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External monitor in clamshell mode - audio question

U

uncleMonty

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 8, 2012
111
0
Could someone who connects their MBA to an external TV screen via HDMI check something for me?

Hook your MBA up to your TV via a miniDisplay Port-to-HDMI cable or adaptor. In System Preferences->Audio, select your TV as the destination for audio output. If you have a compliant cable, audio should now be transmitted to your TV speakers along with the image.

Now, by having an external mouse/trackpad/keyboard paired to the MBA, close the lid so you're in clamshell mode. You'll probably get a very brief blue screen on your TV before the image comes back.

Now check: is audio still being transmitted to the TV as well as video?

If you can check this, then thanks for trying and letting me know. I want to find out if I have a bad cable or if it's a driver issue or what, as audio stops being transmitted when I close the lid. FWIW I'm on 10.7.4, and it's a late-2012 MBA 13" (8 GB, 2 GHz i7)
 
bump... with a humble request that someone let me know if audio continues to be transmitted through a mDP -> hdmi connection to a TV when you put your MBA in clamshell mode.
 
Sure

I may head to the Apple Store today, if so, I'll take my mba and check. I don't have the adapter (only vga and dvi).
 
Thanks! I haven't been able to get to an Apple store in a while. (I called telephone support but they're useless, the guy had no idea and basically googled it while I waited on the phone - he couldn't even find out whether audio over mDP->HDMI was supported at all.) I appreciate you testing it out, if you can, while you're in the store.
 
I can test it tonight, but I always leave it open when connected to the TV. How do you enter this clamshell mode? I use VLC remote on my android phone to control it.
 
To enter clamshell mode you just have to have an external keyboard and/or pointing device attached, or, in the case of bluetooth devices, paired to your Air when you close the lid.

btw I'm amazed you can remote-control VLC with your phone.
 
Yes, I have a non-apple mini display port/thunderbolt to HDMI adapter and it send outs audio to the TV. Sometimes I have to manually select hdmi in sound option to make it happen but it works.
 
SoISays: my adapter (also non-Apple: Folsom) works, too, until I close the lid on my Air at which point video continues but audio stops. Could you check what happens when you close the screen? (You'll have to have an external keyboard or pointing device for it not to go to sleep, I believe.)
 
With my phone as a bluetooth remote, the computer only goes to sleep. I need to find another way to enter clamshell mode.

You can find plenty of free VLC remotes apps, they will access your computer library and control all playback functions of VLC. It'd look really neat if I can get the computer to play while closed now!
 
jobster: can you tell your Air to be woken from sleep by bluetooth devices? It's in system preferences -> bluetooth -> advanced. In some places Apple specifies that it should be a keyboard or pointing device, but elsewhere (like here) they just say bluetooth devices. Maybe your phone can wake the computer after all, if you select this option in your preferences.
 
I have that setting checked, but nothing. And when I try to set up a bluetooth mouse, the phone is not detected. I think only proper mouse and keyboard allow for this mode. I also installed insomniaX which should prevent the computer from sleeping when closed, but it doesn't work either... you may want to give it a try though.
 
uncleMonty said:
SoISays: my adapter (also non-Apple: Folsom) works, too, until I close the lid on my Air at which point video continues but audio stops. Could you check what happens when you close the screen? (You'll have to have an external keyboard or pointing device for it not to go to sleep, I believe.)
Click to expand...

Yes, it still works. It is an unbranded monoprice adapter. The sounds comes out from the closed MBA or my bluetooth speaker when i choose bluetooth.

Edit: Are you speaking about a 1-3 second gap where audio stops when you open or close the MBA? That happens to me but I think that's the case with any machine.
 
SoIsays said:
Yes, it still works. It is an unbranded monoprice adapter. The sounds comes out from the closed MBA or my bluetooth speaker when i choose bluetooth.

Edit: Are you speaking about a 1-3 second gap where audio stops when you open or close the MBA? That happens to me but I think that's the case with any machine.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't consider that to be working properly, if the sound doesn't still get transmitted through the mDP->hdmi adapter when you close the lid. Are you saying that your audio is transmitted to your display's speakers when the lid is open, then it changes to the MBA when you close the lid?

(And no, I'm not talking about a brief stoppage - it stops and doesn't come up.)
 
To be clear, audio works 100% with an open or closed lid. Built-in speaker open or closed and external speaker open or closed.
 
SoIsays said:
To be clear, audio works 100% with an open or closed lid. Built-in speaker open or closed and external speaker open or closed.
Click to expand...

Sorry to keep harrassing you about this, but you mentioned a Bluetooth external speaker. Do external speakers connected only by mDP-->HDMI continue to work, too? This is the audio route that fails for me when I close the lid.
 
Mine works fine. I'm using the Kanex iAdapt MDPHDMIV2 HDMI V2 - Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter with Audio Support.
 
uncleMonty said:
Sorry to keep harrassing you about this, but you mentioned a Bluetooth external speaker. Do external speakers connected only by mDP-->HDMI continue to work, too? This is the audio route that fails for me when I close the lid.
Click to expand...

Yeah, aside from the 2 second gap of silence when closing or opening the lid, it gets right back to work on my bluetooth speaker.
 
SoIsays said:
Yeah, aside from the 2 second gap of silence when closing or opening the lid, it gets right back to work on my bluetooth speaker.
Click to expand...

But... I need to know if it works on an external speaker that is connected by mDP-->HDMI, not by Bluetooth !
 
dreamsayer said:
Mine works fine. I'm using the Kanex iAdapt MDPHDMIV2 HDMI V2 - Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter with Audio Support.
Click to expand...

Thanks dreamsayer. One last question, what OS do you have? I'm not on 10.8 yet, maybe that's the problem.
 
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