TV as monitor

[Ed Cryer]

I use a TV for monitor; connected into PC socket with a cable from sound
card into TV socket. It gives a max resolution of 1360x768.
When I use a HDMI cable instead, the resolution goes up dramatically but
there's no sound to the TV speakers. Sound comes through the normal
speakers, though.

Any help will be welcome.

Ed

 

[Andy Burns]

I use a TV for monitor; connected into PC socket with a cable from sound
card into TV socket. It gives a max resolution of 1360x768.
When I use a HDMI cable instead, the resolution goes up dramatically but
there's no sound to the TV speakers. Sound comes through the normal
speakers, though.

Problem could be either end of the the cable, windows ought to have an
extra HD audio device, TV might need switching its audio from the
analogue connectors to digital ...

 

[Bill Bradshaw]

I use a TV for monitor; connected into PC socket with a cable from
sound card into TV socket. It gives a max resolution of 1360x768.
When I use a HDMI cable instead, the resolution goes up dramatically
but there's no sound to the TV speakers. Sound comes through the
normal speakers, though.

Any help will be welcome.

Ed

Go into the Control Panel and select Sound and see if you have a choice
of speakers under Playback. I always have an HDMI Device option and
make sure that is selected to get the sound to play back through it.

 

[SC Tom]

I use a TV for monitor; connected into PC socket with a cable from sound
card into TV socket. It gives a max resolution of 1360x768.
When I use a HDMI cable instead, the resolution goes up dramatically but
there's no sound to the TV speakers. Sound comes through the normal
speakers, though.

Any help will be welcome.

Ed

If your video card has an HDMI out, then there should have been audio
drivers loaded for it at the same time as the video drivers. Right-click on
your Volume icon in the system tray and select "Playback devices." If HDMI
is listed, then the drivers are loaded. (If it isn't plugged in and doesn't
show, right-click on any other device and check "Show Disconnected Devices"
and see if it shows then.) Plug in your HDMI cable to the video card, then
right-click on it and "Set as Default Device." Now you should get sound from
the TV when the HDMI cable is connected, and sound from your regular
speakers when it's not.

 

[Paul]

I use a TV for monitor; connected into PC socket with a cable from sound
card into TV socket. It gives a max resolution of 1360x768.
When I use a HDMI cable instead, the resolution goes up dramatically but
there's no sound to the TV speakers. Sound comes through the normal
speakers, though.

Any help will be welcome.

Ed

As the other respondents have pointed out, sound over HDMI is possible
with very modern video cards. Driver magic, a control panel setting,
and you can use the digital audio path over HDMI. The TV has to be
set as well, if it has a selector for analog audio or digital audio in.
The TV needs the flexibility of doing that selection, in case there
isn't actually digital audio coming in over the HDMI cable.

There is an extra "sound device", shown as a hardware asset, when the
modern video card has its sound driver loaded. And it may show in
whatever passes for a sound control panel in Windows.

*******

In this case, the setup thinks sound is now actually going over the HDMI
cable, so the TV has already switched to digital. Now, it's your job to figure
out why it isn't working, or to flip it back to analog. Check the TV end,
and see if it's set to digital sound over HDMI. Or, try verifying a driver
is in place for digital sound over HDMI on the video card end.

Some older video cards, didn't have a digital audio path like the one
described in the first paragraph above. Yet, they still claimed to have
digital audio. The trick was, an SPDIF edge connector of some sort, up near
the top of the card, nearer the faceplate end of the card. That was meant
for a cable to run from the motherboard (SPDIF) sound, to the video card.
Then, setting the motherboard audio to SPDIF, would complete the connection.
The video card would convert the 6MHz digital audio on the cable, to the
HDMI format (likely some flavor of PCM).

So if you had that kind of older video card, you may need a cable.
I don't know any more about it, than that. If you have an Nvidia
video card, and it doesn't appear to have an unresolved driver
dependency, then it might be using the SPDIF trick.

