Help to sort a multimedia system??? (still)

[DB]

Good afternoon All - at least here in Europe!!

Can someone please give me some pointers on how to troubleshoot my sounds???

I've got F10
[Dave at Fedora-Blue ~]$ uname -r
2.6.27.19-170.2.35.fc10.i686
run KDE
[root at Fedora-Blue ~]# rpm -qa --qf "%{vendor} : 
%{n}-%{v}-%{r}.%{arch}\\n" | grep kde
Fedora Project : 
kdebase-runtime-libs-4.2.1-2.fc10.i386                             
Fedora Project : 
kdeutils-printer-applet-4.2.1-3.fc10.i386                          
Fedora Project : 
kde-filesystem-4-23.fc10.noarch                                    
Fedora Project : 
kdegraphics-libs-4.2.1-3.fc10.i386                                 
Fedora Project : 
kdeadmin-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386                                         
Fedora Project : 
kdelibs-common-4.2.1-4.fc10.i386                                   
Fedora Project : 
kdesdk-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386                                           
Fedora Project : 
kdeplasma-addons-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386                                 
Fedora Project : 
xsettings-kde-0.9-1.fc10.i386                                      
Fedora Project : 
kde-settings-4.1-6.20090206svn.fc10.noarch                         
Fedora Project : 
kdelibs3-3.5.10-3.fc10.i386                                        
Fedora Project : 
kdebase-runtime-4.2.1-2.fc10.i386                                  
Fedora Project : 
kdemultimedia-libs-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386                               
Fedora Project : 
kdegames-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386                                         
Fedora Project : 
kdebase-workspace-libs-4.2.1-7.fc10.i386                           
Fedora Project : 
kdebase3-pim-ioslaves-3.5.10-4.fc10.i386                           
Fedora Project : 
kdepimlibs-akonadi-4.2.1-2.fc10.1.i386                             
Fedora Project : 
kdegames-libs-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386                                    
Fedora Project : 
kdegraphics-4.2.1-3.fc10.i386                                      
Fedora Project : 
kdepim-libs-4.2.1-3.fc10.i386                                      
Fedora Project : 
kdewebdev-libs-3.5.10-1.fc10.i386                                  
Fedora Project : 
kdebase-workspace-wallpapers-4.2.1-7.fc10.noarch                   
Fedora Project : kdelibs-4.2.1-4.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdeutils-4.2.1-3.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdeartwork-extras-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : qstars-kde-0.4-6.fc9.i386
Fedora Project : solar-kde-theme-0.1.17-1.fc10.noarch
Fedora Project : kdelibs3-devel-3.5.10-3.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : compiz-kde-0.7.8-7.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kde-l10n-British-4.2.1-1.fc10.noarch
Fedora Project : kdepimlibs-4.2.1-2.fc10.1.i386
Fedora Project : kdesdk-libs-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdebase-workspace-4.2.1-7.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdeartwork-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdewebdev-devel-3.5.10-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : lockdev-1.0.1-13.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdebase3-3.5.10-4.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdesdk-utils-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdebase-libs-4.2.1-2.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdebase-4.2.1-2.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdemultimedia-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kde-settings-pulseaudio-4.1-6.20090206svn.fc10.noarch
Fedora Project : kdeartwork-icons-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdenetwork-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdeartwork-kxs-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdewebdev-3.5.10-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdebase3-libs-3.5.10-4.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdepim-4.2.1-3.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdetv-0.8.9-10.fc9.i386
Fedora Project : kde-settings-kdm-4.1-6.20090206svn.fc10.noarch
Fedora Project : kdenetwork-libs-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kdeadmin-kpackage-4.2.1-1.fc10.i386

That's a surprise!  Never realised how many "things" are in a simple 
KDE.....

And in the Audio Dept:
[root at Fedora-Blue ~]# rpm -qa --qf "%{vendor} : 
%{n}-%{v}-%{r}.%{arch}\\n" | grep audio
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-utils-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-esound-compat-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-module-zeroconf-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : audiofile-0.2.6-9.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : jack-audio-connection-kit-0.116.1-3.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : wine-pulseaudio-1.1.15-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : alsa-plugins-pulseaudio-1.0.18-2.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : xine-lib-pulseaudio-1.1.16.2-3.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-libs-zeroconf-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-core-libs-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : fluxbox-pulseaudio-1.1.1-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : gnome-audio-2.22.2-2.fc10.noarch
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-module-gconf-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : kde-settings-pulseaudio-4.1-6.20090206svn.fc10.noarch
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-libs-glib2-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-libs-devel-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-module-lirc-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-libs-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386
Fedora Project : pulseaudio-module-x11-0.9.14-1.fc10.i386

Sooo  Here's the problems:

On start up, a little black window pops up saying that Phonom can't 
usesomething - I guess the AC97 onboard sound - reverting to Sis S17012.

The start ding dong sounds like the crystal set I built in the 50s.... 
180% distortion.

Kaffeine can only see one of the 2 DVD players (Master & Slave on an ide 
cable) and playback is monstrously distorted..  And I don't appear to be 
able to set  the audio-cd-device in the xine parameters...

I've opened KMix, the only controls which appears to affect Kaffeine 
playback is PCM & Master- the CD control seems to have no effect.

Rythmn box  used to see both, now it won't even recognise a disc.... But 
will play one of the radio channels without distortion.  Aaaah---muted 
the mic in Kmix & distortion has vanished!

Alsamixer either does nothing (stat up), or takes 100% CPU cycles if I 
click on anything,

I tried to yumex the xine -lib-extras-freeworld & keep getting
Missing Dependency: xine-lib(plugin-abi) = 1.24 is needed by package 
xine-lib-extras-freeworld-1.1.15-4.fc10.i386 (rpmfusion-free)
Thought that maybe removing xine-lib & letting extras pull it in fresh 
might help.. but taking off xine-lib wants to take out most of kde... so 
didn't do that!!

Tried to play a commercial DVD; Dragon says it doesn't have the right 
plugins ( in extras-freeworld??).  Other players "sometimes they sits & 
thinks, sometimes they just sits"

Tried to run Skype... Berfore I got the webcam to work, I had sound.  
Now I have video, I only (most times) only have incoming sound.  I'm 
offered as sound input
Default Device
SiS S17012 ( hwSI7012,0)
SiS S17012 ( hwSI7012,1)
SiS S17012 ( plughwSI7012,0)
SiS S17012 ( plughwSI7012,1)
2 connections for the mic on the Webcam,
HDMI
Pulse

"Test sound" produces nothing, "Test call" gives me the Skype sounds but 
nothing back from my voice.....

Does anyone know of a way to check what's what?  Can I (should I) 
disable various "layers" of SW ?

What's the difference between the hw 0 & 1 in Skype; between hw & 
plughw; why does KMix offer me mic1 & mic2; what does the "capture" do 
in kmix?

HEEEeeeeeeelp!  Please!!

Dave