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At my wit's end - getting my HTPC to still push audio when the TV (HDMI) is off!

post #1 of 9
2/15/13 at 10:30am
Thread Starter 
I know this might be a "feature" of HDMI - the PC sees that the TV is off, so it shuts down the audio. I also know that others have solved this problems with updating their video drivers (mine are up to date), or enabling a check-box on their ATI driver software (mine's NVIDIA and I can't find an option)

I tried going through the receiver settings to solve it - not only did I not find anything but using my Roku, I have no problem keeping audio running with the TV off. So I know it's on the PC end.

I tried using the stereo output jack on my PC and running that to the receiver - either on the same input as the HDMI or a different one. No luck. But this would really be a not ideal solution anyways, since I'd probably have to change the receiver input.

Any ideas to solve this and just keep the HDMI audio going when the TV is off? I'm running Windows 8 with an NVIDIA GT620.

mad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gifmad.gif
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post #2 of 9
2/15/13 at 11:13am
Thread Starter 
Well, after hours of troubleshooting, changing settings in Windows, on the receiver, etc I think I finally solved it, although it was by accident.

I had everything on and running. Turned off the TV, sound quits out of my Onkyo receiver, as expected.

I RDP into the PC to poke around and play with some more settings and notice that the Sound icon in the task bar has the mute symbol. Of course it never has this when the TV is on, because it's not muted. It's only there with the TV is off and I therefore can't see it. I un-mute it, sound comes back. Disconnect RDP, turn TV on and back off again. After a minor delay sound is now running with TV off.

Still need to reboot to make sure it sticks, but hopefully this helps someone. Will report back if the issue returns.
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post #3 of 9
2/15/13 at 11:57am
You can always deal with it the expensive way. A DUO or Radiance VP are specifically designed to deal with this kind of issue. They have seperate audio out HDMI ports that may optionally be used to separate the audio from any HDMI source.

For example in my bedroom I am using an HP x280N through a DUO to Panny Plasma. The audio is seperated in the DUO and sent out a second HDMI port from the video HDMI. When I turn the TV off I get about 30 seconds for the whole chain to re-handshake and that audio continues. I do a similar thing with my 92" Mits. I send the HTPC with Ceton to the Radiance and it splits audio and video to their respective destinations and audio continues with the display off.

Both the Panny and 92" Mits are power hungry and for playing music they are overkill. I am considering small seperate HDMI displays to sit in those rooms just for music selection as both Video Processors support dual displays in addition to the separate HDMI audio out
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post #4 of 9
2/15/13 at 12:37pm
All but guaranteed to solve the issue with no delay.

HDMI detective plus
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post #5 of 9
2/15/13 at 12:49pm
You can try and feed audio through optical to the AMP, and only feed video to the TV.
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post #6 of 9
2/15/13 at 2:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by fitbrit View Post

All but guaranteed to solve the issue with no delay.

HDMI detective plus

Yup, I saw this in my troubleshooting searches. It was considered by last ditch scenario, but really hoped it was not required - not just for the cost but why add yet another piece of hardware to your setup?

Luckily, I've rebooted and it still works just fine. Was just able to start playing some music through the HTPC setup using my Plex iPhone app. Totally awesome cool.gif
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post #7 of 9
2/15/13 at 2:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueiedgod View Post

You can try and feed audio through optical to the AMP, and only feed video to the TV.
No optical on my PC unfortunately frown.gif That's what I was doing on my last PC to solve a slightly different issue.
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post #8 of 9
2/15/13 at 4:24pm
I had this problem too, but let it be. To my happiness when I got a darbee and put it at the end of my hdmi chain it fixed the issue. Was a nice little bonus.
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post #9 of 9
2/15/13 at 8:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sippelmc View Post

I had this problem too, but let it be. To my happiness when I got a darbee and put it at the end of my hdmi chain it fixed the issue. Was a nice little bonus.

Thanks for sharing that! This means a Darbee might be better value than I had even previously thought. I'm running out of excuses not to get one.
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