HDMI and 3.5mm Audio Conflict - Thanks!

[triage]

I purchased a Dell Zino as my HTPC. To make things easy on my family I have it hooked up to my Samsung TV in two different ways.

1. HDMI to my Samsung receiver -> TV
2. DVI + 3.5mm -> TV

This way we can crank up the speakers and watch some movies or, make it easy for the wife/kids to just turn on the TV and have the HTPC available without trying to mess with the receiver.

My problem is it seems Windows does not support dual audio outputs? From y sound properties I can only set one as default. My goal is to have it outputting the sound from both HDMI and the 3.5 so no matter what input my TV is set, you get sound.

Is there anyway to fix this issue? Or is this a design by Windows 7? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[tsnor]

Only one sound card at a time.

You could: always use your MB's sound, send digital to the receiver instead of getting sound from teh HDMI cable. (Many receivers allow assigning different sound inputs to different video inputs). Then use the analog out from the line out on the MB to send audio to the TV when you are using DVI. ??

 

[Wolfshadw]

If your Samsung TV has an audio output, that would probably be the easiest way to go. Need specs for your TV, but I would imagine something like HTPC to HDTV via HDMI. Then audio out from the HDTV to the receiver.

I'm in a similar situation in which I need to utilize both audio options (HDMI and 3.5mm). I use a program called AutoHotKey. With this program and a script, you can set up a keyboard combination (I use ALT+F11) to automatically swap default audio devices. It works ok, but sometimes I need to hit the Key combination two or three times to get Windows to change the settings.

Also, if you're running Windows 7 Media Center, I believe there is a plug-in for swapping audio devices, but I haven't looked into it yet.

-Wolf sends