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I have a steam link and on my last PC, I always streamed video/games to it with no problems. I built a new system 6 months ago (posted elsewhere a few months back about this topic but got no help from it). Ever since I installed Arch on my new PC, the audio sent to the steamlink is fine, then deteriorates to crackling, then eventually dies completely. The video is always just fine. It is only the audio that distorts.
If I restart the stream, it is fixed for a bit before the behavior starts again. I would say between 5 and 10 minutes of good audio.
I looked through the dmesg during this time and see nothing of note:
[ 903.929687] audit: type=1130 audit(1585317800.343:51): pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=systemd-tmpfiles-clean comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
[ 903.929691] audit: type=1131 audit(1585317800.343:52): pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=systemd-tmpfiles-clean comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
[ 1197.782356] input: Microsoft X-Box 360 pad as /devices/virtual/input/input34I have looked at steam's std.out and found something interesting:
Audio mix: start=3454955541, returned=14398560
Audio source [System Pulse]: init=3454990283, through=14400025, last_start=14399027, mixed=2880086, drop_before=0, drop_after=0
Audio mix: start=3454955541, returned=17279040
Audio source [System Pulse]: init=3454990283, through=17279891, last_start=17279130, mixed=2879866, drop_before=0, drop_after=0
X264: VBV underflow (frame 22412, -1136 bits)
X264: VBV underflow (frame 22784, -160 bits)
X264: VBV underflow (frame 23465, -2192 bits)
X264: VBV underflow (frame 23498, -608 bits)
X264: VBV underflow (frame 24233, -104 bits)
X264: VBV underflow (frame 24443, -216 bits)
X264: VBV underflow (frame 24496, -800 bits)
X264: VBV underflow (frame 24508, -384 bits)
Audio mix: start=3454955541, returned=20158560
Audio source [System Pulse]: init=3454990283, through=20159219, last_start=20158643, mixed=2879328, drop_before=0, drop_after=0
X264: VBV underflow (frame 26849, -2672 bits)I think this points to pulse audio being the problem somehow.
Here are specs (memory during stream with multiple tabs open and streaming video):
5.6.3-arch1-1
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X (12) @ 3.800GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
Memory: 4074MiB / 32127MiB
I am using a wired connection though everything still seems to stream fine wireless, but the same problem is run into. My wired speed is gigabit, so that shouldn't be it.
I don't think this is a problem with AMD encoding because on my windows SSD, this problem doesn't occur at all and streaming is flawless. Perhaps audio encoding on linux on AMD?
I really have no experience on this and nothing has showed up on google relating to this. Does anyone have any insight? Thanks.
MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC | Ryzen 3600X | 32 GB 3200MHz Micron-E | RX 5700XT Pulse
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Hey there.
I've been trying to solve this issue for more than a year now. No matter what I do, the problem is still there.
I have the feeling that it's not related to PulseAudio however: As an experiment, I copied the Puleaudio configuration of SteamOS and the problem was still there.
It would be helpful to test if this same issue is present when booting from a clean SteamOS installation.
This issue doesn't seem to be connected to a particular device: I have tried streaming to the original Steam Link hardware device and to the (Samsung) TV steam app. In both settings, the same problem occurred.
This issue is being tracked in the official steam-for-linux repository here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam- … ssues/6749
Last edited by UndeadKernel (2020-05-06 10:18:56)
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It's interesting. I wish I had my old hard drive with my old arch linux installation still on it. It actually didn't have this problem, so it could've lent some insight.
As a followup, what processor and video card do you have? Could it be related to AMD encoding?
MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC | Ryzen 3600X | 32 GB 3200MHz Micron-E | RX 5700XT Pulse
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TLDR: I had the same issues with untraceable crackling after a while, switched to xboxdrv instead of kernel xpad and have not encountered it since.
I have been trying to come up with a solution to this problem for a very long time as well, but a few weeks ago I think I managed to get it to work. In my case I believe the problem was caused by the xpad driver, but I have not yet completely limited it down to that. I switched to xboxdrv since my wireless xbox 360 gamepads disconnected at random with 4 players, then instantly reconnected to the first or second slot, even if the slot were already occupied.
I had to move the wireless adapter to the host computer to do some testing and left it there since the wireless connection is strong enough, so I can't say for certain right now that it will work when connected through a client. On the other hand, I started Cuphead well over an hour ago and left it running, the audio is still working fine. I will try to connect the wireless adapter to my android TV and report back later with the results.
EDIT: Remembered out of the blue that I said I would report back later, sorry for being forgetful. For me, using and configuring xboxdrv as described in the wiki solves the issue regardless of where I connect the receiver.
Last edited by B1omman (2020-09-25 19:41:16)
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