Nvidia HDMI out/ Realtek Sound issue, please help... appreciated!

[proph3t]

Hello all i recentlyu purchased an Acer ax1800 e9102 specs are
included at the bottom of post.

I made use of the HDMI out option plugging it into a 32 inch Samsung,
the graphics are great however sound can be delivered through the
Nvidia HDMI Audio Input as listed in the sound mixer. The device says
it is not connected although obviously with video output working it
is. Funny thing is when I change my TV resolution sometimes the HDMI
audio output becomes available, more often than not it doesnt. I have
a sh*t pair of speakers and would prefer to use the television's
however the only device I can use is my Realtek Audio Onboard sound
card and not the Nvidia HDMI out as it says it is simply not
connected.

The change in resolution causing HDMI audio out to work puzzles me and
maybe you intellectual thoroughbreds may be able to provide me with
some insight. Specs are listed below.

All help appreciated!

Audio:
Audio Output HD Audio with 5.1 Channel Audio Support
Digital Input No
Digital Output No
Integrated Microphone No
Line Out Yes - Back
Line-In input Yes - Back
Microphone Input Yes - Front & Back
Sound Card NVIDIA nForce 630i

Video:
Base Features
Processor Type Intel Pentium E2210
Processor Speed 2.2GHz
RAM 2 GB DDR2
Hard Drive Speed/Capacity 320 GB SATA
Optical Drives 16X Super Multi DVD±R/RW
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 7100
Windows 7 Home Premium

 

[Jan Alter]

Hello all i recentlyu purchased an Acer ax1800 e9102 specs are
included at the bottom of post.

I made use of the HDMI out option plugging it into a 32 inch Samsung,
the graphics are great however sound can be delivered through the
Nvidia HDMI Audio Input as listed in the sound mixer. The device says
it is not connected although obviously with video output working it
is. Funny thing is when I change my TV resolution sometimes the HDMI
audio output becomes available, more often than not it doesnt. I have
a sh*t pair of speakers and would prefer to use the television's
however the only device I can use is my Realtek Audio Onboard sound
card and not the Nvidia HDMI out as it says it is simply not
connected.

The change in resolution causing HDMI audio out to work puzzles me and
maybe you intellectual thoroughbreds may be able to provide me with
some insight. Specs are listed below.

All help appreciated!

Audio:
Audio Output HD Audio with 5.1 Channel Audio Support
Digital Input No
Digital Output No
Integrated Microphone No
Line Out Yes - Back
Line-In input Yes - Back
Microphone Input Yes - Front & Back
Sound Card NVIDIA nForce 630i

Video:
Base Features


OK, I'll take a stab at this. From my experience with digital sound from TV
to computer: in order to take advantage of the digital sound from both a MSI
and Gigabyte HDMI graphics cards I installed in a couple of systems it was
necessary to connect jumper wires from the S/PDIF connectors on the
motherboards to the graphics cards. Those jumper wires came with the
graphics cards. It might be worth checking to see that your graphics card
has that connection as well.
But I may be barking up the wrong tree here since you seem to have a
separate digital sound output from the sound card on your computer. If that
output is coming from the HDMI connection from the TV it would still make
sense that those jumper wires need to be in place.
--
Jan Alter
(e-mail address removed)

Processor Type Intel Pentium E2210
Processor Speed 2.2GHz
RAM 2 GB DDR2
Hard Drive Speed/Capacity 320 GB SATA
Optical Drives 16X Super Multi DVD±R/RW
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 7100
Windows 7 Home Premium

 

[Paul]

Hello all i recentlyu purchased an Acer ax1800 e9102 specs are
included at the bottom of post.

I made use of the HDMI out option plugging it into a 32 inch Samsung,
the graphics are great however sound can be delivered through the
Nvidia HDMI Audio Input as listed in the sound mixer. The device says
it is not connected although obviously with video output working it
is. Funny thing is when I change my TV resolution sometimes the HDMI
audio output becomes available, more often than not it doesnt. I have
a sh*t pair of speakers and would prefer to use the television's
however the only device I can use is my Realtek Audio Onboard sound
card and not the Nvidia HDMI out as it says it is simply not
connected.

