[SOLVED] No audio playback (except for HDMI) from pipewire

[reith]

I'm trying to use pipewire as the sound server for pulse audio. While I can get audio from HDMI, it doesn't work for the onboard intel card. I'm not sure if it's pipewire to blame but I was able to get the audio from the same pulseaudio profile before I switched to pipewire.

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$  emerge -pv --nodeps pipewire libpulse pulseaudio pulseaudio-daemon alsa-plugins rtkit
[binary   R    ] media-video/pipewire-1.2.7-r1:0/0.4::gentoo  USE="dbus readline sound-server ssl -X -bluetooth -doc -echo-cancel -elogind -extra -ffmpeg -flatpak -gsettings -gstreamer -ieee1394 -jack-client -jack-sdk -liblc3 -lv2 -man -modemmanager -pipewire-alsa -roc (-selinux) (-system-service) -systemd -test -v4l -zeroconf" ABI_X86="(64) -32 (-x32)" 0 KiB
[binary   R    ] media-libs/libpulse-17.0::gentoo  USE="X asyncns glib -dbus -doc -gtk (-selinux) -systemd -test -valgrind" ABI_X86="(64) -32 (-x32)" 0 KiB
[binary   R    ] media-sound/pulseaudio-16.1::gentoo  USE="glib -bluetooth -daemon -jack -ofono-headset" ABI_X86="(64) -32 (-x32)" 0 KiB
[binary  N     ] media-sound/pulseaudio-daemon-17.0-r1::gentoo  USE="X alsa alsa-plugin asyncns gdbm glib orc ssl udev webrtc-aec -aptx -bluetooth -dbus -elogind -equalizer -fftw -gstreamer -jack -ldac -lirc -ofono-headset (-oss) (-selinux) -sox (-system-wide) -systemd -tcpd -test -valgrind -zeroconf" 0 KiB
[binary   R    ] media-plugins/alsa-plugins-1.2.12::gentoo  USE="mix pulseaudio usb_stream -arcam_av -debug -ffmpeg -jack -libsamplerate -oss -speex" ABI_X86="(64) -32 (-x32)" 0 KiB
[binary   R    ] sys-auth/rtkit-0.13-r2::gentoo  USE="(-selinux) -systemd" 0 KiB

media-sound/pulseaudio-daemon is not installed.

The sound cards:

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card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: Generic Analog [Generic Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: Generic Digital [Generic Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA Intel HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [LG HDR 4K]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA Intel HDMI], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA Intel HDMI], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

And according to Pulseaudio:

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$ pactl list cards  | egrep Card\|alsa.card_name\|Name                                                                                    

Card #50
	Name: alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1
		alsa.card_name = "HDA NVidia"
Card #51
	Name: alsa_card.pci-0000_00_03.0
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel HDMI"
Card #52
	Name: alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"

Trying HDMI:

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$ pactl set-card-profile alsa_card.pci-0000_00_03.0 output:hdmi-stereo
$ pactl set-card-profile alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0 off
$ gentoo-pipewire-launcher restart

`mpv --ao=pulse file.wav` produces the sound. (mv -ao=alsa would also work, thanks to `alsa-plugins[pulseaudio]`) . The output of `wpctl status` would be like:

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PipeWire 'pipewire-0' [1.2.7]
 └─ Clients:
        32. pipewire        
        42. mpv            
        46. WirePlumber [export]
        47. i3status           
        60. wpctl             

Audio
 ├─ Devices:
 │      48. GK208 HDMI/DP Audio Controller      [alsa]
 │      49. Built-in Audio                      [alsa]
 │      50. Built-in Audio                      [alsa]
 │  
 ├─ Sinks:
 │  *   54. Built-in Audio Digital Stereo (HDMI) [vol: 1.00]
 │  
 ├─ Sources:
 │  
 ├─ Filters:
 │  
 └─ Streams:
        55. mpv                                                         
             56. output_FL       > LG HDR 4K:playback_FL	[active]
             57. output_FR       > LG HDR 4K:playback_FR	[active]
Settings
 └─ Default Configured Devices:

Switching to the Intel card:

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$ pactl set-card-profile alsa_card.pci-0000_00_03.0 off
$ pactl set-card-profile alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0 output:analog-stereo

`mpv --au=pulse` errors:

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[ao] Failed to initialize audio driver 'pulse'
Could not open/initialize audio device -> no sound.
Audio: no audio
Exiting... (Errors when loading file)

But.. VLC would still be able to play! At this point `wpctl status` is like

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PipeWire 'pipewire-0' [1.2.7]
 └─ Clients:
        32. pipewire  
        34. i3status  
        35. WirePlumber
        44. VLC media player (LibVLC 3.0.21)
        47. WirePlumber [export]           
        72. wpctl                         

Audio
 ├─ Devices:
 │      48. GK208 HDMI/DP Audio Controller      [alsa]
 │      49. Built-in Audio                      [alsa]
 │      50. Built-in Audio                      [alsa]
 │  
 ├─ Sinks:
 │      61. Built-in Audio Analog Stereo        [vol: 1.00]
 │  
 ├─ Sources:
 │  
 ├─ Filters:
 │  
 └─ Streams:
        74. VLC media player (LibVLC 3.0.21)                            
             73. output_FR       > Generic Analog:playback_FR	[active]
             75. output_FL       > Generic Analog:playback_FL	[active]

Settings
 └─ Default Configured Devices:

If I re-launch pipewire (`gentoo-pipewire-launcher restart`) it changes pulseaudio profile:

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$ pactl list sinks short                                                                              
54      alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.iec958-stereo      PipeWire        s32le 2ch 48000Hz       SUSPENDED

It changes the default sink to "digital stereo" and if I don't change profile again, `mpv --ao=pulse` (or alsa) doesn't error but doesn't produce any sound either. `speakertest -D sysdefault` will producde sound from the speaker but `speakertest -D default` and `speakertest -D pulse` don't.

I used to see some error/warning logs related to realtime scheduling but output I posted are produced after I resolved the logs (by recombiling kernel and installing rtkit)



Update

Damn it, the speaker was connected to rear speakers port and somehow this used to work in Pulseaudio. I wasn't smart enough to figure this out until I found this guy's post, so I keep this post here too.