newest rpi-kodi-update breaks other audio applications

[graysky]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hp4', 'M')y RPI4 is running as music-player-client in a snapcast-environment (partly headless: no display, but with a HDMI-extractor for audio signals).

[foobar]

Sorry to break in but if I uncomment dtparam=audio=on in my /boot/config.txt and reboot then I suddenly have System > Audio > Default(bcm2835 Headphones). There is however no hdmi to select. At least the other problem ("If I start a movie and press "ok" I get the info overlay which is good. But then when I press "esc" the overlay dissappears but then the movie starts continuing very slowly, almost frame by frame!") is gone as soon as there is an audio device available in System > Audio.

I too use an HDMI audio extractor. Example: https://www.amazon.com/hdmi-audio-extractor/s?k=hdmi+audio+extractor.
I put that between my RPi hdmi0 output and my monitor hdmi input and then I have rca (analog) audio output connected to my active speakers rca input. So my whole living room setup is RPi, 43 inch PC monitor and two active speakers.

[graysky]

Try it without the extractor and report back. Works on multiple pis in my experience.

[foobar]

At the moment I do not have an HDMI audio extractor attaced. Just my monitor on hdmi0.

[foobar]

I just realized that my current monitor has DVI input with DVI-hdmi adapter. So I tried another "real" hdmi monitor with 1366x768 resolution, for that I had to use hdmi_group=2 and hdmi_mode=39 in my /boot/config.txt. Funny thing is the RPi boots but I only see very distorted boot up and kodi GUI. I managed to get into System > Display and scroll to the lowest resolution 640x480p. From there I tried 1366x768p but that gave met the distorted GUI. Highest I can get is 720x576p. Very strange.

But at least now I can go into System > Audio and I see:
Default (bcm2835 Headphones)
vc4-hdmi-0, MAI PCM vc4-hdmi-hifi-0
vc4-hdmi-0, MAI PCM vc4-hdmi-hifi-0 S/PDIF

But I know for sure that my DVI input monitor with the DVI-hdmi adapter gave me sound via hdmi with the previous kod 18 version.

You're saying you have multiple pi's running fine. But my issues came after a system update with a fully configured kodi 18, so has hp4. Did you update or just a fresh install of kodi-rpi on RPi4?

[graysky]

I have been running kodi19 on multiple RPi4Bs since I updated the kodi-rpi-git package months ago. I believe it was s drop in. Can you please try creating a new kodi homedir as described above and see if that changes anything. I had some growing pains with the xml settings but I think those were due to bugs in kodi-alpha as I recall.

So experiments:

1) Fresh kodi homedir (start with an empty one as I describe) using the package defaults for /boot/kodi-gbm.txt and /boot/config.txt.
Do you get normal sound?
- No customized /boot/config.txt so comment out everything you added except for the reference to 'include = ...'

2) If not, add the analog option to /boot/config.txt (dtparam=audio=on) reboot. Do you get normal sound?

[foobar]

So you didn't just update from kodi 18. I will help testing as you described but first I need to setup a test rig. I cann't test in the livingroom with sound over hdmi (audio extractor) without the risk of being fired by the missus in case I blow something up... And I don't have an hdmi monitor with built-in audio. Might take some time.

[foobar]

Just bought myself a second hdmi audio extractor for testing. Before I start testing with graysky's "experiments" I just want to start the whole update process from scratch, explaining my current kodi 18.9 setup first and report the steps I take. I see many users encountering problems with the kodi 19 upgrade so here it goes.

I have a RPi4 (4GB) with arch linux armv7 and kodi-rbp4 18.9-4 with kodi-rbp-dev 18.9-4. I only have one user named "user" which has sudo priviliges. Instead of using the kodi service file which requires kodi user and group I have a bash script on my home folder running on startup containing "/usr/bin/kodi-standalone". I also added user to the video group. This way when kodi starts it is running as "user" and a .kodi folder containing the kodi profile is created in my home folder. That's the way I have set things up starting with kodi in 2013 and I have never encountered any problems with updating.

My kodi setup includes a lot of automation using kodi's callback script and a dozen of pythons scripts which use the gpio pins to drive relays controlling my monitor, active speakers and ambilight. The active speakers get their input from an HDMI audio extractor connected to hdmi0. I created various xml scripts mapping these scripts to my remote. After booting kodi, my monitor is still off and when I press any key on the remote it powers up. After one hour of inactivity (no key presses on the remote), the monitor shuts off and also the active speakers and ambilight if activated. Saves the planet and my electricity bill.
Further there's hyperion.ng-git for the ambilight and kodi-addon-pvr-hts (both from AUR) for live TV. On kodi there's YouTube and Keymap Editor and added sources from my NFS for watching movies, videos and pictures.

