OSMC RC RPI2 Analogue Sound problem

Help and Support Raspberry Pi
1

Hello there,

first of all, I want to thank you for this great kodi distro! Everything’s working great since the RC1, except for analogue sound output, on my RPI2.
The sound is really bad and I always hear distorted noise, making it impossible to watch anything. I already tried to reinstall, replace the audio cable and the usb cable, nothing seems to make any difference.
Perhaps someone can help me out here, as I really would love to enjoy OSMC to full extent.

Thanks a lot in advance,
A.

2

Where is the other end of the audio cable connected to ?..is there a possibility for HDMI connection

3

The other end is connected to my speakers. The problem is that I run my RPI2 on a 24’’ screen that has no integrated speakers, so I have to use the pi’s analogue output…
Edit: I’m gonna install OSMC to my RPI1 to see if the issue is related to the RPI2
Edit2: However, I remember not having this problem with the Alpha4 on my RPI2.

Edit 3: OK, just tried it on my RPI1, the sound is very low, but there is less distortion. What does that say?

4

Most hum problems be caused by:

  • Ground loops
  • No earth, and/or poorly installed power cables.
  • Poor quality signal cable
  • poor contact, often where the plug on the cable is, or between plug and input
  • persistent crackling on one pitch. Often results: dimmers, computers, monitors, fluorescent light, digital signals.
5

The weird thing is though, that it doesn’t do that with other distros installed…

6

I also got the same issue here: the sound is great through HDMI but sound is not good from analog ouput on a RPI2 (and I need the last one…). Both movies and Kodi interface sounds have distortion issues and very low volume.
I have no problem with a RPI1 and Raspbmc.

7

I made some further tests and it seems to me that the sound is not correctly balanced: the right channel has a much higher volume that the left one and the left one is almost inaudible but has some sound though.

Could it be related to the fact that RPI2 analog ouput is also a video output? Do we need a special wire or something to have a correct sound?

8

I think you’re right.

Probably you need a special cable plug for the B+ because audio + composite video are on the same socket. A normal headphone plug won’t work I guess.

The noise you’re hearing is probably because one of the headphone leads is connected to the composite video output.

9

Ok. I’ll try to find an appropriate wire and let you know.

About the left/right issue I mentioned, it seems that this is my speakers which actually have a problem.

10

A headphone type cable has tip–ring–shield, and works with a Pi Model B. The connector in the Pi2 is tip–ring–ring–shield to break out audio and video.

11

I tried to protect a part of the sleeve, both at the top and at the bottom of it alternatively, but it did not work.

@gelsenbart, you mentionned Alpha4 did not have this issue, do you confirm?

12

I must have mixed up something, retried the alpha and the issue was still there…
Bought a usb sound card now and the problem is fixed.