Mailing List Archive: MythTV: Users

Possible to do HDMI audio with BFG GT 220 Rev B?

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ozzy.lash at gmail

Mar 28, 2010, 3:02 PM

Post #1 of 8 (1677 views)
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Possible to do HDMI audio with BFG GT 220 Rev B?

Fry's had a good deal (if the rebate comes through) on a BFG GT 220 1Gig
card. Looking at the box it prominently said it had HDMI out, so I got
one. When I got it home I noticed it had a DVI to HDMI adapter in the box,
and thought that was a bit strange, until I tried to plug an HDMI cable into
what I thought was the HDMI port built into the card. I then realized that
the onboard ports are DVI, VGA, and Display Port. So now I wonder if the
HDMI can carry sound since it is plugged into the DVI port through an
adapter. The documentation that came with the board is pretty sparse, and
the BFG web site isn't a lot better. The Rev A version of the card did have
HDMI on the board instead of Display Port.

It isn't a big deal, I can use the SPDIF out of the motherboard, just
curious more than anything.

Bill

cynical at penguinness

Mar 28, 2010, 10:43 PM

Post #2 of 8 (1610 views)
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Re: Possible to do HDMI audio with BFG GT 220 Rev B? [In reply to]

Ozzy Lash wrote:
> Fry's had a good deal (if the rebate comes through) on a BFG GT 220 1Gig
> card. Looking at the box it prominently said it had HDMI out, so I got
> one. When I got it home I noticed it had a DVI to HDMI adapter in the box,
> and thought that was a bit strange, until I tried to plug an HDMI cable into
> what I thought was the HDMI port built into the card. I then realized that
> the onboard ports are DVI, VGA, and Display Port. So now I wonder if the
> HDMI can carry sound since it is plugged into the DVI port through an
> adapter. The documentation that came with the board is pretty sparse, and
> the BFG web site isn't a lot better. The Rev A version of the card did have
> HDMI on the board instead of Display Port.
>
> It isn't a big deal, I can use the SPDIF out of the motherboard, just
> curious more than anything.

Nope. DVI doesn't have the lines for audio, which electrically, is the
only real difference between HDMI and DVI.

I saw that card in the advert, and after I went looking at the specs on
the BFG website, I decided against it (looking at the selection on
newegg now, same cards, same 'out the door price', no need to drive a
half hour to get it). I'm glad I did now with what you have reported.

Keep in mind that from what I have been able to find online, the NVidia
cards can not bitstream DTS HD or Dolby True HD, but convert it to 7.1
LPCM, quite like the 'fat' PS3. Somewhat frustrating as the current
batch of ATI cards can bitstream the HD audio. Might be an issue for
you if you are watching anything with those audio codecs on your myth
system.
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gzornetzer.lists at gmail

Mar 29, 2010, 12:23 AM

Post #3 of 8 (1610 views)
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Re: Possible to do HDMI audio with BFG GT 220 Rev B? [In reply to]

On Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 10:43 PM, Justin The Cynical <
cynical [at] penguinness> wrote:

