[xine-user] multiple sound-related serious problems

[Florin A. <fl...@an...>]

After happily using xine-0.9.13 for a long time, i decided to give the
beta version a try, especially since i upgraded to Red Hat 9.

Using:
gxine-0.3.3
xine-lib-1beta10
xine-0.9.20
alsa-0.9.2 (rebuilt src.rpm from freshrpms.net)
Red Hat 9
old SoundBlaster Live (original series)
digital connection (coax cable) to a 5.1-capable amplifier

I was using mostly gxine, but similar problems manifested with xine-ui

If i use the ALSA output, i can play most of the things in the Media
menu with no problems. However, if i play a DVD, there is no sound. No
matter how i tweak the settings (pass-through or not, 5.1, 5.0, 4.0,
etc.) there is no sound with DVD.
The moment it starts playing the DVD, the input LED on my amplifier
blinks like there is no digital signal from the SBLive or like the
signal is bad. If i stop playing the DVD, the LED stays continuously on
(signal is good).
Moreover, after i played a bit with the DVD, even the sources from the
Media menu started having problems with the sound (i.e. no sound at
all). Tried xmms... no sound. Previously xmms had no problem at all (i
use the ALSA output plugin in xmms all the time).

Looks like playing the DVD with gxine and ALSA output somehow corrupted
my ALSA driver. I had to reboot the system. After that xmms worked fine,
and so did gxine with the Media channels. But no luck with DVD.

If i use the OSS output in gxine (my ALSA modules have OSS emulation
enabled) most of the problems go away. There is still one issue with
DVD, the audio channel is always -1, even if i change it to another
value it resets itself to -1 next time i start gxine. The problem is,
with -1 i don't have sound when playing DVD; i have to manually change
it to 1.
But then, the things in the Media menu stop having sound, so i have to
change the audio channel again to -1. :-( Quite annoying.

Looks like there is no "one setting fits all" in the audio channel, plus
it doesn't remember the last setting.

If i try to adjust the sound volume, all buttons in gxine become
non-responsive, including the "Close Window" button in the window
manager. I have to "kill -9" the application. I think this happens no
matter which sound output i use (tried ALSA and OSS).

I have to mention that xmms and other applications work just fine, with
ALSA, OSS or ESD output. It's just (g)xine that's having issues.

-- 
Florin Andrei

http://florin.myip.org/