Displayport to HDMI with audio

[bogdanstoic]

This is not a hard question.  Especially for Lenovo.  Can I connect a Displayport to HDMI adaptor on my W500, and watch (and hear) blueray disks on my HD TV?  Does the W500 send audio to the displayport?  It should?

[wheadley]

I have a W700 and would also like these questions answered:

1. Does the DisplayPort output the audio as both the DisplayPort and HDMI specifications call for?

2. Will the audio pass-through from the DisplayPort output to an HDMI adapter?

Since Windows Vista is an HDCP compliant operating system and I have paid $400 extra for the BluRay drive option I would expect this to be the case.

I ask this as I see that Lenovo has disabled the SPDIF and Optical digital audio outputs on the soundcard included with the W700, and I assume this is also true of the W500. 

DRM is not a good enough reason to proactively prevent customers from enjoying the legitimate use of their products to play protected content. The analog line outputs on most notebooks including the W700 off only two-channel output along with high levels of distortion and noise so this issue really ought to be worth Lenovo's time in addressing.

[bluemoon]

I have a W500 and I asked the same question before, but no official words on that as I knew.

some customers reported that their displayport to HDMI apaptor doesn't has audio passthrough.

I am not sure if the adaptor doesn't support audio passthrough, OR W500/700's displayport doesn't output audio at all.

[lyubozar]

Hi guys,

My W500 runs on Win XP (from bundled Downgrade Kit). All Lenovo updates installed from ThinkVantage Center.

I bought a Greatland Electronics GDP360 Displayport to HDMI Converter from ebay, my TV is Philips 32PFL7803D - video quality is OK but I still can't manage to get any audio. In Catalyst Control Center I see this connection is detected as "DTV (DVI)" - this "DVI" would, of course, mean that no audio is being transmitted at all.

So, is the case that V5700 on W500 cannot make a difference between DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort connections?

Weird enough, on AMD/ATI site - there's no notion of ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 - this is how this display adapter is detected in XP (in Vista it was Radeon HD3650). ATI have in their product catalogue the ATI FirePRO V5700. Interestingly, in the driver's description for this FirePRO - an HDMI Audio Driver is mentioned. I can't find any info about a HDMIAudio Driver in Lenovo's ATI Driver, though...

So, I'm asking myself several questions...

Had anyone tried to run drivers from ATI and would it be safe?

What is the general difference between Lenovo's and original ATI drivers?

Is it possible that audio features on the display adapters used in W500 were cut off to reduce power consumption and the total cost?

Is it possible that HDMI Audio Driver was cut off Lenovo's Driver for compatibility issues?

[bogdanstoic]

So....  Does Lenovo have a solution for us?

[xpnet]

I do not think a Displayport is intended for Audio. Most TV's for presentations allow you to select another input source for your Audio or have a different Audio system. If you just wish to view media from your PC you will need something like this

http://www.extenderforwindowsmediacenter.com/products.html

[lyubozar]

I strongly disagree. DisplayPort was developed as a versatile media connection simplification standard - so it is designed to transmit audio as well as video and data... Check displayport.org and read the whitepapers or simply read through VESA's statement on DP : "DisplayPort allows high quality audio to be available to the display device over the same cable as the video signal."

May I also add that during making a presentation the last thing that one needs is another cable to plug somewhere and care about its compatibility with host's hardware - so I find auxiliary audio sources out of the question if a versatile connection is available (HDMI or DisplayPort)...

We need to say no more...

[Agotthelf Community Moderator]

 Hello,

I would assist lyubozar, see also here on Wikipedia.

[Wombat2]

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bogdanstoic wrote:
So....  Does Lenovo have a solution for us?

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I would also like know if Lenovo has a solution.

[Agotthelf Community Moderator]

Please also refer to official statement on Lenovo Blogs.