Creative Live! Value (dell) Spdif Output?

[TZRick]

Hello everyone!

I recently got MPlayer up and running and life is great running full-blown Linux for the first time! I am running SuSE 10.1 and used the Jem Report for major guidance in the MPlayer setup process. The Jem Report - Hacking SUSE Linux 10.1 is really awesome! I spent hours trying to get MPlayer working on my new SuSE 10.1 installation with no success. I came across a link to the Jem Report and within 1/5 of the time previously spent, I got MPlayer up and running! All I did was follow the instructions step-by-step!

The only thing not working correctly is the Dolby Digital SPDIF output to my decoder-equipped speakers. I have a Dell Creative Labs Live! Value Digital sound card with Altec Lansing ADA8800 speakers with a built-in Dolby Digital decoder. I have not been able to get the raw digital output using "ac=hwac3," in the /home/username/.mplayer/config file. In fact, putting entries into the config file killed the sound and I had to delete the files in the ~/.mplayer/ directory and restart MPLayer.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!

[TZRick]

Okay...anything? At this point, I have not been able to get any digital output whatsoever through the system.

[Cabhan]

Well, are you getting any sound output at all? I know that back in the day when I used the SoundBlaster card that came with my Dell, it wouldn't work at all. It doesn't actually use a SoundBlaster chipset, which is why. But I believe there's kernel support for it now...

Anyway, I solved the issue by getting a real Creative Labs SoundBlaster 5.1 PCM MP3+ card. You may want to check your kernel for support.

Of course, if you're getting any sound at all, you have a different issue than I did, so this may all be useless.


(Side note: are your channels muted? Run 'alsamixer' and check to make sure that the Master and PCM channels are unmuted. This is a very common problem.)

[TZRick]

Cabhan,

I do get basic sound through the analog channels. However, it is the digital sound that is eluding me right now.

Just curious, but what chip does your SoundBlaster 5.1 card use?

I know very little about Linux and its many mixers. The default Gnome volume icon on the taskbar, when opened, shows "SBLive! Value [CT4780] (Alsa Mixer)" and "Cirrus Logic CS4297A rev 4 (OSS Mixer)" in the File > Change Device menu.

What do you think? Am I running a Creative chip or something else?

Thank you again!