> Ozzy Lash wrote:
> > Fry's had a good deal (if the rebate comes through) on a BFG GT 220 1Gig
> > card. Looking at the box it prominently said it had HDMI out, so I got
> > one. When I got it home I noticed it had a DVI to HDMI adapter in the
> box,
> > and thought that was a bit strange, until I tried to plug an HDMI cable
> into
> > what I thought was the HDMI port built into the card. I then realized
> that
> > the onboard ports are DVI, VGA, and Display Port. So now I wonder if the
> > HDMI can carry sound since it is plugged into the DVI port through an
> > adapter. The documentation that came with the board is pretty sparse,
> and
> > the BFG web site isn't a lot better. The Rev A version of the card did
> have
> > HDMI on the board instead of Display Port.
> >
> > It isn't a big deal, I can use the SPDIF out of the motherboard, just
> > curious more than anything.
>
> Nope. DVI doesn't have the lines for audio, which electrically, is the
> only real difference between HDMI and DVI.
>
> I saw that card in the advert, and after I went looking at the specs on
> the BFG website, I decided against it (looking at the selection on
> newegg now, same cards, same 'out the door price', no need to drive a
> half hour to get it). I'm glad I did now with what you have reported.
>
> Keep in mind that from what I have been able to find online, the NVidia
> cards can not bitstream DTS HD or Dolby True HD, but convert it to 7.1
> LPCM, quite like the 'fat' PS3. Somewhat frustrating as the current
> batch of ATI cards can bitstream the HD audio. Might be an issue for
> you if you are watching anything with those audio codecs on your myth
> system.
>
> Well, not necessarily. My motherboard came with a DVI out and a DVI-HDMI
converter. When the converter is used, one can indeed send audio over the
link. I would guess that the BFG card in question is also capable of this,
but you can't be sure without trying.

As for the DTS-HD and TrueHD support, it is true that on windows the new ATI
hardware supports bitstreaming these protocols. Can the ATI linux driver
(and a current mplayer) support this? I haven't heard that native
bitstreaming of these protocols was supported on linux yet. As an academic
exercise, it would be interesting to know how much data can be pushed over
the HDMI bistream on recent ATI vs nvidia cards. Note that I haven't been
able to get bitstreamed ac3 over hdmi to work on my gt220, but I can't rule
out my TV as the culprit.
-Greg

mythtv at theseekerr

Mar 29, 2010, 4:33 AM

Post #4 of 8 (1593 views)
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Re: Possible to do HDMI audio with BFG GT 220 Rev B? [In reply to]

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 4:43 PM, Justin The Cynical
<cynical [at] penguinness> wrote:
> Ozzy Lash wrote:
>> So now I wonder if the
>> HDMI can carry sound since it is plugged into the DVI port through an
>> adapter.
>> It isn't a big deal, I can use the SPDIF out of the motherboard, just
>> curious more than anything.
>
> Nope. �DVI doesn't have the lines for audio, which electrically, is the
> only real difference between HDMI and DVI.

Why is this myth so common? For an HDMI connection, the audio signal
is multiplexed with the video - there are no "lines for audio" in
either connector.

(this is the reason that boxes which accept digital audio + DVI and
output HDMI are expensive, rather than being simple passive devices)
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cynical at penguinness

Mar 29, 2010, 1:25 PM

Post #5 of 8 (1574 views)
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Re: Possible to do HDMI audio with BFG GT 220 Rev B? [In reply to]

Christopher Kerr wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 4:43 PM, Justin The Cynical
> <cynical [at] penguinness> wrote:
>> Ozzy Lash wrote:
>>> So now I wonder if the
>>> HDMI can carry sound since it is plugged into the DVI port through an
>>> adapter.
>>> It isn't a big deal, I can use the SPDIF out of the motherboard, just
>>> curious more than anything.
>> Nope. DVI doesn't have the lines for audio, which electrically, is the
>> only real difference between HDMI and DVI.
>
> Why is this myth so common? For an HDMI connection, the audio signal
> is multiplexed with the video - there are no "lines for audio" in
> either connector.
>
> (this is the reason that boxes which accept digital audio + DVI and
> output HDMI are expensive, rather than being simple passive devices)

*blinks and googles*

Well well, you are correct sir, I stand corrected.

"DVI is mostly compatible with HDMI. The main difference is that DVI
typically carries no audio data in its TMDS channel, although
increasingly, modern PC video hardware is providing audio (e.g. cards by
NVIDIA and ATI), allowing the PC to send audiovisual data to a high
definition television with an HDMI input. If a PC's DVI output does not
provide audio, it can be patched in as part of the DVI to HDMI adapter."

"...This means that a DVI-D source can drive an HDMI monitor, or vice
versa, by means of a suitable adapter or cable. However, the audio and
remote-control features of HDMI will not be available unless the output
supports HDMI via a DVI plug (e.g., ATI 3000-series and NVIDIA GTX
200-series video cards)."

