GUIDE: HDMI Audio

[MrAlexS]

Would just like to make a post about how I got it to work.
About six months ago I tried installing scripts and disabling all sorts of stuff (all guides from within this thread). Recently I've had to do some Uni work utilising surround sound so decided to try my best to make this work again, I got it working and it was a lot less painful than I thought it would be.

I have a 2009 Mac Pro (2010 firmware), Zotac GTX 980 Ti AMP! Edition, GT 120 for recovery mode stuff, El Capitan 10.11.5, Nvidia driver 346.03.10f02

Here are the steps I went through...

1) I began by removing the 980 Ti and replacing it with the GT120.
2) Restarted into recovery mode.
3) Opened Terminal and disabled SIP using the command "csrutil disable" and checking it worked with the command "csrutil status" (when I did this WavTap, a piece of software I forgot I had installed started to show up again)
4) Boot into El Capitan.
5) Check SIP is disabled by entering "csrutil status" into terminal
6) Instal HDMI Audio 1.1 using instructions given in the download (https://mega.nz/#!b5JRnRRZ!5hc7EyGDCx0vHdY5-nCvi1PagOkOyInupvEFHlZUysY)
7) Restart
8) Check HDMI Audio is installed by entering "kextstat" into Terminal
9) Place Graphics card back into Mac Pro (Note: I only have one graphics card in the mac at one time)
9) Check HDMI audio is working. I had to unplug and plug in the HDMI cable before the audio would show up. Works through display port too.

Here's a screenshot to show it's all working, even 7.1 surround!

I hope this helps! Please ask if you have any

Edit: Encoded digital output works through VLC too (DTS, Dolby etc.)

 

[suderman]

I have a 2009 Mac Pro (2010 firmware), Zotac GTX 980 Ti AMP! Edition, GT 120 for recovery mode stuff, El Capitan 10.11.5, Nvidia driver 346.03.10f02

I did the same thing with my Mac Pro a couple days ago, and it's been working great! Mine is 4,1 (5,1 firmware) with GTX780 (macvidcard, with working boot screen) on El Capitan. I disabled SIP, upgraded the firmware, installed HDMI Audio 1.1, and switched my sound to output via the HDMI port on my video card. Sounds amazing!

I didn't see HDMI Audio when running kextstat (nor did I think to before reading this), but everything seems to be fine. I left SIP disabled, but I think I'm supposed to for this work (haven't tried enabling).

Anyway, I'm a happy camper and thankful for this thread!

 

[Fangio]

Still working fine in Sierra too.

 

[patrickjturnbull]

Mac Pro 2009 flashed to 5.1 firmware running el Capitan 10.11.5 using a flashed NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680. Long time lurker and user of MacRumors without an account. This one had me stumped for a while and this thread made me create an account to thank the OP and all who have contributed helpful advice to this thread! The internet is an incredible resource thanks to its users! Respect.

Edit: Yeah that means it worked!

 

[rendyr]

Anyone tested this using the old Macbook Aluminum 5,1? It uses nVidia 9400M, and never supported Audio over HDMI unless you buy an Adaptor that inject the Audio from the Optical audio jack.

 

[soundslikebliss]

I followed this exactly, even got the "Installation complete. Please reboot now." message, then no HDMI in sound output after reboot. I have basically the same setup as "patrickjturnbull" 2 posts back. Not sure what's going on. Tried both Displayport out/cable/in and HDMI out/cable/in. Can anyone spot what I'm missing?

This is my machine... Got it on eBay. Not sure if it's considered a "hackintosh" or not.

 

[jelockwood]

I followed this exactly, even got the "Installation complete. Please reboot now." message, then no HDMI in sound output after reboot. I have basically the same setup as "patrickjturnbull" 2 posts back. Not sure what's going on. Tried both Displayport out/cable/in and HDMI out/cable/in. Can anyone spot what I'm missing?

