[TUTORIAL] ODROID-C1: How to get working HDMI audio

[Holzhaus]

As I encountered quite a few problems, I wrote a small tutorial on how to get HDMI audio working on the ODROID-C1.

Open up a root console and run "aplay -l" and "amixer". You should see this:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: AMLM8AUDIO [AML-M8AUDIO], device 1: SPDIF PCM dit-hifi-1 []
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
# amixer
Simple mixer control 'Ext Spk',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'aml audio i2s mute',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'aml audio spdif mute',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
')


If you try to play something, you can actually hear some garbled sound coming out of my TVs speakers (but can't understand anything):
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '# aplay -D hw:0,1 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav
Playback: WAVE '/usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate: 48000 Hz, mono')

Then modify your /etc/asound.conf and /etc/pulse/default.pa as described here. In case this site is offline, I'll put the instructions here, too:

Put this into your /etc/asound.conf:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'pcm.!default {
type plug
slave {
pcm "hw:0,1"
}
}
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 0
}')

Then open /etc/pulse/default.pa and find these lines:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '#load-module module-alsa-sink
#load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:1,0')

Then change them to this
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'load-module module-alsa-sink
load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:0,1')

Please note: It's hw:0,1 and NOT hw:1,0!

Thanks to the change in /etc/asound.conf, you can now drop the "-D hw:0,1" part when using aplay, but the sound is still terribly distorted.

You can now use pulseaudio and the sound is fine. You just need to add your user to the audio group.

Note: I also ran this, but I do not know if it's neccessary to use HDMI audio as non-root user:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '# chmod 666 /dev/am*')

[BcTpe4HbIu]

Thanks! That helped me alot

[Screamy]

It helped me too, thank You!

Now if I could just get the Alsamixer to see an External Speaker. Also, the Audio Mixer Plugin won't allow you to select a Mixer Track (the dropdown is disabled).

[abayoumy]

Hi Thank you for help
but i cannot play audio in Kodi / xbmc

Also in alsamixer cannot unmute ext-spk

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')i Thank you for help
but i cannot play audio in Kodi / xbmc

[Holzhaus]

I got it working again. I basically replaced my custom pulse/default.pa with the package one and reapplied the changes listed above.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '$ cat /var/lib/kodi/.config/pulse/default.pa
#!/usr/bin/pulseaudio -nF
#
# This file is part of PulseAudio.
#
# PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
# under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
# General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
# along with PulseAudio; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

# This startup script is used only if PulseAudio is started per-user
# (i.e. not in system mode)

.nofail

### Load something into the sample cache
#load-sample-lazy x11-bell /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/bell.oga
#load-sample-lazy pulse-hotplug /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/device-added.oga
#load-sample-lazy pulse-coldplug /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/device-added.oga
#load-sample-lazy pulse-access /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/message.oga

.fail

### Automatically restore the volume of streams and devices
load-module module-device-restore
load-module module-stream-restore
load-module module-card-restore

### Automatically augment property information from .desktop files
### stored in /usr/share/application
load-module module-augment-properties

### Should be after module-*-restore but before module-*-detect
load-module module-switch-on-port-available

### Load audio drivers statically
### (it's probably better to not load these drivers manually, but instead
### use module-udev-detect -- see below -- for doing this automatically)
load-module module-alsa-sink
load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:0,1
#load-module module-oss device="/dev/dsp" sink_name=output source_name=input
#load-module module-oss-mmap device="/dev/dsp" sink_name=output source_name=input
#load-module module-null-sink
#load-module module-pipe-sink

### Automatically load driver modules depending on the hardware available
#.ifexists module-udev-detect.so
#load-module module-udev-detect
#.else
### Use the static hardware detection module (for systems that lack udev support)
#load-module module-detect
#.endif

### Automatically connect sink and source if JACK server is present
.ifexists module-jackdbus-detect.so
.nofail
load-module module-jackdbus-detect channels=2
.fail
.endif

### Automatically load driver modules for Bluetooth hardware
.ifexists module-bluetooth-policy.so
load-module module-bluetooth-policy
.endif

