Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 95453 2008-12-07 01:35:00 Anyone here use / have HDMI on their PC? Speedy Gonzales (78) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
726357 2008-12-07 01:35:00 Or have an HDMI videocard / monitor?

If you do, is the sound 5:1, (or whatever the sound is) in Windows??

Or do you / would you have to play something thats HD in order to hear 5:1??

I havent got the HDMI cable yet, but I'll be getting it sometime next week
Speedy Gonzales (78)
726358 2008-12-07 06:28:00 My brother has this setup on vista with 5.1 speakers... seems to work for him and he has no tech skills... so it must 'work out of the box' IMHO.
The hdmi is on the mb. A micro ATX thing with hdmi... I just dont know why he bothered spending all the dosh on the screen and not on the mb 1st!
zcc (50)
726359 2008-12-07 06:36:00 Hmm ok yer this HDMI is on a PCI-E card. I had a mobo with it on, till the firewire decided not to work lol

So, it went back and they gave me a card with HDMI on it instead

Yer dont think I'll bother with 5:1 speakers, thats what HDMI is for, it supports video and audio (if you have a monitor with HDMI on it as well that is)
Speedy Gonzales (78)
726360 2008-12-07 07:09:00 I have a HTPC using HDMI.
The sound will only be 5.1 if the source video has 5.1 audio in it.
Pretty much all DVDs do, some games and all Blu-ray will at least have 5.1 if not 7.1.

Of cause you need an AMP that supports HDMI and 5.1 as well to power all your speakers.

You will need to check the PCIE card you have as it most likely won't output any audio over HDMI unless you connect a cable from the SPDIF output on the mainboard/soundcard to the video card.
CYaBro (73)
726361 2008-12-07 07:21:00 Umm no its built in 5:1 audio (www.asus.com)

And HDMI / HDCP compatible

So, all you would need is the card, the monitor and the cable

I'll soon find out next week, when I get the HDMI cable, whether it carries audio. Without using SPDIF

There's no way of usng the SPDIF at the back, or the header on the mobo anyway. The videocard only has VGA, DVI and HDMI. Nothing else

So, what will the sound in windows be? 2 channels / stereo?
Speedy Gonzales (78)
726362 2008-12-07 07:31:00 OK cool./
It looks like the card has 5.1 built in so should be no need to use the SPDIF from the mainboard/soundcard.
I can't see any connections on the video card for it either :thumbs:

Yup you just need the card, HDMI cable and a monitor.
A monitor won't give you 5.1 audio though as it will only have 2 speakers in it.

To get full 5.1 audio you will need to connect the HDMI cable to a home theatre receiver. It will then have the connections on it to connect 5 speakers plus a sub. It will also have an HDMI output to connect to the monitor.

Or you could use the SPDIF/optical output on your soundcard to connect to a computer speaker 5.1 set and the HDMI cable to the monitor.
I have a set of Logitech Z-5500 THX speakers that work great for this.
CYaBro (73)
726363 2008-12-07 07:40:00 The monitor here, has HDMI on it. And is Full HD / 1080P compatible. Its running at 1920x1080 at the mo

Its one of the recent Viewsonic monitors, that came out last mth I think

I dont think it needs an amp.

Well the stereo here doesnt have any HDMI on it, lol so hopefully I hear something

And this doesnt have optical, only SPDIF onboard (a header and on the back).

Unless I installed the PCI card here, which has an optical / SPDIF in/out adapter on it
Speedy Gonzales (78)
726364 2008-12-07 08:35:00 No the monitor doesn't need an AMP to work with HDMI at 1080p.
The sound will be the problem, the monitor probably has 2 speakers built in so you will get stereo sound.
But to get 5.1 surround sound you need an amp/speaker set that supports it.
CYaBro (73)
726365 2008-12-07 08:55:00 So, whats the point in having HDMI at both ends, when one end is 2 channel lol

Altho there are drivers for the monitor's sound, for SRS WOW HD stereo sound or something .

Its meant to give them better bass / wider frequency range, or something

It does have audio in (from PC to the monitor, if u have dont HDMI), and audio out (just a 3 . 5mm) . So, you can plug headphones into that . Or into line in / Aux on a stereo, or something

The stereo here is more like 5:2 :D
Speedy Gonzales (78)
726366 2008-12-07 09:12:00 Well the HDMI gives the HDCP as well as 1080p as well as audio, in 2 channel or 5.1, depending on what you connect the HDMI cable to, in one cable making for a tidier install.

It's not that one end will be 2 channel, the HDMI cable will be outputting 5.1.
It's the monitor that's the problem. It won't have a 5.1 decoder in it as it only has 2 speakers.
CYaBro (73)
1 2