[alsa-devel] [PATCH v3 0/5] ALSA: hda - hdmi: ATI/AMD multi-channel and HBR support

[James Le Cuirot]

On Mon, 25 Nov 2013 16:56:55 +0200
Anssi Hannula <anssi.hannula at iki.fi> wrote:

> 25.11.2013 16:32, James Le Cuirot kirjoitti:
> > On Mon, 25 Nov 2013 15:20:23 +0200
> > Anssi Hannula <anssi.hannula at iki.fi> wrote:
> > 
> >> 24.11.2013 16:57, James Le Cuirot kirjoitti:
> >>> On Sat, 23 Nov 2013 17:45:00 +0200
> >>> Anssi Hannula <anssi.hannula at iki.fi> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> 23.11.2013 17:40, James Le Cuirot kirjoitti:
> >>>>> On Sat, 23 Nov 2013 03:29:28 +0200
> >>>>> Anssi Hannula <anssi.hannula at iki.fi> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> 23.11.2013 03:05, James Le Cuirot kirjoitti:
> >>>>>>> Anssi Hannula <anssi.hannula <at> iki.fi> writes:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Here's another revision of the ATI/AMD multichannel+HBR
> >>>>>>>> patchset.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Hi Anssi. Many thanks for your work on this. I am very keen to
> >>>>>>> test this new code but have so far been unsuccessful. I have a
> >>>>>>> Radeon 4670 (Sapphire branded) connected to a Yamaha RX-V773.
> >>>>>>> I am running the sound/for-next kernel (82755ab) with your
> >>>>>>> "missing PCM SAD" patch applied.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The new kernel has allowed ALSA to recognise the card as
> >>>>>>> multichannel and I can issue the following speaker-test
> >>>>>>> command but I still only hear "Front Left" and "Front Right"
> >>>>>>> and the Yahama seems to report the signal as stereo.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> # speaker-test -Dhdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0 -c6 -t wav
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> ELD stuff is not necessary for playback, it is mostly for
> >>>>>> information (and providing the necessary info for ELD is
> >>>>>> disabled on radeon DRI drivers on some kernels on some GPUs
> >>>>>> ATM due to some issues).
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Is there anything interesting in "dmesg"?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I have attached my dmesg. I enabled ALSA debug and verbose
> >>>>> printk but disabled the on-board HDA audio in the BIOS to make
> >>>>> it less confusing, and also to see if it made any difference,
> >>>>> which it didn't. The only entry I find noteworthy is about the
> >>>>> ELD but you say this isn't required.
> >>>
> >>> https://gist.github.com/chewi/7628058
> >>
> >> Unfortunately everything looks OK.
> > 
> > I had a horrible feeling you'd say that.
> > 
> >> Do you have any custom configuration in /etc/asound.conf or
> >> ~/.asoundrc?
> > 
> > Just the usual PulseAudio overrides. I don't like PA starting
> > automatically so I have that disabled and run speaker-test without
> > it. I think the -D option bypasses it anyway. I have also run
> > speaker-test through PA just to see and get the same result.
> 
> OK.
> 
> >> To narrow it down a bit, are you able to test any of the following:
> >> - same card on Windows,
> >> - same card on fglrx,
> >> - same receiver with a different AMD card,
> >> - same receiver with an Intel/NVIDIA card?
> > 
> > I banished real Windows installs from my main desktop after a nasty
> > incident some years ago. ;) I might be able to dedicate the card to
> > a QEMU instance but I've never tried that before.
> > 
> > I could easily try fglrx but I thought it didn't support
> > multichannel? Or this new ALSA code fixes that too?
> 
> Yes, it was only the ALSA code that was missing for multichannel, it
> works with fglrx as well. With fglrx you should also see the ELD info
> as it is not disabled there.
> 
> > Unfortunately I don't have any other AMD cards handy. I could try my
> > wife's Ivy Bridge based laptop though.
> > 
> > I'll report back soon.

Hi Anssi,

Guess it wasn't so "soon" after all. This dropped down my priority
list and then my receiver blew up. I ended up getting the newer
equivalent model, the RX-V775. Despite that, the problem persists,
even on a current sound "master" kernel.

There has been a little change though. I now get an ELD. This shows
what I would expect based on my receiver.

https://gist.github.com/chewi/7628058

I note that speaker-test doesn't allow me to specify -c6 anymore, only
-c8. Maybe that's because of the ELD. I do have a kernel log but not to
hand right now. It only seems to show what appears to be normal output
anyway.

I was keen to try fglrx but realised I can't because this card is only
supported by the legacy driver and that only works with kernels up to
around 3.7.

I did try my wife's Ivy Bridge laptop and that worked straight away
with no difficulties using the same HDMI cable so it seems that the
receiver isn't to blame.

I wanted to rule my Gentoo system out so I booted with Ubuntu 14.04 on
a USB stick and got exactly the same results.

I've tried everything else I can think of like not having my stereo
monitor connected at the same time. I would dig in to the code but as
you have previously commented, everything *looks* fine, so I don't know
where to begin. I may just have to get a newer card but that wasn't an
investment I was planning to make just yet. :( Any further suggestions
are appreciated.

Regards,
James