No Audio Through HDMI

[Wattser93]

I know this topic has been brought up before, but that's because it's a large problem. I've googled it many times and everybody has the same problem, video but no audio. My audio control in my menu bar is grayed out, so, in theory, I should be getting audio through my TV, but I'm not.

Has anybody found a solution? I'm pretty close to going to the Apple store, and having them try to figure it out, but it would be a waste of $10 in gas to have them say "looks good". I've tried it with 3 TVs in my house, all with the same result, video is fine, but audio is nowhere.

I've messed with the MIDI settings, trying every combo of setting available, with no results. I've tried changing the VLC output, with no result. And I've tried using iTunes, and YouTube to see if anything could output sound, and nothing can.

Am I alone with this problem, or is it an inherent problem with the 2010 models, because Apple's support forums are filled with this same problem.

 

[-tWv-]

Well how are you getting the video from the mini display port to the HDMI cable in the 1st place? Some adapters don't feed audio, only video. The one I have plugs into the mindisplay, audio, and draws power with a usb cable. What kind of adapter do you have?

This is what I have: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=675020&is=REG&A=details&Q=

EDIT: I think that your model of MBP sends audio through the mini display port, still it might be an issue with the adapter, not sure though.

 

[Wattser93]

So after a handful of tries I figured it out. The problem was having my TV's HDMI audio set to "auto", instead of digital. Apparently it didn't auto select digital, because once I changed it to digital from auto it worked.

- Connect through HDMI
- Select HDMI device in sound prefs, "TOSHIBA-TV" in my case
- MIDI settings 48,000.0 Hz (48 kHz)
- 2ch-16bit Integer
- VLC set to HDMI audio output (not HDMI encoded)
- TV set to HDMI digital audio

Some notes: both 20 and 24 bit integer worked, but both created random hissing and popping noises. 44100.0 Hz worked also, but had sound artifacts also.

My theory is that these settings are specific to each home theater system. My personal home theater receiver displays "PCM 48 kHz" on startup, and only features a 16 bit DAC in it, so trying to use the 44.1 kHz format didn't mesh with my receiver well, and the 24 bit DAC caused artifacts in the audio because my receiver can't properly decode the 24 bit signal. (same for the 20 bit).

Overall though, it's a pretty decent media hub right now.