Official Kodi Wiki - User contributions [en]

Ripping CDs

2016-12-26T07:49:59Z

J876: /* Audio encoder add-on packages */

{{mininav| [[Music library]] }}
{{to do}}
<section begin="intro" />{{kodi}} has integrated Audio-CD (CDDA) ripping functionality. In order to use this feature, first configure the CD ripping settings (to set which encoder quality to use and where to store the files). To Rip the entire CD, highlight the Audio CD from the My Music root listing and choose ''Rip Audio CD'' from the context menu. To rip a single track, enter the Audio CD, highlight the desired track, and choose ''Rip Audio Track'' from the context menu.<section end="intro" />

{{kodi}} will automatically download the album-information (via [http://www.freedb.org freedb.org CDDB]) and update the ID3-tags with the proper information.

__TOC__
{{-}}
== CD ripping settings ==
{{main|Settings/Music#Audio CDs}}
{{#lst:Settings/Music|Audio CDs}}

== Adding audio encoders for Ubuntu ==
Audio encoders are now binary [[add-ons]], but in [[Ubuntu]] they are not packaged with Kodi. All other official Kodi versions have these add-ons included with the default install. For Ubuntu, they must be installed through apt-get, similar to how [[PVR]] add-ons are installed. In the future this will be something the user can manage from within the Kodi GUI, but for now they must be installed outside of Kodi.

{{Note|If you don't already have the Team Kodi (team-xbmc) PPA added, then you will need to do so in order to install the audio encoders (see '''[[HOW-TO:Install Kodi for Linux#Ubuntu|here]]'''). If you're not sure, you probably already have it installed, as that is how you normally install Kodi in the first place.}}

# Quit Kodi if it is already running and open a terminal window
# Type in <pre>sudo apt-get update</pre> and enter your password when prompted
# Type in <pre>sudo apt-get install PACKAGENAMEHERE</pre> but replace '''PACKAGENAMEHERE''' with a package name from the table below.
#: ''example: <code>sudo apt-get install kodi-audioencoder-flac</code>''

The audio encoder add-on should now be installed. If Kodi was already running, restart it to load the add-on.

=== Audio encoder add-on packages ===
<section begin="ubuntu" />
{| class="prettytable"
|-
! Package name !! Description
|-
| '''<code>kodi-audioencoder-vorbis</code>''' || audio encoder for [[w:vorbis|vorbis]]
|-
| '''<code>kodi-audioencoder-flac</code>''' || audio encoder add-on for [[w:FLAC|FLAC]]
|-
| '''<code>kodi-audioencoder-lame</code>''' || audio encoder for [[w:LAME|MP3 (lame)]]
|-
| '''<code>kodi-audioencoder-wav</code>''' || audio encoder for WAV.
|}
<section end="ubuntu" />

{{Updated|16}}

[[Category:Music library]]
[[Category:Manual]]

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-28T13:31:41Z

J876: /* Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea */

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea ==
In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other installed software
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
: the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse
</syntaxhighlight>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot the Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to enable PulseAudio again ===
* Follow the editing steps for either the local user or globally (all users) and instead of
: using the line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

in the relevant configuration file, change the line to either:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

or alternatively:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file and exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned back on.

==References==

This guide was developed from the information obtained by the following resources:

* http://askubuntu.com/questions/8425/how-to-temporarily-disable-pulseaudio

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-28T13:19:56Z

J876: /* Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea */

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea ==
In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other installed software
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
: the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse
</syntaxhighlight>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot the Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to enable PulseAudio again ===
* Follow the editing steps for either the local user or globally (all users) and instead of
: using the line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

in the relevant configuration file, change the line to either:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

or alternatively:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file and exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned back on.

==References==

This guide was developed from the information obtained by the following resources:

* http://askubuntu.com/questions/8425/how-to-temporarily-disable-pulseaudio

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T05:50:38Z

J876: /* How to enable PulseAudio again */

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea ==
In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
: the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse
</syntaxhighlight>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot the Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to enable PulseAudio again ===
* Follow the editing steps for either the local user or globally (all users) and instead of
: using the line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

in the relevant configuration file, change the line to either:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

or alternatively:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file and exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned back on.

==References==

This guide was developed from the information obtained by the following resources:

* http://askubuntu.com/questions/8425/how-to-temporarily-disable-pulseaudio

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T03:52:50Z

J876:

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea ==
In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
: the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse
</syntaxhighlight>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot the Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to enable PulseAudio again ===
* Follow the editing steps for either the local user or globally (all users) and instead of
: using the line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

in the relevant configuration file, change the line to either:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

or alternatively:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file and exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned back on.

==References==

This guide was developed from the information obtained by the following resources:

* http://askubuntu.com/questions/8425/how-to-temporarily-disable-pulseaudio

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T03:51:31Z

J876:

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea ==
In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.
 
Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.
 
The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.
 
The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.
 
There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)
===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
: the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.
 
=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse
</syntaxhighlight>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.
 
=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot the Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.
 
=== How to enable PulseAudio again ===
* Follow the editing steps for either the local user or globally (all users) and instead of
: using the line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

in the relevant configuration file, change the line to either:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

or alternatively:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file and exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned back on.

==References==

This guide was developed from the information obtained by the following resources:

* http://askubuntu.com/questions/8425/how-to-temporarily-disable-pulseaudio

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T03:50:41Z

J876: /* Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea */

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea ==
In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.
 
Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.
 
The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.
 
The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.
 
There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)
 
===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
: the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.
 
=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse
</syntaxhighlight>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.
 
=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot the Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.
 
=== How to enable PulseAudio again ===
* Follow the editing steps for either the local user or globally (all users) and instead of
: using the line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

in the relevant configuration file, change the line to either:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

or alternatively:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file and exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned back on.

==References==

This guide was developed from the information obtained by the following resources:

* http://askubuntu.com/questions/8425/how-to-temporarily-disable-pulseaudio

PulseAudio

2016-04-26T03:42:58Z

J876: /* HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu */

{{mininav|[[Audio]]|[[Linux audio]]}}
<section begin="intro" />This page goes into detail on using PulseAudio on Linux systems. PulseAudio is used when Kodi is installed in a desktop-environment rather than a dedicated/direct boot setup. PulseAudio allows normal video & audio playback in XBMC while at the same time allowing the user to get audio in their browser or other applications. It also allows Kodi playback of video or audio to be paused in order to run a game, Skype or similar. Kodi is set to only use PulseAudio if you have installed it and running.<section end="intro" />

== History ==
In the past users have experienced problems with audio not working within Kodi, because they were running a full-blown Ubuntu desktop environment with PulseAudio installed. This happened because PulseAudio blocked the device Kodi required, and audio playback only worked reliably when using the virtual Pulse device.

Our workaround for those users has been to uninstall PulseAudio which completely broke desktop audio.

For XBMC 13 'Gotham' and later (named Kodi since 14 'Helix') we wanted this situation to change, so thanks to the new '''PulseAudio Sink''' users now can run a normal Ubuntu desktop.

== PulseAudio Output Configuration ==
PulseAudio will be automatically detected and selected in Kodi when it is running.

PulseAudio can be run in one of two modes these are:

<big>'''Passthrough Mode'''</big>
Used if you want to passthrough (bitstream) AC3, DTS, and EAC3 to an AVR or other device. In order to allow passthrough to work with PulseAudio then it '''MUST''' be set to use a 2.0 channel configuration, despite the 2.0 setting this will still allow 5.1 audio from AC3, DTS, and EAC3.

{{Note| PulseAudio does not currently allow TrueHD or DTS-MA passthrough, this is a PulseAudio limitation and not a limitation of the Kodi implementation.}}

<big>'''Multichannel Mode'''</big>

Used if you want Multichannel PCM out, in this mode you can configure PulseAudio for up to 7.1 channels. In this mode Kodi must decode all audio formats to PCM for passing onto the PulseAudio, this can have the advantage of improve audio/video sync.

{{Note| Audio decoded to PCM and sent through PulseAudio the audio will not likely be "bit perfect". Where a video has TrueHD 7.1 audio, this can be decoded by Kodi to PCM 7.1, however DTS-HD 7.1 audio can't be decoded by Kodi, only the embedded DTS Core 5.1 can be decoded to PCM 5.1 audio. Als Pulseaudio will always open the number of channels you have configured. You can stop it doing upmixing (see Known issues), but it will still open all configured channels which makes Dolby Pro Logic II of your AVR not usable.}}

 

== Setting up pavucontrol ==

=== Passthrough Mode ===
{{bluev|'''IMPORTANT:'''|Passthrough is always exclusive mode. If you have another application hogging the device, e.g. google chrome or skype or something else, Passthrough won't work.}}
{{greenv|'''REMEMBER:'''| To use passthrough you need to be using '''2.0''' channel configuration via '''pavucontrol''' (e.g. Digital Stereo (HDMI)}}

In order to activate Passthrough Codecs, just setup pavucontrol, as in the following:

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Passthrough2.png|<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''pavucontrol'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Passthrough1.png|<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''pavucontrol'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>

If you like to do this from the command line, issue:
'''pactl set-sink-formats 0 "pcm; ac3-iec61937; dts-iec61937; eac3-iec61937"'''

Where '''0''' is the sink you want to alter.
You can print all sinks, by using:
'''pactl list sinks'''
You can leave out the codecs your AVR does not support, always keep pcm.

{{bluev|'''IMPORTANT:'''| If you have for example 5.1 flacs or other multichannel files, you can play them as AC3 streams, check the AC3 Transcoding setting.}}

=== Multichannel Mode ===
{{greenv|'''REMEMBER:'''| When configuring pulse to use '''Multichannel configuration''' passthrough will be disabled}}
To configure instead Multi channel mode, do the following settings.

