Connect PC to TV - TTLG Forums

Brian The Dog on 11/6/2011 at 18:16

Dear TTLG-ers,

I have recently bought a TV with a HDMI input, and was thinking of connecting it up to my PC for use as a monitor, for when I watch movies etc. My graphics card is a GeForce 9800 and has a HDMI + DVI output. My soundcard is a Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic PCI card, with the standard 3.5" connectors on the back.

I was wondering what is the best way to connect the TV to the PC. I could always connect the DVI-out of the graphics card into the HDMI-in of the TV, and use a 3.5" audio cable to the phono-in of the TV, but I was wondering if I could do it with only one cable, i.e. the HDMI cable. How would the HDMI cable know the audio signal if it's plugged into the graphics card?

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Renzatic on 11/6/2011 at 19:20

Unless I'm mistaken, I don't believe there's a single graphics card out that'll process audio from the soundcard through its HDMI port. What you usually have to do in this situation is get a set of composite jacks, a y-splitter, and run it through your audio out/headphone ports on your soundcard to your TV.

Course this isn't something I'm exactly well versed in here. I've never messed with HDMI from a computer to a TV, only DVI to DVI once a couple years back. Considering it processes sound and video, you might not be able to mix the channels so you can hear sound through the AV jacks. And even if it does work, there are probably easier and better ways to do this than what I mentioned above.

...so, take this advice with a grain of salt.

Brian The Dog on 11/6/2011 at 21:12

You mean something like (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124532) this? That'll work fine, so I'm happy to get one. I was just hoping to get some solution with a single audio/video cable, but I guess I'm out of luck. Thanks for the advice though.

Al_B on 11/6/2011 at 21:17

I'd read through (http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2593) this first. You may be able to pass S/PDIF audio through your graphics card. I've had good success with hooking laptops and motherboards with integrated HDMI graphics and sound to TVs with only the HDMI cable.

Brian The Dog on 11/6/2011 at 22:17

Thanks, Al_B. If I'm reading that article correctly, I should be able to pass a SPDIF cable from my X-Fi internally to the GeForce 9800. One stupid question - is an SPDIF cable the same as a Toslink cable? I will have a look tomorrow at whether the graphics card (and the sound card) have the relevant internal connectors.

Al_B on 11/6/2011 at 23:11

No, you're looking for a cable (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nvidia-GTX-260-275-280-285-290-SPDIF-HMDI-Audio-Cable-/170653402294?_trksid=p4340.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DDLSL%252BSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%252BDDSIC%26otn%3D8%26pmod%3D170640455548%252B170640455548%26po%3D%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D580771271973944835#ht_1790wt_1139) like this. Your Soundblaster should have a connector similar (http://pinouts.ru/Multimedia/creative_int_pinout.shtml) to this. I haven't tried it myself with one of these cards, but you should be able to connect to pins 17 and 18 to your graphics card.

Brian The Dog on 11/6/2011 at 23:39

Excellent, many thanks :thumb: My confusion was from typing in SPDIF cable to Amazon gives me lots of Toslink cables, for some reason.
Edit - the soundcard does indeed have this connector, so we will see how it gets on :)

Al_B on 11/6/2011 at 23:48

S/PDIF can be transmitted over optical cable (TOSLINK style) or electrical cable (normally coax). For what you need (i.e. linking two cards inside the same computer) you just need a couple of wires in effect to make the connection.