No audio on DisplayPort with Lubuntu 14.04

Discussion:

(too old to reply)

Ken Hart

2016-08-20 13:38:52 UTC

I am trying to connect my laptop to my TV's HDMI input. I get video, but
no audio through the TV. Audio continues to work on the laptop.

I connect the HDMI cable, go to Preferences> Monitor settings, and it
shows both my laptop display and the TV. I checked the box to turn on
the TV display, and the TV shows an identical display to my monitor. (It
changes the screen size for my laptop monitor to match the TV, but
that's an issue for another day!)

Hardware:
Dell Latitude 6500
Sound: Intel 8280II (ICH9 family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 03)
Video: VGA Compatible Controller G98M [Quadro NVS 160M] NVIDIA Corp
Driver=nouvea

Pavucontrol does not see the DisplayPort/HDMI output, only the speakers
or (not connected) headphones. Alsamixer only sees the Intel HD Audio.

Several web pages I've seen say that the 3.x kernals have HDMI turned
off by default because of a video problem. Those sites say to add
"radeon.audio=1" to the Grub quiet splash line. Tried, no joy.

Thanks in advance!

--
Ken Hart
***@frontier.com

Dirk T. Verbeek

2016-08-20 13:58:40 UTC

Permalink

Post by Ken Hart
I am trying to connect my laptop to my TV's HDMI input. I get video, but
no audio through the TV. Audio continues to work on the laptop.
I connect the HDMI cable, go to Preferences> Monitor settings, and it
shows both my laptop display and the TV. I checked the box to turn on
the TV display, and the TV shows an identical display to my monitor. (It
changes the screen size for my laptop monitor to match the TV, but
that's an issue for another day!)
Dell Latitude 6500
Sound: Intel 8280II (ICH9 family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 03)
Video: VGA Compatible Controller G98M [Quadro NVS 160M] NVIDIA Corp
Driver=nouvea
Pavucontrol does not see the DisplayPort/HDMI output, only the speakers
or (not connected) headphones. Alsamixer only sees the Intel HD Audio.
Several web pages I've seen say that the 3.x kernals have HDMI turned
off by default because of a video problem. Those sites say to add
"radeon.audio=1" to the Grub quiet splash line. Tried, no joy.
Thanks in advance!

Have you (installed and) tried with pavucontrol?

Ken Hart

2016-08-20 14:01:58 UTC

Permalink

Post by Dirk T. Verbeek

Have you (installed and) tried with pavucontrol?

Yes, thank you.

Pavucontrol configuration only shows analog audio; outputs are speakers
or headphones.

--
Ken Hart
***@frontier.com

Jonathan N. Little

2016-08-20 15:19:56 UTC

Permalink

Post by Ken Hart
Several web pages I've seen say that the 3.x kernals have HDMI turned
off by default because of a video problem. Those sites say to add
"radeon.audio=1" to the Grub quiet splash line. Tried, no joy.

But you have nVidia gpu, why would you put a setting for an ATI gpu? If
the video driver is said to sometimes cause problems, have you tried
using the nVidia driver?

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

Ken Hart

2016-08-20 16:29:54 UTC

Permalink

Post by Jonathan N. Little

But you have nVidia gpu, why would you put a setting for an ATI gpu? If
the video driver is said to sometimes cause problems, have you tried
using the nVidia driver?

What can I say? It was late, I was tired...

I have not tried the nVidia driver. I assume you mean the proprietary
one- I was saving that for last.

--
Ken Hart
***@frontier.com

Ken Hart

2016-08-20 18:41:36 UTC

Permalink

Post by Jonathan N. Little

But you have nVidia gpu, why would you put a setting for an ATI gpu? If
the video driver is said to sometimes cause problems, have you tried
using the nVidia driver?

I just installed the nVidia driver. When I boot the laptop, there is a
very quick nVidia logo screen before the LXDE logon screen. Other than
that, there is no real difference in the screen.

The bad news is that there is also no difference when I connect the
displayPort cable. Still no audio from the TV, just the computer speakers.
The TV shows up in the monitor settings box. I can check it, and the TV
becomes active. As before, it changes the screen size, and my laptop
screen loses about 25% off the right hand side and the bottom.

--
Ken Hart
***@frontier.com

Paul

2016-08-21 00:47:37 UTC

Permalink

Post by Ken Hart

Post by Jonathan N. Little

But you have nVidia gpu, why would you put a setting for an ATI gpu? If
the video driver is said to sometimes cause problems, have you tried
using the nVidia driver?

I just installed the nVidia driver. When I boot the laptop, there is a
very quick nVidia logo screen before the LXDE logon screen. Other than
that, there is no real difference in the screen.
The bad news is that there is also no difference when I connect the
displayPort cable. Still no audio from the TV, just the computer speakers.
The TV shows up in the monitor settings box. I can check it, and the TV
becomes active. As before, it changes the screen size, and my laptop
screen loses about 25% off the right hand side and the bottom.

Did you check the OSD on the TV set ?

You've probably specified "analog audio", the TV set is
accepting video over HDMI, then looking for audio on the
white and red Cinch/RCA connectors. If you have a 1/8" to
Cinch adapter, connect a transistor radio, Walkman,
tape player, or other reference audio source, to all
the audio Cinch on the back of the TV set, and see if you
hear some sound. That will tell you the selector in
the OSD needs to be adjusted.

One reason this setting exists on TV sets, is during the
"transition" period. Before HDMI had sound, you still
needed an analog audio path for the TV set. So the OSD
provided such an option, digital video and analog audio.

*******

HDMI audio has options.

The most basic setting, is 8 channel LPCM (linear pulse
code modulation). I would expect the vast majority of
users to be using something like that. It's the easiest
thing for drivers to support too.

There are other coding options, like some sorta Dolby DTS
or whatever. Since licensing fees and patents may be
involved, this is a less common option. Especially as
LPCM gets the job done, with no fuss.

If the computer put out a coding the TV did not support,
that could cause no audio. But normally TVs are "much
more fluent" than any computer. And about all you can
really count on, on the computer end, is LPCM. And
that's all you really want.

So at this point, I would not suggest it is an audio
standards problem. It's more likely to be an OSD problem,
requiring you to visit the setup screen on the TV set.

Another possibility, is your gear is really fancy, and
you have HDMI 2.0. I don't know what the implications
of that standard are yet. One thing that attempts to
fix, is the cracked HDCP of the other version.

Paul

Caver1

2016-08-20 15:39:32 UTC

Permalink

I had to install indicator-sound-switcher on my wife's
laptop to get the HDMI sound output. It lets you switch
between your sound inputs and outputs with the click of the
mouse. Works well.

http://www.webupd8.org/2014/02/sound-switcher-ubuntu-indicator.html

--
Caver1

Ken Hart

2016-08-20 18:44:49 UTC

Permalink

I had to install indicator-sound-switcher on my wife's laptop to get the
HDMI sound output. It lets you switch between your sound inputs and
outputs with the click of the mouse. Works well.
http://www.webupd8.org/2014/02/sound-switcher-ubuntu-indicator.html

Thank you!

I tried this, no joy.

I had low hopes, as the website says: "The application needs PulseAudio
to work and it gets a list of devices automatically thanks to the
PulseAudio subscription capabilities." PulseAudio and Pavucontrol were
not showing the HDMI as an audio output.

--
Ken Hart
***@frontier.com