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[arizonajoe]

As an Arch user (O/S has rolling updates) I lost sound three kernels ago.  Latest kernel update >>4.17.12-arch1-1-ARCH>> also no sound...whether I use KDE or Gnome.  No digital output via Toslink nor USB, (nor analog, for that matter via MB's stereo output)  Amarok and Clementine audio software work fine.  All multimedia settings in KDE working well.  I installed "jriver-media-server24" (24.0.28)  from AUR repo via Pacaur...no sound.  Uninstalled, then reinstalled by downloading snapshot/PKGBUILD in traditional Arch package management fashion....still no sound.

Checked and rechecked multimedia settings.  Using Phonon Gstreamer v. Phonon VLC makes no difference. Sound works well with every other multimedia app (on or offline) EXCEPT jriver software.  Any ideas?

[Awesome Donkey]

Did you try checking/changing the audio output in MC's settings?

Audio works fine with Arch here (with all the latest updates).

[arizonajoe]

Thanks for letting me know.  I will re-troubleshoot. 

[bob]

Also check the MC volume control for internel vs system.

And the System alsamixer which isn't always controllable for MC (sometimes mute is set).

[arizonajoe]

Volume (internal v. system)...neither works.    I usually output to a D-D converter, then via I2S (HDMI) to my DAC.  Amarok and Clementine and VLC play beautifully, but not jriver.  I am using the jriver-media-center24 package and have (or thought I had) the proper license installed. I logged out of KDE and logged into Gnome classic just to see if KDE was causing issues. Had to re-license in Gnome!  No sound output in Gnome either.   I checked all of the ALSA files and firmware...all up to date.

After jriver24 is open in either KDE or Gnome for 3 -4 minutes, it acts like it plays music, the analyzer shows activity, and the progress bar shows progress, but there is no sound outputted at all. Then after about 3 -4 minutes, the entire application freezes and becomes a zombie process.

Whatever is causing the issue is independent of which desktop I am using. 
The difficult-to-understand issue is that my other media apps all work fine. Very perplexing.

Heck, I'd just run jriver in Windows 10 on my laptop, but that laptop gives me no control over the processor's insistance on polling the USB ports and shifting its attention to the Wi-Fi card, etc. In other words, Dell does a horrible job re: avoiding USB dropouts.  Managing how my processor handles the disposition of resources is not completely possible with Dell's hardware.

But for a number of months, jriver23 and 24 were working well on this Archlinux system with never a USB dropout. Now, not so much....

[arizonajoe]

Since the mediacenter24 listed in AUR doesn't provide functionality, I tried to create an archlinux package from the latest debian beta using debtap.  The package refused to install, complaining that this dependency, libgl1-mesa-glx, could not be met in archlinux.  If anyone has had similar issues in Arch, please share if you can. Thanks.

[Awesome Donkey]

https://arashmilani.com/post?id=85

First follow the first part and download the snapshot of the MC24 AUR package. Then edit the PKGBUILD file, like this...

Code: [Select]

pkgname=jriver-media-center24
_debpkgver=24.0.46
pkgver=24.0.46
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="The Most Comprehensive Media Software"
arch=('x86_64')
url="http://www.jriver.com/"
license=('custom')
depends=('alsa-lib' 'gcc-libs' 'libx11' 'libxext' 'libxcb' 'libxau' 'libxdmcp' 'util-linux' 'libxext' 'gtk3' 'webkit2gtk' 'gstreamer' 'gst-plugins-base' 'gst-plugins-base-libs' 'gst-plugins-good' 'gst-plugins-ugly' 'gst-libav')
optdepends=('mesa-libgl: nouveau video support' 'nvidia-libgl: nvidia video support' 'vorbis-tools' 'musepack-tools')
conflicts=('jriver-media-center')
source=("http://files.jriver.com/mediacenter/channels/v24/latest/MediaCenter-$_debpkgver-amd64.deb" 'License.txt')
sha256sums=('SKIP' 'ee00f430918df6be37777a61e12812875b5583379c78daaa969bae7383a41fbd')

package() {
  cd "$srcdir"
  bsdtar xf data.tar.xz -C "$pkgdir"
    install -Dm644 "License.txt" \
    "$pkgdir/usr/share/licenses/$pkgname/COPYING"
}

The above has been modded to include the additional dependencies the latest beta builds require. You could literally copy and paste the above into the PKGBUILD, overriding everything else.

Then manually download the latest beta 64-bit .deb file and put it in the same directory as the PKGBUILD, then follow the rest of the instructions in that tutorial starting with the makepkg -s command.

You should end up with a jriver-media-center24-24.0.46-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz package which you can install.

[arizonajoe]

Thank you....will try your suggestion!  Thanks for responding!

[Awesome Donkey]

There's an up-to-date jriver-media-center24 package on the AUR now. You'll need a AUR helper (or package manager that supports the AUR). I personally recommend Trizen.

With Trizen the correct command to install the latest MC24 build would be...

Code: [Select]

trizen -S jriver-media-center24
And that'll install the latest Media Center 24.0.52 build.

[arizonajoe]

Thanks for the referral to trizen. Since pacaur will be deprecated soon, I'll use trizen when I don't want to use makepkg the old fashioned way. I followed your instructions to the letter. Still no sound.  Amarok and Clementine work well. All of my settings in KDE multimedia are correct.  When I reboot into Gnome classic, still no sound.  Gnome multimedia settings are correct also.  Amarok and Clementine work within any desktop. 

