live installed from a flash drive works right out of the box. I set my audio to hdmi and I'm good to go. Problem is - I don't like XBMC Live. I love the ease of use that Boxee affords, and it just works better for me.

Just installed Jaunty Jackalope, ran the update, and I'm not getting any sound at all. Settings in the audio are set to NVIDIA HDMI ALSA.

Installed Boxee, set the output to hdmi (and to default) and of course, still nothing.

Tried the fixes (uninstalling PulseAudio, switching from analog to digital) in the sticky thread, with no luck.

I'm a Windows guy, so I guess I should ask first if doing the Update should've installed the sound drivers. And if not, how can I tell if they're installed properly?

Second, what is XBMC Live using that works out of the box to get sound (as this may point to why I don't have sound at all).

Thanks!

update:

- OK I reinstalled and started from scratch
- did a software update of everything that was recommended
- installed Nvidia driver 185.xx.xx (the latest ones for Linux)\
- updated ALSA to 1.0.20
- installed Flash plugin.. got video, but no audio

at this point, I have Flash video but no audio, and no system sounds.

- in Alsa mixer, Switches tab - put checkboxes by IEC958 Default PCM and IEC958 1. That gave me system audio, but no Flash audio yet.

I then stumbled on Keith's holy grail - editing your .asoundrc file with what's in his post.

remember to check DTS and AC3 in Boxee's settings in order to get movies with DTS and AC3 working.

[quotaholic]

Try disabling the navigation sounds in boxee. It seems the two channel navigation sounds and the surround tracks dont go out the same plug very well.

[lament]

already tried that. no luck.

[lament]

OK some progress here.

I did some sound adjusting as per this blog post: mainly step 4 and 5.

I then set Audio Output Device to default and Audio Passthrough Device to hdmi and I have sound in movies, but no music or Hulu or anything else.

I tried setting:

hdmi/hdmi
iec958/hdmi

but then I didn't get any sound.

And I just installed XBMC, set both to hdmi, and I'm getting audio in movies and music (although music is sped up).. but still, it can't be the drivers if it's working in one app and not another.

frustrated..

[quotaholic]

Hrm,

My problem sounded like the problem your having only I do not plug hdmi in to a receiver. At the time that I followed the remove pulse audio post nothing worked except the "check audio settings" osd. On a regular ubuntu update pulse audio was reinstalled and shortly after the update came through that allowed us to uncheck navigation sounds. So I am now working 100 percent on spdif audio passing through to my receiver only after letting jaunty reinstall pulse. Cant say that was it as boxee still didnt work until I unchecked navigation sounds after the update. THEN it worked

I tested "it" before starting boxee within gnomes audio preferences making sure "digital alsa mixer" and alsa tracks at the bottom were selected. Once I heard a room full of tone I started boxee and left default with exception of digital audio in the audio settings. On my zotac it was iec958.

Everything seems to work for me. Stupid question but could it be in your receiver? Did you reinstall pulse? Can you get spdif passthrough in gnomes audio settings?

[lament]

ok , got everything working. edited my first post.

thanks for the help guys!

[marcel]

good to hear ..thanks for the update

[lament]

oh, and I didn't uninstall PulseAudio, and I also have navigation sounds working.

and another tidbit..

adding the following to advancedsettings.xml and putting it in your ~/.boxee folder will fix music files having sped up audio on HDMI:

<audio>
<resample>48000</resample>
</audio>

[lament]

updated first post to mention that I did update ALSA to 1.0.20.