connecting 2009 mini to tv, whats my sound options?

[madeirabhoy]

at the minute my 2009 mini is connected by VGA to my bedroom cheap tv (almost all of my tv viewing is internet based due to living in portugal and watching uk tv and netflix)

i dont get any sound out through the cabling so have to use separate speakers but its a pretty low fi setup so its not an issue.

however the mini might get a promotion. the android tv box connected to the 4k tv in the lounge is unstable, constantly crashing. i could buy a new faster better one, but if i can solve the sound issue then id like to use the mini as a internet tv server and plex server (guess i could do that anyway)

what are my options?

i take it hdmi doesn't carry sound either?

i saw something about optical sound, but i dont think the 2009 mini would have that?

is using the audio sockets really affecting the sound quality?

 

[vintagebob]

I think the 2009 has digital audio out like the 2010. It is a mini plug.

http://www.amazon.com/FosPower-Tosl...7&sr=8-11&keywords=digital+audio+adapter+mini

HDMI carries audio but I didn't think the 2009 had HDMI?

 

[treekram]

I have a late 2009 Mini which doesn't get used much any more. I have used optical audio out before without a problem. Same with a USB DAC. I haven't tried this to make sure but everything I've seen says the Mini Displayport output does NOT carry audio. There is no HDMI output. There were two Mini models in 2009 but it appears both have optical audio out from the headphone jack. There are devices which take the Mini Displayport, optical audio and USB outputs and combine them to enable an HDMI connection. One such device is:

http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Dis...-33&keywords=mini+displayport+and+usb+to+hdmi

You might try searching for a similar adapter on whatever Amazon site you have access to.

 

[madeirabhoy]

I have a late 2009 Mini which doesn't get used much any more. I have used optical audio out before without a problem. Same with a USB DAC. I haven't tried this to make sure but everything I've seen says the Mini Displayport output does NOT carry audio. There is no HDMI output. There were two Mini models in 2009 but it appears both have optical audio out from the headphone jack. There are devices which take the Mini Displayport, optical audio and USB outputs and combine them to enable an HDMI connection. One such device is:

http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Dis...-33&keywords=mini+displayport+and+usb+to+hdmi

You might try searching for a similar adapter on whatever Amazon site you have access to.

thanks. isnt there a mini displayport to HDMI adaptor? i thought i saw one before but didnt buy it because on my small bedroom tv the difference between VGA and HDMI wouldnt make a difference but on a 50" tv it would.

 

[treekram]

thanks. isnt there a mini displayport to HDMI adaptor? i thought i saw one before but didnt buy it because on my small bedroom tv the difference between VGA and HDMI wouldnt make a difference but on a 50" tv it would.

You can get Mini Displayport to HDMI cables or adapters but you won't get sound (as I mentioned, I haven't tested this but everything I've seen says that's the case). They shouldn't be expensive - there's a lot of them on the US Amazon site that are inexpensive. I use a DVI to HDMI cable and that works fine for me. I don't know what the difference would be between VGA vs. either DVI or Mini Displayport. The specs say it can support up to 1920 x 1200 using VGA but the quality may not be as good. VGA carries an analog signal, DVI, Displayport and HDMI are all digital. If you want to have the video and audio output in one HDMI connection, then you'd need an adapter like the one I mentioned in my previous post.

 

[madeirabhoy]

You can get Mini Displayport to HDMI cables or adapters but you won't get sound (as I mentioned, I haven't tested this but everything I've seen says that's the case). They shouldn't be expensive - there's a lot of them on the US Amazon site that are inexpensive. I use a DVI to HDMI cable and that works fine for me. I don't know what the difference would be between VGA vs. either DVI or Mini Displayport. The specs say it can support up to 1920 x 1200 using VGA but the quality may not be as good. VGA carries an analog signal, DVI, Displayport and HDMI are all digital. If you want to have the video and audio output in one HDMI connection, then you'd need an adapter like the one I mentioned in my previous post.

cheers looks like that adaptor is the best idea. it'd cost me money anyway to buy a mini to hdmi adaptor, plus an optical cable, so it looks cheaper to buy that one, one of the amazon sellers has it for 30 quid.

 

[TonyK]

Our 2009 uses a stereo jack connected to the stereo and uses a HDMI to DVI to miniDisplayPort. I could connect the sound directly to the TV but the stereo provides better quality than the TV.