NOTE: Using the DLNA feature, I got music to play on my WiFi radio and my Samsung Smart TV using my networked Arch PC's jriver software as source.  But I get no sound when I point the output back at my Archlinux PC's player (the very PC in which jriver is installed) using a given audio device...for example...the hdmi:CARD=NVidia, DEV=3 [ALSA] output through which Amarok and Clementine and Pulseaudio/VLC all work. My ASUS monitor's audio speakers are driven by the full size DisplayPort connection on Dev3. When I select my D/D converter via IEC958 and send PCM into my Kisune Spring Level 3 DAC via I2S...no sound. It's almost as if some hard link somewhere has been broken within Arch. Very bizarre.

[arizonajoe]

I just spent the better part of two-hours (AGAIN) troubleshooting this NO SOUND issue in Arch.  I uninstalled MC24 completely, removed any file even remotely associated with JRiver software.  Did a re-install using trizen, and again no sound.
I had to toggle each and every option for the umteenth time in the (very latest iteration of) Mediacenter options and here's what I found.

The Media Center 24 refuses to work on the output that it had previously be working on in version 23.  In version 23, the default output needed to be set to:
 

Code: [Select]

hdmi:CARD=Nvidia, DEV=3 [ALSA] HDA Nvidia, HDMI 3. HDMI Audio Output
This makes sense since for background listening, the audio signal goes though the full-sized DisplayPort cable to my ASUS monitor speakers via my Nvidia 1080 video card.  With the removal of 23 and upon the installation of 24..all the way up to the latest version (I assume)...

Media Center 24 now requires this:

Code: [Select]

default: [ALSA] Default ALSA Output (Currently PulseAudio SoundServer)
Absolutely NOTHING has changed regarding my hardware setup.  In this latest iteration of Media Center24, despite the fact that the signal is going through the same hardware path as it did in 23, it now requires ALSA/PulseAudio as the default.

More important to my critical listening listening through my D-D converter>I2S>Holoaudio Spring III DAC...now this audio device works when in earlier iterations of MC24, it would not:

Code: [Select]

front:CARD=U20SU1.DEV=0 [ALSA] USB Audio 2.0(SU1), USB Audio, Front Speakers

I had given up even trying to make 24 work over the last few months because of time constraints, but I do believe that NOTHING worked before this latest update to 24.
 
Thanks to Awesome Donkey and Bob for making suggestions as I battled with this issue. Amarok and Clementine, which can be buggy, have been my go-to media centers in the interim and they've made me very cranky.

I sure would like to know what the coding magicians did that resulted in this months-long issue. Alternatively, this could be an Arch or ALSA config issue that JRiver had nothing to do with, that happened as part of our rolling updates.

[Awesome Donkey]

Honestly? It's probably Arch Linux itself that's likely the source of your issues since it doesn't seem to detect all the ALSA outputs by default, so a clean install on Arch will for example lack the hw: outputs (which are desired for bit-perfect playback with ALSA on Linux).

Fortunately, there is one easy trick I've found that you can use to get ALSA outputs setup properly under Arch Linux. All you need to do is boot a USB live distro like Ubuntu (which is the distro I'd recommend using when doing this), and copy its /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf and /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf files to a different USB stick for safe keeping, then boot into your Arch Linux install then edit those same files in Arch while copying/pasting the Ubuntu contents into those two files and then rebooting. I'd recommend making backups of those files too before editing them, just in case.

That way I gain the hw: outputs that normally don't show up under Arch Linux. Works like a charm!

Keep in mind that using PulseAudio means everything is being resampled to 48kHz by default and it's far from bit-perfect, so I'd recommend not using PulseAudio if at all possible.

[arizonajoe]

Thanks much....I'll take your advice and do that. I guess I got excited that the sound even worked after so many months. With the kind of resolution I'm dealing with my DAC and I2S ports, being stuck at 48k Hz would not be good.

[Awesome Donkey]

I forgot to mention, but make sure everything you want to use is connected when doing the Ubuntu trick. If the Ubuntu trick works for you, keep in mind if you make changes to your system (like adding another DAC or something like that) you might want to repeat the Ubuntu trick again to get "up-to-date" so to speak.

It's true the Arch Wiki has an article about ALSA and everything you need to set it up and for the advanced users who have the time to do this and experiment, I'd highly recommend doing so. But for a shortcut (and because I'm either lazy or lack time), using Ubuntu's alsa.conf and alsa-base.conf setup which (hopefully) includes the hw: outputs works pretty well. If you gain the hw: outputs when doing this, I'd recommend using it with MC.

BTW, the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file likely doesn't exist under Arch Linux yet, so you have to create it and add the contents from Ubuntu. If you're using GNOME for example a quick sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf then copying/pasting the Ubuntu contents in will create it. If you use a different text editor, just substitute it for gedit.

Hopefully this helps. I've thought about creating an Arch Linux topic for MC24, but haven't decided yet. If I do, some tricks including this one would be posted in said topic. Nonetheless, Ubuntu to the rescue (in this case)!

[arizonajoe]

Awesome,
Thanks for taking the time to make these great suggestions. I'll try the Ubuntu trick. I would like to comb through the ALSA setup in the Arch Wiki to see what it offers.  My Singxer Holoaudio-tuned D-D converter may require some driver to maximize performance in Linux.
I've sent an email to Holoaudio about this...and am told that these components with highly-accurate femto-clocks can go from Zero-to-light with no problems. 

[beetmonger]

Hopefully this helps. I've thought about creating an Arch Linux topic for MC24, but haven't decided yet. If I do, some tricks including this one would be posted in said topic. Nonetheless, Ubuntu to the rescue (in this case)!

Sorry for the thread necro, but just wanted to hop on to say (a) thanks for posting this tip! I couldn't figure out why I didn't have hw options listed in audio devices on my new Manjaro build (or how to get them back); and (b) an Arch Linux topic with helpful tricks is an awesome idea.