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[W4MSL]

I thought it might be nice to route the audio from my radio to the decent speakers in the nice old Viewsonic VT2730 TV which I use as my station PC monitor. It would recover some needed space. In spite of there being multiple AUDIO input options, I can't seem to get sound from my monitor except via the same HDMI channel used for both video AND audio from my PC. There is a separate 3.5mm PC Audio Input jack on the rear of the TV which is intended for use when video and audio are routed separately (i.e., VGA and DVI video, neither of which carry audio). In fact, if the video OUTPUT source is DVI, one is explicitly instructed to use a DVI-HDMI converter, and to send the audio separately to the PC Audio Input jack and the video via HDMI. So, that makes me think that HDMI input does not necessarily disable the PC Audio Input jack if the selected VIDEO input is HDMI. But, with HDMI selected as the video input to my TV, I get only sound from my PC, and none from audio devices (radio, MP3 player) connected to the 3.5mm PC Audio Jack. Maybe HDMI is smarter than I realize, and perhaps it can sense the presence of audio over HDMI and then disable audio input from the PC Audio Input jack? Maybe so. Anyone know of a simple way to continue to send both video and audio from my PC to monitor over HDMI and also have a second audio source recognized via the PC Audio Input jack? There are, BTW, no AUDIO INPUT selection options for the TV's on-screen menu, only ones for VIDEO source. Thanks.

[K3SF]

hi

i got chance to read the fine manual..as i dont own one

the manual sorta says select input..you only get once choice hdmi or s-video or AV
where AV stand for audio/video combo...

so if you select hdmi then it select only the hdmi for both audio and video input
yep..it couples the audio/video sources as pairs..
like composite video and audio input are paired
and
that selects audio from the audio input ports

yep...no explicit separate audio selects..
and
.if my memory serves correctly then s-video is same as composite

hope this helps
Paul K3SF

[W4MSL]

Paul,

Thanks for your thoughts. The manual was a bit thin on this matter, but my take was pretty much the same as yours. What I do not understand is the instruction to use a separate audio input when DVI video output is routed to the TV via a DVI-HDMI converter. Here, the INPUT selection for VIDEO would have to be HDMI, and the audio would have to come via a separate analog channel. Nothing in the setup menu acknowledges that to be possible, but nothing else makes sense.

Perhaps the absence of an audio signal on the HDMI cable permits audio input via another channel? Doubtful. I suppose I'd better test this experimentally by using the DVI-D output on my PC's video card w a DVI-HDMI converter, and seeing if audio sent from the PC's green audio out jack shows up on the TV. I am skeptical, but were it to work, it would solve my problem. A Y-splitter would allow two analog audio channels to be sent to the same audio input jack on the TV. I'm not holding my breath. And don't hold yours, either, LOL. I may get to this sometime this week. Once I do, I'll post my findings. I DID email Viewsonic hoping for some guidance.

[W4MSL]

Here is the relevant portion from the latest response from ViewSonic:

"Although I could not find anything to confirm this in the documentation on our end, my understanding on how this function worked, was that if the TV detected that the HDMI audio pin was disconnected, it would pull the info through from the audio input.  You can easily test this by trying to play audio through the aux input on the rear while an HDMI cable with the intact audio pin is connected [sic]."

I think he meant DIS-connected for the last word, as there certainly NO audio input from the 3.5mm audio jack w an HDMI-HDMI connection. So, if VS TS is correct, the DVI-HDMI converter might disable the HDMI audio channel on the TV and permit alternative audio input. So, I'll try this and see and eventually get back to report.