HDMI monitor claims it has speakers when it doesnt?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 05:34:57 pm
content: I have a small pair of speakers that would be ideal to give sound to the HDMI monitor I bought recentlywhich falsely enumerates as having speakers. Why would it be doing this, is it common, and how to fix it. AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, it does not have any speakers, but internally would it have an audio output somewhere? I am on linux, is there any way to get the data that the computer must be seeing and solve this mystery. The monitor is an acer and it was a good value, it looks great.But its creepy that it claims to be an audio sink when it isn't - its also impossible to turn it off.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 05:37:44 pm
content: What model number is the monitor? Is there a small jack somewhere you've overlooked?

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 05:43:18 pm
content: QuoteWhat impossible about that? Nobody forces you to use it as audio device. Probably there is audio out jack or optional soundbar.QuoteThere is nothing to fix. Disable it on PC, if you want. Audio capability is described in E-EDID EEPROM. Computer just reads that information.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 05:45:05 pm
content: Have you confirmed the computer is using HDMI for the audio?is the monitor HDMI audio compatible or does it also need usb for the audio?

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 06:01:02 pm
content: It was sold as an Acer Nitro 22 inch monitor with full HD and it has several inputs including a VGA plain vanilla input.Quote from: bdunham7 on February 22, 2021, 05:37:44 pmMy video control panel tells me its a Acer Nitro QG221Q and no, Ive examined it's exterior very closely. No hidden audio outputs or jacks, or vents that indicate internal speakers. But as I said I do have two very small amplified speakers that I feel would be ideal in that application, if it turns out that an audio signal is available somewhere. (And why wouldn't there be one?)

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 06:07:55 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on February 22, 2021, 05:43:18 pmIt cannot be disabled.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 06:11:43 pm
content: Is there a headphone socket somewhere on the monitor? I've seen a couple of monitors which don't seem to say anything about headphones in the manual, yet have a poorly labelled 3.5mm socket in some odd location.

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 06:23:10 pm
content: According to the manual there's "Speakers 2Wx2 (Only Audio-Input Model)(Optional)".Maybe they didn't bother to remove it from the firmware for the non-speaker model?

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 06:28:15 pm
content: looking at the quick start guide it would appear the audio input is optional,however the actual manual has thisQuoteyou could always use an HDMI audio extractor

author: ejeffrey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 07:34:23 pm
content: Quote from: cdev on February 22, 2021, 06:07:55 pmEither you are misunderstanding or your computer is broken. Just select a different audio output, there is nothing to "disable" If you can't select a different audio sink on your computer, that isn't the monitor's fault.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 08:11:40 pm
content: I mean that I cannot use the monitor in HDMI mode without it insisting it's an audio output.

author: ejeffrey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 08:14:27 pm
content: Quote from: cdev on February 22, 2021, 08:11:40 pmThe question is: why do you care?

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 08:16:45 pm
content: Quotesurely then its just a matter of changing the settings on the computer for the audio output device

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 08:17:29 pm
content: This is inaccurate as there is nothing about audio in the OSD menu anywhere.Quote from: themadhippy on February 22, 2021, 06:28:15 pmI actually am trying to simply disable it.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 10:18:35 pm
content: Quote from: cdev on February 22, 2021, 08:17:29 pmYou can't.Your computer enumerates what is connected to it at startup or when a detachable device is attached. If your monitor has an audio interface over the HDMI, then it will tell that to the computer and the computer will add that interface to its list of available audio devices.There is no way to defeat this feature.I mean, I have a Dell 24" monitor with HDMI and DisplayPort and it has an audio output device built in. (With a ⅛" jack to connect to speakers or an amplifier.) I never use it and I use either my iMac's built-in speakers or a USB audio device that connects to my studio monitors.Just ignore it. Surely there's a way for you to specify your preferred default audio output device.

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2021, 11:17:31 pm
content: I have a two identical Viewsonic monitors connected to a laptop. Windows thinks one of them has audio over HDMI even though neither do. I only discovered this on a WebEx call that automatically chose it as audio output.I just ignore it.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 03:27:59 am
content: Quote from: wraper on February 22, 2021, 05:43:18 pmToday it has got a problem, its injecting events (volume changes) randomly into my system every few seconds and its driving me nuts. Every time this happens a little volume level icon appears and pops emerges from my headphones. Or when there is sound the level intermittently changes now.Thats why I want so badly to turn it off.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 03:34:47 am
content: Quote from: cdev on February 23, 2021, 03:27:59 amAudio device over HDMI has no way to change volume. It's a one way thing to begin with, it does not communicate back, just receives audio interleaved together with video signal.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 03:59:27 am
content: Quote from: wraper on February 23, 2021, 03:34:47 amWhat would cause what I describe? USB audio events? See the screenshot I uploaded..

