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HDMI sound output problems (channels & unwanted system deactivation)
I am astonished by how primitive the Windows 7 sound system is.
The setup:
An HDMI cable connects a Radeon HD 6870 to my Samsung TV.
I use the TV for both video and audio output.
Windows seems to detect whether the output device supports audio and how many audio channels it has. The problem is, it does that in a very unwise way.
If I turn my TV on, and then start Windows, things work fine.
Now, if I start Windows, and THEN turn my TV on, I get no audio. The only "fix" is to logoff and login again so that it re-checks the TV (now turned on), and sees it supports stereo audio output.
Even worse: if I turn my TV on, start Windows and for some reason turn the TV off, the sound gets disabled as well!
I have never seen a problem like this surface from the order of turning things on.
Sometimes I like to plug my PC into my Blu-Ray Home Theater. The wiring is very similar:
HDMI cable from the Radeon into a Sony BDV-E280 Home Theater.
It supports 5.1 audio. My card supports up to 7.1 channels output through HDMI, and I have tested two different HDMI cables.
However, added to the previously specified audio problems, for some reason Windows thinks the output source (the 5.1 home theater) has only two channels, so all I get is STEREO.
I have tried updating drivers, even downloading different drivers, searching for some hacks that could solve it at all...
I found a thread once of a guy who had the exact same problem and got it to work on Linux with some fancy console code.
Given this is primary an OS issue, the solution would be to force Windows 7 to output all the 6 channels uninterruptedly.
Any Windows 7 experts or hackers could give me a lift on this?
Thanks.
Last edited by AdeonC; 07 May 2012 at 16:53.