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MB HDMI cable & audio

C

chainprayer

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Hello! I just bought my first HD LCD tv yesterday (w00t!) and am going out in a day or two to get an HDMI cable to link up my MacBook to it.

After doing some research I found that some devices transmit audio and video through the HDMI cable. Does the MacBook send audio through this cable as well or do I need to get audio cables too?
 
No, no MacBook sends audio through the video output. (both Polycard and Unibody models)
You will need to get a separate audio cable; 3.5mm to RCA is cheapest and sounds fine, but there are some cables out there that mate the 3.5mm into an HDMI cable so there is only one connection going into your TV. Do some looking around, you will see what I am talking about...
 
chainprayer said:
Hello! I just bought my first HD LCD tv yesterday (w00t!) and am going out in a day or two to get an HDMI cable to link up my MacBook to it.

After doing some research I found that some devices transmit audio and video through the HDMI cable. Does the MacBook send audio through this cable as well or do I need to get audio cables too?
Click to expand...

What you'll need.

IF you have a unibody MB:
-MiniDisplayPort-->DVI adapter
-DVI--->HDMI Cable
-3.5mm Audio jack to RCA, or a mini-TOSLINK to TOSLINK if you want to use that for digital sound.

IF you have a plastic MB:
-Mini-DVI-->DVI adapter
-DVI--->HDMI Cable
-3.5mm Audio jack to RCA, or a mini-TOSLINK to TOSLINK if you want to use that for digital sound.
 
For now those are the options but correct me if I am wrong as I thought I read that the mini display port does do audio as well so once the MDP to HDMI adapter comes out, it will be all you need.
 
Hopefully MonoPrice's MDP to HDMI adapter will be available soon. I've been waiting for a while for this. Apple really failed with MDP IMHO.
 
imapfsr said:
For now those are the options but correct me if I am wrong as I thought I read that the mini display port does do audio as well so once the MDP to HDMI adapter comes out, it will be all you need.
Click to expand...

Yes, the physical specs for Mini Displayport do allow audio. Apple is yet to actually implement it though.

Not sure if this is something they could fix with a future firmware update or if they need the actual physical connection from sound card to the mini Displayport itself...
 
Tallest Skil said:
Why?
Click to expand...

Because MDP is not supported whatsoever in the market yet. While I do believe it will be in a year or so, right now it's pretty much worthless without some adapters that often times people have been having problems with.

If Apple were to release an adapter that went from MDP to HDMI and included audio, I would be a little happier.

Basically what I am saying is that you have to pay Apple money in order to even use the damn port.

I wish Apple just put an HDMI output instead, however, I'm guessing the whole licensing issue stopped them.
 
chainprayer said:
Hello! I just bought my first HD LCD tv yesterday (w00t!) and am going out in a day or two to get an HDMI cable to link up my MacBook to it.

After doing some research I found that some devices transmit audio and video through the HDMI cable. Does the MacBook send audio through this cable as well or do I need to get audio cables too?
Click to expand...

Some TV's have an audio input (mini-jack or TOS link) dedicated for a PC VGA input that can be reassigned to an HDMI input. So you won't need a converter to suck in both audio and video over HDMI. Yes, it's multiple cables, but it might be cheaper.
 
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