(A cable for $3 for SPDIF and NVidia...)

http://www.xsfans.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=900

(Picture of an NVidia 9400GT with SPDIF two pin input near the top)

http://www.geforce.com/Active/en_US...ce_9400_gt/geforce_9400_gt_f_med-1000x580.png

Switching the TV back to using the analog sound signal, is a lot
easier. At least, if the TV has such a selector.

Paul

 

[Ed Cryer]

If your video card has an HDMI out, then there should have been audio
drivers loaded for it at the same time as the video drivers. Right-click
on your Volume icon in the system tray and select "Playback devices." If
HDMI is listed, then the drivers are loaded. (If it isn't plugged in and
doesn't show, right-click on any other device and check "Show
Disconnected Devices" and see if it shows then.) Plug in your HDMI cable
to the video card, then right-click on it and "Set as Default Device."
Now you should get sound from the TV when the HDMI cable is connected,
and sound from your regular speakers when it's not.

Very strange situation here.

Only "Speakers" show. I right clicked on that and "Show disabled" and
"disconnected" were both already ticked.

This is an Acer Aspire, a few months' old. I have another Acer Aspire
X3300 with Win7/Win8 on it, so I looked at that and it shows all these;
Win7;
Speakers
Digital Audio (S/PDF)
Digital Audio (HDMI)
Digital Audio (HDMI)
under Win8;
NVIDIA HDMI Output
Speakers
Realtek Digital Output
Realtek HDMI Output

That led me to the Realtek HD Audio Manager, and it has full
configuration and testing for the lot; and the tests all proved ok.

Back to this X3990.
The Realtek program only shows Speakers and Stereo Mix on its tabs.

Maybe some service needs starting. I'll have to take a look when I get
more time.

Ed

 

[Ed Cryer]

As the other respondents have pointed out, sound over HDMI is possible
with very modern video cards. Driver magic, a control panel setting,
and you can use the digital audio path over HDMI. The TV has to be
set as well, if it has a selector for analog audio or digital audio in.
The TV needs the flexibility of doing that selection, in case there
isn't actually digital audio coming in over the HDMI cable.

There is an extra "sound device", shown as a hardware asset, when the
modern video card has its sound driver loaded. And it may show in
whatever passes for a sound control panel in Windows.

*******

In this case, the setup thinks sound is now actually going over the HDMI
cable, so the TV has already switched to digital. Now, it's your job to
figure
out why it isn't working, or to flip it back to analog. Check the TV end,
and see if it's set to digital sound over HDMI. Or, try verifying a driver
is in place for digital sound over HDMI on the video card end.

Some older video cards, didn't have a digital audio path like the one
described in the first paragraph above. Yet, they still claimed to have
digital audio. The trick was, an SPDIF edge connector of some sort, up near
the top of the card, nearer the faceplate end of the card. That was meant
for a cable to run from the motherboard (SPDIF) sound, to the video card.
Then, setting the motherboard audio to SPDIF, would complete the
connection.
The video card would convert the 6MHz digital audio on the cable, to the
HDMI format (likely some flavor of PCM).

So if you had that kind of older video card, you may need a cable.
I don't know any more about it, than that. If you have an Nvidia
video card, and it doesn't appear to have an unresolved driver
dependency, then it might be using the SPDIF trick.

(A cable for $3 for SPDIF and NVidia...)

http://www.xsfans.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=900

(Picture of an NVidia 9400GT with SPDIF two pin input near the top)

http://www.geforce.com/Active/en_US...ce_9400_gt/geforce_9400_gt_f_med-1000x580.png


Switching the TV back to using the analog sound signal, is a lot
easier. At least, if the TV has such a selector.

Paul

Thanks for that Paul. I've just posted my latest on this problem to SC
Tom, above. It's something that you'll have maybe met on your Acer
machine. I'd certainly appreciate your comments on what I've found.

Ed

 

[Paul]

Very strange situation here.

Only "Speakers" show. I right clicked on that and "Show disabled" and
"disconnected" were both already ticked.

