Audio over Intel HDMI to receiver without display?

[Mr.McMister]

I've got a 7.1 ch Harman Kardon avr 247 that's currently hooked up to my pc via optical, but optical is only capable of carrying stereo in pcm or 5.1 encoded dolby digital. I'd like to hook it up via hdmi so I can have 5.1 ch pcm and DTS support. HDMI pass through is not an option as I use and 2560x1080 display off my GTX 760. I'd like to use my Intel HDMI for just the audio with no display. I'm aware that the HDMI standard requires a video signal of 720p or greater to transfer high quality audio. So I was wondering if it's possible for the intel gpu to generate a dummy video signal with the audio and not have it show up as an external display to windows.

[EmoRarity]

Turtle Beach makes an adapter that will separate audio and video. 

[Mr.McMister]

@EmoRarity I don't need to split the audio and the video, the HDMI input on the receiver requires video in the signal to decode the audio as a part of that video stream due to this being the HDMI standard. All I want to do is use my HDMI out for the audio only and not have it show up as an extended display.

 

Thanks anyway.

[EmoRarity]

@EmoRarity I don't need to split the audio and the video, the HDMI input on the receiver requires video in the signal to decode the audio as a part of that video stream due to this being the HDMI standard. All I want to do is use my HDMI out for the audio only and not have it show up as an extended display.

 

Thanks anyway.

Just use one of the audio only inputs....

[SSL]

-le gif-

Just use one of the audio only inputs....

 

And there we have it.

[EmoRarity]

And there we have it.

I didn't have it bookmarked, and had to go find the comment....

[Mr.McMister]

Audio only inputs such as optical and coaxial digital are only capable of carrying 2ch stereo pcm or lossy 5.1ch dolby encoded surround formats (I'm using optical currently). I'd like to be able to use the lossless formats for surround such as DTS and 7.1 ch pcm which are only available over HDMI. HDMI requires that the audio be encoded into a video stream even if the video is just a black screen, so I need to have some way to have the HDMI output run a black video stream with audio encoded into it and not have it run as an extended display to my system. It does work when set as and extended display, but this leaves the possibility of accidentally dragging windows onto this non existent display or programs opening on it and me not being able to see to move them off of it.

 

I have the option of running 3 separate cables to the analogue inputs on my receiver and using the analogue pass through, but this introduces a huge mess of wires I'd like to not have to deal with.

[tmlhalo]

Audio only inputs such as optical and coaxial digital are only capable of carrying 2ch stereo pcm or lossy 5.1ch dolby encoded surround formats (I'm using optical currently). I'd like to be able to use the lossless formats for surround such as DTS and 7.1 ch pcm which are only available over HDMI. HDMI requires that the audio be encoded into a video stream even if the video is just a black screen, so I need to have some way to have the HDMI output run a black video stream with audio encoded into it and not have it run as an extended display to my system. It does work when set as and extended display, but this leaves the possibility of accidentally dragging windows onto this non existent display or programs opening on it and me not being able to see to move them off of it.

What cable do you use to hook up the monitor? Displayport? Since this seems like a complicated set of hoops to jump through how about displayport out to displayport splitter, A side to monitor, B side to displayport to hdmi adapter, then B to audio device?

[Mr.McMister]

What cable do you use to hook up the monitor? Displayport? Since this seems like a complicated set of hoops to jump through how about displayport out to displayport splitter, A side to monitor, B side to displayport to hdmi adapter, then B to audio device?

My display(2560x1080 HDMI 1.3) is hooked p via hdmi from my GTX 760. The Onboard HDMI for the intel graphics(i7 4770, HD 4600) is available and I'd like to use that for the audio. I've already tested and confirmed it works when configured as a display with audio, but i need it only function like an audio device.

It is a quite a set of hoops to jump through, but it's the only way to get lossless surround sound to this receiver digitally(HDMI 1.2a).

[tmlhalo]

My display(2560x1080 HDMI 1.3) is hooked p via hdmi from my GTX 760. The Onboard HDMI for the intel graphics(i7 4770, HD 4600) is available and I'd like to use that for the audio. I've already tested and confirmed it works when configured as a display with audio, but i need it only function like an audio device.

It is a quite a set of hoops to jump through, but it's the only way to get lossless surround sound to this receiver digitally(HDMI 1.2a).

Maybe just get an HDMI splitter then? There won't be a second display since the splitter is just cloning the signal? 

[Mr.McMister]

Maybe just get an HDMI splitter then? There won't be a second display since the splitter is just cloning the signal? 

Not that simple. The receiver can't recognize a signal with a 2560x1080 resolution on the video. I know this because when I set the display to clone it stops working and HDMI 1.2a supports a max res of 1920x1200@60.

 

I may just have to set up a second physical 1080p display for this purpose and run it off the pass through from the receiver.

[tmlhalo]

Not that simple. The receiver can't recognize a signal with a 2560x1080 resolution on the video. I know this because when I set the display to clone it stops working and HDMI 1.2a supports a max res of 1920x1200@60.

 

I may just have to set up a second physical 1080p display for this purpose and run it off the pass through from the receiver.

What happens when you select mirror instead of extend for the multi monitor windows options?

[NannerBeans]

Get display fusion. It will allow you to clone one display with another while the last one acts as an extension so basically the fake monitor that carries the audio can be set as a duplicate of one of your other ones so there is no issue with dragging stuff into a monitor that doesn't exist. You can even disable monitors in display fusion but I don't know if that will affect the audio so you probably want to duplicate and not disable. 

