HDMI Audio via Graphics Card

[iftiq]

Hi,

I have the following configuration:

Asus P5 N32 SLI SE Deluxe Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
4 GB Corsair Value Select RAM
Sapphire ATI HD4850, 512MB (http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/produ...gpid=247&grp=3)

I also have a TV with HMDI input and I want to connect my computer to the TV. The question I have is do I have to do anything special to get the audio to work or can I just connect the graphics card to the TV with an HDMI cable?

I can't seem to find any instructions on how to do this in the support documentation or on the ATI website and some part of me doesn't believe it can be so simple as just hooking up a cable.

Appreciate any insight.

Thanks,
Ifti

[GoNz0]

i think theres ment to be a 2 pin connector on the card and motherboard that need connecting together to allow the sound over HDMI

[Biscuit]

something like this

[iftiq]

Cool, thank you. I think I have 4 pin "AUX" audio thingy on my motherboard.... I presume that two of those pins should do the trick? Shall have to see if I can find a suitable connecting wire amidst the things that came with the graphics card.

Any ideas if internal sound cards come with this sort of header as well? The built in 3.5mm audio jack on my computer is very temperamental and I've decided to get an internal sound card to work around the issue.

[ma10]

I can't seem to find any instructions on how to do this in the support documentation or on the ATI website and some part of me doesn't believe it can be so simple as just hooking up a cable.

I bought a HD3850 on the cheap recently, installed the official ATI drivers, used the included DVI/HDMI adapter, plugged the HDMI cable into the TV and got sound straight away without changing anything tbh...

Does the card have a HDMI connector or did you get a DVI/HDMI adapter included with the card?? I know that if you do require the DVI/HDMI adapter then you have to use the one included to get the audio working.

If you are using the included one (or have onboard HDMI connector) you may want to check your OS audio settings to see what the default audio device is set to...

[GoNz0]

Cool, thank you. I think I have 4 pin "AUX" audio thingy on my motherboard.... I presume that two of those pins should do the trick? Shall have to see if I can find a suitable connecting wire amidst the things that came with the graphics card.

Any ideas if internal sound cards come with this sort of header as well? The built in 3.5mm audio jack on my computer is very temperamental and I've decided to get an internal sound card to work around the issue.

wrong thing, has to be a 2 pin spif plug

[SiM]

Yup that cable looks like it is for stereo sound only... won't work with multi-channel sound

You should be able to get the sound working over HDMI without that cable. You just need the right driver, here are the XP ones:
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/Oth...river-XP.shtml

Not sure if vista needs different drivers or if the drivers are included in the normal catalyst now (I assume the later is true)

[Blaineoliver]

You dont use those connectors on ati for sound, you just set HDMI as default sound. The 4850 and 3850 both have onboard soundcards in them.

[shadowmaster]

You dont use those connectors on ati for sound, you just set HDMI as default sound. The 4850 and 3850 both have onboard soundcards in them.

+1, normally as soon as you connect your gfx card to your tv via a hdmi cable an option normally pops ups stating if you want move sound output through the gfx card. If not then you can manually do it by going into control panel.

[Hawker1986]

As the last two posters have said, there is no need for extra cables with your graphics card, just plug in the HDMI and in sound options set the HDMI as default sound device and your all sorted.

Hawker

[SiM]

Ahh my mistake - I seem to recall my 2600pro needing separate drivers for HDMI sound... but it was years ago when I used HDMI sound - I stopped using it after I realised that it was crippled on the 2600pro

[Webby]

Yep as has been said you need no additional cables for ATI sound over HDMI you do however need to use the correct DVI to HDMI dongle (the one that came in the box, unless your card has a dedicated HDMI output) to ensure the sound is passed through the cable correctly.

[Salazaar]

When I first installed my 4850 I could move my movie player (movie player classic) between my monitor and TV and the sound would switch accordingly. For some reason, possibly as a result of adding a new driver or codec, it's stopped doing that and I have to switch audio source manually in the software which is a bit of a pain.

Anyone got any idea what the problem might be?

[dbh]

Make sure you install the ATI HDMI Audio drivers for your graphics card otherwise you might not get the sound over the HDMI. Realtek ATI HDMI drivers is what it goes by on the net, and as someone else said set ATI HDMI as primary for speakers and you'll get your audio.

[iftiq]

Aaaah, thank's all. So I really don't have to do anything then.

How come these HDMI Audio drivers don't come with the soundcard- or bundled with the Graphics Drivers download from the ATI website?

Glad I didn't open up the case and try to poke about. So hopefully all I need now is an HDMI cable. The card has two DVI ports, and I have an HDMI-DVI adapter that came with the card. I presume I can use one of the DVI ports to hook up my monitor and another to hook up my tv via the adapter and then just switch between the two?

[Salazaar]

Glad I didn't open up the case and try to poke about. So hopefully all I need now is an HDMI cable. The card has two DVI ports, and I have an HDMI-DVI adapter that came with the card. I presume I can use one of the DVI ports to hook up my monitor and another to hook up my tv via the adapter and then just switch between the two?

That exactly what I've been doing