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Here's a small update on what I'm currently testing.

 

my livingroom setup consists of:

htpc with 1 ati 5750 gpu : 2xdvi, 1xhdmi, 1xdisplayport.

1 projector @ 720p

1 lcd tv @1080p

 

I had an idea about only sending the audio over hdmi to the AVR and completely avoid using the hdmi output of the AVR.

 

a hdmi splitter could do the trick here.

 

gpu hdmi => splitter in

splitter out1 =>tv

splitter out2 =>pj

splitter out3 =>avr

 

but I'm too chicken to throw in yet another expensive hdmi device into the fray as it might cause new issues with edid.

 

Instead I realized that the ATI card has several digital outputs just sitting there.

Why not use them as a splitter?

 

So I took the dive and tried setting up a constellation that would do the trick.

 

A few limitations.

• Only one of the gpu outputs will receive hdmi audio, you have no control over which one. but you can do several things in order to make sure it's the AVR that gets the audio. (more info about the limitation here: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1259028/two-audio-streams-via-both-gpu-hdmi-out)
  
  Connect the gpu and AVR using the hdmi port of the gpu.
  Connect the gpu and TV/PJ using a dvi-hdmi adaptor with NO audio pins to the DVI port of the gpu.
  When it is connected this way, the ATI driver realizes that only one device is able to receive audio, which in this case, is the AVR.
  You can probably also edit the edid info and remove the audio capabilities there, using a tool like moninfo. I didn't try the moninfo approach here...
• You can only clone 2 devices, and not 3.
  You can possible clone 2 devices, and extend the 3rd device (avr).
  if you extend the desktop it's annoying because your mouse cursor and open windows can disappear into the extended area.

I connected one device at a time and created a monitor inf driver with moninfo.

I then updated the monitor driver in device manager.

I did this for each of the 3 output devices.

Once done, I connected all 3 devices simultaneously.

Maybe this edid trick can be skipped, but it shouldn't hurt atleast.

 

So I have created 2 ATI CCC profiles.

 

profile1: TV@1080p with keyboard shortcut: ctrl-alt-T

clone: TV + AVR, disable PJ, resolution 1080p @ 50hz

 

profile2: PJ@720p with keyboard shortcut: ctrl-alt-P

clone: PJ + AVR, disable TV, resolution 720p @ 50hz

 

So far it does the trick...

audio works regardless of TV or PJ usage.

and the AVR seems do accept the fact that no display device is attached to its HDMI out port.

turning TV on/off also doesnt disrupt anything.

 

Note:

You can easily and maybe benefit from this approach even though you only have 2 devices, like a TV + AVR.

Just skip the profile part, as you would have no use of this.

 

Will report later about possible "hdmi audio disconnected" issues.

 

/gibman