pseudofunizer
commented
4 years ago Hi there,
In case of my Xubuntu install, I had to setup the audio output to HDMI manually. You can do this by forcing PulseAudio to use HDMI out by default.
First, you need to check out the available audio sinks.
Open up a local terminal ( CTRL + ALT + T -- this cannot be done via SSH) and type in this command:
pacmd list-sinks | grep -e 'name:' -e 'index:'
The output should bring out a list like this:
index: 0
name: <alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.stereo-fallback>
* index: 1
name: <alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.stereo-fallback.2>The currently selected/active audio output sink is marked with the asterisk(*). In this example, I have the 3,5mm analog audio output jack selected. The HDMI audio output is index 0, and its name is alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.stereo-fallback.
To swap that one to HDMI, you need to i.e. edit PulseAudio's global default options manually, which I did in my case.
Edit the file /etc/pulse/default.pa as sudo with your favorite editor, i.e. with the following command:
sudo nano /etc/pulse/default.pa
Search through the file for a line like this, should be at the bottom of the file:
set-default-sink output
Usually that is commented out i.e. like this:
#set-default-sink output
Uncomment the line and add in the correct index name of your preferred audio sink, in the case of HDMI output, it is:
set-default-sink output alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.stereo-fallback
Then, try restarting the PulseAudio service.
First kill it with:
pulseaudio --kill
Then check if it's still there:
pulseaudio --check
Then restart it:
pulseaudio --start
Now, run the audio output sink test again:
pacmd list-sinks | grep -e 'name:' -e 'index:'
If the asterisk has moved from index: 1 to index: 0, you should be able to hear something from the speakers via HDMI now. If not, try i.e. rebooting.
PulseAudio, being what it is, also has a nasty habit of "forgetting" the user's settings. Should PulseAudio forget your preference, see that the line you just added to /etc/pulse/default.pa is still there. If it is, in some cases the solution (at least for me) was to delete any user settings that may be pulling it back to default analog-out.
rm -rf ~/.pulse
rm -rf ~/.config/pulse
Then kill pulseaudio, re-edit sudo nano /etc/pulse/default.pa, add in the line again, save, exit, restart PulseAudio. If I remember correctly, that did the trick for me.
Speaking of a nice desktop experience... -- even old versions of Raspbian have a HDMI/analog choice switch that seems to work, unlike the one in Ubuntu. This has been the case for quite a while, I've been running Ubuntu on the RPi4B since v. 18.04 64-bit Server was in unofficial development. My PulseAudio's GUI on the RPi4B doesn't even let me choose any other audio output but the analog one(!). Would be "kinda nice" to have that HDMI/analog selection switch in the panel, but that's just me. Maybe in 2035.
The next likely audio woe you'll encounter after you've got the output set up correctly is likely the crackling audio output, especially with load-heavy applications such as video playback on the browser. For that one, you need to apply the tsched=0 gimmick that I have described in #55 . That problem is caused by buffer/priority underruns and has been around for merely ten years or so ( https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PulseAudio/performance ). Desktopify does not fix that issue by default, so I suggest you give it a go while you're at it. Has solved all my audio crackling woes since day 1.
I hope this fixed two issues at once. Cheers.
HeisenBug1
Desktopify version : master branch at commit
Issue: HDMI audio is not working.
Extra details: Using Ubuntu 20.04. Also I’m using BerryBoot (berry boot link) to boot Ubuntu (Ubuntu image link) off a usb stick if that is relevant.
Description: I can confirm that /boot/firmware/usercfg.txt has the line
hdmi_drive=2, which should have enabled the HDMI audio. I’m fine with either HDMI audio or audio from 3.5 mm audio jack so any help is appreciated.