HDMI Output

I've noticed that some of the new laptops are offereing HDMI output but no SPDIF output (i.e. the XPS 1330). This is great if you have an HDMI receiver and will then be able to take advantage of the digital 5.1 sound.

But, like a lot of people my receiver only accepts a digital or co-ax input (not HDMI). The TV has an HDMI input. So, with my DVD player I run the HDMI cable from the DVD player to the TV and the optical cable separately from the DVD player to the receiver and everything works fine.

Is there any way to "extract" the digital sound out of the HDMI output from the laptop and pipe the sound to the receiver and the picture to the TV?

 

Chances are that the HDMI output on the laptop will not carries the audio signal at all as has been demonstrated on other lapto pwith HDMI output.

 

I actually wondered if that would be the case. So, you'd have to use the headphone output for sound? Seems like a bit of a crap option.

I suppose another option would be to use something like the Turtle Beach TBS-1130 5.1 / 7.1 Channels USB Interface Sound Card. I should be able to get 5.1 sound with that.

 

Like Wiz33 said, I have not heard anythign about audio output from the HDMI which is a shame. I have my m1330 coming next week and I have a 32" LCD in my room with 2x HDMI and a 47" 1080P LCD in the living room also with 2x HDMI. My reciever doesn't have HDMI in either so my option will be to output sound from the headphone jack which is dissapointing. The hdmi being on the side and the audio being on the front is a let down as well but you can't win em' all

 

Only video card on market that I know can send audio thru the hdmi is the ATI 2900XT for desktop computers. It has a spot where you can hook your computers onboard sound to it and it will send both video and audio out thru its special hdmi port.

Just cross your fingers and see if they can some how incorporate this into there notebook video cards (im kind of doubting it, as even the 2900xt is designed in a way to take the audio from your onboard, while your computer audio for your speakers and headphones ect are driven from a add-on sound card. Looks like you cant have one sound card do both)

 

Yea, nobody came up with a expresscard audio card yet so your best bat is an USB solution like the Turtle beach or Soundblaster.

 

i dont know where you guys have been but Asus has been working on HDMI over GPUs for over a yr now.

I believe the Asus W1J is the first HDMI laptop with the ATI X1600.
Full audio and video support from the GPU.

"Asus solved this by adding an optical S/PDIF connector to the rear of the graphics card. An optical S/PDIF cable is then used to connect the graphics card to your sound card's optical output port. This way the sound is transferred from the sound card to the graphics card and then sent out alongside with the video data"
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/06/06/asus_hdmi_enabled_graphics_cards/

Asus does this for both desktop and laptop GPUs

 

Link for a desktop gpu that does this besides the 2900xt??? All reviews said it was a first.

So they were wrong, but I need proof.

That link says it was a tech that they were working on but it never said anything about hiting market, infact it said it has issues that were unresolved at the time.

 

"The W1J is one of the first to offer HDMI capabilities, which is the only industry-supported, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface available on the market today."
http://ir.ati.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=105421&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=868350&highlight=

and yes, that was tech over a yr ago at Computex 2006. As you and i know Computex is a showcase for new tech.
So with the fact that they rolled the ATi GPu X1600 out in the Asus W1J proves Asus ironed out the issues.

 

Yeah thats a notebook tho, im specificly asking about desktop gpus.

I havnt yet said there has been no notebook that can do this, i said desktop's that have not been able to do it untill now with the 2900xt.. so I want to self correct myself if I was wrong.

Doesnt look like I was tho.

 

first nVidia with HDMI was the GeForce 7600GT
http://www.hardware.info/en-US/news/ym2ck5qTwpya/MSI_gets_worlds_first_HDMI_Certification/

and the first ATI is the ATI CrossFire Radeon X1600

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/06/29/sapphire_hdmi_graphics_card/

http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=145

http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20060707PR204.html

 

But the press release is pretty ambigious in whether it really output both audio and video through that HDMI interface.

 

Tech press releases can sometime be ambiguous in nature, yes i agree there. Press releases i find are mainly self serving to the fact of just announcing... hey, look at what were doing and we got to it first type of thing.
But like i said, the fact that they rolled out product is proof that the press release announcement has become reality.

 

For the cards themselves, what is needed for proof is a clear statement from the manufacturer that card X can send audio out the HDMI port.

