Need help getting audio from PC to 5.1 receiver

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V4oLDbOY

Gawd
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I want to use my PC on my HDTV for some games, but am having an issue getting the audio to my PC.

I have a CM 690II case and it blocks the HDMI port on my GTX 480.
So I have to use a DVI to HDMI adapter.
Mobo doesn't have optical output, just the normal audio output. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130295

So does anyone have a solution for me? The only one I can think of is to convert the stereo jack to composite, which I have an adapter for already. But I want to be able to get 5.1 audio from my PC to my receiver.

edit: Can the gtx 480 output audio through DVI to HDMI? I thought DVI couldn't carry audio at all.
 
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DVI is video only. If the motherboard has HDMI, there are adapters to split the audio to optical out. No idea what they cost though. Might just be easier/cheaper to take a dremel to the case.
 
The specs on the motherboard show 6 channel audio out (5.1). If you have a receiver with 5.1 analog audio in you are all set. You will need 3 sets of stereo mini plug to RCA adaptors.
 
Otherwise you can just get a soundcard with digital output? If it's just spdif passthrough for movies, there are plenty of low cost cards available. Or even a USB-based solution if you have no more expansion slots available.

Only catch with going optical is that you don't get "high-definition" multichannel audio (such as DTS-MA) as the bandwidth of SPDIF is insufficient. You need an HDMI connection for that.
 
How is the case blocking the HDMI port? Is the card just in there crooked or something?
 
BillR said:
The specs on the motherboard show 6 channel audio out (5.1). If you have a receiver with 5.1 analog audio in you are all set. You will need 3 sets of stereo mini plug to RCA adaptors.
Click to expand...

Can you explain this further? I get that the mobo has 6 channel audio, but I dont really see on my receiver where 3 audio rca plugs would go?


Forceman said:
How is the case blocking the HDMI port? Is the card just in there crooked or something?
Click to expand...

The GTX 480's HDMi port is on the far right of the back of the card. The case has a wall on the right side, so the HDMI port is exposed technically, but there is no way to get an hdmi cord with any sort of plastic there since the backplate area is indented into the case.
http://www.coolermaster.com/upload/product/6649/featured/top3.jpg?1966883762
Unless there is way to take the plastic off an HDMI cord to just expose the connector. Maybe that'll work.


I read on various places that most modern video cards actually do output sound via DVI.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface#HDMI_audio_support
But you need a DVI-D --> HDMI cable. So I ordered one online for $4 and magically it f'n worked.

I have no idea what quality or if the audio is digital, I will try to play with this some more. But as of now I get audio from all 5 speakers, but might just be stereo and receiver is outputting to all speakers. Playing the same game on 360 and PC, there is definitely no seperate rear channel audio. if I turn around on 360 I hear the characters voice from rear speakers, on PC audio never changes beyond stereo split.

GTX 480 --> DVI-D to HDMI --> receiver --> HDTV (video stops here)--> Optical audio out of HDTV --> receiver (audio stops here)
My receiver only does HDMI audio pass through

Works great. I may have to adjust the video delay, but playing some audio sync videos on youtube and it seemed to be in sync just fine. Maybe the video was watching had a slight audio delay.
 
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V4oLDbOY said:
Can you explain this further? I get that the mobo has 6 channel audio, but I dont really see on my receiver where 3 audio rca plugs would go?
Click to expand...

not all recievers have this. what is your reciever? would also help diagnose some of the other surround issues your seeing.

can you also go into your sound control panel and see how many channels its set to?
 
Your TV will probably downmix the signal to stereo and output PCM through S/PDIF. I've never seen one that didn't. 5.1 gaming will require either HDMI audio support in your receiver, a sound card that supports encoding DTS or Dolby Digital, or 6 channel discrete analog connection to your receiver. This will be 6 RCA jacks on the receiver, one for each speaker, and 3x3.5mm to 2RCA cables.
 
I found the 6 channel input on my receiver. AVR 154. Was just hard to find with all the crap connected to it.

I'm assuming these are what I need. http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...d=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=665&seq=1&format=2

Im my sound control its set to 6 channels, but yeah my receiver is only getting stereo which it then converts to output all speakers if I have it in dolby II setting. But looking at the receiver it is only indicating left and right channels.

It is pretty cool that the audio is being sent via DVI. I feel more people should know about this since every post I find via google explain that DVI is video only. If you have a DVI-D to HDMI cable it will output audio, maybe just stereo, but I feel most PC users only have a stereo or maybe 2.1 setup. Although I think this is only with recent video cards.
 
i want to clarify that audio is NOT part of DVI specifications but graphics cards can use unused pins to create a hybrid HDMI/DVI port.

and i missed the part about it being send through your TV...no TV i know of will output mutichannel spidf through an HDMI input...
 
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Procyon12 said:
i want to clarify that audio is NOT part of DVI specifications but graphics cards can use unused pins to create a hybrid HDMI/DVI port.

and i missed the part about it being send through your TV...no TV i know of will output mutichannel spidf through an HDMI input...
Click to expand...

Exactly, but most of the questions on forums and elsewhere pertain to graphics cards. With all of the responses being DVI cant send audio. True, but in most of the cases where this is asked, video cards are involved.
 
Procyon12 said:
i want to clarify that audio is NOT part of DVI specifications but graphics cards can use unused pins to create a hybrid HDMI/DVI port.

and i missed the part about it being send through your TV...no TV i know of will output mutichannel spidf through an HDMI input...
Click to expand...
*sigh* DVI and HDMI uses the same signals for digital single link video. HDMI doesn't have any extra wires for carrying audio. Since the audio data is put into the blanking interval for the video there's nothing to stop a DVI cable from being used to transmit a video signal that has audio data in the blanking interval. As a result you can most definitely use a DVI cable to carry audio just like HDMI.
 
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