HDMI cable question

DeliciousTacos

I purchased an HDMI cable for my Xbox on Amazon, but when I plug it in I get no sound on the Xbox. I am now reading that some of the cables transmit sound and some only do video. How do I tell the difference? I had thought the new cable I bought was listed as the same type as the other cable I have that I know works with sound (but is not long enough to reach my Xbox)

Atlus Parker

I have never, ever heard of an HDMI cable that only passes audio or video. You may be confusing this with a DVI cable which is similar to HDMI but only carries video. try the obvious troubleshooting steps: Connect a different device, connect a different cable, connect to a different output, then a different TV. Also make sure there is no option in the 360 dashboard to transmit sound over HDMI. I'm looking at the 360 support page but it mentions nothing of an option for this.

BlochWave

HDMI cables, by definition, do sound and video. On the PS3 (all I got to work with, sorry!) if you have two audio outputs connected you have to go into the settings and tell it which one to send the output too, or it does neither (unlike, say, a cable box, you can plug the audio into the TV and a sound system and get sound from both) - so either check those settings, or see if you have another audio cable connected, and disconnect it.

DeliciousTacos

I think Amazon might have sold me a DVI cable, though it was marked as HDMI. Is there any obvious way to tell the difference just by looking at the cable?

Sir Carcass

DVI



HDMI

DeliciousTacos

Actually, I take it back -- the cable has "HDMI" written on the connectors. But for some reason my Xbox is treating it as DVI and I can't get any sound

Over

Not sure how far it applies to an Xbox, but when I hook my laptop to my TV to watch stuff, I need to flip the sound to the HDMI port or it doesn't go through.

Do you have the typical RCA Xbox cable hooked up still? Maybe the sound signal is stuck there?

Apogee

DVI and HDMI are functionally identical, but DVI has many varieties (as the post above shows). HDMI can *always* carry sound and video - no idea why yours won't. DVI *can* carry sound, but only the newer DVI dual link cables (24 pins, rather than 18 on the single link). I suppose it would be possible to make an HDMI canle that just lacked sound pins, but that's stupid and probably not the case.

You're sure you have an HDMI cable, right? Like, it small and oval-ish? Not a big rectangle?

PirateJon

Occams razor - bad cable.

Daenris

Over wrote: »

Not sure how far it applies to an Xbox, but when I hook my laptop to my TV to watch stuff, I need to flip the sound to the HDMI port or it doesn't go through.

Do you have the typical RCA Xbox cable hooked up still? Maybe the sound signal is stuck there?

Yeah, make sure you're ONLY connecting the HDMI cable (and there's no way you'd have accidentally gotten a DVI cable and still been able to plug it in... they're very different in size). If you have the other cables also connected it might be a problem. I'm not at my xbox right now, so I can't check if there is any option, but I know that when I hooked it up I didn't have to change anything to get sound over HDMI, so if you've got it hooked up correctly and there's no option, you might have a bad cable.

Do you have any other HDMI devices to hook up so you can make sure it's not your TV? Some TVs have a switch or option on a particular HDMI input to take the sound from the composite or optical audio input instead of the HDMI.

Dr. Frenchenstein

My receiver has a passthrough that does not process sound through the speakers. I had to get a digital audio cable to actually use the receiver (as opposed to just going through the TV speakers) for sound. could it be something like that?

Not to derail, but I've been having an issue where occasionally the picture sketches out on my Toshiba TV. If i unplug it and pop it into the other HDMI port on the TV, everything is usually fine. I got a cheapo HDMI cable from Monoprice or something. Could it be a bum cable? I'm dreading that it's the TV's HDMI ports...

PirateJon

Well it's cheaper to replace a cable than a TV. Swap and test dude.

Improvolone

And even though it might be more expensive, I'd rather buy a $2.00 cable from Monoprice than a 99 cent cable from Amazon.

badpoet

Improvolone wrote: »

And even though it might be more expensive, I'd rather buy a $2.00 cable from Monoprice than a 99 cent cable from Amazon.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I bought a cable from Amazon recently, and was having problems when my computer that I have hooked to my tv awoke from sleep mode, I'd have video but no sound. I tried and tried to figure out what was wrong with the computer. I ended up switching the cable out for the one from my PS3 after about two hours of google searches, settings changes on the computer (granted I should have switched the cables earlier but I didn't think of it right away). It would've cost me more to return the cable to Amazon than it cost to buy a good, but cheap, cable from Monoprice.

jjohnson

I use these new Flat HDMI Cables. Works well when I run the cable under my carpet!

http://www.cablegiant.com/Default.aspx?p_id=4&Product_id=1371

Iceman.USAF

DeliciousTacos wrote: »

I purchased an HDMI cable for my Xbox on Amazon, but when I plug it in I get no sound on the Xbox. I am now reading that some of the cables transmit sound and some only do video. How do I tell the difference? I had thought the new cable I bought was listed as the same type as the other cable I have that I know works with sound (but is not long enough to reach my Xbox)

Are you sending it through a receiver first or directly to the TV?

MushroomStick

badpoet wrote: »

Improvolone wrote: »

And even though it might be more expensive, I'd rather buy a $2.00 cable from Monoprice than a 99 cent cable from Amazon.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I bought a cable from Amazon recently, and was having problems when my computer that I have hooked to my tv awoke from sleep mode, I'd have video but no sound. I tried and tried to figure out what was wrong with the computer. I ended up switching the cable out for the one from my PS3 after about two hours of google searches, settings changes on the computer (granted I should have switched the cables earlier but I didn't think of it right away). It would've cost me more to return the cable to Amazon than it cost to buy a good, but cheap, cable from Monoprice.

Thirded. The 99 cent cables use wire with so fine a gauge that the copper snaps inside the insulation sometimes.

Dr. Frenchenstein

yeah, i guess it wouldn't hurt to buy another HDMI cable and test things out. it just weirds me out that i can swap into another port, and it works fine for a while, and then craps out again.

Gihgehls

That's indicative of a crap cable. Your TV is having a hard time decoding the signal and just stops trying.

Enos316

Sorry if this was answered, but is this going direct into the TV or a receiver of some sort? You might need to set your audio input for the device. Some receivers/TVs might be looking for the video/audio from 2 different locations (HDMI for video and maybe optical TOS for audio).