# Moving on to audio: Getting HDMI audio output working



## mstrofbass (Jan 16, 2011)

Have a Radeon HD 4350 graphics card with HDMI. I can get my audio working from the onboard line out, but I want it working through the HDMI. I'm guessing it's going to require device hints, but after reading the info on sda_hda, I'm still unsure of the hints I need. 

Here is sndstat:


```
pcm0: <HDA ATI R6xx HDMI PCM #0 HDMI> (play) default
pcm1: <HDA VIA VT1818S PCM #0 Analog> (play/rec)
pcm2: <HDA VIA VT1818S PCM #1 HDMI> (play)
pcm3: <HDA VIA VT1818S PCM #2 Digital> (play)
```

pcm0 (default) is the video card HDMI output I want to play.
pcm1 is the on board line out, which works.
pcm2 is unknown, since the board does not have HDMI out.
pcm3 is the on board SPDIF-Out.

Attached is my dmesg log with verbose output (with grep hda, and some vendor widget sections removed from the very bottom so it'll fit in the allotted attachment size). I have set this device hint as a test:


```
hint.hdac.0.cad0.nid3.config="as=1 seq=0"
```

This did nothing. Output of *sudo mixer* was just vol and pcm.

So, ultimately what I want is to be able to get sound out of the HDMI cable to the TV. In addition, I would eventually like to be able to use the S/PDIF out for my receiver with full multi-channel audio. Any idea about how to do both would be awesome.


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## mav@ (Jan 16, 2011)

SPDIF should work without a problems. You can have both PCM stereo and AC3/DTS pass-through. Usually it works out of the box with minimal tuning to mplayer.

HDMI audio is mostly unexplored area. What you definitely need is audio support from your video drivers. Video driver should negotiate audio parameters with playback device and only then enable audio.


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## mstrofbass (Jan 17, 2011)

mav@ said:
			
		

> SPDIF should work without a problems. You can have both PCM stereo and AC3/DTS pass-through. Usually it works out of the box with minimal tuning to mplayer.
> 
> HDMI audio is mostly unexplored area. What you definitely need is audio support from your video drivers. Video driver should negotiate audio parameters with playback device and only then enable audio.



To be honest, all I really need in the end, is the SPDIF out, so I'll play around with that a bit.


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