[Pkg-utopia-maintainers] Bug#1081965: Debian 12 in VirtualBox with Intel HD Audio, PipeWire, and 4 GB RAM causes videos to fail loading

[Patrick Schleizer]

Package: pipewire
Severity: normal

PipeWire tested versions:

* 0.3.65 (bookworm)
* 1.2.3 (bookworm-backports)

Description of bug:

When using VirtualBox with the Audio Controller set to "Intel HD Audio" 
in the VM's audio settings, videos (local or in-browser, e.g., YouTube) 
fail to play and remain in a loading state indefinitely.

**Importantly, this issue only occurs when the VM's RAM is set to 4 GB 
or higher.** At 2 GB RAM, the system functions correctly.

This behavior closely resembles the issue demonstrated in the following 
video:
https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/1698#issuecomment-1031376517

How Reproducible:
Always

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Download Debian from: https://www.debian.org/distrib/
2. Install Debian in VirtualBox.
3. In the VirtualBox VM settings:
    - Go to Audio -> Audio Controller -> Set to "Intel HD Audio" 
(instead of ICH AC97).
    - Set RAM to **4 GB or higher**.
4. Run the VM and attempt to play any video.

Expected results:

Videos should play normally.

Actual result:

Videos remain stuck in a loading state and do not play.

Workaround:

Switching the Audio Controller to "ICH AC97" resolves the issue, but 
this is not desirable due to AC97 being outdated and having its own set 
of problems. Intel HD Audio is generally preferred for newer systems.

Additional Notes:

* PulseAudio + Intel HD Audio + Debian + any amount of RAM = functional.
* PipeWire + Debian + Intel HD Audio + **2 GB RAM** = functional.
* PipeWire + Debian + Intel HD Audio + **4 GB RAM** = broken.
* PipeWire + Arch Linux + Intel HD Audio + any amount of RAM = functional.

Conclusion:

This appears to be a Debian-specific issue with PipeWire when using the 
Intel HD Audio controller in VirtualBox, specifically when the VM's RAM 
is increased to 4 GB or more. At 2 GB RAM, PipeWire functions as expected.