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Lpcm2.png|<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''To alternatively configure Multi channel, check this:''.
File:Lpcm1.png|<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> The ''Add-on manager'', displaying four/five options (explained below).
</gallery>

=== Example setup in Kodi ===
{{orangev|'''GOOD TO KNOW:'''| Limit sample rate can be set to Fixed - between 48kHz ~ 192kHz or as Optimized and even Best match.}}

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Xbmclpcm.png |<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Xbmcpaa1.png |<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Xbmcpass2.png |<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Xbmcpass1.png |<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>
{{-}}

=== Setup Guide ===
{{orangev|DEVICE ENUMERATION:| Kodi Enumerates Pulseaudio devices as SPDIF when you have '''Passthrough''' set. Otherwise its '''PCM Device'''. If '''Passthrough''' was not configured with pavucontrol - no '''Passthrough''' setting within Kodi will be available.}}
{{bluev|GOOD TO KNOW:|SPDIF has 2 pcm channels but can do virtual 5.1 formats like dts, ac3, eac3.}}
{{greenv|'''NOTICE'''|The following is meant to act as a guide to get you started, thus you may want to adjust things to suit your own particular set of equipment.}}
{| class="prettytable" style="text-align: center; color: black;"
!
! PC Speakers 2.0
! PC Speakers 5.1
! TV SPDIF 2.0
! TV SPDIF AC3 ('''1''')
! AVR SPDIF AC3/DTS ('''2''')
! AVR HDMI PCM ('''3''')
! AVR HDMI No HD Audio ('''4''')
! AVR HDMI Decode HD Audio ('''5''')
|-
! colspan="9"|'''PusleAudio Mode'''
|-
|
|Multichannel
|Multichannel
|Multichannel
|Passthrough
|Passthrough
|Multichannel
|Passthrough
|Multichannel
|-
! colspan="9"|'''Pavucontrol - Output Devices'''
|-
|align="left"|'''Port'''
|Speakers
|Speakers
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|HDMI/Displayport
|HDMI/Displayport
|HDMI/Displayport
|-
|align="left"|'''AC3'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''EAC3'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
! colspan="9"|'''Pavucontrol - Configuration'''
|-
|align="left"|'''Profile'''
|Analog Stereo Output
|Analog Surround 5.1 Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output
|Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output
|Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output
|-
!Colspan="9"|Kodi Settings
|-
|align="left"|'''Audio Output Device'''
|Speakers
|Speakers
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|HDMI
|HDMI
|HDMI
|-
|align="left"|'''Number of channels'''
|2.0
|5.1
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|5.1
|2.0
|7.1
|-
|align="left"|'''Enabled passthrough'''
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''Passthrough output device'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|N/A
|HDMI
|N/A
|-
|align="left"|'''Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''Enabled Dolby Digital transcoding'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''TrueHD capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS-HD capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Dsiabled
|}

'''(1)''' Where TV can decode 5.1 AC3.

'''(2)''' Where AVR only has SPDIF which will support 5.1 AC3 & DTS.

'''(3)''' Where AVR can do 5.1 PCM.

'''(4)''' Where AVR has HDMI inputs but can't decode TrueHD or DTS-HD but does support 5.1 Ac3 or DTS.

'''(5)''' Where AVR has full decode capabilities including 7.1 PCM.

{{orangev|'''IMPORTANT:'''| You can only have '''AC3''', '''DTS''', '''EAC3''' passthrough '''if your Receiver supports it'''. Most '''TV's''' only support '''AC3'''. If you have a '''HDMI''' connection to your TV and '''from this TV''' a '''SPDIF/Optical''' connection to an '''AVR''', passthrough might not work at all.}}

== Combined Output aka dual audio==
If you want to output to all your attached devices in parallel, e.g. HDMI out, analog out and USB sound card, it is enough to do as below:

'''Step 1:''' Edit <code>/etc/pulse/default.pa</code>

<pre>load-module module-combine-sink sink_name=combined</pre>
'''Step 2: '''Restart pulseaudio.
<pre>killall pulseaudio</pre>

Kodi will then pickup the device, it is named '''combined'''.

{{orangev|'''Downside:'''| The dual audio sink will only output decoded audio, you cannot use it to have one slave doing AC3/DTS and the other PCM. If you use the combined sink for normal music you will realize that direct passthrough output for your movies won't be working anymore, too. This is a pulseaudio bug, cause the combine sink is not deconstructed fast enough internally while the passthrough opening is always exclusive. It will work however if your passthrough device is not part of the device combination. }}

== Audiophile Pulse User ==
Pulseaudio resamples everything that does not match the underlaying sink, so if you are an audiophile user, you perhaps want to hear your 96 / 192 khz and 24 bit recordings as exact as possible. Therefore you need to tell pulseaudio to use a better resampler in general and second change the default sample rate to 96 or 192 khz. Pulseaudio does not resample audio, that is already in the correct samplerate. Furthermore you need to take care, that your sink has a wide enough output format.

To do this configuration systemwide (96 khz in that example), change /etc/pulse/daemon.conf to include (please replace already existing lines and also remove the commenting):

<pre>
default-sample-format = s32le
default-sample-rate = 96000
resample-method = speex-float-5
</pre>

Some remark: This will actively make '''passthrough non working''', as we need s16le format for adding ac3 / dts / etc. float to the sink.

The last setting will increase the resample quality from pulse and therefore the CPU load quite a lot. Again: Resampling is only done, when the sink output does not match the data you throw onto it. But as most normal mp3s are in 44.1 khz, you need to take great care when upsampling them. The overwriting of the resample-method is for this use case.

{{orangev|'''Alternatively:'''| If you don't want any resampling outside Kodi, e.g. no resampling done extra by pulse, you need to configure the sink as told above and set Audio Engine to '''Fixed''' with the number of channels you configured pulseaudio via pavucontrol and samplerate of '''96 khz''' with resample quality high. In that combination Kodi will take care that files are resampled (e.g. 44.1 khz or 48 khz media) in the best possible quality. Already 96 khz files are not touched at all. }}

== FAQ ==

{| width="100%"
{{FAQ|1=When_would_I_want_Pulseaudio
| BGcolor=whitesmoke
| Question=When would I want PulseAudio?
| Answer=
You should use '''PulseAudio''' when:

* You use your Kodi computer mainly as your Desktop when you don't run XBMC.
* You want other applications audio like Skype, youtube, browser mail notification in parallel with Kodi.
* You use Kodi in windowed mode as Desktop player
* You use Pulseaudio as a network sink to stream Audio to other devices in your living room.
* Passthrough is nice to have for you, but to be honest - you don't really need it.
* Whenever you plugin your Bluetooth headset, Kodi audio will continue over this new device (when Default 'PULSE' device is chosen)
}}

{{FAQ|1=When_would_I_want_ALSA
| BGcolor=
| Question=When would I want ALSA?
| Answer=
You should use '''ALSA''' when:

* You use Kodi as your standalone media center.
* You are highly interested in bitperfect exclusive audio output.
* DTS-HD, TrueHD is something you use daily and is of high importance.
* You don't need other applications that would access audio in parallel.
}}

{{FAQ|1=Why_cant_I_have_both?
| BGcolor=whitesmoke
| Question=Why can't I have both?
| Answer=
* '''PulseAudio''' might hog your Audio device and you cannot open the '''ALSA''' device exclusively, therefore we decided for one or the other.
* Whenever '''PulseAudio''' is running your '''ALSA''' device that Kodi chooses, might be busy or even might vanish while you are using Kodi, when system sounds are playing and pulseaudio is trying to access the device again. Out of this reason we also won't implement a selection box to decide between '''ALSA''' and '''PULSE''', because it will actively harm users. Advanced Users can go with the workaround listed beneath.
}}

{{FAQ|1=Forcing_alsa
| BGcolor=
| Question=Can I force ALSA even with PulseAudio installed?
| Answer=
{{note|But you know that doing so, it will cause problems!}}

Yes, you can - start Kodi from terminal with:
<pre>AE_SINK=ALSA Kodi </pre>
: Be warned as this will interfere with your Desktop sounds and PulseAudio! Consider removing pulseaudio instead.
}}
|}
=== Known issues ===
When your audio is much too fast or crackles a lot or passthrough only produces noise, you might have a broken driver in use. If this is the case, try to add ''tsched=0'' to the udev loading section in /etc/pulse/default.pa to read like:

''load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0''

When Pulseaudio is configured to be multi-channel output, e.g. 5.1 profile from within pavucontrol, 2.0 streams are automatically upmixed, no matter what setting you have chosen in Kodi. This is default pulseaudio server behaviour. You can workaround that by disabling ''enable-remixing'' in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

''enable-remixing = no''

Beware: This will also forbid PA to remix e.g. FL,FR, LFE, FC, BL, BR into FL, FR, LFE, FC, SL, SR - which means you might loose your rears if your speaker layout is non standard.

Audio devices are disappearing with pulseaudio 8.0 (Ubuntu 16.04) especially while running kodi and while using ''Adjust Refreshrate to match video''. This is an issue with the module-switch-on-port-available module and will be fixed with pulseaudio 9.0, the fix sadly won't probably make it into Ubuntu 16.04. As a workaround please disable that feature by editing /etc/pulse/default.pa and commenting or removing ''load-module module-switch-on-port-available'' and reboot the system.

