Need help with HDMI audio out on ATI HD 3870

[melmac]

Hi everyone,

After taking a long time to decide on an upgrade path for graphics I decided to buy a radeon HD 3870. The 8800GT is better in games, but the thing that swung it for me for the 3870 is the HDMI audio out and the UVD. My problem is that I can only get stereo sound from the HDMI out. ATI say that you can get the full HD sound true the HDMI out. I have it connecting using a HDMI cable to my receiver which can support all the HD audio formats, but whenever I try a bluray or HD movie I only get stereo output to my amp.

There is hardly any info on how to setup the HDMI audio for the 3870. I have searched the ATI forums and other forums and found nothing. The only thing I found was that people seem to be able to route all their sound through the HDMI, not just movies, but games as well. I get no audio when I play games like CS:S, and only stereo for windows. As for drivers, I can find drivers for XP, but no drivers for VISTA, and I am running VISTA.

In the sound options in the control panel I can see that it has installed a Digital output device(HDMI), when I try to configure this device it only has two speakers, there is no option to select 5.1 or anything like that. If I go into the properties of the device and then into supported formats tab I can't play any of the tests. I.E. if I click on DTS and hit test, it will tell me that this format is unsupported, same for dolby digital and wma pro. It's a microsoft uaa high defination audio device that is installed, and when I check the driver version it's really old from march 2006. Surely there is a more up to date driver for this?

I tried installing the catalyst drivers that came with the card, and then I tried installing the 7.11 drivers, and the crysis hotfix drivers, the same for all of them.

When I imagined what the HDMI audio out was going to be, I thought it was going to be like an SPDIF out. That the card routed all the audio into the HDMI cable if you selected that as your default device.

If someone out there has it working on VISTA I would love to hear how. It's driving me nuts, because If doesn't work like it says then I might as well have bought the 8800GT.

 

[nitrotg]

Hi everyone,

After taking a long time to decide on an upgrade path for graphics I decided to buy a radeon HD 3870. The 8800GT is better in games, but the thing that swung it for me for the 3870 is the HDMI audio out and the UVD. My problem is that I can only get stereo sound from the HDMI out. ATI say that you can get the full HD sound true the HDMI out. I have it connecting using a HDMI cable to my receiver which can support all the HD audio formats, but whenever I try a bluray or HD movie I only get stereo output to my amp.

There is hardly any info on how to setup the HDMI audio for the 3870. I have searched the ATI forums and other forums and found nothing. The only thing I found was that people seem to be able to route all their sound through the HDMI, not just movies, but games as well. I get no audio when I play games like CS:S, and only stereo for windows. As for drivers, I can find drivers for XP, but no drivers for VISTA, and I am running VISTA.

In the sound options in the control panel I can see that it has installed a Digital output device(HDMI), when I try to configure this device it only has two speakers, there is no option to select 5.1 or anything like that. If I go into the properties of the device and then into supported formats tab I can't play any of the tests. I.E. if I click on DTS and hit test, it will tell me that this format is unsupported, same for dolby digital and wma pro. It's a microsoft uaa high defination audio device that is installed, and when I check the driver version it's really old from march 2006. Surely there is a more up to date driver for this?

I tried installing the catalyst drivers that came with the card, and then I tried installing the 7.11 drivers, and the crysis hotfix drivers, the same for all of them.

When I imagined what the HDMI audio out was going to be, I thought it was going to be like an SPDIF out. That the card routed all the audio into the HDMI cable if you selected that as your default device.

If someone out there has it working on VISTA I would love to hear how. It's driving me nuts, because If doesn't work like it says then I might as well have bought the 8800GT.

Hi

Having the same problem as u.. if u find a solution plz let me know.. its driving me crazy..

 

[enewmen]

Make sure the source is 5.1.
I have not used the 3870 or HDMI.
My sister had the same kind of problem with not getting 5.1 from the radio.
When she put in a CD, by golly all the speakers worked.
Maybe this isn't helpful, but it's worth checking.

 

[javabrak]

I finally got it to work on Vista.

I installed the latest ATI drivers, the Microsoft drivers then load automatically. I then installed Realtek ATI HDMI drivers (Google "ATI HDMI Audio Device").

Then I installed "ac3filter" (google it, it's free). I restarted after that. In ac3filter Main Tab I checked "Use SPDIF" and choose 5.1 audio out. In the SPDIF Tab I choose the formats my Surround Sound can decode (DTS, AC3, PCM 24bit) .

I turned on my receiver. In the Audio control panel choose Realtek HDMI Output as Default, choose Properties, click Supported Formats Tab, tested what formats will play (for me all but "Microsoft WMA Pro Audio") and do the same in Advanced (choose 24bit). After that all 5.1 surround worked great.

A few notes: the Configure button on the Sound Control Panel still doesn't show 5 speakers, just 2. That made me think 5.1 wasn't working until I tested it. Also I had "Microsoft WMA Pro Audio" checked in the Supported Formats tab and that stopped any audio going out when playing WMA files.

I hope this helps.

 

[dragonsprayer]

i quit this site since they banned me to tellitubies for 2 weeks
but i did want to tank you for your update
thank you java

 

[Nogimics]

I finally got it to work on Vista.

I installed the latest ATI drivers, the Microsoft drivers then load automatically. I then installed Realtek ATI HDMI drivers (Google "ATI HDMI Audio Device").

I hope this helps.

Thank you for taking the time to answer you're own question to help others.

Pointing us towards the "Google "ATI HDMI Audio Device" helped fix my problem and added another menu called HDMI Output to my exsisting installed Realtek HD Audio Manager software.

My sound was working anyway using Realtek Digital Output. But as soon as I entered a game like Crysis, the sound did not!

