Connecting HDMI directly to TV - No receiver

[BoboKatt]

This might be a stupid question but... I am setting up a small office for my father. He currently has a 32" LCD TV (not a monitor but actual HD TV). The TV has like 2 HDMI inputs in the back along with all the other connections. The TV also has built in speakers. My father will connect his computer to that TV via HDMI coming from his ATI 4550 video card which has native HDMI and the video card combines audio and video, and also will have his cable box ( also using HDMI) plugged into the other HDMI slot of the TV.

So the question: he does not have any speakers or receiver. Do the HDMI inputs on the back of regular HD TV's actually receive both video and audio, so he can use the built in speakers of the TV, or must he connect receiver or somehow send the audio from the sound card etc to the TV via regular old composite?

I know some receivers that have HDMI pass through only the video, not the audio.. so just wondering if TV's in general also do this?

 

[sdifox]

hdmi carries sound and video. The question is really does your source output analogue 2 channel sound. My BRD and HD-DVD players are hooked up directly to the TV in my livingroom and I get sound from the TV.

 

[Modelworks]

TV's process both audio+video so no receiver needed. Us engineers wanted the audio and video as separate streams, on separate wires, but the damn mpaa stepped in and shot that all to hell.

 

[Noubourne]

Yes he can use this. The ATI card will send both signals, and the TV will accept them. You don't need any other devices to do this.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: BoboKatt
I know some receivers that have HDMI pass through only the video, not the audio.. so just wondering if TV's in general also do this?

Many lower-end receivers actually pass both HDMI audio and video through to the TV and don't process the audio at all. Kind of a PITA because it doesn't always seem to specify whether it will process HDMI audio in the specs.