== HOW-TO ==

====[[PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu|HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu]]====

== References ==
{{forum link2|[[forum:183436|Linux - Pulseaudio Sink]] Discussion and further information.}} 

[[Category:How-to]]
[[Category:Audio]]

PulseAudio

2016-04-26T03:41:34Z

J876: /* HOW-TO */

{{mininav|[[Audio]]|[[Linux audio]]}}
<section begin="intro" />This page goes into detail on using PulseAudio on Linux systems. PulseAudio is used when Kodi is installed in a desktop-environment rather than a dedicated/direct boot setup. PulseAudio allows normal video & audio playback in XBMC while at the same time allowing the user to get audio in their browser or other applications. It also allows Kodi playback of video or audio to be paused in order to run a game, Skype or similar. Kodi is set to only use PulseAudio if you have installed it and running.<section end="intro" />

== History ==
In the past users have experienced problems with audio not working within Kodi, because they were running a full-blown Ubuntu desktop environment with PulseAudio installed. This happened because PulseAudio blocked the device Kodi required, and audio playback only worked reliably when using the virtual Pulse device.

Our workaround for those users has been to uninstall PulseAudio which completely broke desktop audio.

For XBMC 13 'Gotham' and later (named Kodi since 14 'Helix') we wanted this situation to change, so thanks to the new '''PulseAudio Sink''' users now can run a normal Ubuntu desktop.

== PulseAudio Output Configuration ==
PulseAudio will be automatically detected and selected in Kodi when it is running.

PulseAudio can be run in one of two modes these are:

<big>'''Passthrough Mode'''</big>
Used if you want to passthrough (bitstream) AC3, DTS, and EAC3 to an AVR or other device. In order to allow passthrough to work with PulseAudio then it '''MUST''' be set to use a 2.0 channel configuration, despite the 2.0 setting this will still allow 5.1 audio from AC3, DTS, and EAC3.

{{Note| PulseAudio does not currently allow TrueHD or DTS-MA passthrough, this is a PulseAudio limitation and not a limitation of the Kodi implementation.}}

<big>'''Multichannel Mode'''</big>

Used if you want Multichannel PCM out, in this mode you can configure PulseAudio for up to 7.1 channels. In this mode Kodi must decode all audio formats to PCM for passing onto the PulseAudio, this can have the advantage of improve audio/video sync.

{{Note| Audio decoded to PCM and sent through PulseAudio the audio will not likely be "bit perfect". Where a video has TrueHD 7.1 audio, this can be decoded by Kodi to PCM 7.1, however DTS-HD 7.1 audio can't be decoded by Kodi, only the embedded DTS Core 5.1 can be decoded to PCM 5.1 audio. Als Pulseaudio will always open the number of channels you have configured. You can stop it doing upmixing (see Known issues), but it will still open all configured channels which makes Dolby Pro Logic II of your AVR not usable.}}

 

== Setting up pavucontrol ==

=== Passthrough Mode ===
{{bluev|'''IMPORTANT:'''|Passthrough is always exclusive mode. If you have another application hogging the device, e.g. google chrome or skype or something else, Passthrough won't work.}}
{{greenv|'''REMEMBER:'''| To use passthrough you need to be using '''2.0''' channel configuration via '''pavucontrol''' (e.g. Digital Stereo (HDMI)}}

In order to activate Passthrough Codecs, just setup pavucontrol, as in the following:

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Passthrough2.png|<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''pavucontrol'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Passthrough1.png|<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''pavucontrol'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>

If you like to do this from the command line, issue:
'''pactl set-sink-formats 0 "pcm; ac3-iec61937; dts-iec61937; eac3-iec61937"'''

Where '''0''' is the sink you want to alter.
You can print all sinks, by using:
'''pactl list sinks'''
You can leave out the codecs your AVR does not support, always keep pcm.

{{bluev|'''IMPORTANT:'''| If you have for example 5.1 flacs or other multichannel files, you can play them as AC3 streams, check the AC3 Transcoding setting.}}

=== Multichannel Mode ===
{{greenv|'''REMEMBER:'''| When configuring pulse to use '''Multichannel configuration''' passthrough will be disabled}}
To configure instead Multi channel mode, do the following settings.

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Lpcm2.png|<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''To alternatively configure Multi channel, check this:''.
File:Lpcm1.png|<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> The ''Add-on manager'', displaying four/five options (explained below).
</gallery>

=== Example setup in Kodi ===
{{orangev|'''GOOD TO KNOW:'''| Limit sample rate can be set to Fixed - between 48kHz ~ 192kHz or as Optimized and even Best match.}}

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Xbmclpcm.png |<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Xbmcpaa1.png |<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Xbmcpass2.png |<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Xbmcpass1.png |<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>
{{-}}

=== Setup Guide ===
{{orangev|DEVICE ENUMERATION:| Kodi Enumerates Pulseaudio devices as SPDIF when you have '''Passthrough''' set. Otherwise its '''PCM Device'''. If '''Passthrough''' was not configured with pavucontrol - no '''Passthrough''' setting within Kodi will be available.}}
{{bluev|GOOD TO KNOW:|SPDIF has 2 pcm channels but can do virtual 5.1 formats like dts, ac3, eac3.}}
{{greenv|'''NOTICE'''|The following is meant to act as a guide to get you started, thus you may want to adjust things to suit your own particular set of equipment.}}
{| class="prettytable" style="text-align: center; color: black;"
!
! PC Speakers 2.0
! PC Speakers 5.1
! TV SPDIF 2.0
! TV SPDIF AC3 ('''1''')
! AVR SPDIF AC3/DTS ('''2''')
! AVR HDMI PCM ('''3''')
! AVR HDMI No HD Audio ('''4''')
! AVR HDMI Decode HD Audio ('''5''')
|-
! colspan="9"|'''PusleAudio Mode'''
|-
|
|Multichannel
|Multichannel
|Multichannel
|Passthrough
|Passthrough
|Multichannel
|Passthrough
|Multichannel
|-
! colspan="9"|'''Pavucontrol - Output Devices'''
|-
|align="left"|'''Port'''
|Speakers
|Speakers
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|HDMI/Displayport
|HDMI/Displayport
|HDMI/Displayport
|-
|align="left"|'''AC3'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''EAC3'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
! colspan="9"|'''Pavucontrol - Configuration'''
|-
|align="left"|'''Profile'''
|Analog Stereo Output
|Analog Surround 5.1 Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output
|Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output
|Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output
|-
!Colspan="9"|Kodi Settings
|-
|align="left"|'''Audio Output Device'''
|Speakers
|Speakers
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|HDMI
|HDMI
|HDMI
|-
|align="left"|'''Number of channels'''
|2.0
|5.1
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|5.1
|2.0
|7.1
|-
|align="left"|'''Enabled passthrough'''
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''Passthrough output device'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|N/A
|HDMI
|N/A
|-
|align="left"|'''Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''Enabled Dolby Digital transcoding'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''TrueHD capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS-HD capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Dsiabled
|}

'''(1)''' Where TV can decode 5.1 AC3.

'''(2)''' Where AVR only has SPDIF which will support 5.1 AC3 & DTS.

'''(3)''' Where AVR can do 5.1 PCM.

'''(4)''' Where AVR has HDMI inputs but can't decode TrueHD or DTS-HD but does support 5.1 Ac3 or DTS.

'''(5)''' Where AVR has full decode capabilities including 7.1 PCM.

{{orangev|'''IMPORTANT:'''| You can only have '''AC3''', '''DTS''', '''EAC3''' passthrough '''if your Receiver supports it'''. Most '''TV's''' only support '''AC3'''. If you have a '''HDMI''' connection to your TV and '''from this TV''' a '''SPDIF/Optical''' connection to an '''AVR''', passthrough might not work at all.}}

== Combined Output aka dual audio==
If you want to output to all your attached devices in parallel, e.g. HDMI out, analog out and USB sound card, it is enough to do as below:

'''Step 1:''' Edit <code>/etc/pulse/default.pa</code>

<pre>load-module module-combine-sink sink_name=combined</pre>
'''Step 2: '''Restart pulseaudio.
<pre>killall pulseaudio</pre>

Kodi will then pickup the device, it is named '''combined'''.

{{orangev|'''Downside:'''| The dual audio sink will only output decoded audio, you cannot use it to have one slave doing AC3/DTS and the other PCM. If you use the combined sink for normal music you will realize that direct passthrough output for your movies won't be working anymore, too. This is a pulseaudio bug, cause the combine sink is not deconstructed fast enough internally while the passthrough opening is always exclusive. It will work however if your passthrough device is not part of the device combination. }}

== Audiophile Pulse User ==
Pulseaudio resamples everything that does not match the underlaying sink, so if you are an audiophile user, you perhaps want to hear your 96 / 192 khz and 24 bit recordings as exact as possible. Therefore you need to tell pulseaudio to use a better resampler in general and second change the default sample rate to 96 or 192 khz. Pulseaudio does not resample audio, that is already in the correct samplerate. Furthermore you need to take care, that your sink has a wide enough output format.

To do this configuration systemwide (96 khz in that example), change /etc/pulse/daemon.conf to include (please replace already existing lines and also remove the commenting):

<pre>
default-sample-format = s32le
default-sample-rate = 96000
resample-method = speex-float-5
</pre>

Some remark: This will actively make '''passthrough non working''', as we need s16le format for adding ac3 / dts / etc. float to the sink.

The last setting will increase the resample quality from pulse and therefore the CPU load quite a lot. Again: Resampling is only done, when the sink output does not match the data you throw onto it. But as most normal mp3s are in 44.1 khz, you need to take great care when upsampling them. The overwriting of the resample-method is for this use case.

