Switching to HDMI Audio when HDMI is plugged into a laptop (14.04)

I'm trying to get my laptop to switch the audio to HDMI when it's plugged in, and back to standard analog when it's removed.

I set up a udev rule to trigger a script to perform the switching, however I'm having problems getting it to work:

• It appears that until I select the HDMI Audio output in the Sound Settings, it is not recognised as a available sink, also once the HDMI Audio output is selected, the analog output is no longer listed.

See the below:

# HDMI plugged in, not selected in Sound settings.
$ pactl list short sinks 
5   alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo  module-alsa-card.c  s16le 2ch 44100Hz   SUSPENDED
kingamajick@kingamajick-laptop: ~

# HDMI selected in sound settings    
$ pactl list short sinks 
7   alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-stereo    module-alsa-card.c  s16le 2ch 48000Hz   SUSPENDED
kingamajick@kingamajick-laptop: ~

# HDMI removed
$ pactl list short sinks 
9   alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo  module-alsa-card.c  s16le 2ch 48000Hz   SUSPENDED

The script I'm using the toggle the output is as follows:

#!/bin/bash
HDMI_STATUS=`cat /sys/class/drm/card0/*HDMI*/status`
INPUTS=($(pacmd list-sink-inputs | grep index | awk '{print $2}'))

if [ $HDMI_STATUS = "connected" ]
then
    pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-stereo
    for i in ${INPUTS[*]}; do pacmd move-sink-input $i alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-stereo  &> /dev/null; done
else
    pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo
    for i in ${INPUTS[*]}; do pacmd move-sink-input $i alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo  &> /dev/null; done-server $PULSE_SERVER set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
fi

The script gives an error about no such sink when I trigger it before I select HDMI in the sound settings.

Solution 1:

Based in this link and this link ...i tested and WORKS FINE ubuntu 14.04

you should create a rule in /etc/udev/rules.d/100-hdmi_sound.rules

whith this content

SUBSYSTEM=="drm", ACTION=="change", RUN+="/lib/udev/hdmi_sound_toggle.sh"

then create

sudo -H gedit /lib/udev/hdmi_sound_toggle.sh

whith your content

#!/bin/bash

HDMI_STATUS=`cat /sys/class/drm/card0/*HDMI*/status`
INPUTS=($(pacmd list-sink-inputs | grep index | awk '{print $2}'))
if [ $HDMI_STATUS = "connected" ]
then
    pactl set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-stereo
    pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-stereo
    for i in ${INPUTS[*]}; do pacmd move-sink-input $i alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-stereo  &> /dev/null; done
else
    pactl set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo
    pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo
    for i in ${INPUTS[*]}; do pacmd move-sink-input $i alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo  &> /dev/null; done
fi

I Hope can help ..sorry for my english i spoke spanish

Solution 2:

1. Check for available cards & profiles

   pactl list cards
   

2. Add following command to the script to change profile before setting default sink & moving streams

   pactl [options] set-card-profile  CARD PROFILE
   

(So no need to switch it manually from Sound Settings)

Reference:

pactl -h & man pactl

Solution 3:

I had a bit of trouble following this. I copied the original script and modified it as suggested and now it works.

I am including it here to make it easier for someone else to use.

#!/bin/bash
## From: https://askubuntu.com/questions/458194/switching-to-hdmi-audio-when-hdmi-is-plugged-into-a-laptop-14-04
## Script needs to be triggered by a udev rule
## Works manually now

##source ${HOME}/bin/bash_trace
HDMI_STATUS=`cat /sys/class/drm/card0/*HDMI*/status`
INPUTS=($(pacmd list-sink-inputs | grep index | awk '{print $2}'))

if [ $HDMI_STATUS = "connected" ]
then
    pactl set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-stereo
    pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-stereo
    for i in ${INPUTS[*]}; do pacmd move-sink-input $i alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-stereo  &> /dev/null; done
else
    pactl set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo
    pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo
    for i in ${INPUTS[*]}; do pacmd move-sink-input $i alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo  &> /dev/null; done
fi

Now, I'd just like to trigger it with udev, but I'm clueless as to how to do that.

Solution 4:

The provided scripts didn't work for me with udev out of the box on Ubuntu 14.04, I had to add:

export DISPLAY=:0

at the beginning, convert the two pacmd commands to pactl and finally run the script using sudo -s -u (user) from the udev rule.

#!/bin/bash
## From: https://askubuntu.com/questions/458194/switching-to-hdmi-audio-when-hdmi-is-plugged-into-a-laptop-14-04
## Script needs to be triggered by a udev rule
## Works manually now

export DISPLAY=:0

##source ${HOME}/bin/bash_trace
HDMI_STATUS=`cat /sys/class/drm/card0/*HDMI*/status`
INPUTS=($(pactl list sink-inputs | grep Input | awk '{print $3}' | sed -r 's/^.{1}//')

if [ $HDMI_STATUS = "connected" ]
then
    pactl set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-stereo
    pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-stereo
    for i in ${INPUTS[*]}; do pactl move-sink-input $i alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-stereo  &> /dev/null; done
else
    pactl set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo
    pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo
    for i in ${INPUTS[*]}; do pactl move-sink-input $i alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo  &> /dev/null; done
fi