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Macbook to Onkyo Receiver - No Audio

post #1 of 14
2/16/11 at 9:08pm
Thread Starter 
When I arrived home from work today, I had a little treat in the mail: two cables from Monoprice.com. The first was a mini-dvi to hdmi and the second was a mini-toslink to toslink. The reason I bought these cables was to connect my Macbook to my Onkyo HT-R380 receiver (the one that comes with the S3300) and ultimately play movies on my television from my Macbook.

Well, the picture displayed fine, and even looked better than I had expected. However, after trying everything I could possibly think of, the audio simply will not work. I tried using the different digital-in ports, different HDMI ports, tweaking the receiver settings, etc. I highly doubt Monoprice sent me a faulty cable, yet it seems just as crazy that Onkyo would not make this receiver compatible with audio streaming from a laptop. Perhaps it's the Mac's end?

This situation is driving me insane. Please, if anyone has any ideas or experience with this issue, I'd really like to hear it.
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post #2 of 14
2/16/11 at 10:36pm
I agree that it is unlikely that the cables are bad. And I am also pretty certain that your receiver can handle any audio signal that the laptop can produce.

I don't know the specifics of the MacBook or your receiver model, but here are some ideas that come to mind:

* HDMI in general carries both audio and video signals; are you sure that you need the optical cable? Is there a setting on the MacBook to output audio over HDMI?

* on the receiver, make sure that you configure it to use the optical input for the source you have selected (I suspect that it defaults to getting audio from the HDMI port -- and I am not even sure that you can configure an input on the receiver to get video from HDMI and audio from optical for a single input on the receiver)

* try playing a stereo audio CD on the macbook, and assign the digital input that you are using on the receiver to an input that has no video (such as "CD") -- if it works, the problem is obviously not the audio cable. Is there a setting on the MacBook to turn the optical output on?

* DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD audio on Blu-ray discs can only be transported over HDMI. Optical cannot carry these signals. If you are playing a Blu-ray, you might need to choose a lower quality (though still very good) audio format, such as regular Dolby Digitial, DTS, or stereo (at least as a test). You could also try playing a regular DVD -- all audio formats on DVDs can pass over an optical connection.

-Max
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post #3 of 14
2/17/11 at 1:16am
Hi mato77429, make sure the mini-toslink to toslink is connected to Macbook headphone port and not the audio line in port.
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post #4 of 14
2/17/11 at 8:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by maxcooper View Post

I agree that it is unlikely that the cables are bad. And I am also pretty certain that your receiver can handle any audio signal that the laptop can produce.

I don't know the specifics of the MacBook or your receiver model, but here are some ideas that come to mind:

* HDMI in general carries both audio and video signals; are you sure that you need the optical cable? Is there a setting on the MacBook to output audio over HDMI?

* on the receiver, make sure that you configure it to use the optical input for the source you have selected (I suspect that it defaults to getting audio from the HDMI port -- and I am not even sure that you can configure an input on the receiver to get video from HDMI and audio from optical for a single input on the receiver)

* try playing a stereo audio CD on the macbook, and assign the digital input that you are using on the receiver to an input that has no video (such as "CD") -- if it works, the problem is obviously not the audio cable. Is there a setting on the MacBook to turn the optical output on?

* DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD audio on Blu-ray discs can only be transported over HDMI. Optical cannot carry these signals. If you are playing a Blu-ray, you might need to choose a lower quality (though still very good) audio format, such as regular Dolby Digitial, DTS, or stereo (at least as a test). You could also try playing a regular DVD -- all audio formats on DVDs can pass over an optical connection.

-Max


Thanks for the options Max, I just unplugged the toslink to see if the HDMI could handle audio by itself, but it cannot. I believe it's because the mini-dvi can't handle it, but than again I'm not 100% sure about that.

I just woke up, so now I'll try to plug the macbook in only with the toslink to see if that works. If it does, than it's not the cable.

The main problem, I fear, is that the receiver will not allow me to override the sound from the HDMI. I suppose I will need to give Onkyo a call, although I hear they aren't typically of much help. We'll see.

Another thing I should have noted is that when I have the mini-toslink plugged into the mac, it doesn't seem to be recognized very well. The computer definitely knows there is a digital output, but when I go to System Preferences/Sound/Output, there are no options to tweak the device. I feel that the mac should recognize it, but it might also just mean that I can only tune it from the receivers end.

Thanks again guys,
Mat
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post #5 of 14
2/17/11 at 9:07am
Had the same issue (although I'm, using miniDP to HDMI) with a Panny receiver. I run the video directly to the TV and the toslink to the receiver to get around this problem.
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post #6 of 14
2/17/11 at 9:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mato77429 View Post

Thanks for the options Max, I just unplugged the toslink to see if the HDMI could handle audio by itself, but it cannot. I believe it's because the mini-dvi can't handle it, but than again I'm not 100% sure about that.


