HDMI audio and Sapphire Radeon 4870

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psk20

155 posts

Master Geek

#27297 21-Oct-2008 12:01

Hi all,

This is a follow-up to a thread I started a while ago about making my computer into a HTPC (hybrid gaming/HTPC, to be more precise). (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=84&TopicId=25391 ) I recently found a really great deal on a philips 47" Full HD LCD, and have set about hooking it up with my PC.

The sapphire 4870 I have is advertised as having a digital audio processor built into the card, and comes with a DVI->hdmi dongle attached. I was incredibly surprised to discover that this actually enables it to output sound through the same HDMI cable as the video. I know HDMI carries audio signals, but seeing as it's being passed through a DVI-out first, I thought it wouldn't have had carried any. Anyway, right now, I'm able to play sound through my TV, with only one input: the HDMI cable running from the back of my video card's DVI-out.

However, I DO have a few problems, that I was hoping some of you might have some insight into. Although I do get sound, and media player, MCE, games, and many other applications work perfectly, I have issues with other sounds. In particular, system sounds (such as warnings, the log in jingle, warnings, etc) and alerts from windows live messenger only play partially, sometimes not at all. Typically, I might hear the last half of the sound, or it might play in a very muted fashion.

I'm not sure what the problem is. I went to the playback devices screen, and made the HDMI device my default audio device, and disabled my on-mobo audio too. Then I had a play with the options on that screen. If I tick the box for DTS or Dolby digital and hit "test", it gives me an error message saying something along the lines that it cannot initiate device (I forget specifics, and am at work!). So, overall, the audio works fine for games etc, but isn't quite working perfectly.

Any suggestions about what I could try to fix this? I was thinking that it might actually matter that I've plugged straight into the philips TV, and perhaps I should wait until I've purchased a HDMI digital amplifier and run the signal through that before I decide there's a software problem. But I'm not sure about that. Right now I sort of feel that I'm lacking some functionality - I can't even tell what kind of audio I'm outputting - whether it's plain stereo, dolby digital 5.1, 7.1, DTS, or what have you. I can't see an option anywhere to select which I prefer to output.

My system specs as of right now:

AMD Phenom x4 9750
Gigabyte GA-M52S-S3P (rev 1.0, latest bios update)
2GB generic DDR800 RAM
Sapphire Radeon HD4870 512MB
Hauppauge 2200
Philips 47PFL7422

browned

636 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 36

#172515 21-Oct-2008 14:01

psk20:

Any suggestions about what I could try to fix this? I was thinking that it might actually matter that I've plugged straight into the philips TV, and perhaps I should wait until I've purchased a HDMI digital amplifier and run the signal through that before I decide there's a software problem. But I'm not sure about that. Right now I sort of feel that I'm lacking some functionality - I can't even tell what kind of audio I'm outputting - whether it's plain stereo, dolby digital 5.1, 7.1, DTS, or what have you. I can't see an option anywhere to select which I prefer to output.

My system specs as of right now:

AMD Phenom x4 9750
Gigabyte GA-M52S-S3P (rev 1.0, latest bios update)
2GB generic DDR800 RAM
Sapphire Radeon HD4870 512MB
Hauppauge 2200
Philips 47PFL7422

First thing to try would be another TV if possible. I had no issues with my 37PFL7422 but I did not run audio to it through HDMI and left this to analogue speakers. When the 37" Philips got nicked I got a new 42PFL5 something to replace it, this had issues with the computer over HDMI, movement paused on the TV every now and again and would sometimes just go black. I tried two of these before Philips came back to me and said HDMI from a computer is a problem. I have a Sony now.

See if you can borrow a TV or probably easier for other people see if you can plug your computer into their TV's to test it out.

cheers
db

Home Server: AMD Threadripper 1950X, 64GB, 56TB HDD, Define R6 Case, 10GbE, ESXi 6.7, UNRAID, NextPVR, Emby Server, Plex Server.
Lounge Media Center: NVIDIA Shield TV 16GB: Kodi18 with Titan MOD, Emby.
Kids Media Center: NVIDIA Shield TV 16GB: Kodi18 with Titan MOD, Emby.
Main PC: Ryzen 7 2700, 16GB RAM, RX 570, 2 x 24"

psk20

155 posts

Master Geek

#172517 21-Oct-2008 14:26

Ah, so the plot thickens!

So maybe it might be my tv that is the problem. If I go and try my signal on someone else's HDTV and it works fine, do you think a solution might then be to simply run the signal through an HDMI AV receiver? Provided the receiver has no problems with inputs from a computer, it can deal with the audio and then send the video signal on to the TV.

Then again, after hearing how much even entry level HDMI AV receivers can be, I'm starting to wonder whether it might be better to disable the video card's audio output and instead send a digital signal from the backplate of my motherboard (minijack spdif I think) to a regular digital receiver. That might end up saving me a couple of hundred on another HDMI cable and another couple of hundred for a receiver that supports HDMI AV. Although I guess then I A) would have 2 cords running from my computer instead of 1, and B) wouldn't have full Dolby HD support (although note: I currently only have 5 speakers and no subwoofer anyway, and don't [yet] have a blue-ray player).

psk20

155 posts

Master Geek

#173270 24-Oct-2008 09:06

Silly question, but do I need to install powerdvd to get full functionality? I assumed that the drivers for my video card would include everything needed to output various signal types, e.g. dolby, dts, etc.

lchiu7

6521 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 543

Trusted

#173904 27-Oct-2008 18:56

Everythingwant to know and probably more is in here

ATI HD Radeon 4600 and 4800

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