Simultaneous HDMI and Analog Audio Out - Is it possible? - Page 3

Are you sure you can do this in WMC? When I try and set HDMI/display port in WMC speaker setup, they will not play sound unless HDMI is selected as default device in sound manager. WMP happilly plays over HDMI with the rest of the PC on analog however.

When I enable stereo mix in the recording tab, select HDMI as my default device, select HDMI/Display port in WMC speaker setup, then WMC only plays audio out to HDMI which I like, but all of the PC's sounds are still sent out over HDMI and analog when I only want analog... Stuck here.

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now if they can make this with 8 channel out i would not need a receiver. i have analog out to 7 channel amp right now. hard to add a xbox.

I don't use WMC, i use MediaPortal, so i can't help you in that.

Are you sure?
That feature would be great.
But if Windows 7 can output simultaneos, do you think JRMC can solve this issue?

I did not know about this thread.

I had two analog speakers connected to the motherboard and set as the default communications device and I had HDMI connected to a radeon 4670 and set as the default audio device. Both worked for me simultaneously until a couple weeks ago when I installed a Nvidia 440.

I have a monitor on a desk and a plasma connected to one computer. It would be convenient to have sound on the desk because all the AVR speakers are behind me. I have ordered a couple of cheap usb digital sound devices: Logitech S-150 1.2 Watts 2.0 Digital and Syba SD-CM-UAUD USB Stereo Audio Adapter, C-Media Chipset, RoHS to see if I can get one of them to produce sound behind the monitor.

I will post next week after I get these devices.

Has anyone confirmed that loading rtkhdaud.dat to your c:\\windows\\system32\\drivers folder work? I'm at work and can't test it until I get home.

http://neosmart.net/downloads/guides...d/rtkhdaud.zip

This is why I moved away from wmc and made the switch to xbmc.

I have dual zones as well and never could get it to work right. Within xbmc I can select what output I want it to play. So my loft is zone 1 and anything within xbmc plays through hdmi.

My zone 2 is ceiling speakers throughout the house. I have a master play list setup in windows media player. I have a gyration air remote always sitting downstiars. I just hit play and music in zone 2 will start.

Normally when the neighbor kids come over I turn a movie on in zone 1 "loft" and then zone 2 will play music all at the same time.

The icing on the cake per say for me with xbmc is that my tablets can control everything without me having to be up stairs in the loft. The kids think I'm magic :-)

I do know within wmc you can get a plugin for xbmc. I guess you could then use the xbmc plugin to only play music and then use wmc to view movies. No need to buy anything just a few simple installs and configurations. Even better is if you have an android device then you could control your xbmc music from anywhere.

Ken~

Hi Assasin, I have a setup similar to the OP and was wondering what to do. Your solution seems the simplest and one that suits me the most. THANKS. I'll try this at home and report back.

JFYI: My setup: HTPC->HDMI OUT->ONKYO TX-SR578 for 5.1 setup (which it does right now) and HTPC->ANALOG LINE OUT->ONKYO TX-SR578 (LINE IN) for Stereo setup ONLY for Zone-2 since it cant play digital sources ONLY analog.

Hello assassin, I can CONFIRM that this workaround does work, THANKS again, Nothing like SIMPLE.

For others, here's what I did:
1. Connected stereo to RCA 'Y' cable from HTPC Line OUT -> VCR/DVR IN (Analog) on the AVR.
2. My HTPC is connected via HDMI also to VCR/DVR HDMI IN on the AVR.
3. When HDMI Audio is enabled, the HDMI Port takes precedence over the Analog always (on the AVR).
4. On WMP changed output device from Default output device to Speakers (High Definition Audio, i.e the Line Out)
5. On the AVR, turned on Zone-2 and selected VCR/DVR.
6. Played back mp3s from WMP and voila, it plays on the zone-2 speakers.
7. To confirm: Turned off the AVR (to Standby) leaving Zone-2 active, and the song continued to play over Zone-2 speakers.

The reason the above setup is perfect for me:
I have 2 superior speakers for Music. I have connected these to the Zone-2 of the receiver. They are still in the Living room (standing next to the Floorstanding mains of the 5.1). With this setup, when I want to playback Music, I turn on Zone-2 and turn off the AVR and it works perfectly.

Ah, I wouldn't need to go through all of that because my AVR has A and B speaker posts. I think an easier setup for you might be to just get a speaker switchbox and leave everything on HDMI.

well after fooling around with it again its working now. I went into sound in control panel in windows 7 ultimate and made sure the laptop speakers were the default - have hdmi in ready mode (tho worked when i disabled it) - digital output (optical) as default communication device (tho worked when disabled) - i also went into sound -> speaker - and clicked on properties -> advanced and unchecked the exclusive mode boxes (dont know what these do) and set it to 16/48 tho looks like 16/44 is working too.

