No audio over HDMI

marriedman · March 4, 2025, 11:18pm

I’ve got a bit of a head scratcher here I am hoping the more experienced vets here might be able to help me with. I just bought a soundbar for my work from home office. Here is my setup:

KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.2
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.11.0
Qt Version: 6.8.2
Kernel Version: 6.13.5-arch1-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 16 × AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with Radeon Graphics
Memory: 31.2 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Manufacturer: System76
Product Name: Thelio
System Version: thelio-r2

Soundbar: Sony S100F 2.0ch connected by HDMI v2.0 cord
Monitor is connected via DisplayPort

I double checked that I have the HDMI cord plugged into the video card port instead of the motherboard ports since they are disabled.

I can see my device from the Plasma sound mixer as well as in pavucontrol. I can even see the sound peak in the pavucontrol:

I tried following posts I have read, but honestly it is over my head. Here is the output from what many people have asked for in other threads:

[paul@thelio ~]$ inxi -Gxx
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA TU117 [GeForce GTX 1650] vendor: ZOTAC driver: nvidia
    v: 570.124.04 arch: Turing pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports:
    active: none off: DP-1 empty: DVI-D-1,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:1f82
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting
    alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: DP-1 model: AOC Q30G3WG5 res: 2560x1080 hz: 75 dpi: 94
    diag: 749mm (29.5")
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia gbm: drv: nvidia
    surfaceless: drv: nvidia wayland: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 vendor: nvidia v: 570.124.04 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650/PCIe/SSE2
    display-ID: :1.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.304 surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland device: 0
    type: discrete-gpu driver: N/A device-ID: 10de:1f82
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
    wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr

And this:

[paul@thelio ~]$ pactl list short sinks
404     alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo        PipeWire        s32le 2ch 48000HzRUNNING

And lastly:

[paul@thelio ~]$  aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [Q30G3WG5]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 11: HDMI 5 [HDMI 5]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC1220 Analog [ALC1220 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I also have tried two different cords just to be sure. I can pair with the soundbar via bluetooth, so I know the thing works, but honestly I would rather have a corded connection.

Anything I may have forgot, let me know and I will add it to this thread. Thanks in advance for any help.

ricklinux · March 4, 2025, 11:28pm

What is the audio?

inxi -Aa

Bink · March 4, 2025, 11:40pm

Welcome to the community @marriedman

I’ve not attempted what you’re trying to do before (HDMI audio-only output to a soundbar), but I wonder if you need to have the HDMI active as a monitor output, in order for audio to be output.

In display settings, are you able to enable the HDMI port?

marriedman · March 4, 2025, 11:42pm

Oops, sorry. I forgot to add that one:

[paul@thelio ~]$ inxi -Aa
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA vendor: ZOTAC driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.1
    chip-ID: 10de:10fa class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Renoir Radeon High Definition
    Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 0a:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1637 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h/19h/1ah HD Audio
    vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0a:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.13.5-arch1-1 status: kernel-api
    tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
[paul@thelio ~]$

marriedman · March 4, 2025, 11:44pm

I hadn’t even thought of that, but there doesn’t appear to be anything there:

ricklinux · March 4, 2025, 11:50pm

How is the sound bar connected and to what? does it have speakers connected to it via cables also?

Edit: Usually HDMI is Digital Stereo output.

Bink · March 4, 2025, 11:56pm

Does your system have a Toslink (optical digital) audio output, and likewise the soundbar an input? It’s reasonably common, and it might be a viable workaround.

marriedman · March 5, 2025, 12:04am

The soundbar is plugged directly into my video card HDMI port, e.g. in the first picture.

Pudge · March 5, 2025, 12:05am

That is what I do. The port on the mother board will probably be labeled “SPFIF”. I run a Optical Digital cable to my Yamaha AV reciever which is connected to Bose 701 speakers.

Also another choice is I use a TV instead of a true computer monitor. My TV has a port on back labled “Digital Audio Out (Optical)”

you can run an optical cable from there to your sound bar.

Pudge

marriedman · March 5, 2025, 12:05am

Funny you should ask that, I could have sworn that it did have optical. I even ran the optical cable from the soundbar behind my desk and then crawled on the floor to plug it into my desktop. Nope. I must have imagined it.

marriedman · March 5, 2025, 12:09am

How did you quote the post you were replying to? I didn’t see that option on the Reply button.

In regards to using a TV for a monitor, that would be comical. The smallest TV I have is 65 inches. I would have to move my desk to the opposite side of my office!

ricklinux · March 5, 2025, 12:15am

What other outputs does it show in the drop down list for HDA Nvidia Digital Stereo (HDMI) and HT-S100F?

Bink · March 5, 2025, 12:15am

Select what you want to quote, then a little dialogue will pop up.

Pudge · March 5, 2025, 12:15am

Highlight what you want to Quote, then the following will appear.

quote

Then click on Quote and it will open a reply window.

If you have a reply window already, it puts the quote at the cursor.

Pudge

marriedman · March 5, 2025, 12:17am

Nice, thank you!

Nothing else.

Pudge · March 5, 2025, 12:18am

Dern you @Bink. You young whipper snappers type faster than this old fart.

Pudge

marriedman · March 7, 2025, 11:28pm

Still not making much headway on this thing. I did find something that I don’t understand.

I found this program Sonusmix. Underneath where it shows my HDMI output, it shows the line:

alsa:acp:NVidia:4:playback

That looked familiar, so I launched pavucontrol. In my not so educated mind, the NVidia:4 would associate with the Digital Stereo (HDMI 4) Output (unplugged) (unavailable) entry.

Is that coincidental or is that something significant?