This is my machine... Got it on eBay. Not sure if it's considered a "hackintosh" or not.
View attachment 638807

I have HDMI Audio 1.1 working in Yosemite, El Capitan and Sierra with a Radeon HD 7950. For El Capitan and Sierra I had to disable SIP protection of Kexts to allow running an unsigned Kext. Rather than using the included shell script to install the HDMI Audio kext I found I had to use Kext Utility.

I also tried swapping out my Radeon HD 7950 with a Mac edition GTX 680 and while the audio on that card works in Windows 10 via Boot Camp it did not in OS X. I admittedly only did a very quick test in OS X with the GTX 680.

 

[soundslikebliss]

Thanks for your reply! I tried Easykext Utility and install was fine, but still no audio out. I am beginning to believe this card might not work, but patrickjturnbull has the same card. Wonder if it's the same machine too?

These are my outputs:
Internal speakers
Line Out
Digital Out

 

[h9826790]

Thanks for your reply! I tried Easykext Utility and install was fine, but still no audio out. I am beginning to believe this card might not work, but patrickjturnbull has the same card. Wonder if it's the same machine too?

These are my outputs:
Internal speakers
Line Out
Digital Out

Do you have bootcamp? If yes, that's the easiest way to know if the card work properly.

 

[jelockwood]

Thanks for your reply! I tried Easykext Utility and install was fine, but still no audio out. I am beginning to believe this card might not work, but patrickjturnbull has the same card. Wonder if it's the same machine too?

These are my outputs:
Internal speakers
Line Out
Digital Out

I got the same list.

As I mentioned I only did the briefest test, I did notice that in System Report under PCIe cards audio was listed as present whereas without the HDMI Audio kext it is not. My GTX 680 is an Nvidia reference design which has been flashed to Mac firmware, audio worked in Windows via Boot Camp.

The author of the HDMI Audio kext says in the first post in this thread that it should work for Nvidia cards as well as AMD cards although it was not clear if this included the GTX 680.

 

[soundslikebliss]

I feel like I have so much to learn. Not sure if my gtx 680 was flashed or not as I did not build this machine. Downloading windows now to test in Boot Camp!

Thanks guys!

 

[h9826790]

I feel like I have so much to learn. Not sure if my gtx 680 was flashed or not as I did not build this machine. Downloading windows now to test in Boot Camp!

Thanks guys!

If it shows the boot screen (the apple logo during boot), then the 680 should be a properly flashed card.

Anyway, without a flashed card, you cannot get into recovery partition to disable SIP, and this HDMI audio won't work in 10.11 and 10.12.

Also, it seems the Mac EFI also affect this HDMI audio function. e.g. on my machine, if I boot with the Mac EFI (my 7950 has dual ROM, so that I can choose), the HDMI audio works. But if I boot with the PC ROM, than the HDMI audio won't work.

 

[jblagden]

Mac Pro 2009 flashed to 5.1 firmware running el Capitan 10.11.5 using a flashed NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680. Long time lurker and user of MacRumors without an account. This one had me stumped for a while and this thread made me create an account to thank the OP and all who have contributed helpful advice to this thread! The internet is an incredible resource thanks to its users! Respect.

Edit: Yeah that means it worked!

How did you flash your GTX 680?

 

[jblagden]

Mac Pro 2009 flashed to 5.1 firmware running el Capitan 10.11.5 using a flashed NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680. Long time lurker and user of MacRumors without an account. This one had me stumped for a while and this thread made me create an account to thank the OP and all who have contributed helpful advice to this thread! The internet is an incredible resource thanks to its users! Respect.

Edit: Yeah that means it worked!

How did you flash your GTX 680?

 

[soundslikebliss]

If it shows the boot screen (the apple logo during boot), then the 680 should be a properly flashed card.

Anyway, without a flashed card, you cannot get into recovery partition to disable SIP, and this HDMI audio won't work in 10.11 and 10.12.

Also, it seems the Mac EFI also affect this HDMI audio function. e.g. on my machine, if I boot with the Mac EFI (my 7950 has dual ROM, so that I can choose), the HDMI audio works. But if I boot with the PC ROM, than the HDMI audio won't work.

