HDMI for audio only - force a super low resolution?

[Caring1]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-HDMI...997251?hash=item3d1ed0acc3:g:pC8AAOSwgY9Xed2z

apparently devices like this are a thing, that would let me 'upgrade' my receiver to support ARC...

I bought one about a week ago for the PS3, so I could do HDMI pass through and split the sound for a headphone output.

 

[Mussels]

I bought one about a week ago for the PS3, so I could do HDMI pass through and split the sound for a headphone output.

i already have one that splits to SPDIF, i thought it'd help with ARC... but apparently not. See my newer posts in the thread, its just coax SPDIF over unused pins, so its worthless.

 

[Ferrum Master]

I wonder if you could get Auzentech Home Theater HD or xonar HDAV on your hands. Basically you need that silicon image controller and how it acts without display.

After reading... This looks like the only option.

You will need a HDMI dummy plug or whatever a spare DVD player into the card to kick in and layer any audio on it. There are problems with HDCP...but well...

 

[Mussels]

I wonder if you could get Auzentech Home Theater HD or xonar HDAV on your hands. Basically you need that silicon image controller and how it acts without display.

someone needs to make a USB HDMI soundcard.

 

[Ferrum Master]

someone needs to make a USB HDMI soundcard.

USB2 is not enough for uncompressed multichanel. USB3 devices are buggy and still yet to be seen.

It is all so screwed up really. I actually still use and will use fully analog route... less headaches.

 

[Mussels]

ok i ran into problems preventing the 'duplicate with mis-matched resolutions' from working - basically, it breaks some games ability to see what resolutions are supported.

Killing floor 2 and overwatch only showed 1080p as the maximum supported resolution, and other games (like rimworld) would work at 1080p or 4K, with no in-between (1440p was missing)



I've ghettod up 3x 3.5mm stereo to 6x RCA and testing out analog inputs now out of desperation.

 

[nomdeplume]

LOL, any harbor in a storm. Honestly I commend your determination to keep working toward a solution with your current equipment.

 

[Mussels]

shits me to tears that there is a dozen workarounds, but no solution other than 'spend heaps of money'

why dont nvidia, AMD or intel have an 'audio only' option what sends out a fake signal?

 

[FR@NK]

I meant to post this earlier but I thought you had this issue fixed already.

This is my setup:

My receiver only supports 1080p yet my ATI card will let me use duplicate mode and send a 1440p signal to the receiver. I'm not even sure how it is sending a 1440p signal over HDMI 1.4 but I get 8 channel PCM audio.

 

[Mussels]

I meant to post this earlier but I thought you had this issue fixed already.

This is my setup:

My receiver only supports 1080p yet my ATI card will let me use duplicate mode and send a 1440p signal to the receiver. I'm not even sure how it is sending a 1440p signal over HDMI 1.4 but I get 8 channel PCM audio.

i can do that, but it has two bugs:

1. with 4K + 1080p, i lose 1440p as a resolution (needed for some games, clear on this TV)
2. Some games only see the 'lower res' monitor as native (killing floor 2, overwatch. DX11 thing?)

 

[hat]

What does HDCP protect against anyway? I can imagine plenty of pirated content being piped over HDCP compliant systems...

 

[FR@NK]

1. with 4K + 1080p, i lose 1440p as a resolution (needed for some games, clear on this TV)

I'm not using "duplicate with mis-matched resolutions", I'm sending my native resolution to the receiver, not a 1080p signal. I dont have a 4K screen to test if it would work at higher resolutions but it works perfectly @1440p.

What happens if you try to send a 4k signal to your receiver?

Windows will let me send a 4k signal:

I'm not sure how this even works since the receiver and the video card is only HDMI 1.4 which is 1080p max resolution. But it looks like it will work even if I get a 4k screen.

 

[Mussels]

ah i tried that yesterday actually, and the receiver loses the audio signal for some reason.

it WILL accept a 4K input, but stops sending out the audio. the second i disconnect the HDMI cable between the TV and the receiver it drops back to 1080p, and the audio instantly returns (same thing if i drop the res to 1080p)

 

[hat]

This is really bugging me. I wish we could just use HDMI audio. I've started using optical audio, and it's really nice, but being limited to 2 channel uncompressed is really crappy. Not for me, because I am only using stereo... but that HDMI 7.1 uncompressed sounds really nice... but needing to run the audio back out of the receiver into the monitor is really grinding my gears. Why can't I just pipe HDMI audio to the receiver and be done with it? I loathe copy protection! They don't even make it possible to jump through this hurdle for some. Who builds a kickass gaming rig with HDMI audio and a 60hz monitor? Why no 120/144hz support?

