Realtek ALC1200 HDA and Digital Optical

[RonK]

I have been reviewing and following all sorts of helpful tips on how to set up the Realtek ALC1200 HDA sound on my Asus motherboard. Currently I have added "snd-hda-intel index=0 model=auto" at the end of the "alsa-base.conf" file. Of course there are many different variations for this option. Those that I've tried have not yet been successful.

Audio devices detected on my system are as follows:

00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82fe
Flags: bus master, slow devsel, latency 64, IRQ 16
Memory at fbaf4000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

01:05.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RS780 Azalia controller
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82f1
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
Memory at fbce8000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

also ...

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: HDMI_1 [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I'm using the digital optical output from the mother board.

Which of the above listed devices points to this connection?
Is there a way to get the alsa driver to recognize this digital output as the default device?
I am sooooo close to solving this, but need some further assistance with the last few steps.

Thanks

Ron

[RonK]

Here is some additional information on my audio hardware:

Audio: Card-1 ATI RS780 Azalia controller driver HDA Intel
Card-2 ATI RV610 audio device [Radeon HD 2400 PRO]driver HDA Intel
Card-3 ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)driver HDA Intel
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.18rc3

Card-3 looks like the one that uses the digital optical out.

How do I set up this device (using alsa.conf), and how do I test?

There's got to be some other folks who have experience with the ALC1200 HDA.

Your help will be appreciated.

[RonK]

I'm still trying to access my digital audio, which resides on:

card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

When I run mplayer using a test.wav file, for card 0, device 1,
I get the following:

mplayer test.wav -ao alsa:device=hw=0,1

MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.3.3 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 245 Processor (Family: 16, Model: 6, Stepping: 2)
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing test.wav.
Audio file file format detected.
==========================================================================
Forced audio codec: mad
Opening audio decoder: [pcm] Uncompressed PCM audio decoder
AUDIO: 11025 Hz, 1 ch, u8, 88.2 kbit/100.00% (ratio: 11025->11025)
Selected audio codec: [pcm] afm: pcm (Uncompressed PCM)
==========================================================================
[AO_ALSA] Format u8 is not supported by hardware, trying default.
AO: [alsa] 44100Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Video: no video
Starting playback...
A: 3.9 (03.9) of 4.0 (04.0) 0.6%

Exiting... (End of file)

I'm running out of ideas ... help ... anyone.

[kwisher]

Are you sure that your digital port is un-muted? I just recently started using my digital coax out for my MythTV system and it was not enabled by default. Open a terminal and type the command alsamixer. Use the right arrow key to move all the way to the right and find your digital output. Mine is called IEC958. If there is a MM present then it is muted. The "M" key will toggle the mute on/off.

Hope this helps.

[RonK]

Are you sure that your digital port is un-muted? I just recently started using my digital coax out for my MythTV system and it was not enabled by default. Open a terminal and type the command alsamixer. Use the right arrow key to move all the way to the right and find your digital output. Mine is called IEC958. If there is a MM present then it is muted. The "M" key will toggle the mute on/off.

After many hours of farting around, that finally DID IT! Thanks a million.
I've been checking out the alsamixer, but couldn't figure out the "M" key toggle.

BTW, are there any other fine tuning tips regarding say, digital passthrough, DTS, etc. Also, what's the preferred playback "Device" to use.

In any case, thanks again.

Cheers,
Ron