{{orangev|'''Alternatively:'''| If you don't want any resampling outside Kodi, e.g. no resampling done extra by pulse, you need to configure the sink as told above and set Audio Engine to '''Fixed''' with the number of channels you configured pulseaudio via pavucontrol and samplerate of '''96 khz''' with resample quality high. In that combination Kodi will take care that files are resampled (e.g. 44.1 khz or 48 khz media) in the best possible quality. Already 96 khz files are not touched at all. }}

== FAQ ==

{| width="100%"
{{FAQ|1=When_would_I_want_Pulseaudio
| BGcolor=whitesmoke
| Question=When would I want PulseAudio?
| Answer=
You should use '''PulseAudio''' when:

* You use your Kodi computer mainly as your Desktop when you don't run XBMC.
* You want other applications audio like Skype, youtube, browser mail notification in parallel with Kodi.
* You use Kodi in windowed mode as Desktop player
* You use Pulseaudio as a network sink to stream Audio to other devices in your living room.
* Passthrough is nice to have for you, but to be honest - you don't really need it.
* Whenever you plugin your Bluetooth headset, Kodi audio will continue over this new device (when Default 'PULSE' device is chosen)
}}

{{FAQ|1=When_would_I_want_ALSA
| BGcolor=
| Question=When would I want ALSA?
| Answer=
You should use '''ALSA''' when:

* You use Kodi as your standalone media center.
* You are highly interested in bitperfect exclusive audio output.
* DTS-HD, TrueHD is something you use daily and is of high importance.
* You don't need other applications that would access audio in parallel.
}}

{{FAQ|1=Why_cant_I_have_both?
| BGcolor=whitesmoke
| Question=Why can't I have both?
| Answer=
* '''PulseAudio''' might hog your Audio device and you cannot open the '''ALSA''' device exclusively, therefore we decided for one or the other.
* Whenever '''PulseAudio''' is running your '''ALSA''' device that Kodi chooses, might be busy or even might vanish while you are using Kodi, when system sounds are playing and pulseaudio is trying to access the device again. Out of this reason we also won't implement a selection box to decide between '''ALSA''' and '''PULSE''', because it will actively harm users. Advanced Users can go with the workaround listed beneath.
}}

{{FAQ|1=Forcing_alsa
| BGcolor=
| Question=Can I force ALSA even with PulseAudio installed?
| Answer=
{{note|But you know that doing so, it will cause problems!}}

Yes, you can - start Kodi from terminal with:
<pre>AE_SINK=ALSA Kodi </pre>
: Be warned as this will interfere with your Desktop sounds and PulseAudio! Consider removing pulseaudio instead.
}}
|}
=== Known issues ===
When your audio is much too fast or crackles a lot or passthrough only produces noise, you might have a broken driver in use. If this is the case, try to add ''tsched=0'' to the udev loading section in /etc/pulse/default.pa to read like:

''load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0''

When Pulseaudio is configured to be multi-channel output, e.g. 5.1 profile from within pavucontrol, 2.0 streams are automatically upmixed, no matter what setting you have chosen in Kodi. This is default pulseaudio server behaviour. You can workaround that by disabling ''enable-remixing'' in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

''enable-remixing = no''

Beware: This will also forbid PA to remix e.g. FL,FR, LFE, FC, BL, BR into FL, FR, LFE, FC, SL, SR - which means you might loose your rears if your speaker layout is non standard.

Audio devices are disappearing with pulseaudio 8.0 (Ubuntu 16.04) especially while running kodi and while using ''Adjust Refreshrate to match video''. This is an issue with the module-switch-on-port-available module and will be fixed with pulseaudio 9.0, the fix sadly won't probably make it into Ubuntu 16.04. As a workaround please disable that feature by editing /etc/pulse/default.pa and commenting or removing ''load-module module-switch-on-port-available'' and reboot the system.

== HOW-TO ==

====[[HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu]]====

== References ==
{{forum link2|[[forum:183436|Linux - Pulseaudio Sink]] Discussion and further information.}} 

[[Category:How-to]]
[[Category:Audio]]

PulseAudio

2016-04-26T03:39:20Z

J876: /* HOW-TO */

{{mininav|[[Audio]]|[[Linux audio]]}}
<section begin="intro" />This page goes into detail on using PulseAudio on Linux systems. PulseAudio is used when Kodi is installed in a desktop-environment rather than a dedicated/direct boot setup. PulseAudio allows normal video & audio playback in XBMC while at the same time allowing the user to get audio in their browser or other applications. It also allows Kodi playback of video or audio to be paused in order to run a game, Skype or similar. Kodi is set to only use PulseAudio if you have installed it and running.<section end="intro" />

== History ==
In the past users have experienced problems with audio not working within Kodi, because they were running a full-blown Ubuntu desktop environment with PulseAudio installed. This happened because PulseAudio blocked the device Kodi required, and audio playback only worked reliably when using the virtual Pulse device.

Our workaround for those users has been to uninstall PulseAudio which completely broke desktop audio.

For XBMC 13 'Gotham' and later (named Kodi since 14 'Helix') we wanted this situation to change, so thanks to the new '''PulseAudio Sink''' users now can run a normal Ubuntu desktop.

== PulseAudio Output Configuration ==
PulseAudio will be automatically detected and selected in Kodi when it is running.

PulseAudio can be run in one of two modes these are:

<big>'''Passthrough Mode'''</big>
Used if you want to passthrough (bitstream) AC3, DTS, and EAC3 to an AVR or other device. In order to allow passthrough to work with PulseAudio then it '''MUST''' be set to use a 2.0 channel configuration, despite the 2.0 setting this will still allow 5.1 audio from AC3, DTS, and EAC3.

{{Note| PulseAudio does not currently allow TrueHD or DTS-MA passthrough, this is a PulseAudio limitation and not a limitation of the Kodi implementation.}}

<big>'''Multichannel Mode'''</big>

Used if you want Multichannel PCM out, in this mode you can configure PulseAudio for up to 7.1 channels. In this mode Kodi must decode all audio formats to PCM for passing onto the PulseAudio, this can have the advantage of improve audio/video sync.

{{Note| Audio decoded to PCM and sent through PulseAudio the audio will not likely be "bit perfect". Where a video has TrueHD 7.1 audio, this can be decoded by Kodi to PCM 7.1, however DTS-HD 7.1 audio can't be decoded by Kodi, only the embedded DTS Core 5.1 can be decoded to PCM 5.1 audio. Als Pulseaudio will always open the number of channels you have configured. You can stop it doing upmixing (see Known issues), but it will still open all configured channels which makes Dolby Pro Logic II of your AVR not usable.}}

 

== Setting up pavucontrol ==

=== Passthrough Mode ===
{{bluev|'''IMPORTANT:'''|Passthrough is always exclusive mode. If you have another application hogging the device, e.g. google chrome or skype or something else, Passthrough won't work.}}
{{greenv|'''REMEMBER:'''| To use passthrough you need to be using '''2.0''' channel configuration via '''pavucontrol''' (e.g. Digital Stereo (HDMI)}}

In order to activate Passthrough Codecs, just setup pavucontrol, as in the following:

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Passthrough2.png|<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''pavucontrol'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Passthrough1.png|<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''pavucontrol'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>

If you like to do this from the command line, issue:
'''pactl set-sink-formats 0 "pcm; ac3-iec61937; dts-iec61937; eac3-iec61937"'''

Where '''0''' is the sink you want to alter.
You can print all sinks, by using:
'''pactl list sinks'''
You can leave out the codecs your AVR does not support, always keep pcm.

{{bluev|'''IMPORTANT:'''| If you have for example 5.1 flacs or other multichannel files, you can play them as AC3 streams, check the AC3 Transcoding setting.}}

=== Multichannel Mode ===
{{greenv|'''REMEMBER:'''| When configuring pulse to use '''Multichannel configuration''' passthrough will be disabled}}
To configure instead Multi channel mode, do the following settings.

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Lpcm2.png|<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''To alternatively configure Multi channel, check this:''.
File:Lpcm1.png|<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> The ''Add-on manager'', displaying four/five options (explained below).
</gallery>

=== Example setup in Kodi ===
{{orangev|'''GOOD TO KNOW:'''| Limit sample rate can be set to Fixed - between 48kHz ~ 192kHz or as Optimized and even Best match.}}

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Xbmclpcm.png |<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Xbmcpaa1.png |<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Xbmcpass2.png |<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Xbmcpass1.png |<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>
{{-}}

=== Setup Guide ===
{{orangev|DEVICE ENUMERATION:| Kodi Enumerates Pulseaudio devices as SPDIF when you have '''Passthrough''' set. Otherwise its '''PCM Device'''. If '''Passthrough''' was not configured with pavucontrol - no '''Passthrough''' setting within Kodi will be available.}}
{{bluev|GOOD TO KNOW:|SPDIF has 2 pcm channels but can do virtual 5.1 formats like dts, ac3, eac3.}}
{{greenv|'''NOTICE'''|The following is meant to act as a guide to get you started, thus you may want to adjust things to suit your own particular set of equipment.}}
{| class="prettytable" style="text-align: center; color: black;"
!
! PC Speakers 2.0
! PC Speakers 5.1
! TV SPDIF 2.0
! TV SPDIF AC3 ('''1''')
! AVR SPDIF AC3/DTS ('''2''')
! AVR HDMI PCM ('''3''')
! AVR HDMI No HD Audio ('''4''')
! AVR HDMI Decode HD Audio ('''5''')
|-
! colspan="9"|'''PusleAudio Mode'''
|-
|
|Multichannel
|Multichannel
|Multichannel
|Passthrough
|Passthrough
|Multichannel
|Passthrough
|Multichannel
|-
! colspan="9"|'''Pavucontrol - Output Devices'''
|-
|align="left"|'''Port'''
|Speakers
|Speakers
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|HDMI/Displayport
|HDMI/Displayport
|HDMI/Displayport
|-
|align="left"|'''AC3'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''EAC3'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
! colspan="9"|'''Pavucontrol - Configuration'''
|-
|align="left"|'''Profile'''
|Analog Stereo Output
|Analog Surround 5.1 Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output
|Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output
|Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output
|-
!Colspan="9"|Kodi Settings
|-
|align="left"|'''Audio Output Device'''
|Speakers
|Speakers
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|HDMI
|HDMI
|HDMI
|-
|align="left"|'''Number of channels'''
|2.0
|5.1
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|5.1
|2.0
|7.1
|-
|align="left"|'''Enabled passthrough'''
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''Passthrough output device'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|N/A
|HDMI
|N/A
|-
|align="left"|'''Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''Enabled Dolby Digital transcoding'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''TrueHD capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS-HD capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Dsiabled
|}

'''(1)''' Where TV can decode 5.1 AC3.

