Mac Mini 2011 Digital Audio Output with HDMI Video?

I have a Mini 2011 with mdp to dvi to samsung HDTV and optical audio to Rotel receiver. Using 10.7.1 and EyeTV I get DD fine. Using VLC I cannot get either DD or DTS. Using MPlayerX I can get DD and DTS, but not DTS-Lossless, which I can get with 10.6.8 on all other Macs.

I tried:

1 HDMI to Pioneer Elite, from PIoneer to Rotel via toslink (TV used as a passthrough as "correct unswer" suggests): No DD

2 HDMI to Pioneer, Toslink direct from Mac mini to Rotel: No DD

3 Thunderbolt to HDMI converter to Pioneer, Toslink direct to Rotel: No DD

4 HDMI to HDMI matrix swith with Toslink out, from HDMI switch: HDMI video to tv, toslink to Rotel: No DD

Hi,

I have the same digital audio problem as mentioned above.

In below set-up I only have video and no sound from my Onkyo receiver:

Mac Mini 2011 > HDMI > Onkyo TX SR 605 > Sony Bravia TV

If I use two cables from the Mini to both my receiver and the TV I have video and stereo sound:

Mac Mini 2011 > HDMI > Sony Bravia TV

Mac Mini 2011 > Toslink > Onkyo TX SR 605

I think Apple should fix this fast. Digital audio is a basic functionality in my opinion.

Let's hope we get a solution soon!

This is absolute madness from Apple... does anyone know if they are actually working on fixing this/is it fixable??

I was planning to go buy a Mac Mini until reading this forum...

At the moment I have:

MacBook 2005 > DVI > Secondary Monitor

> TOSLINK > AV Receiver

My MacBook stil works a treat and I love this set up, I get Dolby and DTC 5.1 through to my receiver, awesome. The MacBook needs upgrading though, poor thing, it can't handle 1080p.

So this is my proposed set up:

Mac Mini > HDMI > HDTV - Primary Monitor

> DVI > 2nd HDTV - Secondary Monitor

> TOSLINK > AV Receiver

I want to be able to switch audio between HDMI and TOSlink without having to mess about with cables, which will be awkward to get at.

The reason I will need to switch, it because sometimes I'll want to just use the one HDTV to work from (will also like to use headphones from late at night) and will need sound without switching on the entire system.

Why have Apple not enabled a sound control system to switch? Ridiculous. I'd really like someone from Apple to let me know if they're working on it, otherwise theres a nice little Dell thats looks attractive.

Crazy_2, try and find a 2010 Mini somewhere, either new

or refurb from Apple. Load it with the latest Snow Leopard

and enjoy (don't Lionize at this point)! My 2010 passes

DTS and Dolby without issue. My setup

Mini->Sony AV receiver(HDMI)->Samsung TV(HDMI).

Also, if you get Windows and create a Bootcamp partition,

you can use Power DVD 11 with an external Bluray and get

resampled 192kHz,24bit,5.1 set to the receiver over HDMI

and Bluray playback.

By the way, this Mini runs Windows 7 pretty nicely. May

be stressed with some higher level games, but otherwise

great.

The 2010 and 2011 Minis have several issues with Lion.

The 2011 Mini probably has great hardware, but Lion

is just not working well with it, be it firmware or Lion

itself, and I would suspect the later myself.

Thanks for replying. Interesting, but before I put any cash down, I'd love an Apple explanation. If this is software/firmware dependant, as many have suggested, would it work to get a Mini 2011 and install Snow Leopard?

Hi, I've just had a similar, really frustrating experience with the digital sound output on my new 2011 mac mini. Before my old mac mini died (RIP) I was using the optical output to send iTunes music (cd's ripped in aiff format) to my Meridian hi-fi system.

I plugged the tos-link cable into the new mac mini but just couldn't get anything out of the sound system. The internal sound turned off so I assumed the cable was properly seated. I tried working logically through all the combinations in the Audio Midi setup utility, but nothing. I proved the cable was Ok by connecting up a CD player, which worked fine. In both cases I could see the red laser light coming out of the hi-fi end of the cable.

Finally, I plugged it back into the mac mini and again set the Midi setting to 44100 Hz and 16 bit. It burst into life. It now works with 44100 Hz and all options except 'Encoded Digital Audio'. And 48000 and 96000 Hz. No, I don't understand why it now works when it previously didn't. I have however just managed to crash iTunes just by changing the settings!

