Arch Linux

schmidtbag

Member

From: NH, USA

Registered: 2011-02-08

Posts: 344

HDMI audio cuts out, only on HDMI (AMD)

I've recently upgraded my GPU to a 7700XT.  I also have a 5.1 channel surround system, via HDMI inputs.

Whenever I play games, audio works flawlessly for hours.
Whenever I play 4K videos, the audio works flawlessly so long as there's enough motion in the video.
Whenever I play 1080p videos or lower, the audio cuts out multiple times per minute.  Seems like a brief moment where there's just no audio signal; video works perfectly fine.  It's incredibly annoying.

Here's what I've tried or can note:
Disabling (or enabling) ARC on all connected devices.
I only have 1 HDMI port on this GPU, so there isn't another port to swap to.
If I use a DP to HDMI adapter, stereo audio works flawlessly, however, it doesn't support 5.1 surround sound so the adapter is not an option.
I've used an HDMI signal booster to no avail.
Both Pulseaudio and Pipewire face this problem.
Because multiple other devices and ports can work fine, I know the cables are good.
I'm using the Linux 6.11 kernel, which had AMD HDMI audio fixes, but apparently not specific to my situation.
Running the display in 1080p doesn't fix the problem.
It doesn't matter if the channels are set to stereo of 5.1 - both cut out, though 5.1 ostensibly cuts out less often.
Using CoreCtl and forcing the clock speeds to max, it'll work better, but the audio still cuts out.

I'm running out of ideas - any other suggestions?  I'd really rather not route a 2nd HDMI cable if I don't have to.

Last edited by schmidtbag (2024-10-03 22:31:07)

Extremeadin

Member

Registered: 2013-12-19

Posts: 10

Re: HDMI audio cuts out, only on HDMI (AMD)

I am experincing a smiliar issue with the 7800xt, and I have been unable so far to solve it. I'm guessing it's a driver issue, as there are other reports on the pipewire bugtracker.

I'm thinking the next step is to open up a ticket with the AMD DRM on  the freedesktop gitlab, though their issue tracker seems to be down right now.

Last edited by Extremeadin (2024-10-13 20:02:13)

schmidtbag

Member

From: NH, USA

Registered: 2011-02-08

Posts: 344

Re: HDMI audio cuts out, only on HDMI (AMD)

I am experincing a smiliar issue with the 7800xt, and I have been unable so far to solve it. I'm guessing it's a driver issue, as there are other reports on the pipewire bugtracker.

I'm thinking the next step is to open up a ticket with the AMD DRM on  the freedesktop gitlab, though their issue tracker seems to be down right now.

Well the odd thing is for me, DP doesn't have this problem at all.  But, it likely an RDNA2+ specific issue, because my old R9 290 (that my 7700XT replaced) did not have this problem.  I changed nothing when swapping between them.

I do feel drivers are the issue because while there is a Reddit thread about this affecting Windows users, it appears Windows users today no longer have this problem.

Makes me wonder if perhaps using amdgpu-pro would alleviate this, though I'd rather not lose performance in swapping to that.

Do you have this issue when doing something more stressful on the GPU, like playing games?  Because I can play games for hours without any audio interruptions.

Extremeadin

Member

Registered: 2013-12-19

Posts: 10

Re: HDMI audio cuts out, only on HDMI (AMD)

It seems very random. When I think I have a way to recreate the issue, I reboot and I can't recreate it anymore. Then when I think It's solved, it starts happening constantly.

I don't seem to notice it when watching youtube, but I do when using paramount plus, so I'm not just not sure...

schmidtbag

Member

From: NH, USA

Registered: 2011-02-08

Posts: 344

Re: HDMI audio cuts out, only on HDMI (AMD)

It seems very random. When I think I have a way to recreate the issue, I reboot and I can't recreate it anymore. Then when I think It's solved, it starts happening constantly.

I don't seem to notice it when watching youtube, but I do when using paramount plus, so I'm not just not sure...

I just realized but the browser could make a difference when watching Youtube.  I know resolution matters (anything below 4K makes a difference) but I'm also using Firefox.

Extremeadin

Member

Registered: 2013-12-19

Posts: 10

Re: HDMI audio cuts out, only on HDMI (AMD)

I just realized but the browser could make a difference when watching Youtube.  I know resolution matters (anything below 4K makes a difference) but I'm also using Firefox.

Next time I'm using HDMI audio out I'll try a different browser.

Extremeadin

Member

Registered: 2013-12-19

Posts: 10

Re: HDMI audio cuts out, only on HDMI (AMD)

So switching from Firefox to Chromium did prevent the issue when streaming video. I do hardware decoding with Firefox but not Chromium, so I'm not sure if that is part of the issue.

schmidtbag

Member

From: NH, USA

Registered: 2011-02-08

Posts: 344

Re: HDMI audio cuts out, only on HDMI (AMD)

Well, if the theory that this is caused by the GPU downclocking too much (from under-utilization) then it'd be a little weird to me that disabling hardware decoding would alleviate the issue.  Have you tried enabling hardware decoding on Chromium?  And, was this just Paramount Plus or other sites?

Also, just realized but are you using X11 or Wayland?  I wonder if that might matter too.

I'll try disabling hardware acceleration on FF and see how it goes.
EDIT:
Well, almost immediately, that didn't work...

Last edited by schmidtbag (2024-10-21 02:11:30)

schmidtbag

Member

From: NH, USA

Registered: 2011-02-08

Posts: 344

Re: HDMI audio cuts out, only on HDMI (AMD)

So far, it appears I can use Chromium with Youtube without any audio issues.  I wish I knew better what was going on, because I'd rather use Firefox.

schmidtbag

Member

From: NH, USA

Registered: 2011-02-08

Posts: 344

Re: HDMI audio cuts out, only on HDMI (AMD)

I seem to have dramatically improved my results in Firefox, by tweaking dom.ipc.processCount.file.  Setting this to 4, I still get interruptions but they happen maybe once every 20 minutes rather than once every 2 minutes.

I've also tweaked some of the other about:config media-oriented and vaapi settings.  From what I could tell, they didn't do anything but they didn't make things worse.  It's possible the combination of those with dom.ipc.processCount.file is what gave me these better results, so I'd rather not experiment further by disabling them.

I wouldn't consider my problem fixed but at least it's alleviated to a point that it isn't obnoxious.

Last edited by schmidtbag (2024-10-29 23:49:39)