Surround SP/DIF on Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon x64 CM8738

[OpenSourceFreak]

Hi,

Ive got a question: how can i get surround to work on Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon x64?
I have an optical (SP/DIF) cable between my Yamaha HTR-6030 and My Sound card, a Theatron DD with CM8738 Sound chip.
When i play movies with VLC player or with Movie Player i only get PCM Sound (Stereo, 2 channels)
I edited /etc/pulse/daemon.conf but that doens't work. I changed default-sample-channels =2 to default-sample-channels = 6, but after restart still no surround.

my etc/pulse/daemon.conf file looks like this:

# This file is part of PulseAudio.
#
# PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
# General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
# along with PulseAudio; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
# USA.

## Configuration file for the PulseAudio daemon. See pulse-daemon.conf(5) for
## more information. Default values are commented out. Use either ; or # for
## commenting.

; daemonize = no
; fail = yes
; allow-module-loading = yes
; allow-exit = yes
; use-pid-file = yes
; system-instance = no
; local-server-type = user
; enable-shm = yes
; shm-size-bytes = 0 # setting this 0 will use the system-default, usually 64 MiB
; lock-memory = no
; cpu-limit = no

; high-priority = yes
; nice-level = -11

; realtime-scheduling = yes
; realtime-priority = 5

; exit-idle-time = 20
; scache-idle-time = 20

; dl-search-path = (depends on architecture)

; load-default-script-file = yes
; default-script-file = /etc/pulse/default.pa

; log-target = auto
; log-level = notice
; log-meta = no
; log-time = no
; log-backtrace = 0

resample-method = speex-float-1
; enable-remixing = yes
; enable-lfe-remixing = no

flat-volumes = no

; rlimit-fsize = -1
; rlimit-data = -1
; rlimit-stack = -1
; rlimit-core = -1
; rlimit-as = -1
; rlimit-rss = -1
; rlimit-nproc = -1
; rlimit-nofile = 256
; rlimit-memlock = -1
; rlimit-locks = -1
; rlimit-sigpending = -1
; rlimit-msgqueue = -1
; rlimit-nice = 31
; rlimit-rtprio = 9
; rlimit-rttime = 1000000

; default-sample-format = s16le
; default-sample-rate = 44100
; default-sample-channels = 6
; default-channel-map = front-left,front-right

default-fragments = 8
default-fragment-size-msec = 10

; enable-deferred-volume = yes
deferred-volume-safety-margin-usec = 1
; deferred-volume-extra-delay-usec = 0



Thanks in advance,

OpenSourceFreak

Optional information:

Architecture: 64-bit
Linux Version: Linux Mint 13 'Maya' Cinnamon
Sound Card: Club 3D Theatron DD, based on Cmedia CM8738
Kernel version: 3.2.0-23-generic

Media Players:

VLC Player: VLC media player 2.0.3
Movie Player: Movie Player using GStreamer 0.10.36 - Totem Movie Player 3.0.1

Web Browser (if needed): Mozilla Firefox 16.0.1
Flash Player Version (if needed): 11.0.1.152

[OpenSourceFreak]

Has anyone an idea?

Until now i still have no solution for my problem.

Thanks in advance,

OpenSourceFreak

[AlbertP]

Are you able to select a profile with more channels in System Settings > Sound?

[OpenSourceFreak]

Thanks for your reply,

Actually, i cant.
I can choose for SP/DIF or Analog output.
Ive chosen SP/DIF.
If i choose Analog output i dont have any sound.

[AlbertP]

Please go to the Hardware tab instead of Output, there you can click your soundcard and select a profile: does it list one with digital 6-channel or 5.1?

[OpenSourceFreak]

The options i have are:

- Digital Stereo output (im using that option now)
- Digital Stereo Duplex (IEC958) (the same result, no surround)


The other options are Analog, or input.
So 5.1 or 6 channel is not listed there.

In Alsamixer is also no 5.1 o 6 channel option listed.

[AlbertP]

Please run inxi -A in terminal and post the output.

[OpenSourceFreak]

Here you are:

Audio: Card: C-Media CM8738 driver: snd_cmipci Sound: ALSA ver: 1.0.24

[OpenSourceFreak]

Problem solved
Here's what i did:


Get alsa-plugins-1.0.25.tar.gz from alsa-project.org
Extract to folder (for example, tmp).

navigate to the folder where you saved the extracted file.

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cd alsa/alsa-plugins-1.0.25/

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./configure

# check the a52 plug is enabled etc..

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make -j4

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cd a52/.libs

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sudo cp libasound_module_pcm_a52.la libasound_module_pcm_a52.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/alsa-lib/

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sudo gedit /etc/asound.conf

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# /etc/asound.conf
# alsa plugin a52
# speaker-test -c 6 -l 1 -D pcm.a52:[CARD]
pcm.a52 {
  @args [CARD]
  @args.CARD {
    type string
  }
  type rate
  slave {
    pcm {
      type a52
      bitrate 640 # 448 is max for most
      channels 6
      card $CARD
    }
  rate 48000
  }
}

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sudo alsa reload

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killall pulseaudio

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sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

if this is done, please restart your computer.

install VLC player:

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sudo apt-get install vlc

in VLC, Select the following:

Preferences - audio - output module: ALSA audio output.
and 'Use S/PDIF when available'.

Click Save.

If everything went fine,

You should now have surround sound in VLC.

Cheers,

OpenSourceFreak.

[OpenSourceFreak]

Source: i found the solution on the internet.

[AlbertP]

Ok, good. Could you please post the lines about your device from the output of lspci -knn? This is not a CM8738 but CMI8768 chip. As I am co-maintainer of the database with these device names, I can change this to CMI8768 if you post the lspci -knn.

[OpenSourceFreak]

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04:01.0 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 [13f6:0111] (rev 10)
	Subsystem: C-Media Electronics Inc CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device [13f6:0111]
	Kernel driver in use: snd_cmipci
	Kernel modules: snd-cmipci

Here you are.

P.S. Why do you need this information?

Have a nice day.

Greetings,

Stefan.