HDMI Sound on PC Help Needed

[ATB]

So the machine arrived yesterday and it's all hooked up.

I have the HDMI cord from the vid card out to the monitor and am getting full HD picture. Sweet!

However, there's no sound.  Which makes sense in my brain since sound and vid come from two different places on a pc. (Or should the HDMI cord carry the sound like in a home theater set up?)

On the back of the monitor (integrated speakers) there's a port that says HDMI Sound and has a symbol like this ((O)) only it's vertical and not horizontal.

There is a matching port like that on the back of the sound card on the pc itself as well.  However, I can't figure out what kind of cord this is supposed to be.

Is it just a 3.5 mm jack (does a 3.5mm jack 'do' HD sound?) or something special? Is it an optical cable with TOSLINK adapter jacks on it?  

There's a separate optical cable output on the pc soundcard but not on the monitor.

Thanks all.  It has been a LONG time since I've done this.

[Calavera]

HDMI should carry the sound. You just need to change the default sound device from your sound card to the HDMI output.

Assuming you're on Windows 7, you just need to right click on the volume control. Click on playback devices, then click on the icon that looks like a HDTV (should say something like NVIDIA High Definition Audio). Finally, click 'Set Default'. Ta-da, should have sound out the HDMI.

[Purge]

+1.

[ATB]

I did that to no avail.  How does hdmi on a pc carry the sound from the video card?

[Purge]

It routes it through to the video card.

[wonderpug]

Has that always been the case?  I thought PCs used to be able to only output video through HDMI, like a glorified DVI cable.  And didn't ATB say in another thread that his computer is some 7 years old or something?

[Calavera]

Has that always been the case?  I thought PCs used to be able to only output video through HDMI, like a glorified DVI cable.  And didn't ATB say in another thread that his computer is some 7 years old or something?

Pretty sure they've always been able to output the audio.

ATB, can you give us more info on what video card you're using?

[ATB]

Like I said, it has been a long time.  Apparently I was sent the wrong monitor and it doesn't have the integrated speakers 

Hence, no sound.  <where's that embarrassed smiley?>

Thanks for the help!

So now that I will be using regular speakers on this thing, do I just plug a standard 3.5 mm jack into it and into my speakers?

[Purge]

Yes.

And don't have it set to HDMI.

Or, you could run a cable from your monitor (assuming it has an audio Out jack) to earphones or to your speakers.

[TheAtomicKid]

Think of it as an opportunity to invest in some nice speakers, as opposed to settling for whatever crap they include in your monitor bezel.

The port on your display is probably a pass-through. Try hooking your speakers to that, or you could just hook straight to the sound card (remember to set the sound outputs properly)

Atomic

(woops, looks like I'm a little redundant here. but perhaps some additional clarity.)

(quick thought: would it be standard stereo out on the pass-through, or is it digital sound, which would make hooking it to a set of speakers more complex?)

[ATB]

Is there such a thing as a cable that has rca on one end and then twisted pair wires on the other?

One of my speakers is dead so I'd like to run an rca line out of my subwoofer to a pair of polk surround sound speakers. Does such a thing exist?

[Purge]

We live in an era where toothbrushes have cameras. Take a picture.

[Calavera]

Is there such a thing as a cable that has rca on one end and then twisted pair wires on the other?

One of my speakers is dead so I'd like to run an rca line out of my subwoofer to a pair of polk surround sound speakers. Does such a thing exist?

Yes, you could use the line out of your subwoofer, but you'd need an amplifier (just like a home theater). The power on a line out jack is WAY too low to power a speaker. Just to add, RCA cables are a single wire plus a ground shield, if it's shielded.

If you're looking for something cheap, hit up Walmart, Target or the like and pickup a cheap set of speakers. They've usually got a decent pair of Logitech ones for $20-$30.