Separate audio/ video output from graphics card - possible?

Bluecube · 26 Apr 2019 at 20:31

I’ll soon have in my hands a TV capable of 120hz and VRR. I also have an Atmos capable soundbar which (of course) isn’t able to pass through 120hz VRR video signals. Is it possible to output the sound and video to their respective devices from a single graphics card? Or am I going to need a sound card? The sound card is a Zotac 1070ti if that’s relevant.

My Google-fu is failing me hence the query.

Sweetloaf · 26 Apr 2019 at 20:49

Not sure the answer to your specific question but can get an HDMI/audio splitter which will send video one way and audio out via optical and/or analogue.

Bluecube · 26 Apr 2019 at 20:56

They can’t handle 120hz/ VRR/ Atmos unless they’re stupidly expensive. I’m sure I read somewhere that it was possible to do the split with a graphics card but I can’t find any such info anymore.

Sweetloaf · 26 Apr 2019 at 20:59

...Dunno then , sorry

chaosophy · 27 Apr 2019 at 01:35

Short answer, yes.

Any device that can do sound shows up in windows as a sound card/device and is selectable as normal in windows sound settings, can even output different apps to different sound devices in the recent(-ish) win 10 updates.

So my Vega, for example, has
..two monitors connected via DP both have headphone sockets on them and show up as sound devices.
..HTC Vive connected via DP, again is a selectable sound device for running headphones.
..And the last connection is HDMI out to an a/v receiver that I run sound out to when not using headphones and use can use Dolby Atmos from win 10.
a/v receiver is also then connected to a 4K TV that shows up as a 3rd selectable monitor.

So can do windows tasks, game, watch netflix etc on any of the three screens and have the sound out any device.

Radox-0 · 27 Apr 2019 at 03:18

Yeah you can, works fine and what I do with my set ups. One cable to monitor and tv respectively. (In my case monitor is huh refresh rate) and second hdmi cable into the av receiver. Just select the av receiver as the sound output in windows.

What you will see however is the AV receiver behave as a phantom monitor within windows and Nvidia control panel. Posted a screenshot of how it appears in this thread near bottom https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/av-receiver-for-sound.18841337/

Grim5 · 27 Apr 2019 at 06:32

I’m doing this but I’m using a soundcard too

Bluecube · 27 Apr 2019 at 07:15

That’s great news! Thanks for the info.

Moving on, will a DisplayPort to HDMI cable manage Atmos and/ or 120hz VRR? Or do I need to purchase an active adapter?

J03lGQ · 28 Apr 2019 at 20:04

The hardware device you need is called an "hdmi audio embedder" like this

https://www.amazon.com/Kanex-Pro-Embedder-2-Channel-HAECOAX/dp/B009KAU0WO

This will give you video pass through and strip the audio onto an analogue output.

Regards.

Joel.

Pa check the model support as the resolution you require.

bemaniac · 29 Apr 2019 at 16:57

Gsync doesn't work over displayport to hdmi cables and no tvs have displayport.

You can't do HDR when you have 2 cables plugged into the card either.

Best you can do is hdmi to the tv for 120hz locked with tearing below and in order to get HDR at the same time you'll need to use only this cable or you'll lose either atmos or HDR.

All of this will be fixed the day that HDMI 2.1 is put onto Nvidias next gen cards and Nvidia decides to enable VRR over it.

Bluecube · 29 Apr 2019 at 17:20

So you can only do 60hz VRR? And I’d have to use the DisplayPort connection for audio?

HDR on Windows 10 is meh. I won’t be using it so it won’t be missed.

bemaniac · 30 Apr 2019 at 22:55

Not a single tv does VRR from nvidia cards - tvs don't have displayport inputs and converters render your resolution options limited.
Not a single tv does 120hz 4k in 2019 - the Samsung QLED 9 series only does it in non gaming modes and that's the best tv out. - rtings review
So you will use a hdmi cable and you will send it to your soundbar then to your tv and you will get atmos and 4k60hz locked with no VRR just like last years tvs.

LGs 2019 oleds do what you want from £2500 for 55". You need to have Radeon VII though for VRR. If you have that Radeon card and that tv you can do 4k 120hz VRR and HDR with atmos all at the same time.

So £3200 min.

Bluecube · 30 Apr 2019 at 22:57

I was thinking that I’d use HDMI to the TV and DisplayPort to the soundbar.

Richeh · 30 Apr 2019 at 23:22

I have HDMI out from my 1080ti to HDMI on my LG OLED, and Display port to HDMI adapter (make sure you get a full bandwith one capable of 4k 60hz) to my non-4k receiver. Works fine, HDR also works on Windows so not sure what the above is talking about but would say that HDR on Windows is quite fiddly to get working properly.

Bluecube · 1 May 2019 at 10:58

That’s good to know from a practical point of view. I’ve bought what I hope is the correct cables and adapters and I’ll report back on my own findings.

bemaniac · 1 May 2019 at 11:17

Richeh said:
I have HDMI out from my 1080ti to HDMI on my LG OLED, and Display port to HDMI adapter (make sure you get a full bandwith one capable of 4k 60hz) to my non-4k receiver. Works fine, HDR also works on Windows so not sure what the above is talking about but would say that HDR on Windows is quite fiddly to get working properly.

The main issue is you can't get VRR on a TV from an Nvidia card. Does Atmos specifically work over an adapter?

Richeh · 1 May 2019 at 11:23

bemaniac said:
The main issue is you can't get VRR on a TV from an Nvidia card. Does Atmos specifically work over an adapter?

I don't have an Atmos receiver to test i'm afraid.

Bluecube · 1 May 2019 at 11:38

In my eyes it shouldn’t be an issue especially if DTSHD and the likes work.

bemaniac · 1 May 2019 at 11:43

When using the adapter though surely the card thinks the receiver is a 2nd screen so you need to 'clone' the screen to stop it rendering an extended desktop. Weirdly HDR does not work for me when this is being done.

HDR only works with 2 outputs hdmi and displayport when I extend the desktop and it sees 2 hdr compatible screens but my mouse goes off the edge so its impossible to use.

Bluecube · 1 May 2019 at 22:03

So I plugged in my DisplayPort - HDMI adapter to my Atmos capable soundbar (a Samsung N950 if you’re interested), put the pure HDMI connector into the TV, turned on the PC and it all just worked. Sound automatically came from the soundbar though I did have to change it from Stereo to Atmos in sound settings.

Two displays are indeed found and it defaulted to an Extended desktop which I changed to Duplicate (or whatever it’s called). While in the graphic settings I turned on HDR just to see if it worked and it certainly seemed to as the desktop became far richer and brighter in colour.

Atmos works correctly through the DisplayPort connection. I loaded up Plex and played Dredd which has an Atmos soundtrack. The soundbar showed that it was picking up the Atmos track and playing it.

So, all in all, we’re off to a good start. I haven’t ordered my VRR capable TV yet as I’m trying to find more info regarding the Nvidia/ Freesync situation as it’s not very clear what does and doesn’t work.

EDIT: for info, the DisplayPort-HDMI adapter is just a cheapy cable from Amazon. Nothing fancy about it at all so obviously there’s no need expensive splitters or whatnot as I feared may be the case.