[MPlayer-users] Problem with ALSA playback using A52 plugin

[Johannes Bauer]

Hello list,

I'm having a *weird* problem with ALSA and mplayer - I've posted on the 
ALSA mailing list a couple of days ago, but got no answer. Here is my 
problem, again:

I'm running into a very strange problem with a52 sound output: I had it
all setup and working (http://johannes-bauer.com/dolby/) but had to
reinstall my system completely as I had an architectural upgrade (I'm
now on a Core2 Duo Gentoo system, -march=nocona).

When trying to play movies with mplayer which loop AC3 trough,
everything works fine. When trying to playback MP3 streams, it becomes
*very* weird:

$ mplayer movie.avi
[...]
Öffne Audiodecoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 160.0 kbit/10.42% (ratio: 20000->192000)
Ausgewählter Audiocodec: [mp3] afm: mp3lib (mp3lib MPEG layer-2, layer-3)
==========================================================================
[AO_ALSA] alsa-lib: pcm_a52.c:685:(_snd_pcm_a52_open) Cannot find codec
engine
[AO_ALSA] Fehler beim Öffnen der Wiedergabe: Invalid argument
Kann Audiotreiber/Soundkarte nicht öffnen/initialisieren -> kein Ton
Audio: kein Ton!

I'm sorry these messages are in German, but it should translate to

$ mplayer movie.avi
[...]
Opening audio decoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 160.0 kbit/10.42% (ratio: 20000->192000)
Chosen audio codec: [mp3] afm: mp3lib (mp3lib MPEG layer-2, layer-3)
==========================================================================
[AO_ALSA] alsa-lib: pcm_a52.c:685:(_snd_pcm_a52_open) Cannot find codec
engine
[AO_ALSA] Error opening playback: Invalid argument
Cannot open/initialize audio driver/sound card -> no sound
Audio: no sound!

Then the video is "stuck" somehow, i.e. it does not play back anything 
and displays some artifacts (can make screenshots).

This seems *way* weird to me, as I already had it working. Any clues?

Thanks in advance,
Kind Regards,
Johannes