.ifexists module-bluetooth-discover.so
load-module module-bluetooth-discover
.endif

### Load several protocols
.ifexists module-esound-protocol-unix.so
load-module module-esound-protocol-unix
.endif
load-module module-native-protocol-unix

### Network access (may be configured with paprefs, so leave this commented
### here if you plan to use paprefs)
#load-module module-esound-protocol-tcp
#load-module module-native-protocol-tcp
#load-module module-zeroconf-publish

### Load the RTP receiver module (also configured via paprefs, see above)
#load-module module-rtp-recv

### Load the RTP sender module (also configured via paprefs, see above)
#load-module module-null-sink sink_name=rtp format=s16be channels=2 rate=44100 sink_properties="device.description='RTP Multicast Sink'"
#load-module module-rtp-send source=rtp.monitor

### Load additional modules from GConf settings. This can be configured with the paprefs tool.
### Please keep in mind that the modules configured by paprefs might conflict with manually
### loaded modules.
.ifexists module-gconf.so
.nofail
load-module module-gconf
.fail
.endif

### Automatically restore the default sink/source when changed by the user
### during runtime
### NOTE: This should be loaded as early as possible so that subsequent modules
### that look up the default sink/source get the right value
load-module module-default-device-restore

### Automatically move streams to the default sink if the sink they are
### connected to dies, similar for sources
load-module module-rescue-streams

### Make sure we always have a sink around, even if it is a null sink.
load-module module-always-sink

### Honour intended role device property
load-module module-intended-roles

### Automatically suspend sinks/sources that become idle for too long
load-module module-suspend-on-idle

### If autoexit on idle is enabled we want to make sure we only quit
### when no local session needs us anymore.
.ifexists module-console-kit.so
load-module module-console-kit
.endif
.ifexists module-systemd-login.so
load-module module-systemd-login
.endif

### Enable positioned event sounds
load-module module-position-event-sounds

### Cork music/video streams when a phone stream is active
load-module module-role-cork

### Modules to allow autoloading of filters (such as echo cancellation)
### on demand. module-filter-heuristics tries to determine what filters
### make sense, and module-filter-apply does the heavy-lifting of
### loading modules and rerouting streams.
load-module module-filter-heuristics
load-module module-filter-apply

# X11 modules should not be started from default.pa so that one daemon
# can be shared by multiple sessions.

### Load X11 bell module
#load-module module-x11-bell sample=x11-bell

### Register ourselves in the X11 session manager
#load-module module-x11-xsmp

### Publish connection data in the X11 root window
#.ifexists module-x11-publish.so
#.nofail
#load-module module-x11-publish
#.fail
#.endif

### Make some devices default
#set-default-sink output
#set-default-source input

$ cat /var/lib/kodi/.asoundrc
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave {
pcm "hw:0,1"
}
}
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 0
}
')

I also had to change the Audio device in Kodi's system settings to AML-M8AUDIO instead of the default sink to get rid of a ~1 sec delay.

[abayoumy]

I edit /etc/pulse/default.pa like ur file but not working for me
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
[root@alarm ~]# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: AMLM8AUDIO [AML-M8AUDIO], device 1: SPDIF PCM dit-hifi-1 []
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0


[root@alarm ~]# aplay -D hw:0,1 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav
Playing WAVE '/usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Mono
')
wave file play but no sound in kodi

[abayoumy]

Thank you
Working for my after install pulseaudio-alsa

[Bakaniko]

Hi,

I used your tutorial few days before, and it worked very well.
I updated Kodi last night and now it has no sound, but vlc can play music.

I tried to reapplied the modifications you provided, but conf files didn't changes. Modifications are still enabled.

I'm lost now.

[MrRee]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bakaniko', 'H')i,

I used your tutorial few days before, and it worked very well.
I updated Kodi last night and now it has no sound, but vlc can play music.

I tried to reapplied the modifications you provided, but conf files didn't changes. Modifications are still enabled.

I'm lost now.