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General discussion

Watching DVDs on HDTV using Dell XPS laptop and HDMI cable

Mar 4, 2011 9:01PM PST

I'm trying to use my Dell XPS laptop with Windows Vista to watch DVDs and movie files on my Philips HDTV via an HDMI cable.

The video works and looks great. But no audio is coming from the TV.

I have my Wii game console connected to my TV via an HDMI cable with no audio or video issues, so I don't think the problem is the TV or the cable.

I have search Google for other forum discussions on this topic and there seems to be no standard fix due to all the various combinations of hardware and software, but this seems to be a consistent hurdle with Windows Vista, yet fixable.

Any recommendations for me to get the audio working?

Discussion is locked

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You need to change
Mar 4, 2011 10:57PM PST

You need to change the default sound output to HDMI, and then you'll need to change it back after you're done watching the movie or you won't have any audio on the laptop. Rinse and repeat every time you want to watch a movie, and no, there is no automatic way to change the output device.

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Already tried HDMI as default
Mar 5, 2011 2:27AM PST

When I go into Control Panel sound options, I selected HDMI as default and clicked Apply but the sound contined to come out of the laptop and the sound bar visual for the laptop speakers continued to blink with the movie dialog but still not on the visual next to HDMI.

Next thought?

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Example setting I used.
Mar 5, 2011 2:34AM PST