I have run into a problem with MCE and was hoping someone could help.  This might get a bit complicated but here goes.  I had my Sony Vaio Media Centre PC connected to 32” LCD  via HDMI (unsure of the version but assuming v1.0 as this TV is around 3 years old).  I then connected the media centre to the amp via an optical cable.  At that point it was all working well.  I had audio on the TV via the HDMI connection and when I watched a film I could just turn the amp on and get surround sound.

 

I recently bought a new TV on which the HDMI ports are all 1.3 spec.  When I connected the TV to the media centre there was no sound coming from the TV.  Turning on the amp sound was coming out of the surround speakers however.  Upon reading the manual it states that older devices not supporting HDMI 1.3 might not have sound or the picture might be jumpy.  In this event the manual says to use HDMI port 2 on the TV and then use the Left and Right Audio connections to go from the TV to the device.  This is good in theory, however windows is configured to send sound over the optical connection and not the line out connection as this gave me the best of both worlds on my previous setup, and because of this  I still get no sound from the TV and have to have the amp turned on to watch normal TV, which is starting to annoy the wife!

 

My only options that I can see are to either

 

a)      Live with it

b)      Upgrade the graphics card to one that supports HDMI 1.3 (not sure if there are any or if they will fit in the XL301)

c)       Configure Windows to use the line out and change it every time we want to watch a film

 

Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

typod:

I have run into a problem with MCE and was hoping someone could help.  This might get a bit complicated but here goes.  I had my Sony Vaio Media Centre PC connected to 32” LCD  via HDMI (unsure of the version but assuming v1.0 as this TV is around 3 years old).  I then connected the media centre to the amp via an optical cable.  At that point it was all working well.  I had audio on the TV via the HDMI connection and when I watched a film I could just turn the amp on and get surround sound.

 

I recently bought a new TV on which the HDMI ports are all 1.3 spec.  When I connected the TV to the media centre there was no sound coming from the TV.  Turning on the amp sound was coming out of the surround speakers however.  Upon reading the manual it states that older devices not supporting HDMI 1.3 might not have sound or the picture might be jumpy.  In this event the manual says to use HDMI port 2 on the TV and then use the Left and Right Audio connections to go from the TV to the device.  This is good in theory, however windows is configured to send sound over the optical connection and not the line out connection as this gave me the best of both worlds on my previous setup, and because of this  I still get no sound from the TV and have to have the amp turned on to watch normal TV, which is starting to annoy the wife!

 

My only options that I can see are to either

 

a)      Live with it

b)      Upgrade the graphics card to one that supports HDMI 1.3 (not sure if there are any or if they will fit in the XL301)

c)       Configure Windows to use the line out and change it every time we want to watch a film

 

Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

On some MCE remotes you can map or copy the IR from the amp to the MCE remote to control the volume.

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Richard Miller MCE MVP

Hi,

Thanks for the advice, however that isn't the problem.  When I watch normal TV I don't want to have the AMP on at all, I just want sound to come from the TV.  Currently I get nothing from the TV due to (according to the manaul) the differences in HDMI specificaitons.

i am going to read out the problem on the show this week, but maybe something like Intelliremote woulld work for you. With that you could have a button on the remote that changes the output

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TheDigitalLifeStyle.com the home of The Media Center Show!
Microsoft MVP

Ah OK I see, if I plugged the L & R  audio leads into the amp then I could use a programmable remote (or Intelliremote) to switch the input on the amp.  I had actually plugged them into the media center as ideally I would like to have the amp switched off when not watching a film, but if necessary I can have them plugged into the amp and switch the input.

Looking at Intelliremote I guess I could use that and AutoIt to switch the input in Windows meening I can have the amp turned off when not needed.