(Pulse)Audio? not working (Intel HDMI)

Question

Hi,
so I installed Arch Linux again and have problems with the sound. I think there is a problem with PulseAudio, as test sounds from settings (cinnamon) and using 'aplay -D plughw:0,7 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav' work. But when I open music/videos in VLC, Firefox or Clementine, there is no sound, nor are system sounds output.
I tried using headphones and everything works just fine.
I've been searching for a while now and found nothing that could help me. I can't figure out, what's wrong.
Previously I used an AMD graphics card and had no problems with sound and HDMI. Also I can't remember doing something special when I installed and used Arch back then. Now I use the HD3000 graphics included in my Intel Core i7-2600k. I need HDMI because I use an A/V-receiver.
Thank you in advance

Answer 1

There is already a default sink set under ~/.config/pulse, content: "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-surround-extra1". Don't know what to do with that. I thought it was set by pavucontrol and should be right?
speaker-test -c 2 -t wav -D plug:dmix:"{CARD 0 DEV 7}"
works (while pulseaudio is killed, right!?) in multiple instances, fuser gives
$ fuser -v /dev/snd/*
USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/pcmC0D7p: iuno 3431 F...m speaker-test
iuno 3486 F...m speaker-test
iuno 3491 F...m speaker-test
/dev/snd/timer: iuno 3431 f.... speaker-test
iuno 3486 f.... speaker-test
iuno 3491 f.... speaker-test
I see no problem there?
I don't really know what you mean with the linked post. But I think a summary might be useful, as I really messed up writing in this thread.
When pulseaudio is killed:
Like mentioned above, speaker-test works with C0D7
VLC with Preferences - Audio - Output module set to 'Alsa audio output', Device set to 'HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 0 Audio Output' works
Clementine with GStreamer Audio Engine - Output plugin set to 'Audio sink (ALSA)' does not work
While trying with ALSA-only I found this out:
$ fuser -v /dev/snd/*
USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: iuno 652 F.... firefox
iuno 4167 F.... vlc
iuno 4259 F.... clementine
/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: iuno 652 F...m firefox
iuno 4259 F...m clementine
/dev/snd/pcmC0D7p: iuno 4167 F...m vlc
/dev/snd/timer: iuno 652 f.... firefox
iuno 4259 f.... clementine
Concluding Clementine and Firefox use the wrong device. I guess c0d0 may be the default device for alsa? But for pulseaudio it shouldn't matter, right?
Choosing 'HDA Intel PCH, ALC893 Analog Output' as device in VLC results in no sound, obviously, and 'C0D0' in fuser.
However, trying to play back compressed audio with VLC, alsa-only, everything like above does not work. fuser shows the same (C0D7), vlc shows no error playing back .m4a or .mp3 files but it stays quiet.
.oga (vorbis) files I found in /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop do work, though. While VLC is playing, I can't run speaker-test (error: -16,Device or resource busy)
When PulseAudio comes in , some things change, obviously
I'd like to name two states. State 1 meanns sound is working, state 2 means sound is not working. State 1 is default.
First of all, no matter what I do, fuser always gives
$ fuser -v /dev/snd/*
USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: iuno 5552 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/pcmC0D7p: iuno 5552 F...m pulseaudio
Forcing VLC to use 'Alsa audio output'-module, and 'HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 0 Audio Output' as device results in device or resource busy error.
Setting device to 'PulseAudio Sound Server' or 'Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)' both work. The 'Module' setting in preferences does not matter. I could either choose ALSA or Pulse with the same effect*. Long story short, audio output works, still not with compressed audio files. This means the state switches to state 2, as long as I keep the .wav file running! -> clementine and firefox also could play back sound, vlc can now also play back compressed audio - as long as I keep at least one of them running. When all sound output is paused, I fall back to state 1. Only playing back a .wav file in VLC or (p)aplay could save me back to state 2. I have to start other apps immediately, when in state 1 as pausing playback instantly causes a fallback to state 1. Opening pavucontrol, while in state 2 keeps me in state 2 as long as pavucontrol stays open. I used this as a dirty workaround for the last days.
State changes are also blocked the other way round. While in state 1, trying to play sound from clementine or opening pavucontrol results as staying in state 1, also when I play a .wav file with vlc.
Sorry that was much text, but I hope it's clearer now
*correction: This setting needs a restart of vlc to take effect. When the 'Module' is set to ALSA, pavucontrol lists 'ALSA plug-in [vlc]: ALSA Playback', when set to pulseaudio, the entry is called 'VLC media player: audio stream'. Same for clementine, when I change from ALSA to pulseaudio in the settings. Firefox always uses ALSA. However, it does not have effect on the state-thing. I still need to enter state 2 with the methods mentioned above
Last edited by iuno (2014-08-11 11:20:44)