DVI --> HDMI (via dongle) = Sound or No Sound?

[jcpadilla75]

I read the review of the ASUS ATI Radeon 2600PRO. It was great to hear that the RadeonHD driver worked so well. I couldn't really tell from the review whether an audio signal gets transmitted through the DVI port.

I have a large Toshiba (65") DLP Television with 2 available HDMI ports just waiting to be connected to a Ubuntu 7.10 MythTV box.

I will be satisfied with middle of the road video resolutions (1200-1600) and even 2 channels of audio. I don't need the highest end capabilities, as I will just be watching movies, photos, music, etc.

My main constraint is a single HDMI port on the Toshiba television.

Is there a stable, middle of the road graphics card which will reliably send video and audio through a DVI port which will then be connected (via HDMI dongle) to the Toshiba Television?

Thanks for your Guidance,
Josh Padilla

[deanjo]

DVI carries no audio signal. You need to get yourself a DVI -> HDMI converter that also will accept the output from the digital connection of your sound card. Like this product:

http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=3570

[jcpadilla75]

Thanks for good suggestion ...

This Gefen seems like a good product. But it is pretty pricey @ $300. Perhaps it would be cheaper to use one of the Toshiba's currently occupied component video inputs for my Ubuntu 7 MythTV box.

I guess I would then have to buy a HDMI capable DVD player. I'll do some research and see what's most cost effective.

Thanks again for your input.

[bridgman]

I'm not 100% sure, but AFAIK the difference between DVI and HDMI is primarily connector design. The packet protocols are the same. The 2600 has an audio controller on chip which feeds into the DVI/HDMI output -- the issue was that currently available Linux sound software had trouble finding & using the controller.

In Michael's article a few weeks ago he talked about this a bit :

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item=942&num=2

Yeah, here we go -- Michael's last comment was that he was hoping ALSA 1.0.16 would fix the problem. As far as I know the audio controller is ready to feed into the DVI/HDMI data stream -- we just need sound software that will route audio information to that controller rather than the one on the motherboard.

[Luis]

Is there a stable, middle of the road graphics card which will reliably send video and audio through a DVI port which will then be connected (via HDMI dongle) to the Toshiba Television?

Well, if you're planning to buy a new card, why not buy one with an HDMI connector? DVI has no sound, so you'll need hacks to make it work. HDMI should work much better.

Something like this, maybe?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127301

[jcpadilla75]

HDMI PCI Card + Linux Driver Support?

Well, if you're planning to buy a new card, why not buy one with an HDMI connector? DVI has no sound, so you'll need hacks to make it work. HDMI should work much better.

Something like this, maybe?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127301

Thanks again for some of these great ideas. It seems like Luis' idea of using an HDMI based video card is more cost effective than trying a DVI to HDMI converter. So I think I will now explore issues with HDMI PCI based cards.

The MSI Card which Luis mentions is PCI 16 Express based.

I will be putting whatever video card I buy into a Dell Dimension 2400. So this means I'll be looking for a standard PCI based video card.

However, I am also interested in finding out what kind of Ubuntu linux driver support there is for an HDMI based video card.

From what I have read so far, it's a little early on in the support process, since NVIDIA HDMI linux drivers don't seem to support audio with stability quite yet.

I think I will look into this further this week before I go out and spend $100 on a HDMI based video card.

Anyone have any ideas on these issues?

Thanks again!

[deanjo]

Thanks again for some of these great ideas. It seems like Luis' idea of using an HDMI based video card is more cost effective than trying a DVI to HDMI converter. So I think I will now explore issues with HDMI PCI based cards.

The MSI Card which Luis mentions is PCI 16 Express based.

I will be putting whatever video card I buy into a Dell Dimension 2400. So this means I'll be looking for a standard PCI based video card.

However, I am also interested in finding out what kind of Ubuntu linux driver support there is for an HDMI based video card.

From what I have read so far, it's a little early on in the support process, since NVIDIA HDMI linux drivers don't seem to support audio with stability quite yet.

I think I will look into this further this week before I go out and spend $100 on a HDMI based video card.

Anyone have any ideas on these issues?

Thanks again!

PCI HDMI cards simply don't exist.