'''(2)''' Where AVR only has SPDIF which will support 5.1 AC3 & DTS.

'''(3)''' Where AVR can do 5.1 PCM.

'''(4)''' Where AVR has HDMI inputs but can't decode TrueHD or DTS-HD but does support 5.1 Ac3 or DTS.

'''(5)''' Where AVR has full decode capabilities including 7.1 PCM.

{{orangev|'''IMPORTANT:'''| You can only have '''AC3''', '''DTS''', '''EAC3''' passthrough '''if your Receiver supports it'''. Most '''TV's''' only support '''AC3'''. If you have a '''HDMI''' connection to your TV and '''from this TV''' a '''SPDIF/Optical''' connection to an '''AVR''', passthrough might not work at all.}}

== Combined Output aka dual audio==
If you want to output to all your attached devices in parallel, e.g. HDMI out, analog out and USB sound card, it is enough to do as below:

'''Step 1:''' Edit <code>/etc/pulse/default.pa</code>

<pre>load-module module-combine-sink sink_name=combined</pre>
'''Step 2: '''Restart pulseaudio.
<pre>killall pulseaudio</pre>

Kodi will then pickup the device, it is named '''combined'''.

{{orangev|'''Downside:'''| The dual audio sink will only output decoded audio, you cannot use it to have one slave doing AC3/DTS and the other PCM. If you use the combined sink for normal music you will realize that direct passthrough output for your movies won't be working anymore, too. This is a pulseaudio bug, cause the combine sink is not deconstructed fast enough internally while the passthrough opening is always exclusive. It will work however if your passthrough device is not part of the device combination. }}

== Audiophile Pulse User ==
Pulseaudio resamples everything that does not match the underlaying sink, so if you are an audiophile user, you perhaps want to hear your 96 / 192 khz and 24 bit recordings as exact as possible. Therefore you need to tell pulseaudio to use a better resampler in general and second change the default sample rate to 96 or 192 khz. Pulseaudio does not resample audio, that is already in the correct samplerate. Furthermore you need to take care, that your sink has a wide enough output format.

To do this configuration systemwide (96 khz in that example), change /etc/pulse/daemon.conf to include (please replace already existing lines and also remove the commenting):

<pre>
default-sample-format = s32le
default-sample-rate = 96000
resample-method = speex-float-5
</pre>

Some remark: This will actively make '''passthrough non working''', as we need s16le format for adding ac3 / dts / etc. float to the sink.

The last setting will increase the resample quality from pulse and therefore the CPU load quite a lot. Again: Resampling is only done, when the sink output does not match the data you throw onto it. But as most normal mp3s are in 44.1 khz, you need to take great care when upsampling them. The overwriting of the resample-method is for this use case.

{{orangev|'''Alternatively:'''| If you don't want any resampling outside Kodi, e.g. no resampling done extra by pulse, you need to configure the sink as told above and set Audio Engine to '''Fixed''' with the number of channels you configured pulseaudio via pavucontrol and samplerate of '''96 khz''' with resample quality high. In that combination Kodi will take care that files are resampled (e.g. 44.1 khz or 48 khz media) in the best possible quality. Already 96 khz files are not touched at all. }}

== FAQ ==

{| width="100%"
{{FAQ|1=When_would_I_want_Pulseaudio
| BGcolor=whitesmoke
| Question=When would I want PulseAudio?
| Answer=
You should use '''PulseAudio''' when:

* You use your Kodi computer mainly as your Desktop when you don't run XBMC.
* You want other applications audio like Skype, youtube, browser mail notification in parallel with Kodi.
* You use Kodi in windowed mode as Desktop player
* You use Pulseaudio as a network sink to stream Audio to other devices in your living room.
* Passthrough is nice to have for you, but to be honest - you don't really need it.
* Whenever you plugin your Bluetooth headset, Kodi audio will continue over this new device (when Default 'PULSE' device is chosen)
}}

{{FAQ|1=When_would_I_want_ALSA
| BGcolor=
| Question=When would I want ALSA?
| Answer=
You should use '''ALSA''' when:

* You use Kodi as your standalone media center.
* You are highly interested in bitperfect exclusive audio output.
* DTS-HD, TrueHD is something you use daily and is of high importance.
* You don't need other applications that would access audio in parallel.
}}

{{FAQ|1=Why_cant_I_have_both?
| BGcolor=whitesmoke
| Question=Why can't I have both?
| Answer=
* '''PulseAudio''' might hog your Audio device and you cannot open the '''ALSA''' device exclusively, therefore we decided for one or the other.
* Whenever '''PulseAudio''' is running your '''ALSA''' device that Kodi chooses, might be busy or even might vanish while you are using Kodi, when system sounds are playing and pulseaudio is trying to access the device again. Out of this reason we also won't implement a selection box to decide between '''ALSA''' and '''PULSE''', because it will actively harm users. Advanced Users can go with the workaround listed beneath.
}}

{{FAQ|1=Forcing_alsa
| BGcolor=
| Question=Can I force ALSA even with PulseAudio installed?
| Answer=
{{note|But you know that doing so, it will cause problems!}}

Yes, you can - start Kodi from terminal with:
<pre>AE_SINK=ALSA Kodi </pre>
: Be warned as this will interfere with your Desktop sounds and PulseAudio! Consider removing pulseaudio instead.
}}
|}
=== Known issues ===
When your audio is much too fast or crackles a lot or passthrough only produces noise, you might have a broken driver in use. If this is the case, try to add ''tsched=0'' to the udev loading section in /etc/pulse/default.pa to read like:

''load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0''

When Pulseaudio is configured to be multi-channel output, e.g. 5.1 profile from within pavucontrol, 2.0 streams are automatically upmixed, no matter what setting you have chosen in Kodi. This is default pulseaudio server behaviour. You can workaround that by disabling ''enable-remixing'' in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

''enable-remixing = no''

Beware: This will also forbid PA to remix e.g. FL,FR, LFE, FC, BL, BR into FL, FR, LFE, FC, SL, SR - which means you might loose your rears if your speaker layout is non standard.

Audio devices are disappearing with pulseaudio 8.0 (Ubuntu 16.04) especially while running kodi and while using ''Adjust Refreshrate to match video''. This is an issue with the module-switch-on-port-available module and will be fixed with pulseaudio 9.0, the fix sadly won't probably make it into Ubuntu 16.04. As a workaround please disable that feature by editing /etc/pulse/default.pa and commenting or removing ''load-module module-switch-on-port-available'' and reboot the system.

== HOW-TO ==

[[PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu]]

== References ==
{{forum link2|[[forum:183436|Linux - Pulseaudio Sink]] Discussion and further information.}} 

[[Category:How-to]]
[[Category:Audio]]

PulseAudio

2016-04-26T03:38:38Z

J876: /* HOW-TO */

{{mininav|[[Audio]]|[[Linux audio]]}}
<section begin="intro" />This page goes into detail on using PulseAudio on Linux systems. PulseAudio is used when Kodi is installed in a desktop-environment rather than a dedicated/direct boot setup. PulseAudio allows normal video & audio playback in XBMC while at the same time allowing the user to get audio in their browser or other applications. It also allows Kodi playback of video or audio to be paused in order to run a game, Skype or similar. Kodi is set to only use PulseAudio if you have installed it and running.<section end="intro" />

== History ==
In the past users have experienced problems with audio not working within Kodi, because they were running a full-blown Ubuntu desktop environment with PulseAudio installed. This happened because PulseAudio blocked the device Kodi required, and audio playback only worked reliably when using the virtual Pulse device.

Our workaround for those users has been to uninstall PulseAudio which completely broke desktop audio.

For XBMC 13 'Gotham' and later (named Kodi since 14 'Helix') we wanted this situation to change, so thanks to the new '''PulseAudio Sink''' users now can run a normal Ubuntu desktop.

== PulseAudio Output Configuration ==
PulseAudio will be automatically detected and selected in Kodi when it is running.

PulseAudio can be run in one of two modes these are:

<big>'''Passthrough Mode'''</big>
Used if you want to passthrough (bitstream) AC3, DTS, and EAC3 to an AVR or other device. In order to allow passthrough to work with PulseAudio then it '''MUST''' be set to use a 2.0 channel configuration, despite the 2.0 setting this will still allow 5.1 audio from AC3, DTS, and EAC3.

{{Note| PulseAudio does not currently allow TrueHD or DTS-MA passthrough, this is a PulseAudio limitation and not a limitation of the Kodi implementation.}}

<big>'''Multichannel Mode'''</big>

Used if you want Multichannel PCM out, in this mode you can configure PulseAudio for up to 7.1 channels. In this mode Kodi must decode all audio formats to PCM for passing onto the PulseAudio, this can have the advantage of improve audio/video sync.

