[pulseaudio-discuss] Sound goes to wrong output in XBMC and Steam

[Kai Krakow]

Hey list!

I've connected my TV as a second monitor to my PC but still use my surround 
system connected to analog out on my mainboard. I've configured device 
priorities in KDE to prefer the analog output. For most applications, it 
works fine. But some still prefer passing sound to the HDMI output.

The problem is with Steam, Steam games, and XBMC. All these applications 
start passing sound to HDMI instead of analog surround. As soon as I move 
the volume slider in KDE or in the application, the sound "jumps" to analog 
output as I configured it. But this can only be a workaround. Upon starting 
Steam, I have to move the volume slider to fix sound output. Upon starting a 
game, I have to move the slider to fix it. And this is especially annoying 
for XBMC, as it jumps back to HDMI on every new video playback, and jumps 
forth to analog stereo as soon as I move the volume slider.

I figured out that I can right click the volume slider icon in KDE to move 
the audio stream to another output. But this is not permanent. It is just 
the same effect as moving the volume slider.

And then there is one game left which does not allow me to move it back to 
the correct output. No matter what I do, it persists playing back on HDMI 
sound. But it clearly uses pulseaudio as a application volume slider is 
displayed for it.

I checked "pacmd list-cards" and all priorites look good. Why is this 
behavior? It looks like a bug in pulseaudio because as soon as I move the 
volume slider, the output assignment is correctly applied. So it looks like 
new audio streams are not correctly assigned to the right device, just 
ignoring priorities. HDMI is listed as the first sink. I already tried to 
set the default sink in the /etc config files - but it does not help. 
Pulseaudio remembers my settings over reboots so this is not the problem. 
But normal desktop applications also play on the wrong output after login 
although "pacmd list-cards" shows correct priorities. This can be "fixed" by 
moving a volume slider - from then on, all applications play on the right 
device with the exception of the above mentioned.

I'm using pulseaudio 4.0 on Gentoo 64 bit.

Merry christmas!
Kai