Kodi HD playback on Ubuntu with CrystalHD, and USB sound card – P1

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Crystalhd Ubuntu Xbmc | Smarthomebeginner

In my previous post (Installing XBMC on Ubuntu Server with Broadcom Crystal HD Decoder BCM70015) I explained how I installed XBMC. The video worked awesome. The Intel GMA 950 card on the Wind box supported up to 2048 x 1536 resolution. This was good enough to display 1920 x 1080 (1080p). Although it provides only analog signal it still looks good. With a good HD15 VGA cable I could get clear 1080p video.

The sound from videos was very poor. The inbuilt sound card was not enough. Since the MSI wind has no expansion slots I looked for USB alternatives. The Turtle Beach USB Micro II card with optical output was exactly what I wanted to get Dolby/DTS 5.1 channel sound. With that and a toslink cable I can improve my sound. So I installed it but the problem is there is now no sound.

I researched and found the following relevant links:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=40117
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=40061&start=0
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8284273

I will be trying the above methods and will update on the progress soon.

UPDATE:

I now have a working USB Sound Card that passes through HD audio through the optical cable. I have described what worked for me in Part 2.

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Anand

Anand is a self-learned computer enthusiast, hopeless tinkerer (if it ain't broke, fix it), a part-time blogger, and a Scientist during the day. He has been blogging since 2010 on Linux, Ubuntu, Home/Media/File Servers, Smart Home Automation, and related HOW-TOs.