author: ejeffrey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 05:30:58 am
content: Quote from: cdev on February 23, 2021, 03:59:27 amMost likely a USB-HID device? Could be a keyboard or mouse that is malfunctioning or has been reprogrammed to generate volume change key events. Computer gadget manufacturers are obsessed with putting volume control buttons on almost any peripheral imaginable and rarely consider whether that is a good idea. It could even be your monitor if it is connected via USB as well as HDMI. Do those static burst / volume change events happen even if you turn your monitor off? If so, you can rule out your monitor completely. You can probably troubleshoot this by using some USB/HID sniffers to see what events are happening, and narrow it down from there.While wrapper is correct that HDMI audio devices have no way to send events back to the host, technically eARC in HDMI 2.1 has the capability to send key press events upstream, but this is extremely unlikely to be your issue and in any cases is not the same as HDMI audio devices even though it happens over HDMI.

author: andersm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 06:49:47 am
content: The HDMI CEC spec includes audio controls, and is bidirectional by design. You could try removing the CEC pin 13 from an HDMI cable and see if that helps.

author: newbrain
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 08:15:00 am
content: Quote from: andersm on February 23, 2021, 06:49:47 amBut:Practically no computer/video card reacts to CEC signals, a notable exception being the Rapberry Pi.It would be a strange function for a monitor, IME they also do not support CEC

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 03:52:13 pm
content: They make HDMI cable breakout boxes, maybe that would be a good thing to have to troubleshoot HDMI stuff... Generally such cables get used around my house and they help resolve problems quite a bit without exposing sensitive inputs to ESD as much as they would be with a half-assed attempt to splice in.I have an MSO-compatible device..Quote from: andersm on February 23, 2021, 06:49:47 am

author: ejeffrey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 07:14:07 pm
content: Linux (and probably Windows as well - I just am not as familiar) has all the software tools you need to troubleshoot this without HDMI breakout boxes or custom cables. As a plus, those tools will also work in the almost certain reality that the HDMI cable is not the source of your volume change events.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 08:07:14 pm
content: If you have DVI output, just connect monitor to it via passive adaptor. Audio functionality will be gone. Not that it's the cause of problem. I'm no linux user but in windows you can simply disable it in device manager.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 08:30:39 pm
content: ALSA will report an additional sound device for each HDMI port which supports sound output. It doesn't matter if there's a monitor connected to the HDMI port or if the monitort has built-in speakers. If you want to disable that sound device you can do that via the modprobe configuration for example.

author: newbrain
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2021, 08:34:18 pm
content: Quote from: cdev on February 23, 2021, 03:52:13 pmMicrosft Office?What is an MSO-compatible device, google is not helping...On the PC side:What kind of video card are you using? Intel/AMD integrated graphics? A separate GPU? Model?While it could be handy on a PC, I have yet to see any that supports CEC - apart, as said, the RPi*.If you have a RPi, why not check whether you are getting CEC events from the display? I'm pretty sure you'll find none, since:It makes almost no sense for a monitor to support CEC, as the functions are usually accessed from a remote, and that Acer does not have one.Its manual only mention CEC in the pinout of the HDMI (but that's just the standard pinout).On a completely different side (maybe one side of the PC):A colleague of mine has got a new, fancy mouse. He was fading in and out of our Teams call until he realized he has a scroll wheel on the side of the mouse, and it controls the audio system!* You can use cec-client.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2021, 01:56:42 am
content: Mixed signal oscilloscope. Its a bitscope. It does a little bit of everything. But I fixed the weird audio issue ysterday, I think. . I noticed that I only got the distracting problem when the headphones were plugged into the designated front panel headphone jack which I had abandoned using before, but then forgotten the reason. Well the reason was there was some internal breakage in the wires connecting the front panel jacks to the mother board. Its been here for years but gets forgotten. I'm using headphones a lot because my old venerable sony V6's (Which I have had and used almost continuously since the early 1990s, quite major music-listening period for me.. broke. And te replacement I ended up with are quite decent..After that my wife lent me a pair of Bayer DT-235s,, one of maybe a dozen pairs of nice sound blocking headphones she has bought and put aside in her search for the elusive sound she wants.. But it seems the Bayerdynamics are quite good, IMHO. surprisingly good, a $40 headphone that seems to put my ($99, but ancient) MDR-V6s to shame. Plus they have a nice, long, sturdy cord. So now I am using them with a ($5) SYBA external USB card and the combination just sounds amazing, and this weird problem has ended as long as I stay away from the borked front panel headphone jack.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2021, 02:31:25 am
content: Quote from: madires on February 23, 2021, 08:30:39 pmor hdajackretask, which lets you remap the jacks.