[ShearMe]

Does the hdmi option in audio devices go away when you disable the screen output?

[Mr.McMister]

Does the hdmi option in audio devices go away when you disable the screen output?

It doesn't go away, but there's no sound coming from the speakers and the computer then reads it as a 2ch device instead of the full 7.1 when it is set as an external display.

[ShearMe]

It doesn't go away, but there's no sound coming from the speakers and the computer then reads it as a 2ch device instead of the full 7.1 when it is set as an external display.

Have you done the speaker configuration wizard when it's like this? Right click the audio device > configure speakers

Also, suggestion I found on Google:

Buy an X-Fi HTHD or Xonar HDAV and feed the HDMI input with a dummy signal from a VGA to HDMI adapter. Connect the output to your receiver. VGA to HDMI adapters generate HDMI video signals even if not plugged in to a VGA source.

I've been doing this for years.

[Mr.McMister]

Have you done the speaker configuration wizard when it's like this? Right click the audio device > configure speakers

Also, suggestion I found on Google:

 

The configuration wizard had stereo as the only option. My guess is that audio only isn't a supported configuration in the intel drivers.

 

Thanks for the suggestion from your google search. It looks like that is probably the only way to do it without some modification to drivers.

[ShearMe]

The configuration wizard had stereo as the only option. My guess is that audio only isn't a supported configuration in the intel drivers.

 

Thanks for the suggestion from your google search. It looks like that is probably the only way to do it without some modification to drivers.

 

Sorry there doesn't seem to be a way of doing what you need. You'd think with all our advanced technology we could have simple solutions to little things like this.  :rolleyes:

[Monstieur]

The only solution using HDMI is to get a HDMI sound card like the Xonar HDAV or Auzentech HTHD. These have a HDMI input and a HDMI output. They show up like a regular audio-only sound card in Windows, but they combine the 7.1 audio from the PC with the video from their HDMI input, and output the combined signal via their HDMI output. You're supposed to connect the HDMI input to your GPU, but you can actually feed it a HDMI signal from another device. I used the Atlona AT-HDVieW VGA to HDMI adapter to generate a dummy HDMI signal. You don't need to connect the VGA side to anything as these active adapters always generate a blank HDMI signal.

 

Ultimately I abandoned HDMI since my Auzentech HDHT stopped receiving driver updates. I now use the multi-channel analog inputs on my AVR. Note that no DSP functions will work on most AVRs when using the multi-channel analog inputs, including bass managament. You must perform bass management on the PC.

[steffen_anywhere]

4 minutes ago, Monstieur said:

The only solution using HDMI is to get a HDMI sound card like the Xonar HDAV or Auzentech HTHD. These have a HDMI input and a HDMI output. They show up like a regular audio-only sound card in Windows, but they combine the 7.1 audio from the PC with the video from their HDMI input, and output the combined signal via their HDMI output. You're supposed to connect the HDMI input to your GPU, but you can actually feed it a HDMI signal from another device. I used the Atlona AT-HDVieW VGA to HDMI adapter to generate a dummy HDMI signal. You don't need to connect the VGA side to anything as these active adapters always generate a blank HDMI signal.

 

Ultimately I abandoned HDMI since my Auzentech HDHT stopped receiving driver updates. I now use the multi-channel analog inputs on my AVR. Note that no DSP functions will work on most AVRs when using the multi-channel analog inputs, including bass managament. You must perform bass management on the PC.

Welcome to the LTT Forum. This thread is over a year old :D. I just happened to see this post by chance. Could be helpful to someone in the future tho.

[Ahoy Hoy]

And this is why HDMI shoudlnt of ever been used for audio.

[Michael Parisi]

I know this is old, but I was able to do this with an AMD R9, using the AMD's Drivers "Clone" feature.  Which would ignore the resolution restrictions of Windows and force the cloned receiver (HD) to receive a 4k signal.  Since HDMI is backwards compatible, and since I wasn't using the pass through of my receiver this worked.  I'm sure it will work with an Intel, if you can mirror the displays and then force it to show a 4k signal.  BTW, I happen to have a Asus Xonar HDAV for my home theater from a previous life, but I didn't want to use this and wanted to use the receivers converters.  The Xonar would technically not provide an HDMI Audio out but will act like a HDMI HD/MA/DD+ decoder and pre-amp.

 

[Monstieur]

8 hours ago, Michael Parisi said:

I know this is old, but I was able to do this with an AMD R9, using the AMD's Drivers "Clone" feature.  Which would ignore the resolution restrictions of Windows and force the cloned receiver (HD) to receive a 4k signal.  Since HDMI is backwards compatible, and since I wasn't using the pass through of my receiver this worked.  I'm sure it will work with an Intel, if you can mirror the displays and then force it to show a 4k signal.  BTW, I happen to have a Asus Xonar HDAV for my home theater from a previous life, but I didn't want to use this and wanted to use the receivers converters.  The Xonar would technically not provide an HDMI Audio out but will act like a HDMI HD/MA/DD+ decoder and pre-amp.

 

Cloning the displays restricts the framerate of desktop animations to the refresh rate of the slower display. This is an issue if you have a 120 Hz monitor and a 60 Hz AVR. The monitor runs at 120 Hz, but Windows somehow restricts the framerate on the desktop.