Adding this in /etc/asound.rc (more exactly
/etc/alsa/pulse-default.conf on my Fedora box) work fine:
pcm.a52 {
@args [CARD]
@args.CARD {
type string
}
type rate
slave {
pcm {
type a52
bitrate 448
channels 6
card $CARD
}
rate 48000 #required somehow, otherwise nothing happens in PulseAudio
}
}
a52:0 is detected by PulseAudio and the encoded output shows as
'Digital Surround 5.1 (IEC958/AC3) in pavucontrol.
I just finished testing all the changes I posted yesterday. Works
flawlessly, I can switch from 2ch PCM over SPDIF to 5.1 still over
SPDIF but re-encoded with a52, and unlike the passthrough case I can
mix the multichannel content with alerts or system tones.
The only bug I found is that if I change the individual volume on one
of the channels, there's a ringing noise introduced, and it does not
go away unless I kill the stream.
Will prepare a set of patches, Colin it'd be great if you can merge
them in git master.
-Pierre
