# PC sound/video to HDTV



## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Hi All

I have been told this is the right forum for this question. I have connected my Pc to my HDTV using a DVI/HDMI adapter and a HDMI cable to the HDTV. While i can watch films on the HDTV i only have sound on the PC. Can anyone suggest how to get around this. Please be patient with me as I am a complete novice at this. Thanking you in advance :demon:


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## Harpmaker (Oct 28, 2007)

Demonseed said:


> Hi All
> 
> I have been told this is the right forum for this question. I have connected my Pc to my HDTV using a DVI/HDMI adapter and a HDMI cable to the HDTV. While i can watch films on the HDTV i only have sound on the PC. Can anyone suggest how to get around this. Please be patient with me as I am a complete novice at this. Thanking you in advance :demon:


Do you mean that the sound isn't being passed to the TV from the PC?

What video card do you have in the PC?


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## Otto (May 18, 2006)

Demonseed said:


> Hi All
> 
> I have been told this is the right forum for this question. I have connected my Pc to my HDTV using a DVI/HDMI adapter and a HDMI cable to the HDTV. While i can watch films on the HDTV i only have sound on the PC. Can anyone suggest how to get around this. Please be patient with me as I am a complete novice at this. Thanking you in advance :demon:


Hi Demonseed. 

Well, if you use a DVI/HDMI adapter, that might be your problem. DVI doesn't support audio, so although you were able to send that signal down an HDMI cable, there's no audio data there in the first place. That might be one reason. 

You also say that you have sound on the PC. What exactly does that mean? You can hear the audio through the little junky PC speaker? Or can you hear audio through powered PC speakers connected to an analog audio output? Or, I suppose, a digial audio output?

It's also possible that the sound is turned all the way down, or is muted, at the PC (though you can hear it elsewhere). Perhaps just one output is muted. 

For now, I'm gonna go with number 1, though -- if you're using a native DVI output, there's just no audio signal there.


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## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Hi Harpmaker

The sound isn't being passed to the TV from the PC and video card Radeon 300x550x1050 Series. Thanks for the reply :demon:


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## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Hi Otto

You would seem to have it right if DVI doesn't support sound. With regard to the sound on the PC I can hear the audio through the little junky PC speaker. Is there a way around the sound problem or do I need to upgrade my PC. AMD Athlon(TM)64x2 Duel core processor 4200+ 2.20GHz, 1.5 GB RAM. You might bear with me on this as I am really a novice when it comes to electronics. Thanks again.:demon:


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## bobgpsr (Apr 20, 2006)

Demonseed said:


> Hi Otto
> 
> You would seem to have it right if DVI doesn't support sound. With regard to the sound on the PC I can hear the audio through the little junky PC speaker. Is there a way around the sound problem or do I need to upgrade my PC. AMD Athlon(TM)64x2 Duel core processor 4200+ 2.20GHz, 1.5 GB RAM. You might bear with me on this as I am really a novice when it comes to electronics. Thanks again.:demon:


You would need to upgrade your PC to a newer nVidia based video card that has HDMI or change the PC motherboard to one that supports integrated video with HDMI (Intel G35 or G45 chipsets, nVidia 8300 chipset, etc). Then the digital audio in the PC can be sent to the TV's speakers using decoded linear PCM over the HDMI cable. As others have said -- DVI does not officially support digital audio transport.

Most people without the above take a more traditional S/PDIF digital audio (coax or optical toslink) connection from their PC to a AVR sound system S/PDIF input.


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## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Thanks Bob

Would my pc be able to cope with a new nVidia based video card or would I need to upgrade the PC as well.:demon:


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## Otto (May 18, 2006)

Demonseed said:


> Hi Otto
> 
> You would seem to have it right if DVI doesn't support sound. With regard to the sound on the PC I can hear the audio through the little junky PC speaker. Is there a way around the sound problem or do I need to upgrade my PC. AMD Athlon(TM)64x2 Duel core processor 4200+ 2.20GHz, 1.5 GB RAM. You might bear with me on this as I am really a novice when it comes to electronics. Thanks again.:demon:


OK. I guess it depends on what type of sound you want to get. It's probable that your PC has an analog or digital output, and you can send that to your receiver or TV using a cable separate from the HDMI cable (i.e., red/white analog or a single digital connection). 

If you must have audio over HDMI, you will have to upgrade the video card as discussed. 

For now, I would suggest you connect L/R analog audio from your PC to your TV. See how that works, see if you think you're missing anything, and then upgrade from there if necessary. The cable will be $5-$10 at RadioShack, and will have a little headphone looking connection on one end, and red/white RCA cables on the other. You may already have one if you have an iPod or other device that uses that kind of connection. 

Good luck!


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Otto said:


> The cable will be $5-$10 at RadioShack, and will have a little headphone looking connection on one end, and red/white RCA cables on the other.


Or 60 cents at monoprice  Plus shipping of course, but I bet you could find a couple other cables you need to make it worth your while.


