With XBMC, there are two audio settings. One is for for stereo audio, and the other is for passthrough audio (If I were to enable AC3 and or DTS then passthrough would be used):
With the following ubuntu audio settings, if I enable Dolby Digital or DTS then sound does not work when I play any media with those types of streams. However, stereo streams will still work:
If change the Ubuntu audio settings to Built-in Audio for output, and enable Dolby/DTS then media with those streams will work, but then stereo does not.
This makes sense to me because if I have my CM8738 selected via Ubuntu then XBMC couldn't access it because pulse has it in use. The flip side where I set Ubuntu audio to Built-in I am no longer using the sound device hooped up to my speakers, but then CM8738 is freed up for passthrough/AC3/DTS from XBMC.
What I would like, is of course, for both to work at the same time (without having to change device via Ubuntu or inputs on my receiver). I want to pass DTS or AC3 directly to my receiver for those streams, but still have stereo within XBMC and outside of XBMC to work. Am I asking for too much? Or can this be done?
For reference here is the output of aplay -l
:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: CMI8768 [C-Media CMI8768], device 0: CMI8738-MC8 [C-Media PCI DAC/ADC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CMI8768 [C-Media CMI8768], device 1: CMI8738-MC8 [C-Media PCI 2nd DAC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CMI8768 [C-Media CMI8768], device 2: CMI8738-MC8 [C-Media PCI IEC958]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0