Okay, so mine should be flashed already as I do see the apple boot. Must I disable the SIP, or is that something that has already been done since the card is flashed?
[doublepost=1467772570][/doublepost]WOOOOO!! Disabled SIP, and I'm rockin baby!! Wow.. spent so much time trying to get this to work and I finally got it. So excited. Thank you h9!

Must SIP be disabled indefinitely to keep HDMI Audio working? Or is there a way to have both enabled?

 

[h9826790]

Okay, so mine should be flashed already as I do see the apple boot. Must I disable the SIP, or is that something that has already been done since the card is flashed?
[doublepost=1467772570][/doublepost]WOOOOO!! Disabled SIP, and I'm rockin baby!! Wow.. spent so much time trying to get this to work and I finally got it. So excited. Thank you h9!

Must SIP be disabled indefinitely to keep HDMI Audio working? Or is there a way to have both enabled?

You must keep that disabled. If you re-enable SIP, the HDMI audio will stop functioning again.

 

[w124me]

Hopefully this helps someone.

Our CEO has a 4.1 MacPro tower that I firmware hacked to 5.1 to enable audio over MDP. It's also got 32GB of RAM and a 480GB SSD. Runs great. He prefers the look of the old tower and I don't blame him!

His original dual 5570 Radeons were starting to glitch out so I bought an EFI flashed GTX960 from MacVidCards. Only problem is that this new card only has 2 DP, 1 DVI, and 1 HDMI. And I could not get audio out of any of those in El Capitan.

Found this thread thankfully as he really really wants audio to his TV soundbar/sub, and also hates cables. So it had to be over the HDMI cable that was already run through the wall!

First problem I had was I could not boot into recovery mode to disable SIP with this flashed GTX. It always KP'd during the middle of recovery boot even though it's flashed and I get the main boot screens just fine. This MacPro was too old to have internet recovery. I tried single-user mode, but you can't disable SIP there. So I pulled the GTX and just put one 5570 back. I was able to boot into recovery and disable SIP. Yes, progess!

Reboot and then install the HDMI 1.1 kext. Shutdown and re-insert the GTX. I boot back into El Capitan and run a 'csrutil status' - SIP is successfully disabled still. Check the loaded extensions and HDMI 1.1 is there and loaded! Turn on the TV and soundbar, go to check the sound outputs and there's nothing external listed. Unplug and plug the HDMI cable a few times, no luck. Reboot again - nothing. Damn :-( , not going to be the hero today...

Since I installed the .kext with the included shell script I thought I'd uninstall it and try to use this Kext Utility that others reference. Same deal. Even in the System Report under Audio I can see that HDMI out is listed. What the hell.

I go for a nice 30 minute walk. Come back and am shuffling through my display adapter drawer. I have nearly everything imaginable and have never been stumped thus far. Anyhow, I find a Male Display Port > Female HDMI dongle. I plug the same HDMI cable into the DP adapter and guess what? I have full sound output over HDMI now! Boom done, book it. Saved the day again.

 

[jabbawok]

I think I have this working on my 4,1 flashed to 5,1. The hdmi/DisplayPort audio is shown in system information. I have ordered a DisplayPort to hdmi 2.0 adaptor. The plan is to get 4K from my gtx680.

I disabled SIP in recovery mode, rebooted, installed the Kext with the script and rebooted. The hdmi audio appears and the kext shows as loaded. I rebooted into recovery mode and enabled SIP with "csrutil enable --without kext" then rebooted and the kext still showing as loaded.

 

[jblagden]

I think I have this working on my 4,1 flashed to 5,1. The hdmi/DisplayPort audio is shown in system information. I have ordered a DisplayPort to hdmi 2.0 adaptor. The plan is to get 4K from my gtx680.

I disabled SIP in recovery mode, rebooted, installed the Kext with the script and rebooted. The hdmi audio appears and the kext shows as loaded. I rebooted into recovery mode and enabled SIP with "csrutil enable --without kext" then rebooted and the kext still showing as loaded.

That’s the great thing about the classic Mac Pro - tons of upgrades. Sure, it cost more than other Macs, but it has a ton of upgrade potential.

