Hi, I am building a PC for home theater use. Does anybody know if it is possible to combine the audio signals that are normally routed to the sound card, with the video signal from the video card so that one HDMI  cable from a PC can provide both sound and pcture to drive an HDTV?

Long story short, I haven't done this myself, but I'm pretty sure it's possible.

My video card, for instance, is supposed to be able to do this. Unless I have been mislead, the computer I bought (Dell XPS 420 w/ Radeon HD2600 XT) should have been able to do this out of the box, although I personally use optical for my audio.

As for how you would configure a custom built pc to be able to do this, I can't really be of much help there. But I am 95% certain that this is possible if you buy the right equipment.

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XPS 420 Q9300 Quadcore @ 2.5 Ghz
4 GB 800 Mhz Ram
Radeon HD2600 XT 256 mb
Vista Premium w/ Digital Cable support
Ati TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner
Ati TV Wonder Elite Tuner
Hauppauge HVR-950 Hybrid tuner (for OTA HD)
Dual 20" wide screen monitors

Yes, you can if you have the right hardware.  I personally have a Diamond Radeon 3450 w/ built in HDMI port.  It passes sound just fine.

The HTPC i built for the in-laws has a Radeon HD 2600 Pro w/ dual DVI.  You have to buy the proprietary DVI-HDMI adapter from ATI (or reseller like Newegg) to pass sound through HDMI.  A regular DVI-HDMI adapter will pass video ok, but no sound.

I'm eager to try out the MB's with built in HDMI to see if this is possible; I may do that for another build for a friend.



wbbigtymer - you will need that adapter and so far, I've only had luck using the drivers that came with card to make the sound work.


Also, a lot of the newer cards I've read about have headers on the board to connect sound to.  I've never tried it though; never had to with the cards I am using.

Check out this link. Asus ATI Radeon HD3450 with HDMI for $19.00 after rebate.

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=AS-3450HD