{{Note| Audio decoded to PCM and sent through PulseAudio the audio will not likely be "bit perfect". Where a video has TrueHD 7.1 audio, this can be decoded by Kodi to PCM 7.1, however DTS-HD 7.1 audio can't be decoded by Kodi, only the embedded DTS Core 5.1 can be decoded to PCM 5.1 audio. Als Pulseaudio will always open the number of channels you have configured. You can stop it doing upmixing (see Known issues), but it will still open all configured channels which makes Dolby Pro Logic II of your AVR not usable.}}

 

== Setting up pavucontrol ==

=== Passthrough Mode ===
{{bluev|'''IMPORTANT:'''|Passthrough is always exclusive mode. If you have another application hogging the device, e.g. google chrome or skype or something else, Passthrough won't work.}}
{{greenv|'''REMEMBER:'''| To use passthrough you need to be using '''2.0''' channel configuration via '''pavucontrol''' (e.g. Digital Stereo (HDMI)}}

In order to activate Passthrough Codecs, just setup pavucontrol, as in the following:

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Passthrough2.png|<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''pavucontrol'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Passthrough1.png|<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''pavucontrol'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>

If you like to do this from the command line, issue:
'''pactl set-sink-formats 0 "pcm; ac3-iec61937; dts-iec61937; eac3-iec61937"'''

Where '''0''' is the sink you want to alter.
You can print all sinks, by using:
'''pactl list sinks'''
You can leave out the codecs your AVR does not support, always keep pcm.

{{bluev|'''IMPORTANT:'''| If you have for example 5.1 flacs or other multichannel files, you can play them as AC3 streams, check the AC3 Transcoding setting.}}

=== Multichannel Mode ===
{{greenv|'''REMEMBER:'''| When configuring pulse to use '''Multichannel configuration''' passthrough will be disabled}}
To configure instead Multi channel mode, do the following settings.

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Lpcm2.png|<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''To alternatively configure Multi channel, check this:''.
File:Lpcm1.png|<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> The ''Add-on manager'', displaying four/five options (explained below).
</gallery>

=== Example setup in Kodi ===
{{orangev|'''GOOD TO KNOW:'''| Limit sample rate can be set to Fixed - between 48kHz ~ 192kHz or as Optimized and even Best match.}}

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Xbmclpcm.png |<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Xbmcpaa1.png |<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Xbmcpass2.png |<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Xbmcpass1.png |<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>
{{-}}

=== Setup Guide ===
{{orangev|DEVICE ENUMERATION:| Kodi Enumerates Pulseaudio devices as SPDIF when you have '''Passthrough''' set. Otherwise its '''PCM Device'''. If '''Passthrough''' was not configured with pavucontrol - no '''Passthrough''' setting within Kodi will be available.}}
{{bluev|GOOD TO KNOW:|SPDIF has 2 pcm channels but can do virtual 5.1 formats like dts, ac3, eac3.}}
{{greenv|'''NOTICE'''|The following is meant to act as a guide to get you started, thus you may want to adjust things to suit your own particular set of equipment.}}
{| class="prettytable" style="text-align: center; color: black;"
!
! PC Speakers 2.0
! PC Speakers 5.1
! TV SPDIF 2.0
! TV SPDIF AC3 ('''1''')
! AVR SPDIF AC3/DTS ('''2''')
! AVR HDMI PCM ('''3''')
! AVR HDMI No HD Audio ('''4''')
! AVR HDMI Decode HD Audio ('''5''')
|-
! colspan="9"|'''PusleAudio Mode'''
|-
|
|Multichannel
|Multichannel
|Multichannel
|Passthrough
|Passthrough
|Multichannel
|Passthrough
|Multichannel
|-
! colspan="9"|'''Pavucontrol - Output Devices'''
|-
|align="left"|'''Port'''
|Speakers
|Speakers
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|HDMI/Displayport
|HDMI/Displayport
|HDMI/Displayport
|-
|align="left"|'''AC3'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''EAC3'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
! colspan="9"|'''Pavucontrol - Configuration'''
|-
|align="left"|'''Profile'''
|Analog Stereo Output
|Analog Surround 5.1 Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output
|Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output
|Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output
|-
!Colspan="9"|Kodi Settings
|-
|align="left"|'''Audio Output Device'''
|Speakers
|Speakers
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|HDMI
|HDMI
|HDMI
|-
|align="left"|'''Number of channels'''
|2.0
|5.1
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|5.1
|2.0
|7.1
|-
|align="left"|'''Enabled passthrough'''
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''Passthrough output device'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|N/A
|HDMI
|N/A
|-
|align="left"|'''Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''Enabled Dolby Digital transcoding'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''TrueHD capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS-HD capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Dsiabled
|}

'''(1)''' Where TV can decode 5.1 AC3.

'''(2)''' Where AVR only has SPDIF which will support 5.1 AC3 & DTS.

'''(3)''' Where AVR can do 5.1 PCM.

'''(4)''' Where AVR has HDMI inputs but can't decode TrueHD or DTS-HD but does support 5.1 Ac3 or DTS.

'''(5)''' Where AVR has full decode capabilities including 7.1 PCM.

{{orangev|'''IMPORTANT:'''| You can only have '''AC3''', '''DTS''', '''EAC3''' passthrough '''if your Receiver supports it'''. Most '''TV's''' only support '''AC3'''. If you have a '''HDMI''' connection to your TV and '''from this TV''' a '''SPDIF/Optical''' connection to an '''AVR''', passthrough might not work at all.}}

== Combined Output aka dual audio==
If you want to output to all your attached devices in parallel, e.g. HDMI out, analog out and USB sound card, it is enough to do as below:

'''Step 1:''' Edit <code>/etc/pulse/default.pa</code>

<pre>load-module module-combine-sink sink_name=combined</pre>
'''Step 2: '''Restart pulseaudio.
<pre>killall pulseaudio</pre>

Kodi will then pickup the device, it is named '''combined'''.

{{orangev|'''Downside:'''| The dual audio sink will only output decoded audio, you cannot use it to have one slave doing AC3/DTS and the other PCM. If you use the combined sink for normal music you will realize that direct passthrough output for your movies won't be working anymore, too. This is a pulseaudio bug, cause the combine sink is not deconstructed fast enough internally while the passthrough opening is always exclusive. It will work however if your passthrough device is not part of the device combination. }}

== Audiophile Pulse User ==
Pulseaudio resamples everything that does not match the underlaying sink, so if you are an audiophile user, you perhaps want to hear your 96 / 192 khz and 24 bit recordings as exact as possible. Therefore you need to tell pulseaudio to use a better resampler in general and second change the default sample rate to 96 or 192 khz. Pulseaudio does not resample audio, that is already in the correct samplerate. Furthermore you need to take care, that your sink has a wide enough output format.

To do this configuration systemwide (96 khz in that example), change /etc/pulse/daemon.conf to include (please replace already existing lines and also remove the commenting):

<pre>
default-sample-format = s32le
default-sample-rate = 96000
resample-method = speex-float-5
</pre>

Some remark: This will actively make '''passthrough non working''', as we need s16le format for adding ac3 / dts / etc. float to the sink.

The last setting will increase the resample quality from pulse and therefore the CPU load quite a lot. Again: Resampling is only done, when the sink output does not match the data you throw onto it. But as most normal mp3s are in 44.1 khz, you need to take great care when upsampling them. The overwriting of the resample-method is for this use case.

{{orangev|'''Alternatively:'''| If you don't want any resampling outside Kodi, e.g. no resampling done extra by pulse, you need to configure the sink as told above and set Audio Engine to '''Fixed''' with the number of channels you configured pulseaudio via pavucontrol and samplerate of '''96 khz''' with resample quality high. In that combination Kodi will take care that files are resampled (e.g. 44.1 khz or 48 khz media) in the best possible quality. Already 96 khz files are not touched at all. }}

== FAQ ==

{| width="100%"
{{FAQ|1=When_would_I_want_Pulseaudio
| BGcolor=whitesmoke
| Question=When would I want PulseAudio?
| Answer=
You should use '''PulseAudio''' when:

* You use your Kodi computer mainly as your Desktop when you don't run XBMC.
* You want other applications audio like Skype, youtube, browser mail notification in parallel with Kodi.
* You use Kodi in windowed mode as Desktop player
* You use Pulseaudio as a network sink to stream Audio to other devices in your living room.
* Passthrough is nice to have for you, but to be honest - you don't really need it.
* Whenever you plugin your Bluetooth headset, Kodi audio will continue over this new device (when Default 'PULSE' device is chosen)
}}

{{FAQ|1=When_would_I_want_ALSA
| BGcolor=
| Question=When would I want ALSA?
| Answer=
You should use '''ALSA''' when:

* You use Kodi as your standalone media center.
* You are highly interested in bitperfect exclusive audio output.
* DTS-HD, TrueHD is something you use daily and is of high importance.
* You don't need other applications that would access audio in parallel.
}}

{{FAQ|1=Why_cant_I_have_both?
| BGcolor=whitesmoke
| Question=Why can't I have both?
| Answer=
* '''PulseAudio''' might hog your Audio device and you cannot open the '''ALSA''' device exclusively, therefore we decided for one or the other.
* Whenever '''PulseAudio''' is running your '''ALSA''' device that Kodi chooses, might be busy or even might vanish while you are using Kodi, when system sounds are playing and pulseaudio is trying to access the device again. Out of this reason we also won't implement a selection box to decide between '''ALSA''' and '''PULSE''', because it will actively harm users. Advanced Users can go with the workaround listed beneath.
}}

{{FAQ|1=Forcing_alsa
| BGcolor=
| Question=Can I force ALSA even with PulseAudio installed?
| Answer=
{{note|But you know that doing so, it will cause problems!}}

Yes, you can - start Kodi from terminal with:
<pre>AE_SINK=ALSA Kodi </pre>
: Be warned as this will interfere with your Desktop sounds and PulseAudio! Consider removing pulseaudio instead.
}}
|}
=== Known issues ===
When your audio is much too fast or crackles a lot or passthrough only produces noise, you might have a broken driver in use. If this is the case, try to add ''tsched=0'' to the udev loading section in /etc/pulse/default.pa to read like:

''load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0''

When Pulseaudio is configured to be multi-channel output, e.g. 5.1 profile from within pavucontrol, 2.0 streams are automatically upmixed, no matter what setting you have chosen in Kodi. This is default pulseaudio server behaviour. You can workaround that by disabling ''enable-remixing'' in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

''enable-remixing = no''

Beware: This will also forbid PA to remix e.g. FL,FR, LFE, FC, BL, BR into FL, FR, LFE, FC, SL, SR - which means you might loose your rears if your speaker layout is non standard.