I cloned the sd card and put it in my test RPi4. Some modifications were made, I disabled the callback script add-on since I'm directly on my test monitor without relays in between. I also had to comment the edid entry in /boot/config.txt for the same reason. At first I had no sound after rebooting. I had to add hdmi_drive=2 to force sound over hdmi. Now I have sound on the little speaker connected to the hdmi audio extractor which connects to hdmi0 output of the Pi. Before updating here are my current cmdline and config:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
/boot/cmdline.txt:
root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rw rootwait console=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 selinux=0 plymouth.enable=0 smsc95xx.turbo_mode=N dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200 audit=0
')
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
/boot/config.txt:
initramfs initramfs-linux.img followkernel
gpu_mem=320
hdmi_enable_4kp60=1
#hdmi_edid_file=1
hdmi_drive=2
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=87
hdmi_cvt 1920 1080 60 3 0 0 1
max_framebuffer_width=1920
max_framebuffer_height=1080
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
dtparam=audio=on
dtparam=spi=on
')
The dtparam=spi=on is for my ambilight.

The last update was on 2020-11-30, so here we go:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
sudo pacman -Syu
[sudo] password for user:
:: Synchronizing package databases...
core 219.7 KiB 5.36 MiB/s 00:00 [######################] 100%
extra 2.3 MiB 7.14 MiB/s 00:00 [######################] 100%
community 5.1 MiB 8.63 MiB/s 00:01 [######################] 100%
alarm 114.2 KiB 11.1 MiB/s 00:00 [######################] 100%
aur is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
:: Replace kodi-rbp-dev with alarm/kodi-rpi-legacy-dev? [Y/n] > Y
:: Replace kodi-rbp4 with alarm/kodi-rpi? [Y/n] > Y
..
132/177) installing kodi-rpi [######################] 100%
-> Remove any tweaks made to /boot/config.txt now!
-> This includes lines such as gpu_mem=...
-> Add the following to /boot/config.txt or else kodi will not work.
[all]
include kodi.config.txt
..
sudo pacdiff:
/boot/config.txt.pacnew suggests dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d > removed pacnew
/boot/cmdline.txt.pacnew suggest replacing ttyAMA0 with serial0 > removed pacnew
')

After reboot kodi starts rebuilding libraries and verifying add-ons. Callback Service and Tvheadend HTSP Client are not compatible and disbled, Ambilight (hyperion.ng-git) is not working.

Note that at this point I have NOT followed kodi-rpi /boot/config.txt instructions as described during update process. There is however /boot/kodi.config.txt containing
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,cma-512
dtoverlay=rpivid-v4l2
disable_overscan=1
disable_fw_kms_setup=1
')
but I have NOT included it in /boot/config.txt.

So now I have:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
uname -srm
Linux 5.10.17-2-ARCH armv7l

sudo pacman -Qs kodi
local/kodi-addon-pvr-hts 4.4.21-1 (kodi-addons)
Tvheadend HTSP PVR client addon for Kodi
local/kodi-platform 20190726.809c5e9-20
platform library for external kodi addons
local/kodi-rpi 19.0-4
Media player and entertainment hub for Raspberry Pi 3/4/400, gbm fork
local/kodi-rpi-legacy-dev 19.0-4
Kodi dev files for Raspberry Pi 2, gbm fork
local/p8-platform 2.1.0.1-4
Platform support library used by libCEC and binary add-ons for Kodi
')

And on kodi Settings > System > Audio > Audio output device:
bcm2835 HDMI 1 (default)
bcm2835 Headphones

So I'm not sure about the kodi-rpi-legacy-dev, but I'm definitely on a working kodi 19 and I have sound over hdmi using my hdmi audio extractor!

I will be testing further with the pacman suggestion for modifying kodi config.txt.

[foobar]

Just edited previous post, should have created new post, sorry.

[foobar]

Meanwhile I did
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
sudo pacman -S kodi-rpi-dev
[sudo] password for user:
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
:: kodi-rpi-dev and kodi-rpi-legacy-dev are in conflict. Remove kodi-rpi-legacy-dev? [y/N] > y
')
and now I have
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
sudo pacman -Qs kodi
[sudo] password for user:
local/kodi-addon-pvr-hts 4.4.21-1 (kodi-addons)
Tvheadend HTSP PVR client addon for Kodi
local/kodi-platform 20190726.809c5e9-20
platform library for external kodi addons
local/kodi-rpi 19.0-4
Media player and entertainment hub for Raspberry Pi 3/4/400, gbm fork
local/kodi-rpi-dev 19.0-4
Kodi dev files for Raspberry Pi 3/4/400, gbm fork
local/p8-platform 2.1.0.1-4
Platform support library used by libCEC and binary add-ons for Kodi
')