This is an Acer Aspire, a few months' old. I have another Acer Aspire
X3300 with Win7/Win8 on it, so I looked at that and it shows all these;
Win7;
Speakers
Digital Audio (S/PDF)
Digital Audio (HDMI)
Digital Audio (HDMI)
under Win8;
NVIDIA HDMI Output
Speakers
Realtek Digital Output
Realtek HDMI Output

That led me to the Realtek HD Audio Manager, and it has full
configuration and testing for the lot; and the tests all proved ok.

Back to this X3990.
The Realtek program only shows Speakers and Stereo Mix on its tabs.

Maybe some service needs starting. I'll have to take a look when I get
more time.

Ed

According to this, the Acer X3990 has an ATI HD6450 video card.

*******
http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/NZ/content/model/PT.SGK02.022

Aspire X3990
PT.SGK02.022
$ 1049 NZD

Windows 7 Home Premium

Intel Core i3 processor 2100 (3.1GHz, 3MB L2 cache, 1333MHz FSB)
4GB DDR3 Single Channel
1TB SATA Hard Drive 5400 RPM
DVD Super Multi Drive
512MB ATI HD6450
Chipset Model H61 Express
Number of Total Memory Slots 2
Memory Card Reader Yes
Ethernet Technology Gigabit Ethernet
Wi-Fi Yes
Interfaces/Ports
HDMI Yes
DVI Yes
Total Number of USB 2.0 Ports 9
Audio Line In Yes
Audio Line Out Yes
VGA Yes
Maximum Power Supply Wattage 220 W
*******

When I download a Catalyst driver for the video card, there
is an AMD branded audio driver in there as well. I poked around
with 7ZIP, to find some files. Download is 150MB+, depending on
which one you get.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx#1

AtihdLH6.inf
AtihdW76.inf

ATIHdAudioDriver.SvcDesc = "AMD Function Driver for HD Audio Service"

HdAudioDeviceDescription = "AMD High Definition Audio Device"
FX_FriendlyName = "Microsoft Audio Home Theater Effects"

If the audio driver for the video card installed, you should
see (at least) two entries. One for the onboard analog audio
from the motherboard. And a second entry that you'd select if
you wanted digital audio over HDMI instead. At one time, the
ATI/AMD video card, used a Realtek driver (strange as it may seem),
but I think the driver is now "own-branded" again.

http://support.amd.com/PublishingImages/Support/GPU-73/Win7-controlpanel-sound.png

Paul

 

[Ed Cryer]

According to this, the Acer X3990 has an ATI HD6450 video card.

*******
http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/NZ/content/model/PT.SGK02.022

Aspire X3990
PT.SGK02.022
$ 1049 NZD

Windows 7 Home Premium

Intel Core i3 processor 2100 (3.1GHz, 3MB L2 cache, 1333MHz FSB)
4GB DDR3 Single Channel
1TB SATA Hard Drive 5400 RPM
DVD Super Multi Drive
512MB ATI HD6450
Chipset Model H61 Express
Number of Total Memory Slots 2
Memory Card Reader Yes
Ethernet Technology Gigabit Ethernet
Wi-Fi Yes
Interfaces/Ports
HDMI Yes
DVI Yes
Total Number of USB 2.0 Ports 9
Audio Line In Yes
Audio Line Out Yes
VGA Yes
Maximum Power Supply Wattage 220 W
*******

When I download a Catalyst driver for the video card, there
is an AMD branded audio driver in there as well. I poked around
with 7ZIP, to find some files. Download is 150MB+, depending on
which one you get.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx#1


AtihdLH6.inf
AtihdW76.inf

ATIHdAudioDriver.SvcDesc = "AMD Function Driver for HD Audio Service"

HdAudioDeviceDescription = "AMD High Definition Audio Device"
FX_FriendlyName = "Microsoft Audio Home Theater Effects"

If the audio driver for the video card installed, you should
see (at least) two entries. One for the onboard analog audio
from the motherboard. And a second entry that you'd select if
you wanted digital audio over HDMI instead. At one time, the
ATI/AMD video card, used a Realtek driver (strange as it may seem),
but I think the driver is now "own-branded" again.

http://support.amd.com/PublishingImages/Support/GPU-73/Win7-controlpanel-sound.png


Paul

Curiouser and curiouser. Mine has an i5 quad-core processor, 6GB memory,
2TB HD; all exactly as it came off the shelves of Comet warehouse. I
bookmarked the support page on their website a day in, but I just tried
it and it's gone.

