How do I get Audio to two places (HDMI & Mini Out)

[steve9207]

Hi everyone,

I have my computer in the bedroom running off the LCD tv in the family room via an HDMI cable out of my video card. So, I get sound just fine on the TV end.

The monitor in the bedroom is hooked up via a DVI cable (the video card has a DVI, HDMI and a VGA output). The monitor has an HDMI & DVI input and also a mini-input for built in monitor speakers (which I'd be fine using, since this is just on rare occasions).

So, how do I get the audio to play on both the big LCD (which is is now via HDMI) and on the computer monitor / or the stand alone speakers I have? Without having to unplug the HDMI cable every time? Not even the same time necessarily... It would be for when I'm not using the PC on the big LCD and want sound on my 23" monitor...

Right now, the only way I can make it happen is to unplug the HDMI and plug in the mini to my speakers...

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Timop]

Just use HDMI for the TV, then connect a 3.5mm cable from the PC to the monitor, then switch playback devices in the Windows audio mixer.

 

[steve9207]

Thanks Timop, I actually thought about that after I posted this and messed around with it. It did work, which was great. However, for some reason, it took me about an hour to get it back to where I could see the video again on the Sony LCD TV. Everything was correct in ATI Catalyst Center, Screen Resolution, etc. I eventually put it to extended display, then back to duplicate display and it finally works again.

What if I wanted to duplicate the sound, so it comes out of both (and then, when the TV is on another input, it just wouldn't come out). Then, I wouldn't have to go back and forth with switching it. Is this possible even? Does it take another Sound Card? Or is Windows just not configured to output to multiple devices simultaneously?

BTW - I'm running Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Timop]

It shouldn't mess with your display setup, did you simply change the playback devices from HDMI audio to the onboard audio?

For the duplicating the sound, there should be a couple ways.

What card you have? If it is an ATI card, you should be able to use the included DVI->HDMI adapter and get audio from that, then connect both with HDMI and you SHOULD be able to get audio on both at the same time.

If your TV has a 3.5mm in, you could also just get this: http://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-3-5mm-Splitter/dp/B000V1O1KS.

 

[astrallite]

If you are thinking of dual output devices, no, that's been disabled in the 7/Vista sound API for the express purpose of sound quality. The audio API from the developer blogs seemed to have been built to serve the htpc crowd using WMC.

 

[Collie147]

+1 to astrallite. You cant output the sound to both from the PC but you can get the Sony to loop back to the monitor by connecting red and white phono/RCA at the back of the telly and get that to come back into your bedroom you can pick up an RCA to 3.5 mm stereo cable for a few quid.

 

[gamerk316]

The only way to get dual audio outputs [that I know of] is if you set the default output as the HDMI output to the TV, and you can manually set whatever PC program you want to runs output to something different. [EG: Winamp, Teamspeak, and some other programs will let you set a sound device other then the default]

 

[steve9207]

Best answer selected by steve9207.

 

[steve9207]

It shouldn't mess with your display setup, did you simply change the playback devices from HDMI audio to the onboard audio?

For the duplicating the sound, there should be a couple ways.

What card you have? If it is an ATI card, you should be able to use the included DVI->HDMI adapter and get audio from that, then connect both with HDMI and you SHOULD be able to get audio on both at the same time.

If your TV has a 3.5mm in, you could also just get this: http://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-3-5mm-Splitter/dp/B000V1O1KS.

Thanks Timop - I mainly just want to be able to switch it, even if I have to do it manually through the Playback Devices. I think I just have to look into that some more. Because the first time, I clicked on the icon at the top after clicking on the volume icon, from which I was able to change it to play to my PC Speakers. But the for some reason, I had the most difficult time getting it back to the HDMI output. I finally found that I had to select "Show Hidden Devices" or something to that effect, maybe "Disabled Devices".

It'd be cool if I could duplicate it, only so I don't have to mess with changing it every time, but if it's as simple as just clicking the icon in the volume bar, then I'll stick with that.

Is there a better way to do it (i.e. through Control Panel, etc)?

BTW - I have an ATI 4350 I believe, it's a lower level graphics cards, I think it cost about $30 on sale on Newegg in December last year.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[steve9207]

Thanks to astrallite, collie147 and gamerk316 for their input as well! I appreciate it as always everyone.