Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

serr · Jul 12, 2012, 02:08 PM

I have a gen 5,1 MBP with the mini-display port and no thunderbolt. I discovered that you cannot use the mini-display to HDMI adapter. You will get video but absolutely no audio. If you plug into the HDMI input of a surround receiver you will NOT see the device show up under Audio/MIDI Setup. OK, no surprise since this is in fact just a DVI port.

Is there a firewire to HDMI adapter solution for this?

My express34 slot is currently being used for a Wintec SSD (OS/apps) so that obvious option is not desired. And yes I use my internal data drive and my optical drive regularily.

So... firewire > HDMI?

Spheric Harlot · Jul 12, 2012, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by serr

So... firewire > HDMI?

Use the optical output instead.

serr · Jul 12, 2012, 03:31 PM

Not compatible. Surround receivers only support HDMI input for lossless 24 bit 96kHz 5.1 audio. Optical only supports 2-channel audio (and lossy surround over 2 channels).
Needs to be HDMI output.

Spheric Harlot · Jul 12, 2012, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by serr

Not compatible. Surround receivers only support HDMI input for lossless 24 bit 96kHz 5.1 audio. Optical only supports 2-channel audio (and lossy surround over 2 channels).
Needs to be HDMI output.

Optical does 5.1, albeit not lossless.

If the standard 5.1 encoding isn't enough for you, and you need full lossless, then your only real option is either a USB or a Firewire audio interface.

I'm not aware of a Firewire or USB interface that does multi-channel audio AND video, simultaneously, though there might be in the high-end video market (Matrox et al.).

serr · Jul 12, 2012, 06:02 PM

Audio is the primary concern. I don't care as much about video. Firewire interface is how I do things at home now. No problems there. Being able to plug into an HDMI input of a surround receiver elsewhere is what I'm after. HDMI really is the only option here for consumer gear. The 5.1 over optical is either dts or dolby. This is a lossy conversion encoded to two channels and sounds quite bad for music.

P · Jul 12, 2012, 11:51 PM

Originally Posted by serr

I have a gen 5,1 MBP with the mini-display port and no thunderbolt. I discovered that you cannot use the mini-display to HDMI adapter. You will get video but absolutely no audio. If you plug into the HDMI input of a surround receiver you will NOT see the device show up under Audio/MIDI Setup. OK, no surprise since this is in fact just a DVI port.
Is there a firewire to HDMI adapter solution for this?
My express34 slot is currently being used for a Wintec SSD (OS/apps) so that obvious option is not desired. And yes I use my internal data drive and my optical drive regularily.
So... firewire > HDMI?

Unfortunately your MBP is a little too old for audio from DisplayPort. Newer MBPs do support it - I use it myself from my MBA often enough.

As for optical: I think you have mixed two things up. You are correct that the only uncompressed audio you can fit on an optical drive is regular stereo. There are two ways to fit more channels on there. You are alluding Dolby Pro Logic II, which is a way to generate 5 audio channels from 2 and, in extension, a way to store 5 channel audio on the 2 channels. That is less than ideal. There is another way, though: You can send compressed Dolby Digital or DTS audio in 5.1 (or more, at least DTS has variants with support for 6.1 and 7.1) which works rather well. Since the audio from Bluray or DVD is stored in one of those formats anyway, you don't lose any quality if that is your source.

Anyway, to your real question: Your best bet may be one of those external USB audio "cards" for Windows that also have a Mac driver. Googling finds several, like this one (never used it, just found it with Google). For Firewire, it all seems to be expensive editing solutions.

gooser · Jul 13, 2012, 03:34 AM

yeah,it may help us to know what your source is.

serr · Jul 13, 2012, 06:58 AM

You mean audio source?
Various 4.0 and 5.1 files. Most at 24 bit 96kHz. I keep them in FLAC format these days. Usually play them in Songbird.
The lossy surround formats that get squeezed thru 2 wires are completely unacceptable to me for music. Lossy of any kind is unacceptable to me.
That adapter might be what I want. Wasn't expecting USB but, OK. They don't give any specs though (Audio Output: yes - yeah, real helpful). Need to contact them. Could be promising. If not, it's starting to look like I need to upgrade if I want this. Not worth it for me right now because I just don't want a 17" but I still need that express slot. We'll see if that comes back on the 15" if they release any real Pro's next time around.

The DTS Master HD format (the newer lossless one whatever it's called exactly)? Hadn't considered that. Then some app to do the DTS encoding. Any tips for a DTS encoder that supports the fully lossless version?

PJL500 · Jul 13, 2012, 11:05 AM

Not sure if this helps. The mini display port to hdmi adapter (ebay shops) that I use (on the same MBP) also has a separate USB cable for audio that connects to the MBP. As a result both audio and video end up in the hdmi cable connected between the adapter and my TV.

serr · Jul 13, 2012, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by PJL500

Not sure if this helps. The mini display port to hdmi adapter (ebay shops) that I use (on the same MBP) also has a separate USB cable for audio that connects to the MBP. As a result both audio and video end up in the hdmi cable connected between the adapter and my TV.

Which adapter? Link?