Do you play your PC games on your TV? Get in here

[gorcorps]

(I was torn between this forum and AV&HT, move it if you want)

Do you play your PC games on your TV?

How do you handle sound? I'm currently exporting HDMI to my home theater receiver which obviously has no sound as it's just the video card. Now I have plenty of audio outputs including optical at my disposal, but I don't know how to select HDMI for my video and utilize optical for my sound separately. Is this a function of my receiver or is there another way to do this?

 

[Lonyo]

Either.
In Windows you can set a specific sound output device as the default.
On your receiver you may/should be able to set which audio input is used with any given video input, assuming you buy a decent receiver. My low end Onkyo can do it.

 

[Dankk]

I'm currently exporting HDMI to my home theater receiver which obviously has no sound as it's just the video card.

That doesn't sound right. What video card are you using?

I have a gaming PC that I hook up to my HDTV all the time, and I use the HDMI built into the video card (it's a Radeon HD 5770). The video card has it's own HDMI driver which does, in fact, carry the audio. It works and sounds great.

 

[s44]

If you have any sort of modern (all DX11/some DX10) card, it will have its own audio driver.

 

[MrWizzard]

I have them hooked up different ways; I wanted 5.1 not just stereo.

So for some computers I use these,

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers-audio/home-pc-speakers/devices/speaker-system-Z906

For more powerful setups I have the X-FI or whatever sound card I am using going into the external inputs on the big Amps. Left, Right, SL, SR, Center, SUB. Using cables that are 5mm on one side and RCA on the other.

I have played with HDMI to the TV but TV speakers are just ok. They are still good but I like the 5.1 or 7.1 or whatever.

 

[illram]

HDMI should output sound on any modern video card. I believe in Win7 there is an option to use HDMI sound that you can turn on or off, not exactly sure where but it's there. That's probably the issue.

You can also try connecting the HDMI directly into the TV, and if the TV has an optical out (many TVs do) you can connect that to a stereo/receiver with an optical in to use your speaker system.

I just connect my PC to my TV via HDMI and have a separate analog audio Y cable running from the PCs onboard audio to an ancient stereo I have had for years. I don't have an advanced setup besides my TV so it works for me, and when I game I just use headphones anyway. (Connected to front of stereo.)

 

[Childs]

I'm sure the same applies to Media Center PCs, but I use DVI -> HDMI to the TV, and coax out to receiver for sound.

 

[Maligx]

I using my 46" lcd tv as my computer monitor and I love it. The sound is handled by my z5500 or my g930 headphones. I use a small black fold out table as my desk.

 

[Attic]

Video Card HDMI out to your reciever is the way to do it. This will give you up to 7.1 sound.

HDMI will carry the video and the audio will be up to 7.1 PCM for games. The reciever will just pass through the video to your tv and your reciever will amp the sound channels out to your speaker setup. Make sure your sound properties in windows control panel are set to your speaker configuration.

If you run HDMI from VC direct to TV and have the TV send audio via optical to your reciever you will not get better than 2.0 in games no matter what you try IME.

 

[coldmeat]

I have a GTX460, and I have it connected to my tv through a DVI -> HDMI cable. It carries sound, I just need to change the default playback device from my speakers to my tv. Pretty easy.

 

[gorcorps]

Hmmm... I have a GTX570 so I guess I'll just need to poke around and find out what to change with my current drivers.

 

[gorcorps]

Aha! I had to open the windows audio device manager because the Realtek manager didn't have HDMI as an output option. Full 5.1 is detected and working properly.

Thanks fellas

 

[Elcs]

As far as I am aware, unless you have quite an expensive receiver then all it would do with an HDMI sound signal is just to pass it onto the TV rather than play the sound itself. Am I right in saying this?

I have my PC connected up to my receiver via DVI -> HDMI for my display (47" LCD HDTV) and optical from my soundcard to my receiver for 5.1 goodness.

Maybe I'll do some reading into my Onkyo HT-R518 and see if I can do it all via HDMI, two cables to bind them all

 

[gorcorps]

As far as I am aware, unless you have quite an expensive receiver then all it would do with an HDMI sound signal is just to pass it onto the TV rather than play the sound itself. Am I right in saying this?

I have my PC connected up to my receiver via DVI -> HDMI for my display (47" LCD HDTV) and optical from my soundcard to my receiver for 5.1 goodness.

Maybe I'll do some reading into my Onkyo HT-R518 and see if I can do it all via HDMI, two cables to bind them all

I'm not sure I'm getting you... my setup is:

PC/360/PS3 --(HDMI output to)---(HDMI input of)-> Surround system receiver --(HDMI out to)---(HDMI input of)-> 46" TV

What this means is my TV stays on one input (HDMI1) to receive video from the receiver. The receiver changes input between the different HDMI signals which changes both audio and video source. Audio is in surround and video just goes to TV as expected. Right now since I found out full surround audio DOES go through the HDMI port on my video card, I'm running HDMI straight into the receiver where it acts just like any other equipment.

