HDMI No Audio Out

[TwiceHorn 31705]

My FIL uses HD TVs basically as a giant monitor for his PCs.  That is, he watches youtube videos and Amazon Prime, through the browser, on the PC.  Not a media server arrangement.

He has recently upgraded all his PCs and they're now running W11.  In his family room he has a big, but old Samsung TV (like 5-7, maybe 10 years old) and a Yamaha AV receiver that's pretty old (5 years maybe), also.

He has newer TVs and a Sony AV receiver elsewhere.

On the family room TV, he tries to HDMI out of the PC, into the AV receiver, and thence to the TV.   The video works fine, but no audio.  In the past, this has worked for him with older PCs running 7, 8, and 10.

Audio also does not "flow" if he goes directly to the TV from the PC via HDMI.

I don't do Windows.  I haven't done Windows since 7, but was quite proficient with it previously.  The attempts to "Mac it up" in 10 and 11 serve to do nothing but infuriate me, as I can't find settings where they used to be. Why the fuck after 20 years of your OS software would you change shit up like people have never used Windows before?

Hooked directly to the TV, it shows "generic PNP display," with no audio capability.  In sound devices, it just shows Realtek Audio driver, with no option for digital audio out.  Bizarrely, with the HDMI through the AV receiver, the TV shows as a generic Samsung device and the sound devices do not show Realtek, but some generic audio out device, again no option for digital audio out.

I know this is a common problem and the usual solution is to find the PCs sound device and turn on "digital audio out," or, if the attached HDMI device shows, to turn it to default sound device so that HDMI audio "flows" along with the video.

I cant' seem to find a switch in any of the various sound devices to turn on digital audio out.

I suspect this has a lot to do with W11 not supporting older devices.  It seems to work ok on his newer stuff, but, I haven't checked configs on those where it works.

Any help?

[LosIllini 91]

Sounds like you probably have a pc audio out problem- either have wrong digital out set in the control panel selected, or, drivers need updated.  Did you check the Windows System => Sound, panel?

I know that when I've updated drivers in 10 and 11, my audio sometimes switches to my monitor, or speaker, and I don't get sound through my Klipsch Promedias, until I mess with the panel.  (in this case, I run sound through the 3.5mm jack on the soundcards, not through HDMI).

Also, if you do get the audio going through HDMI, make sure the receiver is matched up on the correct  video and sound inputs.  Some receivers allow mixing/ matching video/ audio inputs (depending upon mfg, and if you are using HDMI and non-HDMI sources).

 

[dcbc 14573]

This doesn't address the issue directly, but assuming this isn't some audio issue with the PC and because he is watching all video from a browser, why not just pop a Chromecast into the HDMI in on the TV and run an ARC or optical out from the TV to the receiver, and call it a day?  I'm sure hardwired is better and more reliable, but it might resolve some of the issues without having to dive in too deeply.

[TwiceHorn 31705]

3 minutes ago, LosIllini said:

Windows System => Sound, panel

What is this?

I use the search function to check "device manager" and the "control panel" or whatever for sound devices that lists the currently used input and output devices as well as "other sound devices."

I did try to update drivers and scan for new hardware, but nothing would come and I don't know enough about the hardware on the devices to try and find drivers on my own.  Realtek's site is a disaster.

I don't know enough about the AV receiver to know whether we're using a "passthrough" or some other HDMI port.  When we were screwing around with it, we used HDMI 1.  Curiously, that made the display show up as "Samsung" something or other (which didn't show when plugged directly to the Samsung TV), and made the Realtek option (the soundcard and soundcard drivers I assume) not show up as a or the default sound device.

[TwiceHorn 31705]

1 minute ago, dcbc said:

This doesn't address the issue directly, but assuming this isn't some audio issue with the PC and because he is watching all video from a browser, why not just pop a Chromecast into the HDMI in on the TV and run an ARC or optical out from the TV to the receiver, and call it a day?  I'm sure hardwired is better and more reliable, but it might resolve some of the issues without having to dive in too deeply.

I do this myself with a two-channel receiver.  He doesn't have a Chromecast, but he could probably make good use of it.  He does have a Roku stick that was given to him, I don't know if that provides an avenue for something similar.

[dcbc 14573]

8 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I do this myself with a two-channel receiver.  He doesn't have a Chromecast, but he could probably make good use of it.  He does have a Roku stick that was given to him, I don't know if that provides an avenue for something similar.