The main problem, I fear, is that the receiver will not allow me to override the sound from the HDMI. I suppose I will need to give Onkyo a call, although I hear they aren't typically of much help. We'll see.


Thanks again guys,
Mat

You're probably right about the mini-DVi, I would assume that it would not carry audio.

What reciever do you have? You should have no trouble assigning an optical input to an HDMI input...

Your manual for the Onkyo should detail the way to do this.. I can't remember off the top of my head how to do it on my Onkyo 1008 (I use all HDMI).. I'll see if I have my manual on my laptop..
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post #7 of 14
2/17/11 at 9:27am
Your source needs to be configured such that it uses HDMI for video and optical for audio. Certain receivers don't allow that (for example NAD T747 does not). However, you can connect the HDMI directly to the TV and the optical to the optical input on the receiver. Make sure you select that particular source on the AVR. You have to look at the on screen setup and manual for details. I have an iMac doing optical to HK and NAD receivers and they work great.
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post #8 of 14
2/17/11 at 9:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mato77429 View Post

The main problem, I fear, is that the receiver will not allow me to override the sound from the HDMI. I suppose I will need to give Onkyo a call, although I hear they aren't typically of much help. We'll see.

It is possible to override HDMI audio. Select your input source, press "Receiver" then "Audio" button on the remote and select OPT under "Audio Selector".
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post #9 of 14
2/17/11 at 2:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mato77429 View Post

Thanks for the options Max, I just unplugged the toslink to see if the HDMI could handle audio by itself, but it cannot. I believe it's because the mini-dvi can't handle it, but than again I'm not 100% sure about that.

I think we have identified the problem -- you aren't aware that you need to configure the receiver to tell it where to get the audio from. It is in the setup menu, as other posters have described.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mato77429 View Post

Another thing I should have noted is that when I have the mini-toslink plugged into the mac, it doesn't seem to be recognized very well. The computer definitely knows there is a digital output, but when I go to System Preferences/Sound/Output, there are no options to tweak the device. I feel that the mac should recognize it, but it might also just mean that I can only tune it from the receivers end.

I don't think that the mac will detect that you have something plugged into the optical port. The options for configuring output format / etc. are probably in the player software and not in the system settings. But I think you're going to find that it "just works" once you configure the receiver properly.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mato77429 View Post

Thanks again guys,
Mat

Let us know how it goes.

-Max
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post #10 of 14
2/17/11 at 3:00pm
Actually, as soon as you make a physical connection that is optical, the mac will know that it is connected through optical. However, after that it is up to the individual application's responsibility. Several including iTunes use "Audio MIDI Setup" information to send data out. You can actually launch this app to see what settings are being used.
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post #11 of 14
2/17/11 at 4:14pm
Does it really know there is an active TOSlink connection, or does it just know if some object has been inserted into the port (as is common for many headphone jacks)? I really don't know -- I'm just curious if TOSlink is a 2-way connection, and how the laptop might use the connection status info in a useful way.

-Max
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post #12 of 14
2/6/13 at 8:47pm
I have noticed same with my Onkyo HT-S9400 THX HTiB receiver.

I connected my macbook pro using mini-DVI to HDMI cable and sound is not working. Only video is coming up on TV. No sound from speakers.

Strange thing is this is happening only in Mac OS. I have dual boot Mac OS and Windows 8 in my Macbook Pro. If I connect my MacBook Pro from Windows 8 using same mini-DVI to HDMI cable than audio and video works fine.
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post #13 of 14
2/7/13 at 4:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by imsatasia View Post

I have noticed same with my Onkyo HT-S9400 THX HTiB receiver.

I connected my macbook pro using mini-DVI to HDMI cable and sound is not working. Only video is coming up on TV. No sound from speakers.

Strange thing is this is happening only in Mac OS. I have dual boot Mac OS and Windows 8 in my Macbook Pro. If I connect my MacBook Pro from Windows 8 using same mini-DVI to HDMI cable than audio and video works fine.

MiniDVI does not have audio. So you are obviously using optical for audio (even with Windows). If Mac OS X does not work, then it is a setup issue on the Mac. Use the sound system preferences to see what it is setup for audio output.
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post #14 of 14
2/7/13 at 6:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bommai View Post

MiniDVI does not have audio. So you are obviously using optical for audio (even with Windows). If Mac OS X does not work, then it is a setup issue on the Mac. Use the sound system preferences to see what it is setup for audio output.

Sorry Its not Mini-DVI to HDMI. it's Mini DisplayPort to HDMI.

I dont use Aux or Optical cable when I use Mini DisplayPort to HDMI (for both Windows 8 and Mac OX) on my Macbook Pro.

One more thing I noticed is if I connect my Macbook Pro to TV directly (instead of MBP to Receiver to TV) using Mini DisplayPort to HDMI both, audio and video is working fine on Mac OS.
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