[xine-devel] Howto on AC3 Passthrough on xine. Please add this to the xine howto.

[James Courtier-D. <Ja...@su...>]

Question: How does one make ac3 passthrough work with emu10k1 (Sound Blaster
Live).

Answer: There are two possible methods: -
1) Use the alsa09 audio plugin for xine. (xine -A alsa09 ... ) It should
just work.
Special note. The alsa version 0.9.x drivers currently work with some
emu10k1 cards and not others. The alsa developers have not yet worked out
why.
2) Use the oss audio plugin for xine. (xine -A oss ... )
Special note. This is best sourced via CVS from
http://opensource.creative.com.
Follow instructions from the source on how to compile everything.
Go to the emu10k1/utils/play-ac3 directory of the creative driver source.
Type: -
make load    (This will load the ac3 passthrough patch into the emu10k1
dsp.)
             (make unload gets your emu10k1 back to normal.)

IMPORTANT STEP: -
Finally, no matter which ever method you use: -
go to your home directory.
vi .xinerc
Change
ac3_pass_through:0
to
ac3_pass_through:1

The next time you play a movie in xine which has an AC3 component, you will
get direct AC3 out of your SPDIF port.

Goodluck
James