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#1 2013-02-12 05:31:12

Azriel
Member
Registered: 2008-01-23
Posts: 58

Bad sound through HDMI

Hi,

I'm using a HDMI cable to link my computer to my TV, but since yesterday the sound has gone bad, getting worse with time, to the point right now where it's choppy and impossible to understand anything. I've tried sending sound to my TV through various programs (VLC and XBMC mostly), and in both cases the sound was bad, so I assume the problem isn't just one program. I've tried fixing it myself, but I can't even pinpoint the cause. Here's what I've tried so far.

* If I change my cable, the sound is still bad... I've also tried my cable with my blu-ray player, and the sound was good, so I assume the cable is fine.
* If I boot on windows and send sound to my TV, the sound is good, so the problem must come from my Arch setup.
* The files themselves are good - I've already tested them in the past, and there was absolutely no problem.
* If I use XBMC with my computer speakers, the sound is clean.

So basically, the cable's good, the TV's good, and Window's good, so I guess that SOMEWHERE in Arch, there is something wrong. And I actually have a clue what: I believe the issue comes from the ATI driver, my setup was perfectly fine until I did an update yesterday which included a kernel update, which means rebuilding the catalyst kernel module. It's since then that things have been going downhill. And since the sound actually comes from my video card (through the HDMI cable), it doesn't sound too far-fetched.


The thing is that I have absolutely no idea how to test for that, and even less how to fix it...

Other than that, my Arch is up-to-date, and if it's of any relevance, my video card is a radeon HD 7870.

Here's hoping someone can bring light on this issue smile

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#2 2013-02-12 22:39:42

the sad clown
Member
From: 192.168.0.X
Registered: 2011-03-20
Posts: 837

Re: Bad sound through HDMI

You are using catalyst, right?  Have you tried switching to radeon?


I laugh, yet the joke is on me

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#3 2013-02-18 03:06:25

Azriel
Member
Registered: 2008-01-23
Posts: 58

Re: Bad sound through HDMI

the sad clown wrote:

You are using catalyst, right?  Have you tried switching to radeon?

Sory for taking so long to reply. I am using the catalyst driver yes, but since I have a Radeon HD 7870, this page seems to say that the radeon driver isn't right for me yet, which is why I haven't tried it out: http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature (my GPU is S. Islands).

Other than that, after updating, I've seen a driver update, the sound was clear again, but went through the same pattern of progressively degrading, and after one or two hours, it's back to where it was... So it seems to me that this is quite definitely the driver, but I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. And the sound seems to remain clear on windows, so it's definetely an Arch issue...

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#4 2013-02-19 03:23:33

the sad clown
Member
From: 192.168.0.X
Registered: 2011-03-20
Posts: 837

Re: Bad sound through HDMI

I would look at these two (which describe similar issues):

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ATI#HDMI_Audio
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ad … s_Not_Work

Both of them use aplay -l to check your devices and then editing the .asoundrc file with the correct settings, as well as some other suggestions.

A question, what are you using for sound?  Alsa or pulseaudio?  There is a bug out for pulse audio, your card, and hdmi audio output:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … ug/1122975


I laugh, yet the joke is on me

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#5 2013-02-19 04:13:07

Azriel
Member
Registered: 2008-01-23
Posts: 58

Re: Bad sound through HDMI

I'm using alsa.

The thing is that I DO have sound coming out from my TV, so I know what device it is and everything, the problem is that the sound that comes out is sort of "crackling".

Reading again the arch wiki made me realised I set a kernel parameter (the one in the first link you gave, the radeon.audio=1) but that link seems to be for the radeon driver, and I'm using Catalyst. I removed the parameters and recreated my grub file, and now the sounds seems to be all right... Since this bug tends to appear after a while, I'm not shouting victory just yet, but I guess it might have been the reason (not really sure what this kernel parameter do).

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#6 2013-02-20 02:11:31

the sad clown
Member
From: 192.168.0.X
Registered: 2011-03-20
Posts: 837

Re: Bad sound through HDMI

Don't forget to report back if it is fixed.


I laugh, yet the joke is on me

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