HDMI Audio Problem

J

JessePenn

New Member
I have an HP Pavilion dv7-1135nr which I purchased to connect to TV via HDMI. The video works great but I have never been able to get audio working no matter what I do. I have done all the obvious things .eg. changing audio device to HDMI as default. Tried changing the various settings such as 48KHz, etc. Nothing works. HP can't seem to help either. Any ideas? JessePenn
 
Since HDMI can carry audio, you need to hook your video card to your sound card or onboard SPDIF sound port. You need to get an audio loop cable, they should come with most video cards.

ZT-88TES3P-FCP_Digital_Audio.jpg


Check your motherboard manual to find where your SPDIF output port is on your motherboard, the other end of the cable plugs right into the side of the card.
 
Since the computer in question is a laptop, the cable does not apply. It should already be connected properly by the manufacturer.
 
Oh oops, I assumed it was a desktop. So are you using a converter dongle to get HDMI? If it's built into the laptop it would make sense for it to work with the audio.
 
HMDI Audio

Sorry I couldn't join the conversation earlier. Business got in the way. Yes, it is a laptop and I do have an HDMI port. FYI, I also have Vista operating system. The SPDIF topic is very interesting. I usually have the "playback device" set defaulted to speakers/headphones. When I am trying to use it connected through HDMI to TV, I click on the devices and choose "Digital Output (HDMI) as default. Then I reboot the laptop and when I check the devices when playing a DVD, I see that the HDMI device "thinks" it is playing audio since the meter on the right goes up and down with the audio signal, yet nothing plays on the TV.

I am not familiar with SPDIF but I have an audio playback device option called SPDIF (digital output, docking station). I have to choose either the digital HDMI or the SPDIF. Is it possible that the correct option is SPDIF with a docking station? Bytheway, I don't have a docking station.

I welcome additional input.
 
JessePenn said:
Sorry I couldn't join the conversation earlier. Business got in the way. Yes, it is a laptop and I do have an HDMI port. FYI, I also have Vista operating system. The SPDIF topic is very interesting. I usually have the "playback device" set defaulted to speakers/headphones. When I am trying to use it connected through HDMI to TV, I click on the devices and choose "Digital Output (HDMI) as default. Then I reboot the laptop and when I check the devices when playing a DVD, I see that the HDMI device "thinks" it is playing audio since the meter on the right goes up and down with the audio signal, yet nothing plays on the TV.

I am not familiar with SPDIF but I have an audio playback device option called SPDIF (digital output, docking station). I have to choose either the digital HDMI or the SPDIF. Is it possible that the correct option is SPDIF with a docking station? Bytheway, I don't have a docking station.

I welcome additional input.
Click to expand...

Ah... You may still need to check that the audio output settings are set to digital output only. I'll have to look into this with my Vista HTPC later. I thought it should work or activate the digital out with just setting the HDMI as your default out as well.

S/PDIF is just a digital audio format specification. It is also (rarely) referred to as IEC 958 type II. Try setting your audio output device to the Digital/SPDIF setting.
 
You could try the SPDIF audio output, but that was mostly my mistake in thinking you had a desktop. If you had a desktop, you would have had to connect the video card to the physical SPDIF output on the motherboard to get streaming audio through the video card and out through HDMI.
 
Just for the heck of it, I changed the default to the SPDIF digital Out (docking station). As you guys predicted, it didn't work.

Zatharus said he would be checking on something later related to Vista. I appreciate that. I've also previously checked with HP support assuming that I was certainly not the first person to see this problem but they are perplexed about it and give me standard feedback as if I barely know how to turn the computer on. And I worked for them for 26 years.
 
Very strange... One of those should work. :confused:

I don't think we touched on driver support yet. Is there anything new at HP's website for audio drivers on that model?
 
Regarding updates from HP, their support group requested that I download a driver from their site. I was hopeful that it was a new HDMI driver but it turned out to be an SPDIF driver that is for the docking station. It is labelled "SPDIF (Digital Out via docking station)". I tried it again after downloading this driver and got the same negative results. Since it is specifically labelled for the docking station, which I don't have, I was doubtful that it would work anyway. I'll do another search on their support site to see if I can find anything about a new HDMI driver for Vista. My earlier search didn't reveal anything new for this computer. Thanks
 
Does your TV have any audio input options? Maybe its still thinking audio is coming from another source and therefore not picking up on the HDMI audio ?

I've never used hdmi before so I don't know, but I know that used to happen with RCA/SPDIF and the like with a few tv's & dvd players.
 
JessePenn said:
Regarding updates from HP, their support group requested that I download a driver from their site. I was hopeful that it was a new HDMI driver but it turned out to be an SPDIF driver that is for the docking station. It is labelled "SPDIF (Digital Out via docking station)". I tried it again after downloading this driver and got the same negative results. Since it is specifically labelled for the docking station, which I don't have, I was doubtful that it would work anyway. I'll do another search on their support site to see if I can find anything about a new HDMI driver for Vista. My earlier search didn't reveal anything new for this computer. Thanks
Click to expand...

Well, the audio format that will be used over HDMI is SPDIF. Have you checked in the BIOS for any setting to enable HDMI/SPDIF audio out? On my HTPC (which, granted, has different hardware) I had to also dissable multichannel audio (the analog side) to get the HDMI output to work.

Also, you may want to update your Catalyst (graphics) drivers to the most recent if you aren't already current.
 
Interestingly, I got a note from HP today and they recommended that I update the BIOS as well. You folks have given me a couple of more ideas. I'll check them out and let you know whether I've got SOUND.
 
Sounds good. From what I've read up on that model, you should be able to do what you want. I look forward to hearing your results.
 
Had our kitchen on a fund raising tour today so I was totally out of commission. I'll pick up on it again tomorrow. I've now got several leads to follow including BIOS update, etc. I'll try the things that everyone suggested and let you know what I find out. Thanks
 
Greetings to all those who have given me advice on my HDMI audio. IT IS WORKING!!!!!

That's the good news. The bad news is that I've made so many changes and driver updates, etc that I'm not sure what was really the problem. Maybe it was a combination of things, but anyway, it is working and I'm happy.

Thanks to everyone who contributed advice. I appreciate it.
Jim
 
Very glad to hear that! Glad to help. :):good:

Thank you for reporting back as well.

I know what you mean... It's nice to have the fix, but as to the cause...sometimes they are lost in the aether.

A simple problem is often overshadowed by more complicated remedies.
 
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