EggXpert

For instance, this monitor has an HDMI port and built-in speakers.

Let's say you have an HDMI output on your graphics card (like Radeon HD 4850) that carries audio.  Would this TV get sound out from its speakers?

What if the input to the monitor came from a cable box? 

Since no one else has chimed in, I'll try to shed some light on this for you:

From what I understand, if you are using the DVI to HDMI adapter that came with your graphics card (NOT a DVI to HDMI adapter cable or anything), then you should be able to pipe sound and video through that one HDMI cable.

There is some debate on whether  or not you need to connect your sound card to your video card in order for this to work, but I have yet to find a place where I can do this on my Asus 4870x2.

Hm... I see. Thanks!!!  Too bad nobody who succeded can answer this for us.

A cable box will definitely carry the audio as long as its HDMI to HDMI.  With a graphic cards it is different.  If the graphic card carries audio over then yes it should carry the sound.  But if the HDMI on the graphics card just carries video over you'll need to use the provided audio wire that comes with the TV I believe from the back of your audio port on your TV to the audio port on the PC.  It shouldnt be a problem.

If you check out the last picture of the monitor it shows an "Audio Cable" all the way on the left.  All you would need to do(and most likely not because your using HDMI to HDMI) is hook that wire into the back of your pc(just like normal pc speakers) and plug it into the back of the TV and you wont have any problems.

So, I set this exact thing up today.  I have an Asus Radeon HD 4870 x2 and a Samsung T240 24" monitor with HDMI in and optical out.  I have the official ATI DVI to HDMI converter and an HDMI cable from a PS3.  I set this all up, ran my audio from my monitor to my Logitech sound system and it worked like a charm.  I did not have to hook up my video card to my sound card or anything; it seems that the video card has a chip for audio built in.  The only problem I have found so far is that it does not seem to support DTS or Dolby pass through.

 

exclusiveburner:

A cable box will definitely carry the audio as long as its HDMI to HDMI.&nbsp; With a graphic cards it is different.&nbsp; If the graphic card carries audio over then yes it should carry the sound.&nbsp; But if the HDMI on the graphics card just carries video over you'll need to use the provided audio wire that comes with the TV I believe from the back of your audio port on your TV to the audio port on the PC.&nbsp; It shouldnt be a problem.<br>

 

exclusiveburner:

If you check out the last picture of the monitor it shows an "Audio Cable" all the way on the left.  All you would need to do(and most likely not because your using HDMI to HDMI) is hook that wire into the back of your pc(just like normal pc speakers) and plug it into the back of the TV and you wont have any problems.

 

Sure, I mean RCA (red and white) audio or PC audio cable (3.5mm) will work, but because I would like to be able to use RCA out from my cable box for a Happauge HD PVR instead of TV. And HDMI alone for TV (both video and audio). . I would also like to connect my PC back to TV as well, so, I am trying to figure this all out what inputs / out puts are necessary. :D 

Guardian:

So, I set this exact thing up today.  I have an Asus Radeon HD 4870 x2 and a Samsung T240 24" monitor with HDMI in and optical out.  I have the official ATI DVI to HDMI converter and an HDMI cable from a PS3.  I set this all up, ran my audio from my monitor to my Logitech sound system and it worked like a charm.  I did not have to hook up my video card to my sound card or anything; it seems that the video card has a chip for audio built in.  The only problem I have found so far is that it does not seem to support DTS or Dolby pass through.

 

I SEE!! Thanks for trying that out!  Thuogh that may depend on your TV as well???  I know my Radeon 4850 also has that audio chip in it, but I wonder if I can assume any LCD monitor or TV (monitor plus tuner)'s HDMI can do that.... Yeah DTS / Dolby pass from a PC may be an issue...

The audio carried by HDMI comes in two general flavors:   PCM and bitstream.   PCM is just regular, unencoded sound in a format similar to a CD.   It has certain properties like depth (16bit vs 24bit), resolution (32 to 192kHz) and comes in a number of channels from 2 for stereo to 8 for fulll 7.1 surround.   The digital coax/optical connection can only pass 2-channel PCM, whereas HDMI can do 8.   The 4000-series Radeon cards support 8-channel PCM via HDMI  (3000-series only did 2-channel PCM).   

Then, bitstreams.   Those are encoded compression formats designed to pass more sound over less bandwidth.   There is a number of Dolby and DTS formats designed to work over 2-channel pipe that coax/optical connection provides.   Most popular probably is Dolby Digital 5.1 which passes 6 channells of sound, and is widely used on DVDs and HDTV broadcasts.   Then, you got lossless 7.1 HD formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-Master designed to work only via HDMI and usually found on Blu-Rays.   In order to play a bitstream format, a device must be capable of decoding it..  

If you use digital coax or optical connection that does not 'talk back', it is up to user to assure that destination can handle the source.   User can set source device to any kind of output, but if destination device can't handle it, you get silence.   With HDMI, destination device provides source with an EDID which lists supported formats - and in most cases, source will restrict user to those formats only.

A monitor with HDMI input is likely to report only PCM-2 in its EDID - which means that is all your PC will send it.   It is still worth it to go into your audio devices manager, selecting ATI HDMI Audio, clicking 'Configure' and choosing 'Supported Formats' tab.   (AFAIK, this is only doable in Vista/Win7, not in XP).   For all you know, Dolby Digital support might be there, and all you need to do is check the box - but chances of that are slim.   Here is a writeup (which I myself did not try) on how one might override monitor EDID for advanced audio support.  

Unfortunately, this will not work for me as I am not using an AV receiver over HDMI for my audio purposes.  I am piping the audio and video over HDMI to my Samsung T240 monitor, and then plugging an optical cable from the back of the monitor to  my speakers.