How to get the TOSLINK (Optical) sound output working?

MegaSvensk · 09-23-2007, 05:34 PM

Hi,

I'm almost ready to make Ubuntu my main OS, but there is one thing left that has to work. That is the TOSLINK sound on my integrated Realtek AC'97 sound card. I can get it working when I test the sound in the the audio settings and for system sounds, but I get no sound at all (on the TOSLINK, regular analog output for the desktop speakers work fine) in multimedia applications.

Does anyone know how to get it working? It's very important and if I can't get it to work, I'll have to go back to Windows.

Thanks.

Peacedog · 09-23-2007, 06:55 PM

Hi MegaSvensk, Welcome to lq. You might try the ouput settings for the particular application. Since you have sound I think it's just a matter of using the correct output feature. Without knowing what apps you're trying to use I'll say try the alsa output setting or digital output setting for the app. If you can provide the names of the apps in question, maybe we can help further.
Good luck. ;-)

MegaSvensk · 09-23-2007, 07:21 PM

Thanks for replying.

The applications I've tried using are VLC, the video player that's included in Ubuntu and XMMS.

If I set the sound setting like in the picture below I get system sounds (and also sounds in the IM app Gaim) but I don't hear anything in VLC. I've looked for that setting in VLC, but it's not there.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...judproblem.jpg

Peacedog · 09-23-2007, 07:53 PM

I'm not sure about VLC, I use Mplayer. Xmms has different ouput settings go to Options > Preferences. It should be the first tab. I'll google around and see if I can find anything on VLC. If you can get system sounds and sound in gaim there is a good chance this is possible. Quick question, have you tried killing artsd before trying to play a file with VLC?
Good luck. ;-)

MegaSvensk · 09-23-2007, 08:15 PM

What is artsd and how do I kill it?

Thank you so much for helping me.

Peacedog · 09-23-2007, 08:45 PM

You're welcome, I'm sorry about that I believe you're using esd, I'm using artsd. I'm not very familiar with ubuntu just yet. Before we go there, what types of files have you tried playing? It could be a codec issue. Have a look at these and see if anything catches your eye.

http://wiki.videolan.org/Common_Problems

https://help.ubuntu.com/7.04/musicvi...s/C/index.html

If you have to you can try this, I found it on the ubuntu forums. As stated I'm still not very familiar with ubuntu, I'm going to throw a live disc in this week and try to get "up to speed".
Good luck. ;-)

MegaSvensk · 09-23-2007, 08:53 PM

I've played Xvid, VMW and MPEG files. It's not a codec issue because the sound works fine on my desktop speakers.

"If you have to you can try this, I found it on the ubuntu forums."
Am I supposed to use that to kill esd?

Peacedog · 09-24-2007, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Am I supposed to use that to kill esd?

You can try that. Do you have both a digital and an anologue channel in alsamixer? Have you tried disabling or muting one or the other? Some cards can do one or the other but not both.
Good luck. ;-)

Peacedog · 09-24-2007, 07:43 AM

I found this

Quote:

I installed gnome-alsamixer, and had to turn OFF iec98 optical raw, and now I have audio from my TOS-link.

here. Googling it out a bit. As stated in my last post try the mixer settings and see if you can make a difference there.
Good luck. ;-)

MegaSvensk · 09-24-2007, 09:14 AM

I found the IEC958 setting in XMMS and it is working now (though now I don't hear anything from the desktop speakers, but I'll just switch back when I want use them). But I still haven't been able to get any sound from VLC.

That alsamixer thing didn't do anything.

Peacedog · 09-24-2007, 10:06 AM

Quote:

I found the IEC958 setting in XMMS and it is working now (though now I don't hear anything from the desktop speakers, but I'll just switch back when I want use them).

Great, I thought there was probably a setting to configure for the app itself.

Quote:

But I still haven't been able to get any sound from VLC.

It may be that VLC doesn't have the option. I'll keep looking around.

Quote:

That alsamixer thing didn't do anything.

What channels do you have available? Just curious now.
Good luck. ;-)

Peacedog · 09-24-2007, 10:16 AM

It looks like there may be a menu for VLC in Settings > Preferences.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/ch03.html

I found some other things on the wiki.

http://wiki.videolan.org/Ubuntu

Good luck. ;-)

MegaSvensk · 09-24-2007, 12:08 PM

I didn't find the setting in VLC, but I found it in Mplayer and the TOSLINK works great there.
This actually worked out better because now I can use VLC and Rhythmbox when I want to play videos and music on my computer screen with the computer speakers and Mplayer and XMMS when I want to play videos and music on my plasma with the surround sound system.

Thank you for your help.

Peacedog · 09-24-2007, 12:28 PM

I'm glad you're happy with the setup and we got it "almost" working correctly.

No thanks needed but, you're welcome, thank you for "hangin in there" until we could get some sort of solution.
Good luck. ;-)

MegaSvensk · 09-24-2007, 01:22 PM

Yeah, it would be best to be able to have both analog and TOSLINK on at the same time like you can on Windows. But since you have to switch devices in the player settings, I guess this is the best possible solution.
Hopefully, there will be better drivers available in the future that'll let you do both with one setting.