 

[Dankk]

As far as I am aware, unless you have quite an expensive receiver then all it would do with an HDMI sound signal is just to pass it onto the TV rather than play the sound itself.

No. It's the receiver's job is to distribute the sound through something other than the TV, whether it be a pair of shelf speakers, a 5.1 setup, or a 7.1 surround setup. If you plug the HDMI cable directly into the TV, then yes, it will come out of the TV speakers. But when plugged into a receiver you are given the option of how to route and play your audio.

(Or maybe I'm just talking out of my ass because I have absolutely no experience with either HDTVs or recievers.)

 

[s44]

As far as I am aware, unless you have quite an expensive receiver then all it would do with an HDMI sound signal is just to pass it onto the TV rather than play the sound itself. Am I right in saying this?

Nope. It's not expensive that matters, it's recent. Even cheap ones from this year do proper HDMI audio, while if you go back a few years, you need to go up the price range for that feature. Unfortunately, your 518 was just before/below that level.

 

[jacktesterson]

GTX 570 here.

Connected to my Denon Sound system DVI to HDMI cable....

Carries 5.1 Audio perfectly.

Audio can output through DVI to HDMI cables.

 

[Zorander]

If the game supports my Logitech Rumblepad, then yes. I will play it on a 55in screen and HT Denon\Quad set-up.

 

[Ferzerp]

Aha! I had to open the windows audio device manager because the Realtek manager didn't have HDMI as an output option. Full 5.1 is detected and working properly.

Thanks fellas

The realtek manager didn't have it because the sound is actually provided by your video card. The onboard (or dedicated) sound has nothing to do with it. Most new video cards are combo video/sound cards.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

My motherboard has an optical audio out connector and I use a home theater surround sound system that accepts that input.

 

[Rhoxed]

DVI - HDMI to TV's
Optical Out to Reviever

^--- My computer is known as the "hub" it is my HTPC/Gaming Machine/Bedroom Machine

My Main TV (50" Plasma) - My Gaming Monitor Dell 3008WFP - Bedroom TV (40" plasma)

The only HDMI cord that carries audio is the Bedroom TV, because that is in a seperate room from everything else. Luckily i found a wireless bluetooth mouse/keyboard that works easily across the house.

 

[Transfusion]

My casual gaming setup is probably the lousiest of all:

Yes it is a GDDR5 version of a Gainward GT 430. Palit and Gainward make them. Gainward seems to have discontinued them though-can't find any details on their website any more.

I can play GTA IV on 1680x1050 at an average of 20-30 FPS(viewed through Fraps) on a 32'' TV-all settings on High-shadows disabled-view distance set to 30. I play on VGA-HDMI cables are too expensive. I use a modded original Xbox controller in combination with x360ce to make Windows detect my controller as a typical Xbox 360 controller. Force feedback works in games that support it.

I use http://airphonesapp.com/ as wireless headphones-my TV's built-in speakers are way too bad and I can't afford any bluetooth headphones.

I am satisfied with my setup-I don't need and cannot afford the l33t3st pwnzing decacore CPU or the largest 100'' TV I can find. I value gameplay over FPS.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Never had a TV, always used my 30" monitor as a TV in my living room, eventually I decided to get something bigger for proper TV use and decided a TV wasn't going to cut it, so I grabbed a 1080p projector instead, made myself a nice 122" screen

The audio for my PC was already piped from the PC using Coax out on my Asus Xonar D2X sound card to an Audio Receiver which does 5.1 surround from my PC using DTS, so it was just a case of re-positioning the speakers to align with the projector. As far as I'm aware this kind of output from the PC is going to give you the best audio quality possible especially when using multi-channel audio like 5.1 or 7.1

It messes up games for the PC now since the speakers are back to front relative to my monitor so I just tend to use stereo headphones for that, got a nice pair of Sennheiser's which work just fine.

 

[power_hour]

My motherboard has an optical audio out connector and I use a home theater surround sound system that accepts that input.

I use to do this but now just output the signal to the TV with the same cable. I have a 42" Samsung LCD 1080P TV. If I decide to watch TV (using PIP), I just plug in my single headphone for PC audio and I have best of both worlds with minimal fuss. I get free HD channels using a cheap $20 RCA antenna from Walmart so that saves me from buying or renting a cable box.

 

[Alamat]

I have my GTX 560i connected to my 32"TV ( as monitor ) via HDMI but I use the coax to stick it to the z5500.
Not to hijack this thread but can u actually get 5.1 DD on say BFBC2? Or is it even available. I know my connections are fine as I get that when wathcing DVDs or Bluray.