Yet another post on no sound via HDMI

vinz3nt

Hi all,

Hope someone can help me.
I've been using RetroPie for quite some time now, I always had an old VGA monitor with analog sound, this always works.
Now I have a Raspberry Pi 3 and I bought a 7" hdmi screen.
Now I can't find any way to get the sound working. When I set the audio to the 3.5 mm audio jack the sound works fine, but when I set it to HDMI....only silence.

I've read about any post here and checked other websites so I'm quite sure I tried any trick there is, but nothing works.

When I install Kodi audio through HDMI works fine so I'm convinced it's some setting I'm missing.

Anyone here that knows a solution?

I'm happy to supply more information when needed. Thanks!

hdmi_force_hotplug=1
hdmi_group=1
hdmi_mode=4 (this is also the mode that's selected when it's commented out and the only mode where the image quality is perfect so must be the right one)
hdmi_drive=2

I also added hdmi_force_edid_audio=1
dtparam=audio=on

Gave the command amixer cset numid=3 2 and then I get the following reply;
numid=3,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Route'
; type=INTEGER,access=rw------,values=1,min=0,max=2,step=0
: values=2

Changed the setting in raspi-config under advanced options, audio, force audio over hdmi

But still no luck :-(

iconrumble

@vinz3nt While on ES menu, SSH into your PI, run /opt/vc/bin/tvservice -s and post the results (shows your current tv mode)

vinz3nt

This is what I get:

state 0x12000a [HDMI CEA (4) RGB lim 16:9], 1280x720 @ 60.00Hz, progressive

iconrumble

well, your config seems to be fine... maybe sound volume too low? have you tried increasing sound volume in ES settings menu? or increasing your TV volume?

vinz3nt

@iconrumble Yes, the volume of the screen is at max as well as any volumesetting in Retropie.
The sound must go somewhere!? When I select the headphone jack it's ok, when I select hdmi it's gone, also on the headphone jack.

iconrumble

@vinz3nt Well, I think you already covered every posted solution...
Do you run Kodi from the Ports menu? After having sound on Kodi and quitting back to ES, do you have sound?
Do you have the possibility to test with another screen/TV or another cable?

vinz3nt

This post is deleted!

vinz3nt

@iconrumble No I run Kodi from another SD card and no problems at all.
Funny thing is I stumbled on some other site and there was a command mentioned, speaker-test, this test starts, I get the following output;

pi@retropie:~ $ speaker-test

speaker-test 1.0.28

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 512 to 32768
Period size range from 512 to 32768
Using max buffer size 32768
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 8192
was set buffer_size = 32768
0 - Front Left
Time per period = 2.225514
0 - Front Left
Time per period = 2.899626
0 - Front Left
^CTime per period = 2.906965

When I give the command amixer cset numid=3 1 it starts playing the pink noise on my headphones attached to the audio jack, when I give amixer cset numid=3 2 it becomes silent directly

iconrumble

@vinz3nt do you have a spare SD? maybe write a fresh retropie image to test the sound? that way we will know that is a config-based problem...

vinz3nt

@iconrumble I installed OSMC on another SD card and this suffers from the exact same problem. I tried the LCD screen with any hdmi capable device, including my digital camera, my old Kodak playsport camera and my Nexus 7 tablet with converter cable. They all play with audio over HDMI, why won't the Rpi3 do that?

opensourcefan

So just to clarify; you have a 7" screen that has speakers?
Your sound worked fine when connected to another monitor. Was this connected through HDMI as well?
You've tried three different sdcard images with HDMI sound, Kodi works but Retropie and OSMC are not working.
Sound however works through the pi 3.5 jack to the LCD.
7" LCD HDMI sound confirmed working with other devices.

Seems like you've done your homework. Have you tried another HDMI cable by any chance? Not sure if the camera ones were the same cable?

iconrumble

@vinz3nt As @opensourcefan said, apparently you have covered all known solutions... Just to make sure, please test with different cable and with different screen/TV

vinz3nt

Screen is a 7" ips lcd. Really really great image quality (really stunned me to be honest). The controller has a built in 3w amplifier I hooked up to some laptop speakers I bought off aliexpress.
I tried 3 hdmi cables but no luck. I will try to hook it up to my tv this evening or tomorrow

vinz3nt

No I was mistaken. All distro's I've tried on the rpi3 don't have audio over hdmi

opensourcefan

Okay now I'm confused... The LCD has no speakers but your controller has an amp built in and you connected speakers to it?

You mean your LCD controller correct? I started thinking controller controller for a second. Maybe that controller is a weird one, can the HDMI protocol be updated on it that you know of?

mat03111984

Mines the same and driving me mad. sound goes 80% of the time and i have to reset the setting over and over and eventually it will work again. driving me mad now!

opensourcefan

You have the same 7" screen running over HDMI?

diegzumillo

I had no sound on hdmi on a clean install of retropie either. The first thing I did, actually, when I got the pi was install retropie and connect my TV to it using HDMI and it didn't have sound. There is definitely some bug there. I didn't worry too much about it because I wasn't going to use HDMI in my project, but I thought I'd throw in my experience as well.

opensourcefan

Sound is an issue with the Pi, it's known but I think for the most part it's correctable by tweaking things one way or another.

https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Sound-Issues

vinz3nt

@opensourcefan said in Yet another post on no sound via HDMI:

Okay now I'm confused... The LCD has no speakers but your controller has an amp built in and you connected speakers to it?

You mean your LCD controller correct? I started thinking controller controller for a second. Maybe that controller is a weird one, can the HDMI protocol be updated on it that you know of?

Yes I'm sorry, I wasn't very clear about that; it's a 7" LCD screen with a separate controller so you can hook it to HDMI, VGA and composite, it has a good amplifier onboard and inrared remote control and buttons to adjust settings, volume and such but I mainly use the IR remote control. I built it into a nice housing and I built the speakers into it, it sounds really good (i bought some laptop speakers which are in small housings with a little bassport which actually makes it sound pretty good for the size they are.
With the rpi2 it works great but with the rpi3 no sound at all.

I just hooked it up to my Samsung LCD TV and presto, sound via HDMI works great!
So it must be a setting, I think in the hdmi group and/or hdmi mode but I have yet to find a good combination

This is the LCD screen with controller: http://www.ebay.nl/itm/HDMI-VGA-AV-Audio-USB-Controller-board-7inch-N070ICG-LD1-1280x800-IPS-lcd-panel-/200991225889?hash=item2ecc02b821 Image quality is stunning and much much better than my hp laptop screen. Also very good in the sun and viewing angle is amazing.

These are the speakers: http://www.ebay.nl/itm/Speaker-8ohm-2W-70x33x15mm-4Pin-cable-for-lcd-controller-board-/360878545739?hash=item5406099b4b

I have 2 of them connected to a hdmi splitter and I use them as headrest monitors for the children, i works great, I can control it via a telephone during driving long distances, I never hear them in the back.