Mac Mini 2011 Digital Audio Output with HDMI Video?

Why do you use toslink instead of hdmi? As you know toslink does not support lossless surround, what vlc does is transmit lossy dts core in lossless dts stream

Also

I looked up apple dev forums and seems like wrong surround channel mapping is a known issue and is a result of player software not robust enough to identify channels correctly with the variety of files that's floating out there.

For me going to midi setup and setting speakers to 5.1 instead of 7.1 fixed wrong channel mapping in vlc and it played multi channel flac and AAC normally now

Mplayerx still maps channels wrong and outputs them to wrong speakers with flac and AAC files.

Agree on Monoprice - the place to get cables!

Durask wrote:

Why do you use toslink instead of hdmi? As you know toslink does not support lossless surround, what vlc does is transmit lossy dts core in lossless dts stream

I did not know that! (Johnny Carson imitation) I guess I will just use standard DTS from now on and same some disk space. I use toslink since my current audio processor is sort of old and doesn't have hdmi inputs (Rotel).

Ripped a couple of my own DVDs and BluRays using "proper techniques" - meaning MakeMKV. Played the resulting MKV containing original video and sound and then re-encoded using Handbrake.

Properly ripped files with lossy DD and DTS soundtracks play just fine bypassing whatever Audio Midi settings you may have. Setting it to 2 channel is fine. You should not bother messing around with them. This is what OSX supports at present time and it works just fine.

Of note, VLC will play MKV file with lossless audio, extract lossy core and output that. Mplayerx will not do that and will not play any audio unless you also have a separate lossy DD or DTS soundtrack in that file.

If you have files downloaded from the internet encoded by god knows who and god knows how then YMMV - then you may have to mess around with Audio Midi, etc. Basically you will be trying to do is to make your mac play files it was not intended to, so any solution you may come up with will be a hack and hacks sometimes work and sometimes don't...

I've been considering purchasing a Mac Mini instead of the new Apple TV, but this audio out issue could be a dealbreaker. In researching the problem, I stumbled across this product:

http://octavainc.com/HDMI%201x1%20Audio%20Converter.html

This converter appears to split the audio and video from a single HDMI input, sending the HDMI video image to your screen and the audio (via either an optical cable or RCA cables) to a receiver/amp.

Has anyone tried using a Mini Display Port to HDMI adapter (using the Thunderbolt port) for video only to the HDTV, and then the TOSLINK to the receiver for 5.1 audio? This is what I do with my older computer, which has an actual Mini Display Port. I don't have access to anything with a Thunderbolt port, so I can't verify that it will work, but they are supposed to be backwards compatible with Mini Display Ports. On my system, I get a great picture (I have 720p files, and a 720p HDTV), and surround sound. My Mini Display Port Adapter was about $11 on Amazon (or a similar site). I have read that if you get a "approved" adapter, it can transmit audio, as well, but I've never seen (or heard) it. The optical audio cables are so cheap, it's not worth paying more for the adapter.

I have also set up a system with HDMI passing both audio and video to the HDTV, then running a TOSLINK out of the TV and into the receiver. It also worked, but as the original poster mentioned, he doesn't have an optical audio output from his TV.

Hope that helps.

I had the problem of all the sound coming out of the left surround speaker. My mac mini is connected to my audio receiver by HDMI.

I used the Audio Midi setup. Under HDMI, I used the 8 ch - 16 bit setting. I configured the speakers to support the 5.1 speakers that I have.

I have surround sound again but my audio receiver still doesn't see it as dolby digital.

This can not be correct. If VLC can do it (play audio AC3 decoded track from a movie via the toslink and the picture via the hdmi link), why can't itunes do the same.

This must be a software fault in iTunes, because the VLC has got the same hardware configuration and is perfectly capable of playing the same movie, that iTunes can't play.

Bought a cable of 20 euro, a mac-mini to replace my apple tv (also that apple tv played the same movie, via hdmi the picture to the tv and via toslink the audio to the recevier/decoder. Nothing has changed but the mac-mini took the place of the apple tv and the cable was changed from a normal toslink to a toslink with an adapter.

