How does the Asus G73 HDMI sound out work?

It seems to work only half the time. I hardly ever use my hdmi out for sound, but when I play a movie, I want sound from my TV, not my laptop. Sometimes I see it both under the realtek options and w7 sound options, but then, times like now, nothing is showing up other than the standard Speakers (laptop) and the realtek digital one.

I don't know what I do sometimes to have HDMI sound available, but it's not working right now.

 

I've had the G73 for a few months now, and haven't encountered this problem. I use an HDMI out for movies probably 2-3 times a week and it's worked since the first time without changing any settings at all, I was very impressed. Could it be the cord?

 

Yeah, I suspect if it works half the time and not the other half, it could be a faulty cable. Try a different one if you can. Also, jiggle the cable in its connector, if you haven't already. Sometimes it can be video drivers, but generally it's either all or nothing with them.

 

Like others have said I would certainly make sure you have a good quality cable. Quality is not necessarily defined by price. However, you said something that, to me, is much more important than a bad cable. You said:

Sometimes I see it both under the realtek options and w7 sound options, but then, times like now, nothing is showing up other than the standard Speakers (laptop) and the realtek digital one.​

The HDMI entry in both the Realtek HD Audio Manager and Sound Properties should always show the HDMI entry, regardless of whether the HDMI cable is plugged in or not. I would focus on making sure this is the case. Such as making sure the appropriate drivers are properly installed.

BTW, here's a couple of key combos you might be interested in:

WIN+P
Fn+F8​

These allow you to select a combination of LCD and/or HDMI out.

 

I don't think it's a faulty cable. I bought a 10ft one from monoprice, but that doesn't matter.

I attached another HDMI cable and I had he same problem. I tried what you suggested Kalim, kind of. I put it just straight up Projector only, but no luck. I decided to restart, and voila, it worked. Now I'm wondering, why do I have to restart the laptop though?

Also, if it helps, I usually have the HDMI cable plugged all the time, but I usually set the 2nd monitor to be off most of the time.

edit: I don't get it. I went to test.

Restarting with the HDMI active results in the HDMI sound being active. Taking out the HDMI cable and putting it back in, it disappears.

Then I restart with the HDMI inactive but connected and in the sound options the HDMI is showing as not plugged in. Then I do extended desktop through the ATI Manager and the HDMI option is gone.

Hmpph.

Also, Discovered a minor issue with backlight not changing at all, after I stopped using projector only mode (I believe). Restart fixed it

 

That's a good place to purchase cables. The 12 foot AUVIO HDMI cable I have was a last minute purchase just before the doors closed at a local Radio Shack store, as I needed the HDMI cable that night.

I wouldn't think you would have to restart the laptop, I don't. What I do is unroll the HDMI cable out from behind the AV receiver and plug it into the HDMI port on the laptop. As soon as I turn on the AV receiver Windows chimes a bell, the HDMI on-screen graphic appears over the Desktop, and minus a little time for the handshake, the desktop is displayed on the TV. Each time the power for the receiver is turned on or off, the on-screen graphic is displayed along with the bell. It really is that straightforward.

For the past couple of days I've had the laptop connected to the receiver. Right now the laptop is folding proteins with the laptop in standby (display and keyboard lighting off). I reached over and grab the AV receiver remote and hit the power button and without skipping a beat, the laptop chimed indicating that it has detected the receiver. I then grabbed the TV remote and hit the power button. Again, the laptop chimed indicating that it's detected the change. It did all of this without even coming out of standby, let alone having to reboot.

Having said that, because of all the various differences that have come to light with the G73JH over the past couple of months (ie: BIOS update), the above could mean something or may mean nothing at all. It could be the difference between the laptop and our HDMI receiver and/or TV.

The thing that I found interesting was when you said the HDMI entry in both the Realtek HD Audio Manager and Sound Properties is sometimes missing. Regardless of the external influences, I would think that shouldn't happen when there is no cable plugged into the HDMI port.

 

I edited the post a little bit with what happens under certain situations. Did you ever connect your laptop via HDMI and switch the default sound device to a headphone or something? I believe that mine used to do that, it would swap to HDMI output automatically... I'm not sure though. But I know that I did switch to headphones.