So for the OP, it appears that it is possible, assuming the card
supports it. For myself, I will do my best to stop spreading
misinformation. Thank you for pointing out my misunderstanding.
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charriglists at bellsouth

Mar 29, 2010, 1:42 PM

Post #6 of 8 (1572 views)
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Re: Possible to do HDMI audio with BFG GT 220 Rev B? [In reply to]

> "...This means that a DVI-D source can drive an HDMI monitor, or vice
> versa, by means of a suitable adapter or cable. However, the audio and
> remote-control features of HDMI will not be available unless the output
> supports HDMI via a DVI plug (e.g., ATI 3000-series and NVIDIA GTX
> 200-series video cards)."

Some 9xxx series nvidia also support PCM over hdmi via a small connector
on the card it self. You can connect the spdif output to this connector
and have the audio encoded into the data stream to the set.

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crow.jamesm at gmail

Mar 29, 2010, 3:47 PM

Post #7 of 8 (1572 views)
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Re: Possible to do HDMI audio with BFG GT 220 Rev B? [In reply to]

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 4:42 PM, Calvin Harrigan <charriglists [at] bellsouth
> wrote:

>
> "...This means that a DVI-D source can drive an HDMI monitor, or vice
>> versa, by means of a suitable adapter or cable. However, the audio and
>> remote-control features of HDMI will not be available unless the output
>> supports HDMI via a DVI plug (e.g., ATI 3000-series and NVIDIA GTX
>> 200-series video cards)."
>>
>
> Some 9xxx series nvidia also support PCM over hdmi via a small connector on
> the card it self. You can connect the spdif output to this connector and
> have the audio encoded into the data stream to the set.
>
>
>
Some of the 8xxx Nvidia cards are also able to include digital audio in the
DVI output. I have a 8400GS that has spdif input and then outputs the video
and audio on the dvi port that is then connected to my TV's HDMI port.

I have no idea about 7xxx and 6xxx Nvidia cards, but I think those are less
interesting from a Myth point of view.

Cheers,
James

mwahal at gmail

Mar 29, 2010, 8:03 PM

Post #8 of 8 (1554 views)
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Re: Possible to do HDMI audio with BFG GT 220 Rev B? [In reply to]

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 3:47 PM, James Crow <crow.jamesm [at] gmail> wrote:

>
>
> On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 4:42 PM, Calvin Harrigan <
> charriglists [at] bellsouth> wrote:
>
>>
>> "...This means that a DVI-D source can drive an HDMI monitor, or vice
>>> versa, by means of a suitable adapter or cable. However, the audio and
>>> remote-control features of HDMI will not be available unless the output
>>> supports HDMI via a DVI plug (e.g., ATI 3000-series and NVIDIA GTX
>>> 200-series video cards)."
>>>
>>
>> Some 9xxx series nvidia also support PCM over hdmi via a small connector
>> on the card it self. You can connect the spdif output to this connector and
>> have the audio encoded into the data stream to the set.
>>
>>
>>
> Some of the 8xxx Nvidia cards are also able to include digital audio in the
> DVI output. I have a 8400GS that has spdif input and then outputs the video
> and audio on the dvi port that is then connected to my TV's HDMI port.
>
> I have no idea about 7xxx and 6xxx Nvidia cards, but I think those are less
> interesting from a Myth point of view.
>
> Cheers,
> James
>
>
> There is something called DVI-I/HDMI 24+5 pin. Its specifically designed to
carry audio over the DVI to HDMI connector. The way it works is that you
connect the audio cable (2 pins only, ground and signal) from your
motherboard spdif connector to the spdif connector on the video card. So,
the audio is carried from the mobo spdif to the vga spdif and out to
DVI-I/HDMI. I have this setup and it works in Windows XP (although I'm
running Mac OSX 10.6.2 and I can't make it work in OSX).

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