[alsa-devel] Analog-SPDIF dup

At Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:51:51 +0100, Lennart Poettering wrote:

2. If I understood correctly, then on some devices it is possible to open a analog output and a SPDIF output simultaneously and independently. On others however, they are exclusive to each other. The name hinting system doesn't really distuinguish those cases. Any idea how I could detect this? The reason is, I'd like to open both SPDIF and analog out in PulseAudio at the same time -- if it is possible. If it is not I want to give the user a quick way to switch the outputs.

There is no 100% certain way, so far. A practical way would be to open analog then SPDIF PCMs at the same time with non-blocking mode. If both can be opened, it's likely non-duplicated one.

Or, we can change the "default" PCM to always output both. Not sure whether it's a good change, though. But usually SPDIF output can be turned off via a mixer switch, so this wouldn't be a big problem (I hope).

Takashi