Question : Problem: Dell Laptop -HDMI link - Viera HDTV audio problem

I recently purchased a Viera Plasma TV with HDMI input. My Dell XPS M1330 has HDMI output. Using a HDMI cable, I can connect the laptop with the TV. It works perfectly and is plug and play. However, no audio is output and while tinkering with settings, I cannot work out how to get it to work. Under the sound settings in the vista control panel, under the "supported formats" tab, I tried testing the encoded formats (DTS Audio, Dolby Digital and WMA Pro Audio), but none of them make any noise on the TV. Under "sample rates" 44.1 and 48 KHz produces a sound on the TV, but I think with no supported formats able to be selected, this is the root of the audio problem. How do I overcome this?

Answer : Problem: Dell Laptop -HDMI link - Viera HDTV audio problem

I don't know about your specific model of Dell, but this is one of those things that frustrates me to no end.  Most computers do not output sound over their HDMI ports.  They're basically just a DVI port in an HDMI form factor, which is stupid since TV's do not have the ability to select sound from a different input that video, and TV's are the only reason you'd be using HDMI over DVI in the first place.

If your TV has a DVI port, use that instead.  Then you can hook up the laptop's headphone jack to the appropriate audio ins on the TV.