I also clicked on hdmi and set it to 16/44 and i then had sound coming thru zone one and 2 from my laptop connected via hdmi and the optical port headphone jack on my laptop.

I went back and put hdmi to 16/48 and it didnt work!

So right now I'm gonna say that HDMI has to be in 16/44 for it to work whether hdmi is in ready mode or disabled. it doesnt matter. Seems strange that it has to be in 16/44 even if its disabled maybe thats the right setting so it stops overriding the analog??? HDMI video is fine.

i now have music thru zone 2 and zone 1 (analog) with hdmi and optical out on laptop plugged in. Power is lower in zone 1 than when hdmi is main source but i just turned the volume up a bit. This works for me for now. HDMI aud to zone 1 would be great to have to for more flexibilty. Hopefully someday.

I tested youtube via internet explorer version 9 and also in windows media player and both worked. I tried media monkey quickly and it only worked in zone 2. I'll have to check the settings in the player if anyone knows how to do that please let me know.

Thanks

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post20923532

Since 16/48 didn't work, I can only assume that whatever you're plugging into doesn't support a 48KHz sampling rate.

Without the exlusive mode enabled, applications will have no way to switch to bitstreaming. This may or may not be important to you. Read up on WASAPI Exclusive Mode to learn more.

thanks alot I was gonna read up on the exclusive mode feature. That doesnt effect the problem i was working on i was just trying some different things to see what worked and keeping track.

16/48 and higher can be enabled for hdmi in control panel if i am using digital aud in zone 1 only but not when i want zone 2 and zone 1. I think....inorder for hdmi to not override the analog hdmi control panel sound has to be set at 16/44 inorder keep it from overriding the analog (the default speakers are set at 16/48 and works fine). HDMI set at 16/44 is the only setting that works along with realtek audio speakers set as the default. This allows analog for zone 1 and 2 via the laptop.

I thought I'd share my solution to this problem (it has been a _long_ time since I have posted here)...

I have been battling this multiple output issue since I switched from a cable box to InfiniTV4/Intel HTPC . My situation is as follows:

- One main listening/viewing area (living room) with 5.1 surround setup.
- One second zone (outdoor speakers on rear porch) with 2.0 stereo setup.

My goal was to have whatever source selected at the AVR in the living room to be down-mixed (if necessary) to the outdoor speakers. Separate volume control for each zone. Ability to turn off living room AVR and still have audio outside from the HTPC... Simple and easy to explain to the wife.

Also, I didn't want to be switching default audio devices (not simple), and I had tried the VAC (virtual audio cable) solution and could never get it to work. Ideally, I wanted to bitstream whatever I had on the HTPC direct to the AVR and just have any down-mixing happen as necessary.

In my ideal world, I'd just run one HDMI to the AVR supporting a second zone and let the AVR deal with it. Alas, I have not run into any AVR which will enable the second zone with digital sources (analog only -- what's the point??). So... plan B.

What I ended up doing is using two separate AVRs. Main AVR is a Yamaha RX-V867 (just picked it up at discount on newegg.com). This Yamaha has two HDMI outputs. I figured I could use one HDMIout to TV and the other to yet another AVR (I have an older Yamaha HTR-5063 that would work for this purpose) to drive the outdoor speakers.

So... this is what I end up with:

HTPC -> HDMI Detective -> HDMI1-in

HDMI-Out1 -> Samsung Plasma

HDMI-Out2 -> Yamaha HTR-5063 HDMI-In1

Then I hooked my outdoor speakers to just front L/R on HTR-5063. Ran through the setup on the HTR-5063 to tell it that we only have front speakers. This way it down-mixes any multichannel audio coming from the HDMI to 2-channel stereo to the speakers. Hooked my 5.1 system speakers in living room to the RX-V867 and configured it like you would a surround system.

After fishing around for some settings, I was able to get my HTPC audio duplicated to both the 5.1 living room speakers, and down-mixed to my outdoor speakers via the HTR-5063. By default, the RX-V867 doesn't send audio to the two HDMI outputs, and it doesn't have stand-by pass-through enabled. By sending audio to HDMI-Out2 and enabling standby pass-through, I get down-mixed stereo outside even when the main system in the living room is in standby (like when you are outside only and don't need the music inside the house).

I still have some Harmony remote issues to work out yet (two Yamaha AVRs in the same room using the same IR codes... is a bit of an issue)... or maybe I end up selling the HTR-5063 and buy a cheap Denon for the second zone or something.

This solution does involve having two AVRs, but these things are getting pretty cheap these days...

Just an update on this:

First of all... yes, it really does work, but not exactly like I thought it was...