APPLE ??? PLEASE, PLEASE,PLEASE updat your iTunes software and make it possible to play at least anything that apple tv can play. And even better. Play any format of audio via the digital out, that can be found in the world. That is so easy, as it is not much more then read the stream and copy it exactly as it is to the digitial out (that is ******* all it is). NOTHING HAS TO BE DONE BY iTUNES. NOlicences are needed for that, as i payed for the decoding license, when i bought my receiver.

You would almost believe, that apple does this on purpose, to protect their own movies from the iTunes store. If that is the case, I will report this to Neelie Smit Kroes (the european commisioner) for ICT and IT affairs in Europe. This smells like forbidden protection of own contents.

Do something about it !!!!!

I have had this problem and the reason is that the HDMI out of the Mac Mini will not support anything but stereo

It works fine using TOSCLINK for the audio and a Thunderbolt/DVI coverter and a DVI/HDMI cable for the video.

Ridiculous but there it is!

The HDMI out of the Mac Mini will not support anything but stereo

Multi channel works fine using TOSCLINK for the audio and a Thunderbolt/DVI coverter and a DVI/HDMI cable for the video.

Ridiculous but there it is!

Hi Guys,

I am a newcommer to this thread and are planning on buying a MacMini.

Just to be sure I will not spend my money on buying troubles i just want to make sure that the above problem is solved at this moment (OSX 10.8.2)? Or is the only solution buying TOSCLINK for audio (gives 5.1 channels) and a Thunderbolt |to| DVI converter and then a DVI |to| HDMI cable (to give the HD Video).

Thanks!

Hi, I use Mac Mini (late 2011) with Bose Lifestyle V-35 with HDMI connection.

The 5.1 channel automatically started working after software update on both the above equipment,

The whole set-up is pretty cool, go for it.

Yes, in my case, i can do that, but my HDTV doesn't decodificate DTS, so I can't use DTS mode whenever my AV receiver could do it, if the optical out would work........

Think that some people doesn't have optical out from tv, but have optical in for the 5.1 system.

That's the Issue.

This is what we want to do, and OS X doesn't let us do:

5.1 SYSTEM --------Optical----------MAC MINI----------HDMI / DVI ----------- HDTV

I have been using a MDP to DVI adapter on my 2011 MacMini to connect to my TV.

I just installed a Marantz preamp which has HDMI inputs. I use a MDP to HDMI adapter to connect the MacMini to the Marantz. I use an HDMI to HDMI cable to connect the Marantz to the TV. I also use a toslink cable from the MacMini to the Marantz for audio.

I had to designate the input on the Marantz to use the HDMI for video and the toslink for audio. Everything works fine.

I tried other connections, like HDMI on Mini to HDMI on Marantz and found that while EyeTV and VLC worked fine, MplayerX gave no audio.

In my current setup I choose digitial out on EyeTV, and digital out (encoded) on VLC.

I have a similar setup and can't get to work since I started using HDMI out for video. Before with DVI used to work just fine, video out via DVI and audio via optical. The weird part is that some apps like VLC, work just fine, but the rest doesn't... Using a mini display/thunderbolt to HDMI didn't help, the Mini still recognizes the TV as connected via HDMI

If you connect hdmi to the mdp and then to the receiver it will send both audio (digital) and video to the receiver. Output from hdmi on the receiver to the hdmi on the tv will send both audio and video to the tv. If you connect the optical audio out on the mini to optical audio in on the receiver it will send optical audio to the receiver, but the default audio on the receiver will be the hdmi audio. You should be able to adjust the receiver settings to have it select the optical audio from the mini and mix with the hdmi video from the mini.

This doesn't work with the hdmi out port on the mini. You must use the mdp to hdmi adapter.

My setup with MacMini 2011, Marantz AV8801, and Samsung tv works fine except for certain situations:

If I run VLC or MPlayerX on the mini, the program starts fine for about 30 seconds and then switches to AirPlay, whether or not anything is playing on an IOS device. I need to manually switch back to the mini input once or twice before it remains on the mini input. If I play from EyeTV this does not happen. It is probably due to a bug in EyeTV. It is picking up the AirPlay input from ethernet connected to both the mini and the Marantz.