Audio devices are disappearing with pulseaudio 8.0 (Ubuntu 16.04) especially while running kodi and while using ''Adjust Refreshrate to match video''. This is an issue with the module-switch-on-port-available module and will be fixed with pulseaudio 9.0, the fix sadly won't probably make it into Ubuntu 16.04. As a workaround please disable that feature by editing /etc/pulse/default.pa and commenting or removing ''load-module module-switch-on-port-available'' and reboot the system.

== HOW-TO ==

[[PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu]]

=== References ===
{{forum link2|[[forum:183436|Linux - Pulseaudio Sink]] Discussion and further information.}} 

[[Category:How-to]]
[[Category:Audio]]

PulseAudio

2016-04-26T03:37:52Z

J876:

{{mininav|[[Audio]]|[[Linux audio]]}}
<section begin="intro" />This page goes into detail on using PulseAudio on Linux systems. PulseAudio is used when Kodi is installed in a desktop-environment rather than a dedicated/direct boot setup. PulseAudio allows normal video & audio playback in XBMC while at the same time allowing the user to get audio in their browser or other applications. It also allows Kodi playback of video or audio to be paused in order to run a game, Skype or similar. Kodi is set to only use PulseAudio if you have installed it and running.<section end="intro" />

== History ==
In the past users have experienced problems with audio not working within Kodi, because they were running a full-blown Ubuntu desktop environment with PulseAudio installed. This happened because PulseAudio blocked the device Kodi required, and audio playback only worked reliably when using the virtual Pulse device.

Our workaround for those users has been to uninstall PulseAudio which completely broke desktop audio.

For XBMC 13 'Gotham' and later (named Kodi since 14 'Helix') we wanted this situation to change, so thanks to the new '''PulseAudio Sink''' users now can run a normal Ubuntu desktop.

== PulseAudio Output Configuration ==
PulseAudio will be automatically detected and selected in Kodi when it is running.

PulseAudio can be run in one of two modes these are:

<big>'''Passthrough Mode'''</big>
Used if you want to passthrough (bitstream) AC3, DTS, and EAC3 to an AVR or other device. In order to allow passthrough to work with PulseAudio then it '''MUST''' be set to use a 2.0 channel configuration, despite the 2.0 setting this will still allow 5.1 audio from AC3, DTS, and EAC3.

{{Note| PulseAudio does not currently allow TrueHD or DTS-MA passthrough, this is a PulseAudio limitation and not a limitation of the Kodi implementation.}}

<big>'''Multichannel Mode'''</big>

Used if you want Multichannel PCM out, in this mode you can configure PulseAudio for up to 7.1 channels. In this mode Kodi must decode all audio formats to PCM for passing onto the PulseAudio, this can have the advantage of improve audio/video sync.

{{Note| Audio decoded to PCM and sent through PulseAudio the audio will not likely be "bit perfect". Where a video has TrueHD 7.1 audio, this can be decoded by Kodi to PCM 7.1, however DTS-HD 7.1 audio can't be decoded by Kodi, only the embedded DTS Core 5.1 can be decoded to PCM 5.1 audio. Als Pulseaudio will always open the number of channels you have configured. You can stop it doing upmixing (see Known issues), but it will still open all configured channels which makes Dolby Pro Logic II of your AVR not usable.}}

 

== Setting up pavucontrol ==

=== Passthrough Mode ===
{{bluev|'''IMPORTANT:'''|Passthrough is always exclusive mode. If you have another application hogging the device, e.g. google chrome or skype or something else, Passthrough won't work.}}
{{greenv|'''REMEMBER:'''| To use passthrough you need to be using '''2.0''' channel configuration via '''pavucontrol''' (e.g. Digital Stereo (HDMI)}}

In order to activate Passthrough Codecs, just setup pavucontrol, as in the following:

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Passthrough2.png|<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''pavucontrol'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Passthrough1.png|<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''pavucontrol'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>

If you like to do this from the command line, issue:
'''pactl set-sink-formats 0 "pcm; ac3-iec61937; dts-iec61937; eac3-iec61937"'''

Where '''0''' is the sink you want to alter.
You can print all sinks, by using:
'''pactl list sinks'''
You can leave out the codecs your AVR does not support, always keep pcm.

{{bluev|'''IMPORTANT:'''| If you have for example 5.1 flacs or other multichannel files, you can play them as AC3 streams, check the AC3 Transcoding setting.}}

=== Multichannel Mode ===
{{greenv|'''REMEMBER:'''| When configuring pulse to use '''Multichannel configuration''' passthrough will be disabled}}
To configure instead Multi channel mode, do the following settings.

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Lpcm2.png|<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''To alternatively configure Multi channel, check this:''.
File:Lpcm1.png|<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> The ''Add-on manager'', displaying four/five options (explained below).
</gallery>

=== Example setup in Kodi ===
{{orangev|'''GOOD TO KNOW:'''| Limit sample rate can be set to Fixed - between 48kHz ~ 192kHz or as Optimized and even Best match.}}

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Xbmclpcm.png |<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Xbmcpaa1.png |<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>

<gallery widths=500px heights=313px>
File:Xbmcpass2.png |<big>'''Step 1:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Output Settings.'''
File:Xbmcpass1.png |<big>'''Step 2:'''</big> ''to be edited'' '''Configuration.'''
</gallery>
{{-}}

=== Setup Guide ===
{{orangev|DEVICE ENUMERATION:| Kodi Enumerates Pulseaudio devices as SPDIF when you have '''Passthrough''' set. Otherwise its '''PCM Device'''. If '''Passthrough''' was not configured with pavucontrol - no '''Passthrough''' setting within Kodi will be available.}}
{{bluev|GOOD TO KNOW:|SPDIF has 2 pcm channels but can do virtual 5.1 formats like dts, ac3, eac3.}}
{{greenv|'''NOTICE'''|The following is meant to act as a guide to get you started, thus you may want to adjust things to suit your own particular set of equipment.}}
{| class="prettytable" style="text-align: center; color: black;"
!
! PC Speakers 2.0
! PC Speakers 5.1
! TV SPDIF 2.0
! TV SPDIF AC3 ('''1''')
! AVR SPDIF AC3/DTS ('''2''')
! AVR HDMI PCM ('''3''')
! AVR HDMI No HD Audio ('''4''')
! AVR HDMI Decode HD Audio ('''5''')
|-
! colspan="9"|'''PusleAudio Mode'''
|-
|
|Multichannel
|Multichannel
|Multichannel
|Passthrough
|Passthrough
|Multichannel
|Passthrough
|Multichannel
|-
! colspan="9"|'''Pavucontrol - Output Devices'''
|-
|align="left"|'''Port'''
|Speakers
|Speakers
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|Digital Output (S/PDIF)
|HDMI/Displayport
|HDMI/Displayport
|HDMI/Displayport
|-
|align="left"|'''AC3'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''EAC3'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS'''
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
! colspan="9"|'''Pavucontrol - Configuration'''
|-
|align="left"|'''Profile'''
|Analog Stereo Output
|Analog Surround 5.1 Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
|Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output
|Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output
|Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output
|-
!Colspan="9"|Kodi Settings
|-
|align="left"|'''Audio Output Device'''
|Speakers
|Speakers
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|HDMI
|HDMI
|HDMI
|-
|align="left"|'''Number of channels'''
|2.0
|5.1
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|5.1
|2.0
|7.1
|-
|align="left"|'''Enabled passthrough'''
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''Passthrough output device'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|SPDIF
|SPDIF
|N/A
|HDMI
|N/A
|-
|align="left"|'''Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''Enabled Dolby Digital transcoding'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Enabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|Enabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''TrueHD capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|-
|align="left"|'''DTS-HD capable receiver'''
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Disabled
|Dsiabled
|}

'''(1)''' Where TV can decode 5.1 AC3.

'''(2)''' Where AVR only has SPDIF which will support 5.1 AC3 & DTS.

'''(3)''' Where AVR can do 5.1 PCM.

'''(4)''' Where AVR has HDMI inputs but can't decode TrueHD or DTS-HD but does support 5.1 Ac3 or DTS.

'''(5)''' Where AVR has full decode capabilities including 7.1 PCM.

{{orangev|'''IMPORTANT:'''| You can only have '''AC3''', '''DTS''', '''EAC3''' passthrough '''if your Receiver supports it'''. Most '''TV's''' only support '''AC3'''. If you have a '''HDMI''' connection to your TV and '''from this TV''' a '''SPDIF/Optical''' connection to an '''AVR''', passthrough might not work at all.}}

== Combined Output aka dual audio==
If you want to output to all your attached devices in parallel, e.g. HDMI out, analog out and USB sound card, it is enough to do as below:

'''Step 1:''' Edit <code>/etc/pulse/default.pa</code>

<pre>load-module module-combine-sink sink_name=combined</pre>
'''Step 2: '''Restart pulseaudio.
<pre>killall pulseaudio</pre>

Kodi will then pickup the device, it is named '''combined'''.