For laptops what is needed for proof is a clear statement from the manufacturer that laptop X can send audio out the HDMI port. Why the specific laptop model is required? Because manufacturers customize what the GPU companies give them.

Testing it would be just as good but I get the feeling that at least some of the hardware discussed is not owned by anyone here.

 

Your still off... we are talking about hdmi with audio... those are just the first hdmi video out models anybody knows that....

 

my gawd, how hard is it for you to understand and figure it out???
So someone on thsi forum says his hdmi doesnt carry audio to whatever device he is hooking it up to and all of a sudden everybody thinks HDMI is a farce and doesnt have audio??? sheeesh

heres one of my links again:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=145

heres a screen shot of the spec on the Sapphire



and on the spec sheet it states:
Dual integrated 10 bit per channel 400 MHz DACs

Thats dual channel intergrated audio at 10bits 400mhz Digital/Audio converter


close up:
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/2835/sapphirets3.jpg

 

Sure it output SPDIF and should theoretically solve the problem of not using it and use HDMI instead(for both audio and video at the same time).

But without seeing someone who actually do it by using a single HDMI interface to a say big TV and have both video and audio, I would say the jury is still out as the vendor don't specifically saying it which IMO is a feature a vendor would like to highlight if it does.

 

well it would be a shame if the standard of hdmi has got to be clarified or specifically tagged with audio (hdmi/spdif) with each and every laptop that features it.

 

hahaha im not wrong you just digging your grave deeper, thats audio out via spdif not hdmi.

The 2900xt I belive is still the only one that has video and audio both going thru the hdmi cord.


I know hdmi carries audio, I have the 1.3hdmi spec about memorized.

 

my gawd, you better do some reading on S/PDIF before you comment again.

First of all SPDIF is a process and a digital audio data transfer format protocol.
SPDIF is NOT confined to any specific connector as you are presuming.
The most common SPDIF connector is RCA. SPDIF can also be transfered via optical cable, Coaxle cable or as in the ATi's GPU... HDMI connector.

Jeeze, SPDIF is even transmitted thru a crappy low DR mini headphone jack

Hell, if you can carry an audio signal thru a paperclip then you can transmit SPDIF thru that too

 

Actully I'll rep up you.

I already knew about spdif, and how it works.

the card tho from what you linked made it look like the port was spdif out and hdmi/vga out

infact it even said it like that.

but I read 4 diffrent reviews and finally the 4th one confirmed the spif does get outputed thru the hdmi on there.

debates are good this is how the truth in things gets out. Dont ever get personal if you debate somthing with me, im humble and admit when im wrong.

 

Ah, so finally someone said "the audio is there". I still have a question, where does it get its audio from ? from some interface link with the audio circuitary or the video stream(say mpeg-2) already contains that audio data and got passed down to the GPU for its avivo system ?

 

that card we just talked about has 2 spdif inputs the one is a rca out the outside and the other is an internal.

from the pictures at first I thought that was an output on the outside not an input.

 

Thanks ViciousXUSMC, for finding someone who actually reviewed the card and checked whether the audio would come out of the HDMI connexion or not.

Just assuming is a recipe for disappointment.

 

Anyone tested the Dell XPS 1330 yet? According to a Dell rep that I spoke to, the HDMI output should output both the picture and sound.

 

Actually, both the ati 2900 and 2600 series have built in multi-channel 5.1 surround audio chip.

so if your laptop has an ati 2600 with hdmi (which i have seen) then it would also have 5.1 audio output through HDMI

http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd2600/index.html

you do not plug your sound card into the graphics card because of HDCP encryption policies. that would be transferring an unencrypted signal into the graphics card (causing possible piracy). so the new ati series encrypts the audio on the built in audio chip.

just some clarification

 

oh and on the 2600 and 2900 series it doesn't even have a HDMI port but a special DVI port that, with the use of a special DVI to HDMI converter sends both the audio and video. thats for the desktop versions though, I'm not sure about the mobile ones

 

FWIW on mynotebook Z84J the HDMI output does output sound as well, i have tried it on many occasions. It has a GF 7700 Go

 

I use my 32" LCD TV as the monitor for my ASUS G1S, and the hdmi port passes both audio and video from the g8600m gt to the TV.

 

And I can confirm that the X205-SLi1 will pass the sound through HDMI as well, just select that as the output in the sound config control panel and you're good to go FWIW