All I have to do now is persuade it to work with the VGA PC input on my TV - then I'll be back where I was 2 weeks ago!

Hi! I had the same problem with my Onkyo pre-pro. The solution is to go in the Onkyo setup menu, and select the proper HDMI channel in Digital sound setup. Not sure of your Onkyo menu tree, but mine was

Input/Output Setup -> Digital Audio Input

Kicked myself and then blamed Onkyo for not defaulitng to the HDMI when it is selected for a source, but their system is more flexible.

Cheers.

Peter

OK I am completely frustrated about this issue and there is also one thing I am not sure I quite understand.

First my setup: I have an older tv so switched from using HDMI to DVI (this produces the wrong aspect ratio) to more recently a mini display to VGA adapter for video.

For audio I tried replacing the stereo jack hooked up to my Onkyo 701 (older model no HDMI yet) with a coaxial cable to get digital sound - a cable that looks like 'mono' on both sides - one 3.5mm and the other what fits into my coax in for my receiver. With this cable I get no sound at all and the midi manager simply shows I switched in in the built in audio from internal to headphones - it does not recognize my receiver as digital - in fact it does not matter if it is connected to the receiver at all on the other side of the cable - as long as I plug the 'mono' coax cable to the mac mini it shows up as headphones and of course no digiatal audio is produced.

Everyone here was discussing pluggging in a toslink cable to the audio out on the mac mini (either that or I misunderstood) but the mac mini 2011 does not have direct optical output doesn't it? From my understanidng it has to at least originate as a metal coax (mono 3.5mm) and if you want to hook it up to your receiver using optical in you would need a conversion box along the somewhere. Is that not the case and am I missing something? Perhaps all of the folkx talking about hooking up toslink to the mac mini actually mean hooking up a metal plug that then converts to optical - am I correct? In my case my receiver is old enough that it has coax in so I don't need this conversion, however I get absolutely no output this way (or rather no digital output) and I am wondering if anyone has been able to achieve digital ouput in this manner and if so how did the midi app show that as - in my case headphones but how else would it appear?

I wish apple did a better job getting this mini and OS ready for it's main purpose of an HTPC = which it is not.

Thanks would appreciate any reply and comment.

Just to be absolutely clear for candybars_2010, the mac mini does have optical input and output as well as conventional wired ones. They share the same physical hole as the normal 3.5 mm jack plug for mic and headphone. The toslink optical cables have two types of end, a sort of square thing and an adapter that makes it look like a 3.5mm jack plug. So if you use the adapter you can plug it into the headphone output socket and the mac mini is clever enough to know if you have plugged in a normal cable or an optical one.

It does work as thats what I'm using.

Now I'm worried.

I've been using Apple Products since my Apple //e in 1986, so I'm no stranger to Mac's & OSX.

My 300 disk CD changer died earlier this year & have finally decided to replace it with a 2011 Mac Mini, which I ordered earlier this afternoon.

My current AVR, a Pioneer Elite VSX36TX that will be 10 years old in the spring has no inputs for HDMI, so my plan is to send the audio from the Mac Mini to the AVR via TOSLINK Optical, and then connect to my Sharp Monitor via an HDMI/DVI Cable (the two HDMI inputs on the monitor are alread occupied by the Verizon FIOS Box & BluRay Player inputs).

Will this work? Will I be able to get surround sound using this set up?

Mark

Hello Mark,

I don't want to let you more warried than this and I am not 100% shure, but for what I see and what is my experience with 2011 Mac Mini I don't think you can make it work with this configuration.

You can read my posts on the matter here in this blog.

Good luck,

Marco

For Mark

This will probably work, but if it doesn't, use the mindp to dvi adapter for the video. I have a 2011 Mini, a Samsung DLP, and Rotel audio. I run a dvi cable from the Mini to the Samsung (using mpd adapter that came with Mini), and toslink from the Mini to the Rotel. Eveything works fine. If you are using VLC, be sure to get the 1.1.12 version, which is compatible with Lion and does give DD, DTS, and Lossless-DTS.

I think problems happen when you try to pass HDMI from the Mini to a TV, and audio from the toslink on the Mini to an audio receiver.

I have a Hdmi-hdmi setup and I'm still baffeled. If Audio Midi setup allows me to configure my speakers on a 5.1 setup and I can test each speaker seperately and they work. Why can't I play any test files on Quicktime or utube and have it work in each speaker?