...
OR, why can't they update optical audio? In my mind, albeit of limited understanding, optical should far surpass HDMI. HDMI by nature uses electrical signals, optical uses light. We've seen fiber optic far outclass electrical cable in internet infrastructure. Shouldn't TOSLINK, in theory, be capable of 7.1 uncompressed or better? Somebody needs to update the standard here...

 

[FR@NK]

Well I figured out how I got this working on my system....my receiver output is set to virtual super resolution so I can set any resolution on the desktop and it will auto scale it to 1080p while letting other programs think it supports up to 4k.

Why can't I just pipe HDMI audio to the receiver and be done with it?

The video card drivers could be programmed to do this, they would just need to send a dummy video signal so everything would work correctly.

 

[Mussels]

i contacted nvidia about that and got about 5 automated responses before someone said they'd pass it along - a dummy signal with the nvidia logo would make everyone quite happy.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

why dont nvidia, AMD or intel have an 'audio only' option what sends out a fake signal?

Because HDMI is a video standard first, audio second.


I think what you're doing is the best solution. Thing is, I'd move the secondary from the top right to the lower left corner. A lot of applications look for the top right display (0,0 pixel coordinates) so having it up there by itself can create problems. If there's nothing happening on that virtual display, it's not going to draw much power beyond refreshing the screen. To reduce that, turn the Hz down as low as it will go.

Firmware update for the TV might help:
https://www.samsung.com/au/support/model/UA40KU6000WXXY

I would say install the drivers for that TV but drivers apparently don't exist for it...however, there is this (make sure to select the PC option for the HDMI in you're using because it turns off the scalers)...
https://www.samsung.com/au/support/skp/faq/1049290

Also turn on "Game Mode" if you haven't already:
https://www.samsung.com/au/support/skp/faq/1049274

 

[Mussels]

Because HDMI is a video standard first, audio second.


I think what you're doing is the best solution. Thing is, I'd move the secondary from the top right to the lower left corner. A lot of applications look for the top right display (0,0 pixel coordinates) so having it up there by itself can create problems. If there's nothing happening on that virtual display, it's not going to draw much power beyond refreshing the screen. To reduce that, turn the Hz down as low as it will go.

Firmware update for the TV might help:
https://www.samsung.com/au/support/model/UA40KU6000WXXY

I would say install the drivers for that TV but drivers apparently don't exist for it...however, there is this (make sure to select the PC option for the HDMI in you're using because it turns off the scalers)...
https://www.samsung.com/au/support/skp/faq/1049290

Also turn on "Game Mode" if you haven't already:
https://www.samsung.com/au/support/skp/faq/1049274

1. I got analogue 5.1 working for now. Not perfect, but it solves all the issues.

2. Firmware update done

3. Game mode cant be used at the same time as HDR mode, game mode requires 4:2:2 colours and looks horrible - its useless.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Oh boy. So many issues...

The more things the more problems you have.

 

[Monstieur]

There are several solutions for multi-channel audio with high refresh rate / G-SYNC / high resolution monitors.

1. Use analog cables from a sound card to a Gefen HD Pattern Signal Generator. This device takes a 7.1 analog input and embeds it in an internally generated HDMI output. You can perform bass management and room correction on the AVR.

2. Use analog cables from a sound card to the AVR. Marantz still has a 7.1 analog input on their SR series. You must enable bass management in the sound card since the AVR does not digitize the 7.1 analog input. You will not get room correction either.
If you want room correction, you must buy Dirac Live for PC. Bass management must come before room correction, so you must switch it off in the sound card and use Equalizer APO to apply bass management before Dirac Live instead. The chain would look like this: Equalizer APO (Bass Management) > Dirac Live > Sound Card.

3. Use a HDMI sound card like the Auzentech HomeTheatre HD. It requires a HDMI video input, but you can feed it a dummy signal from a VGA to HDMI adapter. These adapters permanently output a video signal even without connecting them to a VGA input, so there is no second display in Windows. I wouldn't recommend this anymore since the drivers are obsolete.

Duplicating the displays used to work fine in Windows 8, but since Windows 10 the desktop animations get capped to the refresh rate of the AVR. The primary display still runs at a high refresh rate and the frame rate in games is not limited. Only the Windows desktop animations are artificially capped at a lower frame rate. The mouse cursor still moves at the higher refresh rate. This makes the desktop experience feel like crap so I don't use it.

I used to use solution 2 until recently. I now use extended desktop with a Gefen HDMI Detective Plus. If you move the second screen to the corner, the mouse cursor cannot move to it at all even if you try. Even with dual monitors, Windows intelligently remembers that you want to keep the headless AVR enabled when you switch between monitors. Try it now if you haven't in a while. The Gefen HDMI Detective Plus is critical or it will keep forgetting the audio and display settings when rebooting the PC or power cycling the AVR. Without this thing it's unusable.