Well, it's a damn good piece of kit. I wonder what happened, though.
Special one-off job, or what?

The graphics are;
Intel(R) HD Graphics
Version 8.15.10.2696
Tens & tens of individual drivers, mostly Intel but some unknown.

The audio is;
Realtek High Definition Audio.
lots of individual ones of multifarious manufacturers, including
Realtek, Virage, DTS and MS; one says "unknown"

What do you think? Work on that last one? Roll back drivers, reinstall etc?

Ed

 

[Paul]

Curiouser and curiouser. Mine has an i5 quad-core processor, 6GB memory,
2TB HD; all exactly as it came off the shelves of Comet warehouse. I
bookmarked the support page on their website a day in, but I just tried
it and it's gone.

Well, it's a damn good piece of kit. I wonder what happened, though.
Special one-off job, or what?

The graphics are;
Intel(R) HD Graphics
Version 8.15.10.2696
Tens & tens of individual drivers, mostly Intel but some unknown.

The audio is;
Realtek High Definition Audio.
lots of individual ones of multifarious manufacturers, including
Realtek, Virage, DTS and MS; one says "unknown"

What do you think? Work on that last one? Roll back drivers, reinstall etc?

Ed

Well, let's concentrate on the HDMI at least

What does your HDMI cable connect to ?

Does it connect to the motherboard I/O plate (implying Intel graphics) ?
A fair number of Intel processors and motherboards now, have built-in
graphics as an option.

Does it connect to an add-in card slot, and video card faceplate ?

Knowing the answer to that, tells us which driver to start looking at.

If the HDMI cable connects to a video card slot, we'll need details
on the video card (to determine if an Nvidia or ATI driver is needed).
The audio driver in that case, should be built into the bloated download.

If it's Intel video and an HDMI connector, I haven't a clue.
I presume it would be the same idea (Intel has gradually been
catching up with the others).

Before rolling back any driver, you want to check Device Manager,
and see if there are any error messages in there. Like, an indication
there's no driver at all. Or, that a driver cannot load. Rollback
itself is of limited value, because if you didn't install some
broken driver to begin with, you don't know what you're "unrolling"

In terms of listing your hardware contents, I probably mention Everest
a little too often. In the list here, you could try Belarc, and maybe
that would mention the video card model. There are quite a few here
I've never tried. As far as I know, "msinfo32" can't give more info
than Device Manager, so if a driver is missing, you'd get no "text string"
for the hardware item. Whereas other profilers, try to use VID/PID or
VEN/DEV numbers to identify hardware. And then, the program in question
has to be an up-to-date version, to have the latest list of numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_profiler

Paul

 

[Ed Cryer]

Well, let's concentrate on the HDMI at least

What does your HDMI cable connect to ?

Does it connect to the motherboard I/O plate (implying Intel graphics) ?
A fair number of Intel processors and motherboards now, have built-in
graphics as an option.

Does it connect to an add-in card slot, and video card faceplate ?

Knowing the answer to that, tells us which driver to start looking at.

If the HDMI cable connects to a video card slot, we'll need details
on the video card (to determine if an Nvidia or ATI driver is needed).
The audio driver in that case, should be built into the bloated download.

If it's Intel video and an HDMI connector, I haven't a clue.
I presume it would be the same idea (Intel has gradually been
catching up with the others).