Installing the ATI HDMI Audio Device drivers which can be found here: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

Solved my problem.

Thanks again!

 

[snoop24]

Thanks javabrac this worked for me aswell my had hs been battered all day tryin to do this so THANK YOU again

 

[volvo]

Also consider this resolution:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/256458-33-asus-3650-sound-problems

 

[ungrettir]

one word new catalist driver 9.1 i ad all the problems with windows xp .. then vista and allso windows. 7 the new driver came out doday and i am so glad.................. i have been working on the sound for 2 weeks and little sleep.. finaly... its working...

 

[cpfowles]

After 9 months, I finally fixed my HDMI/Vista/ATI/PowerDVD-related multi-channel audio issues. I was only able to get 5-channel sound to work from the motherboard's optical audio output (Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H) until I found a casual remark on some forum about video card resolution. I changed the resolution feeding my Panasonic 720p plasma thru my Yamaha HTR 6190 to 1280x720 and voila! 5-channel HDMI Audio! I had contacted tech support at Microsoft, ATI and Cyberlink and not one of them indicated that the video card resolution had anything to do with getting my ATI HD3850 to generate HDMI audio. Of course you need to set the HDMI audio out as the default in Vista, but once the resolution is set to what I can only guess is either the one true default resolution on my tv, or the only resolution on the video card that enables it's on-board audio, it works like a charm. I still can't get Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD to work, despite claims from ATI and Cyberlink that their hardware and software have these capabilities (although in one recent communication Cyberlink admitted it's an issue they are working on, for which a fix is supposed to be published in April sometime), but I'm happy enough for now, after months of depresssion. Hope this info helps others in the same situation.

 

[jwsiegel]

@ cpfowles

After patching Crysis to 1.2, updating my video card drivers, ATI HDMI Audio Device drivers, and DVD drive firmware, as well as much tweaking in BIOS, the device manager, and with different compatability modes, I finally tried changing my resolution: it worked.

Why? No idea. I am using a 42" Panasonic 1080p HDTV as a moniter, and the 1920x1080 resolution didn't quite match the edges of my screen, so I used my video card's control panel to set a custom resolution of 1824x1032.

In order to get full-screen Crysis with sound, I have to change my resolution to 1980x1080, start Crysis, then change my resolution back to 1824x1032. Kind of a pain, but I'm glad I got it working. Thanks!

My setup: Intel i7 920, ATI HD 4870, Windows 7 RC 64-Bit.

 

[jwsiegel]

One step forward, two steps back.

Previously, I was having to use the custom resolution of 1824x1032 because ATI Catalyst Control Center defaults to underscan by about 10%. Changing that to 0% brought 1980x1080 to full size. Additionally, I had to switch to HD Size 2 (from the default Size 1) on my Panasonic 42" HDTV. HD Size 1 is slightly zoomed in.

So now I have perfect 1:1 pixel mapping at a 1920x1080 display, great.

Except that when I go to start Crysis, it starts with black borders, as if it was underscanned, and the sound is gone again.

I've been searching around, and hadn't found any fixes, but was in the process of trying different tweaks, when I noticed that Alt+Enter suddenly had a third toggle. Usually it just toggles between windowed mode and full screen. Now it toggles between Windowed, Full Screen & Underscanned, and proper Full Screen.

Okay... weird... but at least I've got a workaround, so -whatever- problem fixed.

However, I'm still having the sound issue. I've been able to get the sound to work once (seemingly at random) since I fixed the resolution. Before, temporally changing the resolution to 1920x1080 fixed the issue. Now that I'm at that resolution, it no longer works.

Again, I'm using an ATI HD 4870, with a DVI to HDMI adapter/HMDI to HMDI . Cable TV comes in fine, PC audio is fine, and other games (Mass Effect) work perfectly. So far I've just had problems with Crysis, which might be related to DX10.

 

[mr_leerman]

Please note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Version_1.3


"Changing your resolution to make it work" sounds to me like you have an old HDMI cable without the bandwidth to carry everything across. Check to ensure that you have an HDMI 1.3+ cable.

Just my two cents

mr_leerman

 

[jwsiegel]

This is the cable I'm using: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816002

It say's it's HDMI 1.3-6.

I've been having the audio give out on me all of a sudden. If I go into 'playback devices' it will say my Realtek HDMI Output/ATI HDMI Audio is not plugged in. I can try turning my TV off & then back on, but it doesn't work. So I usually have to do a restart.

One time, when I started up my computer, I randomly got a message from Catalyst CC saying that HDMI/TV connections required a seperate audio connection, so that might be the problem.

 

[jwsiegel]

I've confirmed that the problem is caused by running games in DirectX 10/11.

I'm using Windows 7 RC, which comes with DX11 pre-installed. If I go to Start > Games, then right-click Crysis and choose PlayDX9, it will run fine.

I'm still having an issue issue with my audio giving out though. I have my computer connected to my Panasonic 42" HDTV, via an DVI/HDMI adapter and a 1.3-6 HDMI-to-HDMI cable. Occasionally, my audio will give out, and the taskbar will report that my audio device has been disconnected. The only way I've been able to resolve this is through a system restart.

All my physical connections are snug. This is either a problem with Windows 7 RC, or there is software conflict that I need to resolve. When I built the computer, I had to choose between plugging in AC '97 or 'High Definition Audio'. Naturally I went with HD audio. However, if there was any additional configuration that needed to be performed, such as disabling/enabling something in BIOS or Windows, then that step was skipped.

Any recommendations?

Thanks for reading, and any advice you might have.

 

[friedman30]

Try replacing the HDMI to HDMI cable to a cable that has a "category 2" .

This is what helped me achieve the sound and video.

hope this helps,

Dror