NVIDIA: no sound to TV via HDMI

[Marcel Rieux]

On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 5:28 PM, Phil Meyer <pmeyer at themeyerfarm.com> wrote:
> On 01/25/2010 03:14 PM, Ed Greshko wrote:
>> Marcel Rieux wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 4:30 AM, Ed Greshko<Ed.Greshko at greshko.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Bill Davidsen wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Marcel Rieux wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Since the NVIDIA forums are just a lost of time, I'll first ask the
>>>>>> question here.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have an NVIDIA 9400GT card and a Sony LCD TV linked with an HDMI cable.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> First problem I found: the S/PDIF cable -- which is needed only with
>>>>>> NVIDIA cards -- wasn't installed. The plug had a molding problem and
>>>>>> one of the 4 holes was blocked. (The hole was just empty: no wire
>>>>>> going to it.) I opened it with a pin, installed it with the arrow
>>>>>> facing the closest part of the motherboard, reversed it, and, of
>>>>>> course, sound doesn't come out of the TV. It's an Nvidia product!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anybody got this working?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> Did you get PulseAudio to send output to the connector? Many times this is a PA
>>>>> config issue.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> That is actually a very good question....
>>>>
>>>> Everything I would find out about ASUS Nvidia 9400GT based cards
>>>> (assuming this is an actual card) is that the spdif cable is simply a
>>>> pass though.  One connects the spdif cable from the graphics card to
>>>> either a sound card connector or motherboard connector (depending on
>>>> your system and its configuration) and sound is simply passed through to
>>>> the HDMI.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> That's how it's *supposed* to work.
>>>
>>>
>> Since you now appear to know how it is supposed to work....I wonder why
>> you were bitching about Nvidia and the drivers.  The product is not a
>> Nvidia product...but an Asus product.
>>
>> We also don't have enough information on the card itself.  Nor do we
>> have any information on what your sound system is or where you've
>> connected the spdif cable.  You've said that one of the cables holes was
>> blocked....but many times that is quite normal.  That could be the "key
>> hole" that would prevent one from installing cable in the wrong
>> orientation.  It is more than likely a "key hole" since you state there
>> is no wire going to it.  So, I would even question if you have the cable
>> installed correctly or even to the correct pin block on your system.
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> So, one needs to ensure the output is configured correctly.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> The only relevant configuration I see for sound is under the hardware
>>> tab. Anything analog gives an output on the computer, anything digital
>>> gives no output. In both cases, there is no output on the TV.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
> There are several things at work here:
>
> 1: aplay --list-devices

This is the same as aplay -l and I already provided the output:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0


> If only the onboard sound devices

I only have onboard sound devices. The TV's amplifier will never
appear as a sound device.

OTOH, and this seems like AN INTERESTING QUESTION, how come I can only
get analog output on my computer jacks. Maybe the TV needs digital
input, which i can't provide?

> Some TVs will allow a mix of HDMI in on one channel and audio in on
> another channel, just for this type of situation where the source cannot
> do audio over HDMI.  My son has a TV like that.

I know this but I'd rather have things work like they're supposed to.

I BELIEVE NY PROBLEM WITH SOUND IS I CAN'T GET DIGITAL OUTPUT FROM THE COMPUTER"