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#1 2014-07-30 21:36:42

z894
Member
Registered: 2014-07-30
Posts: 6

[SOLVED] HDMI audio - "alsactl restore" not working

I can't seem to get audio through HDMI working properly.

I was able to get it a few weeks ago, on Debian Jessie by doing the following:

  • Creating ~/.asoundrc with the following contents:

    pcm.!default {
          type hw
          card 0
          device 3
     }
  • running "alsactl restore"

I got this from https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=132641

When I run "alsactl restore" now, on Arch, I get the following output:

alsactl: state_lock:114: file /var/lib/alsa/asound.state lock error: File exists
alsactl: load_state:1677: Cannot open /var/lib/alsa/asound.state for reading: File exists
Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "Intel PantherPoint HDMI" "HDA:14f1506e,10280569,00100003 HDA:80862806,80860101,00100000" "0x1028" "0x0569"
Hardware is initialized using a generic method

Audio continues playing on my laptop speakers, not on my TV.

I tried renaming "/var/lib/alsa/asound.state" and then running "alsactl restore", but I got the same error (even though the file no longer exists!).

Running "aplay -D plughw:0,3 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav" does give me sound on my TV speakers through HDMI.

Any ideas?

Last edited by z894 (2014-07-31 03:46:36)

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#2 2014-07-30 22:04:18

emeres
Member
Registered: 2013-10-08
Posts: 1,570

Re: [SOLVED] HDMI audio - "alsactl restore" not working

What exactly are you trying to achieve? Do you want to switch between laptop speakers and hdmi? Type hw is not recommended and you are using it directly, which means if the format does not match it will not accept it, s a plug between would make sense.

Alsa wiki wrote:

Simply setting a type hw as default card is equivalent to addressing hardware directly, which leaves the device unavailable to other applications. This method is only recommended if it is a part of a more sophisticated setup ~/.asoundrc or if user deliberately wants to address sound card directly (digital output through eic958 or dedicated music server for example).

You could send sound two both cards and then toggle mute between them. See multi plugin for this. It could be problematic though.

I also fail to see what 'alsactl restore' is supposed to achieve here, since it restores the previous settings for ~a[lsa]mixer, you would have to store the appropriate settings first with 'alsactl store' [in multiple files]. Switching between configurations should be easier.

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#3 2014-07-30 22:18:12

z894
Member
Registered: 2014-07-30
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] HDMI audio - "alsactl restore" not working

emeres wrote:

Do you want to switch between laptop speakers and hdmi?

Yes.

emeres wrote:

I also fail to see what 'alsactl restore' is supposed to achieve here

To be honest, I don't know, but it "just worked" on Debian.

I'll look into multi.

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#4 2014-07-30 22:49:24

emeres
Member
Registered: 2013-10-08
Posts: 1,570

Re: [SOLVED] HDMI audio - "alsactl restore" not working

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=179890
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=182171

Again simply switching between two ~/.asoundrc files might be easier, but it will not work on the fly, meaning you will not be able to switch with sound already running. The mute-toggle solution will, but it might be problematic to setup.

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#5 2014-07-31 01:26:08

z894
Member
Registered: 2014-07-30
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] HDMI audio - "alsactl restore" not working

Well, I figured out from this thread that ALSA doesn't need to be reset or anything to have .asoundrc changes take effect; I falsely assumed that it did.

Switching .asoundrc's still works, I just have to close all applications that may be using ALSA for the changes to take effect.

I'll consider the multi plugin if I ever need to switch to and from HDMI "on the fly" (or play both at once, which I can actually think some uses for.)


For the record, although I do see where the wiki says not to use hw as default, the wiki also says to use the solution I did.

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#6 2014-07-31 02:22:55

emeres
Member
Registered: 2013-10-08
Posts: 1,570

Re: [SOLVED] HDMI audio - "alsactl restore" not working

So I take from this, that you have solved your problem and the thread can be marked as solved.

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#7 2014-07-31 03:47:28

z894
Member
Registered: 2014-07-30
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] HDMI audio - "alsactl restore" not working

done

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