The change in resolution causing HDMI audio out to work puzzles me and
maybe you intellectual thoroughbreds may be able to provide me with
some insight. Specs are listed below.

All help appreciated!

Audio:
Audio Output HD Audio with 5.1 Channel Audio Support
Digital Input No
Digital Output No
Integrated Microphone No
Line Out Yes - Back
Line-In input Yes - Back
Microphone Input Yes - Front & Back
Sound Card NVIDIA nForce 630i

Video:
Base Features


OK, I'll take a stab at this. From my experience with digital sound from TV
to computer: in order to take advantage of the digital sound from both a MSI
and Gigabyte HDMI graphics cards I installed in a couple of systems it was
necessary to connect jumper wires from the S/PDIF connectors on the
motherboards to the graphics cards. Those jumper wires came with the
graphics cards. It might be worth checking to see that your graphics card
has that connection as well.
But I may be barking up the wrong tree here since you seem to have a
separate digital sound output from the sound card on your computer. If that
output is coming from the HDMI connection from the TV it would still make
sense that those jumper wires need to be in place.

There are two ways to get digital audio on HDMI at the GPU. The older way,
involved S/PDIF passthru feeding the GPU, and then the GPU just copied the
digital samples into the HDMI output stream. The other solution seems
to involve a CODEC right on the GPU (at least, I can't see evidence it is
a real CODEC, as opposed to embedded).

S/PDIF interface (passthru)
HDAudio or ------------------------- GPU --------- HDMI (video+audio)
AC'97 CODEC

(CODEC ?)
GPU --------- HDMI (video+audio)
needs driver

What I find disconcerting in his description, is the HDAudio shows

Digital Output No

and I presume that would be one source of S/PDIF passthru audio to send
to an HDMI interface. Perhaps working on that aspect of the setup,
trying to enable "Digital Output" in the player application, would
re-enable GPU passthru.

I tried looking for info on the 7100 chipset, and assumed it was relatively
old. And may not have S/PDIF HDMI passthru interface. And being old, probably
doesn't have a CODEC embedded either. The Nvidia site doesn't even say what
version of HDMI that the 7100/630i chipset is compatible with.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/mcp_intel_techspecs.html

There are ways to add audio to an HDMI signal (i.e. when the GPU has no
way to do it), but the card used is too expensive to be practical. You route
the HDMI video connection, through these audio cards, and the HDMI output
connector ends up with video+audio.

(HDAV cards)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...utoSuggestion=&Subcategory=57&srchInDesc=hdmi

External cabling

GPU ---------- HDMI ----+
|
HDAV <------------------+
adds -------------------------- HDMI ------> to TV
audio

It is possible for the OS to use protected video path and protected audio
path, and that might account for the flaky behavior. But I don't think for
something like S/PDIF passthru (effectively just copying AC-3 stream to the
cable), there is any need of a protected path. And no real need to encrypt
the audio or otherwise mess with it.

(Mentions PAP and some of the fancy audio formats)
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/windows-7-htpc,review-31624-8.html

The only option I see, is to try to fix the "Digital Output No" so it
is "Yes". Either an option in the player application audio settings,
or in the RealTek control panel.

Paul

 

[proph3t]

I had sound working fine with HDMI output until I made HDMI output the
default in the Realtek HD Audio Manager. To fix the audio, go to Control
Panel and select Manage Audio Devices. Right click on Nvidia HDMI Out
and set as the default. Your audio will now be fixed.

The problem is the device is listed as not connected, so I have no
option to "set to default" it is grayed out. It was doing this
sporadically, I just got a 46' Toshiba and the device is never listed
as "not connected" in the Audio Control Panel.

Must of been a strange configuration issue.