[pulseaudio-discuss] rtp-send questions

[Jim Duda]

I have 4 linux machines on my local network using pulse audio.
All of which are running pulseaudio 0.9.8.

Each has rtp-send and rtp-recv installed.
By default, each rtp-send is muted.

Question #1:  rtp-send mute

When rtp-send is muted, I expect that no rtp traffic will be sent.
Is this a correct assumption?

This doesn't appear true, and I am surprised by this.   I have one 
machine with a combined-sink, with one out being rtp-send.  When playing 
any audio to this combined-sink, I get a constant stream of network 
bandwidth on the order of 192K bytes/second.  When I stop the audio, the 
network bandwidth goes down into the noise level.

The default.pa for this machine is:

This machine is a server which runs with --system mode.

load-sample-lazy pulse-hotplug /usr/share/sounds/startup3.wav
load-module module-hal-detect
load-module module-cli-protocol-tcp
load-module module-http-protocol-tcp
load-module module-esound-protocol-unix
load-module module-native-protocol-unix auth-anonymous=1
load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-anonymous=1
load-module module-zeroconf-publish
load-module module-null-sink sink_name=sphinx_record description="Sphinx 
Recording Source"
load-module module-null-sink sink_name=sphinx_playback 
description="Sphinx Playback Source"
load-module module-rtp-recv
load-module module-null-sink sink_name=rtp format=s16le channels=2 
rate=44100 description="RTP Multicast Sink"
load-module module-rtp-send source=rtp.monitor
load-module module-combine sink_name=combined 
master=alsa_output.pci_1274_5880_alsa_playback_0 
slaves=alsa_output.pci_8086_24d5_alsa_playback_0,rtp,sphinx_playback
load-module module-volume-restore
load-module module-default-device-restore
load-module module-rescue-streams
load-module module-suspend-on-idle
load-module module-gconf
set-default-sink combined
set-default-source alsa_input.pci_1274_5880_alsa_capture_0
set-sink-mute rtp 1

Question #2: one machine acts different

One machine appears to be sending rtp traffic when rtp-send is 
included., even when no audio is playing.  When this one machine has 
rtp-send installed, and muted, and no audio is plaing, I see a constant 
stream of network traffic on the order of 192K bytes/second.

This machine is a standard desktop which doesn't run with --system

What could be causing this condition, independent of question #1 above?

I have confirmed that no streams are playing on this machine, but yet, I 
see the 192K bytes of traffic.  The traffic comes and goes as a function 
of including rtp-send on this machine.

The default.pa for this machine is:

load-sample-lazy pulse-hotplug /usr/share/sounds/startup3.wav
load-module module-hal-detect
load-module module-esound-protocol-unix
load-module module-native-protocol-unix auth-anonymous=1
load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-anonymous=1
load-module module-http-protocol-tcp
load-module module-zeroconf-publish
load-module module-null-sink sink_name=rtp format=s16le channels=2 
rate=44100 description="RTP Multicast Sink"
load-module module-rtp-send source=rtp.monitor
load-module module-rtp-recv
load-module module-volume-restore
load-module module-default-device-restore
load-module module-rescue-streams
load-module module-suspend-on-idle
load-module module-x11-publish
load-module module-gconf
set-sink-mute rtp 1

Thanks for any insight.

Jim