help! seeking audio advice, laptop-hdmi-amp

saj1011

Been trying to figure this out for a while...hdmi laptop to hdmi tv and utilise sony amp and speakers.
At moment I can only get the tv speakers and laptop speakers to work with laptop audio.

Hardware:
LAPTOP: Toshiba satelite 850d-11q
SOUND: Sony str-dn610 amp with Teufel surround sound speakers
TV: SAMSUNG LE40A557

I tried laptop hdmi to hdmi in on amp to tv, no luck, only managed to get tv speakers or could of still used laptop speakers, so no progress.

So, do i go:
A/. Laptop to tv to amp
B/. Laptop to amp to tv
C/. can i just boost the tv with the extra amp and speakers and connect the laptop to the tv with hdmi cable and it all works?

Also, which sockets do I us on back of amp ? so many!

So... I also am not sure if my laptop can support 5.1, however stereo sound would also be an improvement!

Any advice on optimal setup would be most appreciated.

coylemj

If the PC HDMI straight to the amp doesn't work then your only other option is to run the HDMI straight from the PC to the TV and then take the audio from the TV via the optical audio 'out' port to the amp. An optical cable (e.g. Belkin 1.5m) will cost roughly €15 from a local store or about £5 from Amazon UK.

On your TV the digital optical 'out' port is below the two HDMI ports on the connection panel and there are two optical 'in' ports on the extreme left of the amp as you face the rear of the machine, use the top one labelled 'TV'.

saj1011

Great advice coylemj, thanks

ankles

Same problem with Yamaha AV and Samsung laptop. ANy reason why this doesn't work? Seems a waste of 4 HDMI inputs on the AV if you have to plug the laptop into the TV. The Laptop seems to have found the AV and thinks its playing to it, but there is no sound coming out at all. Suggestions?

saj1011

Hi again, well I got the optical cable from ebay and connected like coylemj said earlier, I also selected "tv" mode setting on the amp and expected it all to work, but sadly no joy!

Now, on the samsung tv does the auto-configure recognise the optical cable on it's end? As in the audio settings on the tv, there was no obvious method to select optical/amp etc.

So, I am still stuck, any advice would be muchly appreciated.

coylemj

Does the TV support audio return channel (ARC)? If it doesn't then you need to switch off ARC on the amp which will tell it to take the sound from the digital input.

ankles

Hi Coyle

In case you are here to answer all questions, mine works when I plug the HDMI cable direct into the TV and then take the sound out back through the optical cable. Funny thing is, when I plug the HDMI into one of the HDMI inputs on the AV my laptop (Samsung) recognises my AV alright (Panasonic) and is telling me it is playing through the AV speakers, but no sound comes out of the AV at all. SO frustrating as I must be one small thing away from making the whole thing work. Also worries me if I were to plug in anything else, e.g. a games console. Advice?

coylemj

ankles wrote: »

Hi Coyle

In case you are here to answer all questions, mine works when I plug the HDMI cable direct into the TV and then take the sound out back through the optical cable. Funny thing is, when I plug the HDMI into one of the HDMI inputs on the AV my laptop (Samsung) recognises my AV alright (Panasonic) and is telling me it is playing through the AV speakers, but no sound comes out of the AV at all. SO frustrating as I must be one small thing away from making the whole thing work. Also worries me if I were to plug in anything else, e.g. a games console. Advice?

I checked the manual for the OP's amp and it explicitly says that you need to switch off ARC on the amp in order to take the optical audio signal.

Can you test that HDMI port on your amp by plugging in your DVD or Blu-Ray player to it and see if you get audio?

The usual reason that an amp ignores the audio signal coming down a HDMI cable is because you've told it that that HDMI port is to be used for a video signal only and that you are feeding the audio separately via optical or co-ax.

ankles

Plugged the bluray into HDMI 2 and it didn't like it at all. No sound, in fact ended up switching all off and on to get sound back. Does this mean that no HDMI inputs have audio?

coylemj

ankles wrote: »

Plugged the bluray into HDMI 2 and it didn't like it at all. No sound, in fact ended up switching all off and on to get sound back. Does this mean that no HDMI inputs have audio?