Before rolling back any driver, you want to check Device Manager,
and see if there are any error messages in there. Like, an indication
there's no driver at all. Or, that a driver cannot load. Rollback
itself is of limited value, because if you didn't install some
broken driver to begin with, you don't know what you're "unrolling"

In terms of listing your hardware contents, I probably mention Everest
a little too often. In the list here, you could try Belarc, and maybe
that would mention the video card model. There are quite a few here
I've never tried. As far as I know, "msinfo32" can't give more info
than Device Manager, so if a driver is missing, you'd get no "text string"
for the hardware item. Whereas other profilers, try to use VID/PID or
VEN/DEV numbers to identify hardware. And then, the program in question
has to be an up-to-date version, to have the latest list of numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_profiler

Paul

Bingo! I just rolled back the High Definition Audio Device and it's
working now.
I'd already tried the Realtek High Definition Audio, but no change.
The other one has Manufacturer = Microsoft.
Ah, ah. Who was it who was saying in here recently not to trust
MS-provided drivers?

The sound comes through the TV speakers, but the system speakers are cut
off. And the picture quality is of a quite staggering rareness. I have a
suspicion I'll soon be going back to the PC socket just to save my eyes
the strain.

Here's a picture of my Device Manager, quality-reduced to save space.
http://tinyurl.com/cm934ey

Ed

 

[Char Jackson]

Bingo! I just rolled back the High Definition Audio Device and it's
working now.
I'd already tried the Realtek High Definition Audio, but no change.
The other one has Manufacturer = Microsoft.
Ah, ah. Who was it who was saying in here recently not to trust
MS-provided drivers?

The sound comes through the TV speakers, but the system speakers are cut
off. And the picture quality is of a quite staggering rareness. I have a
suspicion I'll soon be going back to the PC socket just to save my eyes
the strain.

Are you saying HDMI is worse than VGA? That shouldn't necessarily be
the case. I would expect just the opposite.

 

[Ed Cryer]

Are you saying HDMI is worse than VGA? That shouldn't necessarily be
the case. I would expect just the opposite.

OK then, clever dick. You just try sitting three feet in front of your
TV screen for a while and see how you feel.

Ed

 

[Char Jackson]

OK then, clever dick. You just try sitting three feet in front of your
TV screen for a while and see how you feel.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say, so I'll simply repeat my
question. Are you saying HDMI is worse than VGA? If so, I'm guessing
you have some adjustments out of what.

 

[Char Jackson]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say, so I'll simply repeat my
question. Are you saying HDMI is worse than VGA? If so, I'm guessing
you have some adjustments out of what.

Or out of whack, even.

 

[Ed Cryer]

Or out of whack, even.

WEll, I'm sticking with it for a bit since I put so much effort into
getting it working.

The TV has so many settings available that somewhere amidst all that I
should be able to dredge something up.
So far I've turned down brightness, back lighting, contrast and a few
other things. And I've set the speakers to Custom (with a graphic
equalizer) rather than Standard, Music, Speech or Dynamic.
And it still looks a bit liable to ruin my eyes. So I'm considering
setting resolution to 1280x720, which would be less than the PC setting.

Across the room I have a bigger TV (with video-recorder into it through
HDMI), BUT I sit about 10 feet away from it. (Boy, when Bradley Wiggins
won the Tour de France that TV became my joy!)

With the PC socket I had extra speakers, larger resolution and good eyes.

Ed

 

[Bill Bradshaw]

WEll, I'm sticking with it for a bit since I put so much effort into
getting it working.

The TV has so many settings available that somewhere amidst all that I
should be able to dredge something up.
So far I've turned down brightness, back lighting, contrast and a few
other things. And I've set the speakers to Custom (with a graphic
equalizer) rather than Standard, Music, Speech or Dynamic.
And it still looks a bit liable to ruin my eyes. So I'm considering
setting resolution to 1280x720, which would be less than the PC
setting.

Across the room I have a bigger TV (with video-recorder into it
through HDMI), BUT I sit about 10 feet away from it. (Boy, when
Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France that TV became my joy!)

With the PC socket I had extra speakers, larger resolution and good
eyes.

Ed

I find on my monitors that will output both VGA and HDMI that HDMI is
way better than VGA.