No volume control on HDMI audio

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jhelms
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No volume control on HDMI audio

Post by jhelms »

This maybe a useless quest, but I built a new DVR when the old one was giving us problems. I have just about everything working except volume control, and I'm not sure if there's a way to fix it. I can get audio to the TV over HDMI, but there's no volume adjustment. I use a universal remote on the old DVR that allowed me to program the volume keys just for the TV, which worked great. On the new DVR, I had problems with the media center remote and IR receiver such that a single key press would result in dozens and dozens of that action on screen. So I went with a Rii air-mouse style remote, which works pretty well but I can't reprogram the volume buttons. So I have two potential paths:

1. get volume control to work with HDMI audio output
2. get the old media center remote to work correctly

A rather old thread said that it was basically impossible to alter the hdmi audio, so there may only be one workable solution here.

Here is my audio configuration and test results for the various output devices:

Audio Output Device = see below
Digital Audio Capabilities (grayed out)
Speaker Configuration = Stereo
Upconvert Stereo to 5.1 Surround = unchecked
Upmix Quality = Best
Use Internal Volume Controls = checked
- Mixer Device = ALSA:default
- Mixer Controls = Master
- Master Mixer Volume = 75
- PCM Mixer Volume = 75
Advaned Audio Settings
- Separate Digital Output Device = unchecked
- Digital Output Device (grayed out) = no selection
- Force Audio Device Output to 48kHz = unchecked
- SPDIF 48kHz Rate Override = unchecked
- HBR Passthrough Support = checked
- Stereo PCM Only (grayed out) = unchecked
Override Sample Rate Conversion Quality = unchecked


I tested most of the available output devices. The ones that produce audio through the hdmi/tv also don’t have any volume control.

ALSA:default (Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server, audio comes out pc speaker but volume control works)
ALSA:dmix:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 0, says Samsung conected to HDMI, audio comes out hdmi/tv but no volume control)
ALSA:dmix:CARD=HDMI,DEV=7 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 1, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:dmix:CARD=HDMI,DEV=8 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 2, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:dmix:CARD=HDMI,DEV=9 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 3, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:dmix:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 (HDA Intel PCH, ALC3239 Analog, audio comes out pc speaker but volume control works)
ALSA:front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 (HDA Intel PCH, ALC3239 Analog, audio comes out pc speaker but volume control works)
ALSA:hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 0, says Samsung connected to HDMI, audio comes out hdmi/tv but no volume control)
ALSA:hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=1 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 1, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=2 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 2, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 3, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:hw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 0, says Samsung connected to HDMI, audio comes out hdmi/tv but no volume control)
ALSA:hw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=7 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 1, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:hw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=8 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 2, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:hw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=9 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 3, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 (HDA Intel PCH, ALC3239 Analog, audio comes out pc speaker but volume control works)
ALSA:plughw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 0, says Samsung conected to HDMI, audio comes out hdmi/tv but no volume control)
ALSA:plughw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=7. (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 1, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:plughw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=8. (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 2, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:plughw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=9. (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 3, says no connection detected, no audio at all)
ALSA:plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0. (HDA Intel PCH, ALC3239 Analog, audio comes out pc speaker but volume control works)
ALSA:pulse (PulseAudio Sound Server, audio comes out pc speaker but volume control works)
ALSA:surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
ALSA:surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
ALSA:surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
ALSA:sysdefault:CARD=PCH
PulseAudio:default
NULL
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heyted
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Re: No volume control on HDMI audio

Post by heyted »

I had problems with the media center remote and IR receiver such that a single key press would result in dozens and dozens of that action on screen.
If Ubuntu is being used, there is a bug in 20.04 and 20.10. According to the person assigned to the issue, the update that will fix the bug for 20.04 is not ready yet. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... omments/29

One option is to keep the IR remote, and use it to control the TV volume directly and control MythTV (assuming 20.04) when the update is released that will fix the bug. In the meantime, a virtual remote can be used on a phone to control MythTV. I use Mythmote (https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... n_US&gl=US). Other options are discussed here: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4426 .
Ted | My blog
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pgbennett
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Re: No volume control on HDMI audio

Post by pgbennett »

You can use MythTV internal volume control. This works as longs as you have not selected "Digital Audio Capabilities", which you have not selected.
mythfrontend -> setup -> Audio -> Use internal volume controls. Then you use left and right square brackets [] to adjust volume, or other keys which you can assign in setup. Inside the internal volume control is also a 'software' option that causes mythtv to use internal logic to adjust volume, in case the mixer volume control does not work.
jhelms
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Re: No volume control on HDMI audio

Post by jhelms »

Heyted,

Thanks for the info about that bug. It was driving me nuts! The IR MCE remote has worked with everything previously, so it was baffling how badly it was functioning now. I would love to see that patch come out because it would fix this last problem. And yes, this new DVR was created using the latest xubuntu.

pgbennett,

I guess I should clarify that the remote volume control does operate the myth internal volume as the on-screen slider bar does show up and increase/decrease in response to the remote buttons. It just doesn't change any volume coming out of the TV. The "Use Internal Volume Controls" parameter is checked and the Mixer Device in the submenu is set to ALSA:default. I also tested setting the Mix Device to Software with no luck.

John
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pgbennett
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Re: No volume control on HDMI audio

Post by pgbennett »

I just ran a test with an HDMI monitor and it works when I set it this way:
audio output device: ALSA:Default
Use internal volume controls: checked
Internal volume controls:
Mixer device: ALSA:Default
Mixer Controls: Master

The left and right square brackets increase and decrease the volume as well as showing the slider.

(It does not work if you do not set Mixer Controls: Master)
jhelms
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Re: No volume control on HDMI audio

Post by jhelms »

pgbennett,

When I copy your config, I can control the volume but the sound comes out the PC speaker and not the TV. Selecting any of these four output devices that actually sends audio to the TV does not allow any volume control:

ALSA:dmix:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 0, says Samsung conected to HDMI, audio comes out hdmi/tv but no volume control)
ALSA:hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 0, says Samsung connected to HDMI, audio comes out hdmi/tv but no volume control)
ALSA:hw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 0, says Samsung connected to HDMI, audio comes out hdmi/tv but no volume control)
ALSA:plughw:CARD=HDMI,DEV=3 (HDA Intel HDMI, HDMI 0, says Samsung conected to HDMI, audio comes out hdmi/tv but no volume control)

I performed another test by running alsamixer. When I select HDA Intel HDMI as the sound card, it shows four S/PDIF playback devices. The volume level for all is set to 00. I can mute them, but I can't change their output level.

John
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pgbennett
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Re: No volume control on HDMI audio

Post by pgbennett »

What I did was use the pulseaudio plugin on the task bar to switch playback to the HDMI since sound was playing through my laptop speakers. The internal volume control worked in this setup. You can set the default audio device for each application in the pulseaudio plugin, so you should be able to set mythfrontend default audio device to the TV, as long as the TV is connected whenever you run mythfrontend.
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