Beyond3D Forum

Grall · 31-Oct-2010, 01:48

I have a standard DVI to HDMI cable, but when I hook it up to my screen the Catalyst driver throws up a window informing me I have indeed connected a DVI to HDMI cable and that audio will not be available.

However, the card only has DVI connectors, and the driver software adds not just one HDMI audio device, but two! So somehow that makes me think I should be able to use the DVI outputs to play HDMI audio.

Any help/input greatly appreciated!

Reznor007 · 31-Oct-2010, 02:06

Try the 2nd DVI port, the on board audio might only be connected to one of them.

Silent_Buddha · 31-Oct-2010, 02:11

Also are you using the one that came with the ATI card? Or are you using one from another card?

Not all DVI -> HDMI converters can pass through audio. And if you use one of those then audio will obviously be disabled.

Regards,
SB

upnorthsox · 31-Oct-2010, 12:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silent_Buddha

Also are you using the one that came with the ATI card? Or are you using one from another card?

Not all DVI -> HDMI converters can pass through audio. And if you use one of those then audio will obviously be disabled.

Regards,
SB

Can any DVI -> HDMI converters pass audio? I'm not aware of any.
And can you even get audio out of your DVI, again I'm not aware of any.

Silent_Buddha · 31-Oct-2010, 12:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by upnorthsox

Can any DVI -> HDMI converters pass audio? I'm not aware of any.
And can you even get audio out of your DVI, again I'm not aware of any.

Sure, it's been a standard feature of ATI cards since the HD 2900 XT, but it required a special DVI -> HDMI dongle capable of passing through the audio. Prior to that all or most of the available DVI -> HDMI dongles could not do this as there weren't many if any video cards with that capability.

Regards,
SB

Zaphod · 31-Oct-2010, 13:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by upnorthsox

Can any DVI -> HDMI converters pass audio?

Yes. The custom "active" ones for the ATI HD 2000 and HD 3/4000 series (there were two different types of adapter). I believe they used a little eeprom (through DDC?) telling the card: "Hey, it's OK to act as if you're a HDMI unit now, I'll make sure the right signals get where they're supposed to go."

Don't know why they did it this way, though. It seems unnecessary. Maybe it was out of some spec or some DVI monitors had trouble getting the display signal correctly with the audio data interleaved.

Grall · 31-Oct-2010, 13:23

There was no DVI to HDMI plug in the box of my cards...

I bought a cord of my own to hook my PS3 up to my previous PC monitor which lacked HDMI, so that I could try out Super Stardust HD in 1080P (which I used ONCE...) I thought I was so clever just reversing the cable, plugging the DVI connector into the output and the HDMI plug into the input, but apparantly not, lol.

Meh. Wasn't HDMI supposed to transfer the audio in the vertical blanking portion of the video signal, so you wouldn't NEED any extra pins in the cable? Bah!

Zaphod · 31-Oct-2010, 13:29

Yeah. I believe they could have simply used a driver switch. If one used an ATI DVI -> HDMI adapter and then converted plug again twice using "standard" adapters it still worked. I think some motherboards had the audio "always on" too, and thus worked using any adapter. So it wasn't any magic happening in the custom ones other than telling the card it was OK to output sound.

homerdog · 02-Nov-2010, 20:23

I bought a generic HDMI -> DVI adapter from Monoprice and it passes audio from the DVI port on my GTX260.

Kaotik · 27-Dec-2010, 13:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Yes. The custom "active" ones for the ATI HD 2000 and HD 3/4000 series (there were two different types of adapter). I believe they used a little eeprom (through DDC?) telling the card: "Hey, it's OK to act as if you're a HDMI unit now, I'll make sure the right signals get where they're supposed to go."

Don't know why they did it this way, though. It seems unnecessary. Maybe it was out of some spec or some DVI monitors had trouble getting the display signal correctly with the audio data interleaved.

Is that belief based on some actual data, or just guessword?

Some have theorized that they simply use the analog pins for the audio, while digital pass on the video?

Zaphod · 27-Dec-2010, 16:29

It's definitely not just rerouting of pins as HDMI does not use any dedicated audio pins. My first guess was that they used a HDMI transmitter (like early third party HDMI converters), but that doesn't make sense since they're not powered. I've also seen ATI chipset motherboards that worked with audio even with a "dumb" dongle.

I was told how they (supposedly) work by someone who would know such things, and IIRC there was quite a bit of technical detail posted somewhere at the time too. AVSForum, probably.

I could be wrong, though; and it would be interesting to know for sure.

31-Oct-2010, 01:48	#1
Grall Invisible Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: La-la land Posts: 5,155	How to get HDMI audio through DVI on ATI Radeon 4890? I have a standard DVI to HDMI cable, but when I hook it up to my screen the Catalyst driver throws up a window informing me I have indeed connected a DVI to HDMI cable and that audio will not be available. However, the card only has DVI connectors, and the driver software adds not just one HDMI audio device, but two! So somehow that makes me think I should be able to use the DVI outputs to play HDMI audio. Any help/input greatly appreciated! __________________ "If I were a science teacher and a student said the Universe is 6000 years old, I would mark that answer as wrong (why? Because it is)." -Phil Plait

31-Oct-2010, 13:23	#7
Grall Invisible Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: La-la land Posts: 5,155	There was no DVI to HDMI plug in the box of my cards... I bought a cord of my own to hook my PS3 up to my previous PC monitor which lacked HDMI, so that I could try out Super Stardust HD in 1080P (which I used ONCE...) I thought I was so clever just reversing the cable, plugging the DVI connector into the output and the HDMI plug into the input, but apparantly not, lol. Meh. Wasn't HDMI supposed to transfer the audio in the vertical blanking portion of the video signal, so you wouldn't NEED any extra pins in the cable? Bah! __________________ "If I were a science teacher and a student said the Universe is 6000 years old, I would mark that answer as wrong (why? Because it is)." -Phil Plait

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31-Oct-2010, 02:06	#2
Reznor007 Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Norman, OK, USA Posts: 541	Try the 2nd DVI port, the on board audio might only be connected to one of them.

31-Oct-2010, 02:11	#3
Silent_Buddha Regular Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 9,211	Also are you using the one that came with the ATI card? Or are you using one from another card? Not all DVI -> HDMI converters can pass through audio. And if you use one of those then audio will obviously be disabled. Regards, SB

31-Oct-2010, 13:29	#8
Zaphod Remember Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 2,039	Yeah. I believe they could have simply used a driver switch. If one used an ATI DVI -> HDMI adapter and then converted plug again twice using "standard" adapters it still worked. I think some motherboards had the audio "always on" too, and thus worked using any adapter. So it wasn't any magic happening in the custom ones other than telling the card it was OK to output sound.

27-Dec-2010, 16:29	#11
Zaphod Remember Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 2,039	It's definitely not just rerouting of pins as HDMI does not use any dedicated audio pins. My first guess was that they used a HDMI transmitter (like early third party HDMI converters), but that doesn't make sense since they're not powered. I've also seen ATI chipset motherboards that worked with audio even with a "dumb" dongle. I was told how they (supposedly) work by someone who would know such things, and IIRC there was quite a bit of technical detail posted somewhere at the time too. AVSForum, probably. I could be wrong, though; and it would be interesting to know for sure.

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