XBMC Ubuntu 12.10 sound over hdmi

I have XBMC installed on my htpc, a Shuttle XS35GT with desktop Ubuntu 12.10. XBMC is enabled in the Startup Applications list and launches fine on boot. However I had to exit and restart XBMC after boot to get the sound working, annoying and with no WAF at all, sadly.

It occurred to me that delaying the startup of XBMC itself was worth a shot, so off to google I went and found this tip.

Edit your startup applications so the xbmc entry contains the command

bash -c "sleep 10 && xbmc"

This postpones the launch for 10 seconds and fixed the problem for me. Might help someone else as well. :)