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## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Thanks Otto 

I appreciate your comments but I did say that am a novice I have a few cables like you have explained but I am not sure where the PC end goes. There is no place in my video card for this connection but I tried it on my speaker connection and it didn't work. I hope to start from here with my PC and 32 LG LCD to a full Home Theater system that myself and son can use, Its probably my son that should be doing this but I would like to be involved. Its a dad thing. :demon:


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## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Hi Ma


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## Otto (May 18, 2006)

Hi there,

Yeah, sorry about that, I didn't mean to jump forward too much. You will have to use an analog output on your PC. It's probably the same size as a headphone output on an iPod or portable CD player (it's a 1/8" or 3.5 mm plug). Look around on your PC -- and there should be one or more outputs like that. They may have little symbols around them for "mic" or "headphones" or "speakers". Some may just have little arrows going in or out of something that looks like a sound wave. It won't be on your video card. It's very possible that it could be one of the outputs that's built in to the motherboard. It's also possible that it could be on the front of the PC. It's also possible that you don't have an analog audio output, but I find that very unlikely.

If possible, note the make and model of your PC, and I might be able to locate a picture of it online. Or, if possible, post close up pictures here and we will be able to find it. 

Here's the cable you need:









We know you can hear audio at the PC, so we just need to get it out and to your TV. There are some other things that might make it not work, and which will have to be adjusted:

Perhaps your PC output is muted or volume is down all the way. We'll have to look at your sound card's control for that. 

Ensure that you have the analog input on the TV to work with the right video input. That is, since you're using the HDMI input on the TV, you might have to tell it what analog audio input you want to go with it. Also be sure that you are putting the cables to the right input on the TV.

It's possible that the TV has a setting to turn the speakers OFF. It's probably set to ON by default, but you never know. 

Have you ever used any pair of external powered speakers with the PC?

Good luck! We'll get it going.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

What kind of PC do you have? That may make it easier for us to figure out a way for you to connect it. Or, perhaps you could take a picture of the back of it?


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## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Thanks Guys I will get the cable tomorrow and let you know how I get on. Sorry to be such a pain but I will pick it up pretty quickly. I Hope.


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## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Thanks Guys for your help but I am realy worse than I thought. I cant even work out how to upload pictures of my PC. I have got the new cable and tried it but with no luck. I do appeciate the help but is now Christmas and you all need a break from newbies like me. A very happy Christmas to you all and your families and a prosporous new year. A very happy Christmas fron:demon: and I look forward to talking with you in the new year.


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## Harpmaker (Oct 28, 2007)

You're not being a pain Noel.  The folks here want to help you accomplish your HTPC goals. Before we can go much further I think we will need to know the make and model of your PC; from this we can determine what motherboard is in it and what video and audio components it has. If the PC has been upgraded (or came with) plug-in video or audio cards we would need to know the make and model of these as well.

The best way to get photos from your PC to the forum is to use an on-line photo hosting service such as Photobucket or imageshack. These services have instructions on how to upload your photos to them and how to generate a link that can be simply added to a forum post such as this one.


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## imbeaujp (Oct 20, 2007)

Please post a picture of your PC backpanel so we can see the conections you have and if possible the same from your TV display.

We will tell you what your options are.

JP


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## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Hi Guys here are the pictures of my PC and TV not the best quality but hopefully they will be OK.:demon:


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Get this cable; http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...d=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=665&seq=1&format=2

Plug the headphone-style 1/8" end into the green port on the back of your computer, plug the red and white RCA plugs into your TV on the bottom most red and white, and select AV1 on your tv.

Once you get sound, got to you computer and play this sound file: http://www.4horsemen.net/binkster/tracks/track02.zip

if left and right are reversed, reversethe red/white plugs.


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## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Hi Again

I now have sound but the sound is on one imput on the TV and the Video is on another. The imputs on my tv are. AV1 (Scart) AV 2 (Scart) AV 3 (Red White Yellow) Component (Red White) RGB (15 pin connector)HDMI 1,2,3 (HDMI cable to PC) Antenna. HDMI 2 I get video feed with no sound and Component I get sound with no video feed. I am nearly there Thanks again.:demon:


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## Otto (May 18, 2006)

Hmmm. That's not surprising, since the HDMI input is probably expecting audio to be coming down along with the video. It's possible that your TV has a selectable input for audio, which will let you specify which input to use for video, and which input to use for audio. You'll have to look at the TV manual for that (it's possible that it doesn't have that feature as well). 

The other option is to send that audio signal to a receiver or audio system of some sort. I'm not sure you're using a separate audio system, though, so that may not be an option. 

The other option is to get a sound card that supports HDMI audio output.

Start with option #1 and see if you can remap that analog audio input to be used with the HDMI video input.

Good luck!


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## imbeaujp (Oct 20, 2007)

have you tried to plug your PC using the RGB input on your TV instead of the HDMI input ?


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## Demonseed (Dec 16, 2008)

Thanks for that I will have to read the tv manual. I dont tyhink I have a cable for the RGB connection, I think an upgrade of the PC might be best. I will get there in the end.:demon:


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## Jaminschipper (Feb 1, 2009)

I have my pc connected the same way. What I did was I got a bannana plug to a headphone plug and connected my pc to my philips dvd sound system. Seems to have good sound for now untill I can upgrade.


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