{{orangev|'''Downside:'''| The dual audio sink will only output decoded audio, you cannot use it to have one slave doing AC3/DTS and the other PCM. If you use the combined sink for normal music you will realize that direct passthrough output for your movies won't be working anymore, too. This is a pulseaudio bug, cause the combine sink is not deconstructed fast enough internally while the passthrough opening is always exclusive. It will work however if your passthrough device is not part of the device combination. }}

== Audiophile Pulse User ==
Pulseaudio resamples everything that does not match the underlaying sink, so if you are an audiophile user, you perhaps want to hear your 96 / 192 khz and 24 bit recordings as exact as possible. Therefore you need to tell pulseaudio to use a better resampler in general and second change the default sample rate to 96 or 192 khz. Pulseaudio does not resample audio, that is already in the correct samplerate. Furthermore you need to take care, that your sink has a wide enough output format.

To do this configuration systemwide (96 khz in that example), change /etc/pulse/daemon.conf to include (please replace already existing lines and also remove the commenting):

<pre>
default-sample-format = s32le
default-sample-rate = 96000
resample-method = speex-float-5
</pre>

Some remark: This will actively make '''passthrough non working''', as we need s16le format for adding ac3 / dts / etc. float to the sink.

The last setting will increase the resample quality from pulse and therefore the CPU load quite a lot. Again: Resampling is only done, when the sink output does not match the data you throw onto it. But as most normal mp3s are in 44.1 khz, you need to take great care when upsampling them. The overwriting of the resample-method is for this use case.

{{orangev|'''Alternatively:'''| If you don't want any resampling outside Kodi, e.g. no resampling done extra by pulse, you need to configure the sink as told above and set Audio Engine to '''Fixed''' with the number of channels you configured pulseaudio via pavucontrol and samplerate of '''96 khz''' with resample quality high. In that combination Kodi will take care that files are resampled (e.g. 44.1 khz or 48 khz media) in the best possible quality. Already 96 khz files are not touched at all. }}

== FAQ ==

{| width="100%"
{{FAQ|1=When_would_I_want_Pulseaudio
| BGcolor=whitesmoke
| Question=When would I want PulseAudio?
| Answer=
You should use '''PulseAudio''' when:

* You use your Kodi computer mainly as your Desktop when you don't run XBMC.
* You want other applications audio like Skype, youtube, browser mail notification in parallel with Kodi.
* You use Kodi in windowed mode as Desktop player
* You use Pulseaudio as a network sink to stream Audio to other devices in your living room.
* Passthrough is nice to have for you, but to be honest - you don't really need it.
* Whenever you plugin your Bluetooth headset, Kodi audio will continue over this new device (when Default 'PULSE' device is chosen)
}}

{{FAQ|1=When_would_I_want_ALSA
| BGcolor=
| Question=When would I want ALSA?
| Answer=
You should use '''ALSA''' when:

* You use Kodi as your standalone media center.
* You are highly interested in bitperfect exclusive audio output.
* DTS-HD, TrueHD is something you use daily and is of high importance.
* You don't need other applications that would access audio in parallel.
}}

{{FAQ|1=Why_cant_I_have_both?
| BGcolor=whitesmoke
| Question=Why can't I have both?
| Answer=
* '''PulseAudio''' might hog your Audio device and you cannot open the '''ALSA''' device exclusively, therefore we decided for one or the other.
* Whenever '''PulseAudio''' is running your '''ALSA''' device that Kodi chooses, might be busy or even might vanish while you are using Kodi, when system sounds are playing and pulseaudio is trying to access the device again. Out of this reason we also won't implement a selection box to decide between '''ALSA''' and '''PULSE''', because it will actively harm users. Advanced Users can go with the workaround listed beneath.
}}

{{FAQ|1=Forcing_alsa
| BGcolor=
| Question=Can I force ALSA even with PulseAudio installed?
| Answer=
{{note|But you know that doing so, it will cause problems!}}

Yes, you can - start Kodi from terminal with:
<pre>AE_SINK=ALSA Kodi </pre>
: Be warned as this will interfere with your Desktop sounds and PulseAudio! Consider removing pulseaudio instead.
}}
|}
=== Known issues ===
When your audio is much too fast or crackles a lot or passthrough only produces noise, you might have a broken driver in use. If this is the case, try to add ''tsched=0'' to the udev loading section in /etc/pulse/default.pa to read like:

''load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0''

When Pulseaudio is configured to be multi-channel output, e.g. 5.1 profile from within pavucontrol, 2.0 streams are automatically upmixed, no matter what setting you have chosen in Kodi. This is default pulseaudio server behaviour. You can workaround that by disabling ''enable-remixing'' in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

''enable-remixing = no''

Beware: This will also forbid PA to remix e.g. FL,FR, LFE, FC, BL, BR into FL, FR, LFE, FC, SL, SR - which means you might loose your rears if your speaker layout is non standard.

Audio devices are disappearing with pulseaudio 8.0 (Ubuntu 16.04) especially while running kodi and while using ''Adjust Refreshrate to match video''. This is an issue with the module-switch-on-port-available module and will be fixed with pulseaudio 9.0, the fix sadly won't probably make it into Ubuntu 16.04. As a workaround please disable that feature by editing /etc/pulse/default.pa and commenting or removing ''load-module module-switch-on-port-available'' and reboot the system.

== HOW-TO ==

* [[PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu]]

=== References ===
{{forum link2|[[forum:183436|Linux - Pulseaudio Sink]] Discussion and further information.}} 

[[Category:How-to]]
[[Category:Audio]]

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T03:31:22Z

J876:

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea ==

In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse
</syntaxhighlight>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot the Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to enable PulseAudio again ===

* Follow the editing steps for either the local user or globally (all users) and instead of
: using the line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

in the relevant configuration file, change the line to either:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

or alternatively:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file and exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned back on.

==References==

This guide was developed from the information obtained by the following resources:

* http://askubuntu.com/questions/8425/how-to-temporarily-disable-pulseaudio

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T02:57:59Z

J876:

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - why it may not be such a good idea ==

In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse
</syntaxhighlight>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot the Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to enable PulseAudio again ===

* Follow the editing steps for either the local user or globally (all users) and instead of
: using the line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

in the relevant configuration file, change the line to either:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

or alternatively:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file and exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned back on.

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T02:56:18Z

J876:

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu, why it may not be such a good idea ==

In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse
</syntaxhighlight>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot the Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to enable PulseAudio again ===

* Follow the editing steps for either the local user or globally (all users) and instead of
: using the line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

in the relevant configuration file, change the line to either:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

or alternatively:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file and exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned back on.

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T02:53:53Z

J876:

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu, why it may not be such a good idea ==

In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse
</syntaxhighlight>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot the Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to enable PulseAudio again ===

* Follow the editing steps for either the local user or globally (all users) and instead of
: using the line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

in the relevant configuration file, change the line to either:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

or alternatively ...

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file and exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned back on.

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T02:40:22Z

J876: /* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) */

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu, why it may not be such a good idea ==

In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<nowiki>cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse</nowiki>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file, as per the following example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T02:22:13Z

J876: /* Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - Why it may not be such a good idea */

== How does this PulseAudio configuration change work? ==

What these changes do is stop the PulseAudio daemon for autospawning and taking over
control of the sound devices on your Ubuntu system.

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu, why it may not be such a good idea ==

In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<nowiki>cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse</nowiki>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

: Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

=== How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users) ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /etc/pulse/client.confbackup
</syntaxhighlight>

* Open the global configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
sudo nano /etc/pulse/client.conf
</syntaxhighlight>

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
; autospawn = yes
</syntaxhighlight>

To:
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
autospawn = no
</syntaxhighlight>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu system.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will now be used instead.

Archive:PulseAudio/HOW-TO: Disable PulseAudio and use ALSA (without removing PulseAudio) for Ubuntu

2016-04-26T02:02:43Z

J876: Created page with "== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - Why it may not be such a good idea == In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages. Removing..."

== Removing PulseAudio from Ubuntu - Why it may not be such a good idea ==

In desktop versions of Ubuntu, PulseAudio is a dependency for a lot of software packages.

Removing or purging PulseAudio from a Ubuntu system can break other software on a
Ubuntu system and potentially cause errors and broken dependencies.

The method described below, will allow users to turn off PulseAudio and use Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
instead.

The advantage of this method is the changes can be reversed when PulseAudio needs to be turned on/enabled again.

There are two methods described in this guide for disabling PulseAudio on Ubuntu:

* How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user
* How to disable PulseAudio globally (for all users)

===== Important Notes =====
* The following steps should be done via the terminal or via SSH (Secure Services Host) on
the Ubuntu system to be configured.
* The user account used to edit/modify the files needs to have sudo rights.

=== How to disable PulseAudio for a specific user ===

* Open a terminal window or SSH into your Ubuntu system.
* Copy the global PulseAudio configuration file to your user's local PulseAudio configuration directory:

<nowiki>cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse</nowiki>

* Make a backup copy of the global configuration file:

<nowiki>cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.confbackup</nowiki>

* Open the local configuration file with a text editor such as nano:

<nowiki>nano /home/yourusername/.config/pulse/client.conf</nowiki>

Where ''yourusername'' is the Ubuntu user account where PulseAudio is to be disabled.

* Scroll through the configuration file, then uncomment (remove the ; character) and edit the following line:

From:
<nowiki>; autospawn = yes</nowiki>

To:
<nowiki>autospawn = no</nowiki>

* Save the file, then exit the text editor.

* Restart/reboot your Ubuntu computer.

* PulseAudio should now be turned off. ALSA will be used instead.