No, HDMI can carry audio and video. For example, without an amp you can connect a DVD or Blu-Ray player direct to a TV with a HDMI cable and nothing else. A Sky or UPC HD box connects to a TV via HDMI for both picture and sound.

On modern AV receivers (aka home cinema amplifiers), you can specify in respect of each input (each named HDMI port: TV, Game, PC, DVD etc.) that the audio comes from optical or co-ax. If this is not specified for a particular source then the amp should accept the audio signal coming down the HDMI cable.

You also need to make sure that the output device is sending audio down the HDMI cable. For example, on a PC it may be set to send video only down the HDMI cable and analog audio through the headset port.

I have a laptop which I plug into the 'PC' HDMI port on my amp to watch live golf on pgatour.com and the picture and audio come through no problem without the need for a separate audio cable.

saj1011

I checked the manual for the OP's amp and it explicitly says that you need to switch off ARC on the amp in order to take the optical audio signal.

Can you test that HDMI port on your amp by plugging in your DVD or Blu-Ray player to it and see if you get audio?

The usual reason that an amp ignores the audio signal coming down a HDMI cable is because you've told it that that HDMI port is to be used for a video signal only and that you are feeding the audio separately via optical or co-ax.

No sound with hdmi also.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/162936/Sony-Str-Dn610.html?page=54#manual

I managed to find the ARC setting on the amp screen under HDMI, I turned it off, but no luck yet.

The optical cable is connected amp to tv, is this only what is all that is required? As I got LAPTOP to TV via HDMI, and from TV I got the optical cable to amp, this is correct?

coylemj

saj1011 wrote: »

The optical cable is connected amp to tv, is this only what is all that is required? As I got LAPTOP to TV via HDMI, and from TV I got the optical cable to amp, this is correct?

Yes, that is how they should be connected.

I'm inclined to think that the PC isn't sending any audio down the HDMI cable.

ankles

just to follow up, i tried plugging the HDMI cable into one of the other HDMI sockets (duh) and no problem, it also woke up the HDMI 2 socket, so now all is well.

Just to confirm, the laptop always thought it was sending a signal to the AV, just there was no sound coming out.

So I live happily ever after anyway

saj1011

Yes, that is how they should be connected.
I'm inclined to think that the PC isn't sending any audio down the HDMI cable.

The built-in tv speakers actually receive sound from the laptop and output it via hdmi, however i was hoping the amp and extra speakers would boost the tv output with this new optical cable, however this is not working as yet.

I also think that in theory everything should work!

saj1011

saj1011 wrote: »

Been trying to figure this out for a while...hdmi laptop to hdmi tv and utilise sony amp and speakers.
At moment I can only get the tv speakers and laptop speakers to work with laptop audio.

Hardware:
LAPTOP: Toshiba satelite 850d-11q
SOUND: Sony str-dn610 amp with Teufel surround sound speakers
TV: SAMSUNG LE40A557

I tried laptop hdmi to hdmi in on amp to tv, no luck, only managed to get tv speakers or could of still used laptop speakers, so no progress.

So, do i go:
A/. Laptop to tv to amp
B/. Laptop to amp to tv
C/. can i just boost the tv with the extra amp and speakers and connect the laptop to the tv with hdmi cable and it all works?

Also, which sockets do I us on back of amp ? so many!

So... I also am not sure if my laptop can support 5.1, however stereo sound would also be an improvement!

Any advice on optimal setup would be most appreciated.

Your problem is software based, you may need to fiddle arou d with the sound options in control panel and also download media player classic and try playing through that, you will also need to probably change the settings in the audio settings in it aswell to ensure the sound is going through the hdmi.
Optimal connection is hdmi to hdmi

Have you read the manual?

One or two of the hdmi inputs on the back will be hdmi in, this is the socket you use.