The RX-V867 is actually down mixing to 2-channel LPCM on each of its HDMI outputs. This is OK for my purpose, but I would imagine not so much for the person who wanted to run two separate 7.1/5.1 rooms from the same source using only HDMI.

In the end, I think I'm going to look for a cheap replacement receiver for the Yamaha (a different brand to avoid the remote conflict). It needs to do audio over HDMI but only (2-channel) LPCM... the other stuff (DD, DTS, DTS-MA, TrueHD, etc.) it doesn't need to decode as the RX-V867 is already doing that for me...

Another alternative... would be to find a (cheap) HDMI audio decoder (again only needs to handle LPCM 2-channel) and pair it up with a 2-channel amp.

So just to confirm that I understand the simple solution. Even thought the MoBo system may allow both HDMI and Analog, Microsoft only allows you to output either digital OR analog output at any given time. I did the above: WMC with digital and WMP with analog and you can only play music from one of these at a time and only to one zone. Yes its simple but not optimal since you cannot play either WMC or WMP to both zones at the same time. You can do this with a Playstation which can output both Digital and Analog but I guess it bypasses the Win7....

If you connected speaker out analog on the HTPC to another AVR analog input and selected that on Zone 2 can you play Zone 1 digital and Zone 2 analog at the same time?

Would this converter work? I want to bit stream bluray hd audio (along with the video of course) to my home theater from my pc (which just have a wall between them) but I want the analog only speakers I have on my pc to continue working without changing settings in windows7 everytime.

Correct me if I'm wrong but with this powered hdmi splitter I should be able to split my hdmi output from my video card, run one line directly into the other room to my av receiver for htpc functionality, one hdmi line from the converter plugs into the above linked hdmi to analog converter which will down mixe the hdmi audio to 2 channel analog stereo which I can then connect directly to the 3.5mm jack for my powered pc speakers, and the third hdmi line would go to my pc monitor.

Sorry if that's confusing but it's clear in my head and I think should work as long as splitting the hdmi 3 ways doesn't cause a issue with playing bluray.

I've read through this thread and via the Recording tab using Stereo Mix I can have Fubar output to house speakers and pool speakers with Fubar set to have Speakers as the default output. I can then go watch Live TV and house speakers kick in while Fubar continues at pool. Problem is when I exit MC I can't get house speakers to kick back over without tweaking Sound options again.

How can I dumb this down so wife and kids can use it? Also, we have pool parties during Triple Crown and I like to switch pool audio to TV audio so you can hear announcers, how do I go about doing that?

A favor to ask. Would someone who is running Windows 8 Consumer Preview please confirm that this works?

I have a main listening/viewing area (living room) with 5.1 surround setup and a second zone (the dining room) with 2.0 stereo setup. Right now, I can switch easily between the two zones using my Harmony remote but I have to get into Control Panel and switch the default output device. I'm tired of doing that!

Thanks in advance.

Jim

From my view of Windows 8, the Volume Control Options mentioned in the referenced thread are exactly the same as Windows 7.

So, my guess is that for now we are stuck right where we were with Win7.

I use the "Party Mode" feature of my Yamaha RX-V867 AVR to send output (from HTPC HDMI output) simultaneous to my 5.1 surround setup and outdoor speakers on my back porch.

That wasn't what I was hoping to hear. Somehow, I had hoped Microsoft was listening to us but such appears to not be the case.

So with party mode, does it work with a digital source? And is it possible to have sound from zone 2 only? I have an Onkyo TX-SR605 and zone 2 works only with an analog source, hence the switching of the default output device in Control Panel.

Jim

And Bellingham is an awesome place for bicycling...

Yamaha's Party Mode works with a digital source. As I stated, I have only HDMI going from my HTPC to the RX-V867. The Yamaha has similar restrictions (no digital) when you use "Zone 2," but Party Mode is a special case. I can have sound from Zone 2 only when in Party Mode by simply turning down the volume to nothing in the main 5.1 zone.

Sounds like it would work well for my situation as well. I'll research Yamaha receivers as well.

Meanwhile, if anyone else has any insight into this, I'd really appreciate hearing it and I'm sure a bunch of others would as well.

Thanks very much, Dean.

Jim

if I am understanding the specs correctly on the new Onkyo 5010 and 3010, we can finally send video over hdmi to zone 1 tv and system and the audio over the same hdmi to zone 1 and 2. No more separate analog rca connection required for the audio to zone 1 & 2 from the computer. I think we can send the audio and video over one hdmi connection to zone 1 and 2.

Why install XP? Are you saying it can't be done on Ubuntu either? ...cuz I was just gonna install ubuntu by windows 7 side to work around this but not worth it if ubuntu doesn't support it either. Playing sound through HDMI and speakers at the same time that is.