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Having some HDMI audio trouble

post #1 of 9
7/23/09 at 7:04pm
Thread Starter 
Hi all,

I've been struggling the past few weeks to hook up my laptop to my receiver (Onkyo HT 7.1) for multi-channel audio. I have an HP Pavilion dv6700 with the outputs pictured below (not pictured is 7 Pin S Video).



I tried hooking it up with via HDMI, but I only seem to get both audio and video when I plug it directly into my TV. The Onkyo has the standard RCA/RGB plus coaxial and optical In. I would prefer not to use the analog jack on my laptop because I would like to hear my music and movies in multi-channel audio if at all possible.

I have also already changed the playback device to SPDIF which only seems to work for the TV.

Let me know if you have any ideas for cables or converters that might solve my problem, thanks!
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post #2 of 9
7/23/09 at 9:41pm
What model # Onkyo receiver?
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post #3 of 9
7/24/09 at 2:21am
Thread Starter 
HT-S5200 is the whole system and HT-R570 is the receiver.
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post #4 of 9
7/24/09 at 7:21am
The HDMI in the HT-S5200 is pass-thru only, meaning it will only switch and pass-thru video, it has no HDMI audio capability.  For audio, you need either a coax or optical connection from your laptop to your receiver.  Note that the digital audio output of the vast majority of HDTV's will only give DD 5.1 from the internal tuner.  All external sources (cable/satellite boxes, DVD, etc.) will be output as 2.0 stereo PCM, so you will almost certainly need the digital coax/optical from the laptop to the receiver.
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post #5 of 9
7/24/09 at 9:32am
One of the laptop's headphone jacks (I think rightmost one) doubles as an SPDIF jack, you'd need a 3.5mm->RCA adapter and maybe have to set something in the control panel.
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post #6 of 9
7/25/09 at 7:27pm
Thread Starter 
Oh ok, that makes sense. So what would be the best way to get digital coax/optical from my laptop. Should i convert it from hdmi or from the s video output?

Yea the laptop jack does work as an SPDIF jack and i can plug it directly into my stereo with an aux cable but it only outputs in analog unfortunately which would might work but it only uses two of the seven speakers. Unless there is a way to fix this i feel like the coax/optical may be a better fix.

Any more ideas would be appreciated thanks!
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post #7 of 9
7/25/09 at 8:26pm
Can't convert from HDMI, and S-video is video only.

I think you are confused about the laptop jack.  SPDIF means digital, not analog.  I may have been confused also by HP not having accurate documentation.  There are supposedly 3 3.5mm jacks on the front of some of the models.  leftmost is microphone, right 2 are headphone.  According to the docs, the rightmost one is S/PDIF digital out capable on some models.  Apparently through mini-Toslink optical 3.5 mm adapter (I was mistaken before about it being electrical rather than optical).  On other laptops, there are headphone jacks where if you plug in headphones the sides conduct signal electrically, it's analog output, while if you plug in a mini-toslink into the same hole you get digital audio optically through the center.  But if there is no red light coming out of that jack, that's probably bunk and it's not actually supported on your model, and HP's specs/manuals are faulty.

If that is indeed the case, which I suspect is probable, the solution is to buy a USB soundcard device that has a coax and/or optical output.
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post #8 of 9
7/25/09 at 9:35pm
Thread Starter 
Yea I think they have bad information in those online manuals, all i have is a mic on the left then 2 headphone jacks on the right with no red light that will only output SPDIF in analog unfortunately.

But I like your recommendation for the sound card, I would have never thought of something like that. I was looking around on amazon and I found THIS sound card that sells for reasonably cheap. Just making sure it will work before I go ahead and buy it.

Thanks again for the help!
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post #9 of 9
7/25/09 at 10:02pm
Yeah, that ought to work.

BTW, the laptop doesn't "output SPDIF in analog".  That's an oxymoron.  If it's analog, it's by definition not SPDIF, it's "analog stereo audio".  SPDIF = short for Sony/Philips digital interconnect format.
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