Help Needed - Connecting PC direct to Bravia LCD TV

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perezoso

22 posts

Geek

#64089 7-Jul-2010 20:44

Hopefully someone can help me out successfully connecting my PC to my Bravia 40" LCD [KLV-40X350A].

I have no problem getting an excellent video picture over DVI - HDMI.

This doesn't carry an audio signal though so how do I get the sound from my PC to play through the TV's speakers?

I'm using the PC's onboard sound currently, which has 5.1 outputs [being used for the PC's Logitech speakers] and an SPDIF out.

Anyone with bright ideas?

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Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#348870 7-Jul-2010 21:51

3.5mm jack in your sound card output, to 2x RCA - the TV should (I dont own a Sony tho) have L/R audio inputs...... done. :)
If your TV dosent have any form of audio inputs tho, then youre stuck unfortunately.

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perezoso

22 posts

Geek

#348879 7-Jul-2010 22:04

Thanks Gavin.

2 quick [and hopefully not too dumb] questions:

How does the TV know which sound source to play at the correct time?
For example, for the PS3 connection it's simple as both sound and video are delivered over the same HDMI cable. Same for free-to-air TV.
But if the sound and display from the PC are being delivered over different cables, how will the TV know to marry them up? Is this a setting?

Secondly, is there a maximum cable length for your suggestion? I'd need it to be 3-4m

urban

487 posts

Ultimate Geek

#348888 7-Jul-2010 22:15

If you're running a geforce 8800 and up series gfx card, you may be able to run a spdif out from your motherboard onto your graphics card. That's how I managed to get audio going on mine.

And if you're running a fairly recent 4000 series and up ATI gfx card then I think they should be capable of audio over hdmi without the need of spdif headers.

You could also go invest in a cheapo external sound card, if you have neither of the above.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-1-External-USB-6-Channel-Audio-Sound-Card-S-PDIF-C80-/270549376004?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3efdffdc04

urban

487 posts

Ultimate Geek

#348895 7-Jul-2010 22:26

perezoso: Thanks Gavin.

2 quick [and hopefully not too dumb] questions:

How does the TV know which sound source to play at the correct time?
For example, for the PS3 connection it's simple as both sound and video are delivered over the same HDMI cable. Same for free-to-air TV.
But if the sound and display from the PC are being delivered over different cables, how will the TV know to marry them up? Is this a setting?

Secondly, is there a maximum cable length for your suggestion? I'd need it to be 3-4m

Your bravia will automatically switch audio as you switch channels. Say you had your PC hooked up to the back of your tv to the HDMI-2 port together with your audio in cable and you had your PS3 hooked up to HDMI-1 .... it will automatically select the audio as you select between the two HDMI channels.

I would't recommend having the cables any longer than what you have mentioned. oh and there's no need to pay uber dollars for a hdmi cable either most cables are fine, just get the ones that are braided.

perezoso

22 posts

Geek

#348897 7-Jul-2010 22:35

Thanks Urban.

I don't have HDMI out on the graphics card, only DVI, so that kinda short-circuits your first suggestion.

Running a cable from the 3.5mm jack should be fine though - I don't have a need for 5.1 as the TV speakers are only stereo.

Great news that the TV will auto-sense the sound input

Cheers

urban

487 posts

Ultimate Geek

#348905 7-Jul-2010 23:02

perezoso: Thanks Urban.

I don't have HDMI out on the graphics card, only DVI, so that kinda short-circuits your first suggestion.

Running a cable from the 3.5mm jack should be fine though - I don't have a need for 5.1 as the TV speakers are only stereo.

Great news that the TV will auto-sense the sound input

Cheers

Does your pc display in full 1920x1080 (mine didn't) on the bravia? I assume you have it plugged into the Bravia's PC-in port.

If not fear not! you can buy a dvi-to hdmi dongle for about 10bucks and voila full HD!

perezoso

22 posts

Geek

#348906 7-Jul-2010 23:07

No, I plugged it into one of the HDMI inputs, using a DVI-HDMI dongle [just like you suggest] - worked a treat in full 1920x1080

Was just the sound connection that had me stumped - great picture but no sound!

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urban

487 posts

Ultimate Geek

#348908 7-Jul-2010 23:13

perezoso: No, I plugged it into one of the HDMI inputs, using a DVI-HDMI dongle [just like you suggest] - worked a treat in full 1920x1080

Was just the sound connection that had me stumped - great picture but no sound!

ah nice. I had the same sound issue as you had when i first bought my bravia.

if you're game to plug in the headers for audio over hdmi have a look at this:

http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/441176-guide-8800gt-9800gt-9800gtx-sound-over.html

Nety

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#348925 8-Jul-2010 06:38

perezoso: Thanks Urban.

I don't have HDMI out on the graphics card, only DVI, so that kinda short-circuits your first suggestion.

Running a cable from the 3.5mm jack should be fine though - I don't have a need for 5.1 as the TV speakers are only stereo.

Great news that the TV will auto-sense the sound input

Cheers

As already suggested you may be able to feed sound via the video card using a SPDIF header. It does not matter if the video card has a HDMI plug or not. I had mine setup this way for a long time going from the DVI plug to HDMI on the TV.
Also one thing to be aware of. With my old TV I found that because the video card did support sound over DVI to HDMI it stopped listening to the 3.5mm audio in and I was forced to use the SPDIF to video card option. Apparently some TV's allow you to set it but my old Sony did not.

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Niel

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#349222 8-Jul-2010 20:01

Just to clarify what was said, you need a DVI to HDMI cable. It is not a dongle, there is no smarts in it, it is simply a cable with 2 different connectors on it. I got mine off TradeMe for about $10, but it was a short one.

Cables with an EMC filter in them are better than ones without. An EMC filter just means the cable is threaded through a ferrite core which is a bulge in the cable near the connector. Hard to describe, but it is obvious if the cable has one or not.

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perezoso

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Geek

#349263 8-Jul-2010 21:34

Hi Niel,

I already have a DVI to HDMI connector attached to the HDMI cable and this carries the video signal to the TV perfectly.

It's the sound connection I'm attempting to solve - I'm guessing the cable you suggest won't offer anything over my current solution [unless I connect the SPDIF headers as Urban suggested]. Or have I missed something?

Niel

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#349267 8-Jul-2010 21:49

perezoso: Hi Niel, I already have a DVI to HDMI

Hi Perezoso, my post started with "just to clarify what was said" because I've clarified it is a simple cable and not a special dongle. This is to help others reading this thread so they don't start searching for a dongle.

No, I did not give advice on solving the sound issue. Plausible solutions were given by others.

You can never have enough Volvos!

urban

487 posts

Ultimate Geek

#349331 9-Jul-2010 01:34

Perezoso, has your logitech speakers got a headphone jack? you could do it the lazyman's way and audio out from your pc speakers into your tv.

perezoso

22 posts

Geek

#349534 9-Jul-2010 14:57

Urban, that's exactly what I'm going to try out this weekend. Lazy = good! I'll let you know how it pans out ..

dolsen

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#349549 9-Jul-2010 15:32

I have only dvi out form my video card (nvidia 9400GT) and am sucessfully using it to carry both the sound and video to my Sony Bravia LCD tv using the hdmi in connection.

I simply ran the spdif header on the motherboard to the video card. Then, using the dvi to hdmi cable I have, the sound is carried and decoded at the TV.

Note - this only seems to work for 2 channel sound, sadly, the tv does not pass or decode 5.1 DD or DTS audio (but, I have the spdif out on the back of the computer going to the receiver, so, I can just use that for any other signal I wish to use).

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