OMX Player Video Preview/Screensaver - No Audio Over HDMI?

TMNTturtlguy

@pjft If i could get your config.text that would be great. Up until this morning i had never plugged it into anything but the 3.5 jack. My original build was my 4:3 for the arcade cabinet. Never changed the audio settings. Now i started my second build, fresh install with no adjustments to audio or video. Had it plugged into the 3.5 speakers while building at my desk, moved to the TV and started having the issues. That is when i forced hdmi_drive2.

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy Sure thing. It's here: https://pastebin.com/G9TTUwMp

Surprisingly enough, it seems to be mostly commented out (i.e. lines start with # ) other than the 4 last items which I believe RetroPie adds.

So maybe actually commenting out other parts of your file and gradually add them may help, instead of deleting.

TMNTturtlguy

@pjft Thanks, our .txt files match exactly except for the bottom parameters match exactly except the bottom 4 lines. My bottom 4 lines are commented out: #gpu_mem_256=128, etc.

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy Got it. I believe that's what it should be, then.

So, just to confirm: you're plugging the Pi to the TV via a single HDMI cable, correct?

One interesting thing:

The Splash screen intro video is played via OMX Player. Are you sure you have audio there, when plugged through HDMI?

The command line for it is just

omxplayer -b --layer 10000 "$file"

TMNTturtlguy

@pjft Yes, i am getting full audio on my custom video splash screen

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy Huh. Interesting.

If you do have the chance to run the OMX Player tests from the separate thread, that'd be helpful. If you can, try to run them both when EmulationStation is not running (exiting it), as well as while EmulationStation is running (you run the tests, then, from a ssh session).

I'd like to get more data to formulate an opinion, though I'm kind of stumped.

Have you edited anything in the RetroPie menu, under Audio? i.e. navigate to the "RetroPie" system in ES, and there should be an Audio-related option there.

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy actually, an idea.

Go to the ES Menu, Audio Options, and select "Disable Sounds". Then restart ES and confirm that that is OFF. See if it works.

TMNTturtlguy

@pjft Ok, so while looking through a bunch of other fourms I cam across the issue, not retropie or ES or really OMX issue, it is an issue with the TV I was using. Here is the story.

I was testing the build in my "bonus room" basically the kids TV which is a 1080p LG 42" Vintage 2007. It was one of the first 1080p models back then...now, kids bonus room. Based on reading from others, there is an hdmi handshake issue as you mentioned with some old TV's, not sure why.....So i plugged her into my 55" 4K - everything works beautifully. Plugged into my 47" 1080p vintage 2012, again works perfectly. Went back to my 2007 LG - nope, the only OMX audio that works is the intro splash screen, which is odd, but that is running during the boot-up, so is that really controlled by anything within retropie itself? I am wondering if it works because retropie and ES are started and controlling the HDMI out, as soon as those take over something in the old TV doesn't like the OMX audio output. Weird deal, I guess if i play on that TV I just won't have the audio on the previews or screen savers......@pjft, thanks for all your help and troubleshooting. In the end you were right with the easiest solution of all, HDMI problem with the TV.

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy not a bother. The reason I suggested it is because I have an old Toshiba TV which also has problems with the audio handshake. For me it's solved by changing the channel and back again, at a time when the audio is on. Luckily it doesn't happen often with the Pi, but with my old PS3 it was every time I started the console with the TV off.

If it's to play on that TV, see if there's a way you can get that to work, either by changing channel and going back, or turning the TV on before you turn on the Pi, after you turn on the Pi, see what makes it tick.

Alternatively, you could attempt the biggest hack of them all, which would be to try to launch OMX player at launch with a looping silent audio only file (if it's even possible...!) and seeing if that gets the TV to recognise the audio bit;)

Have you tried disabling the sound in the ES menu I mentioned?

Anyway, at least we narrowed it down for now. Best of luck!

How's the comic theme going? It looked stunning!

TMNTturtlguy

@pjft thanks! I did do the audio changes through the retropie menus in ES, no luck there. I will continue to test on that TV, but now I know it is a tv issue, it will be a low priority.

The theme is coming along well! I have an update planned for this evening when I get a chance. I have it in 16:9 format now. Some nice improvements and some slight modifications that aren't as nice as the original 4:3, but it looks nice and is running more smoothly.

Another benefit I found with the OMX player is that omx will hold the original format of videos, while vlc won't. Running the ES build with screenscaver we can't use maxSize but it doesn't matter, omx holds the ratio by default. Vlc will stretch the videos.