I'm sure there's a way to do it with a Roku (and there appears to be a way to do it with FireTV as well), but when it comes to mirroring browser pages, it doesn't get any easier than Chromecast in my experience.  PC's seem to want to breakup the audio and video in hardwired situations traditionally, which appears to be the problem.  I still have a really good 15 year old Samsung in a theater setup in our upstairs theater room and it's easy enough to run optical back to the receiver (since it doesn't have an HDMI ARC) in my situation. 

Edited December 10, 2021 by dcbc

[LosIllini 91]

Here's what the Win 11 panel looks like on my desktop.

[TwiceHorn 31705]

6 minutes ago, LosIllini said:

Here's what the Win 11 panel looks like on my desktop.

That is, I believe, different from what I was looking at.  How do you get there?

Or maybe it's not, but I never had more than one option there.  I assume that selecting "Realtek Digital Output" would solve this problem, if I was having it on your machine.

Edited December 10, 2021 by TwiceHorn

[LosIllini 91]

Clicked on the Win 11 magnifying glass, and searched for 'sound settings', and that panel pulled up.

I remember that Win 10 had something that looked different, but, did the same thing (allowed you to direct audio).  Another thing I remember, is that I had a video/ sound card in one of my old machines that would sometimes conflict, that I had to reset/ override.

[TwiceHorn 31705]

1 minute ago, LosIllini said:

Clicked on the Win 11 magnifying glass, and searched for 'sound settings', and that panel pulled up.

I remember that Win 10 had something that looked different, but, did the same thing (allowed you to direct audio).  Another thing I remember, is that I had a video/ sound card in one of my old machines that would sometimes conflict, that I had to reset/ override.

Ok, yeah.  On the 'screen' previous, it has "sound output" "sound input" and "other sound devices" or something similar?

And that's what you get by clicking "sound output"?  

As stated, I never had more than one option on that screen, and nothing useful came up when I clicked the "details" arrow.

I did have "other sound devices," but no way of making them the current or default device, that I saw.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13568]

if Win10 worked, is it possible to downgrade?

[HiggyBaby 2565]

Something to try

https://www.sony-mea.com/en/electronics/support/articles/00009089

[TwiceHorn 31705]

1 hour ago, HiggyBaby said:

Something to try

https://www.sony-mea.com/en/electronics/support/articles/00009089

Yeah, that's what I was trying to achieve.  But no "HDMI device" showed up in sound properties.  However, on that same page, it says this:

Some TVs are not recognized by the computer as a HDMI device, but instead, are recognized as a DVI device. Since DVI connections do not support audio, the computer is unable to transfer audio to the TV with a HDMI connection. The computer will still support audio output through other audio connections.

That appears to be what's happening here.

How does USB audio work?  Same type of way?

[rage-a-holic 4551]

3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, that's what I was trying to achieve.  But no "HDMI device" showed up in sound properties.  However, on that same page, it says this:

Some TVs are not recognized by the computer as a HDMI device, but instead, are recognized as a DVI device. Since DVI connections do not support audio, the computer is unable to transfer audio to the TV with a HDMI connection. The computer will still support audio output through other audio connections.

That appears to be what's happening here.

How does USB audio work?  Same type of way?

Yeah, not true for all DVI connections. DVI-D carries audio.

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by rage-a-holic

[TwiceHorn 31705]

On 12/10/2021 at 9:00 PM, rage-a-holic said:

Yeah, not true for all DVI connections. DVI-D carries audio.

 

Thanks.

He's actually using an HDMI cable, so it's not a DVI issue, per se.  But as that post notes, Windows is recognizing it as a "dumb" form of monitor and so apparently is not putting the audio on the HDMI.

I can't seem to force a driver/device change, and can't find a samsung driver.  There's probably some generic-y device driver that would overcome this, but I can't find any reference to one.

[kangsta 50]

On 12/10/2021 at 10:53 AM, LosIllini said:

(in this case, I run sound through the 3.5mm jack on the soundcards, not through HDMI).

 

 

This is what I used to do in the early LHN days when hooking up laptop to TV with HDMI.  Windows 10 and Samsung. Not sure it is helpful these days. Does his TV have a headphone jack for Audio in? 

Edited January 4, 2022 by kangsta