 

[Bigwass42]

Good news everyone!

Those of you running Mac OS 10.8 or later with non-Apple NVidia or AMD Graphics Cards can now take advantage of HDMI audio output.

You will need to install a supplemental HDMIAudio kernel extension I've put together. This does not require replacing any existing system components.

For those of you that have never installed a kernel extension before, I've bundled a simple install script. Download links are at the bottom of this post.

(ℹ) If you've previously installed the NVidia-only NVAudio extension, you can safely run the installation script for HDMIAudio and it will automatically remove the former.

To install HDMIAudio:

1. Double click on the DMG to mount it.
2. Open Terminal, located in the Utilities folder.
3. Enter this command, then press the Return or Enter key:
   

   cd /Volumes/HDMIAudio

4. Enter this command, then press the Return or Enter key:
   

   ./install.sh

5. When prompted, enter your administrator password, then press the Return or Enter key.
6. You may receive a warning about an Unidentified Developer on Mavericks. This is safe to ignore.
7. Reboot after installation.

To remove the extension:

1. Boot into Safe Mode, if necessary.
2. Open Terminal, located in the Utilities folder.
3. Enter this command, then press the Return or Enter key:
   

   sudo rm -fr /System/Library/Extensions/HDMIAudio.kext

4. When prompted, enter your administrator password, then press the Return or Enter key.
5. Enter this command, then press the Return or Enter key:
   

   sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel

6. Enter this command, then press the Return or Enter key:
   

   sudo kextcache -system-caches

7. Restart your machine.

Please post any suggestions, questions or issues here.
Sources are available upon request.

• Version 1.0: Download

Hi i know this post is very old, but i was wondering if this only works with non apple video cards. I have a 2009 mac pro 4,1 with the factory NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512 MB it's driving me crazy that i can't use the mini display port for sound as well as video. Can i use the instructions above or will i need a new video card as well? I know there is a way to upgrade the firmware to the 2010 mac pro's but this seemed way less invasive. Let me know if you get a chance. Thanks a lot!

 

[h9826790]

Hi i know this post is very old, but i was wondering if this only works with non apple video cards. I have a 2009 mac pro 4,1 with the factory NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512 MB it's driving me crazy that i can't use the mini display port for sound as well as video. Can i use the instructions above or will i need a new video card as well? I know there is a way to upgrade the firmware to the 2010 mac pro's but this seemed way less invasive. Let me know if you get a chance. Thanks a lot!

I am not 100% sure, but from memory the firmware basically do 4 things.

1) allow to use the newer CPU
2) allow the RAM run at 1333MHz (if CPU avail)
3) allow audio via HDMI (with 3rd party driver)
4) allow install OSX 10.12 natively

Anyway, the 1st thing I will check is system info -> PCIe section. If there is a device occupying the same slot as your video card, but no driver installed, than most likely that's the audio part.

 

[headfuzz]

Another success story on my upgraded Mac Pro 5.1 following @suderman 's post here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-hdmi-audio.1499797/page-20#post-23024840

 

[Bigwass42]

I am not 100% sure, but from memory the firmware basically do 4 things.

1) allow to use the newer CPU
2) allow the RAM run at 1333MHz (if CPU avail)
3) allow audio via HDMI (with 3rd party driver)
4) allow install OSX 10.12 natively

Anyway, the 1st thing I will check is system info -> PCIe section. If there is a device occupying the same slot as your video card, but no driver installed, than most likely that's the audio part.

Great I will check that when I get home. Thanks a lot for getting back to me so quickly. If that ends up not working, do you know where I can download the 2010 5,1 firmware?

 

[datars]

No HDMI Audio showing up with NVIDIA GeForce GT 620 1023 MB Card Mac Pro 1,1

I've tried other cards with no luck

Thanks for any help

 

[h9826790]

No HDMI Audio showing up with NVIDIA GeForce GT 620 1023 MB Card Mac Pro 1,1

I've tried other cards with no luck

Thanks for any help

Not sure if 1,1 firmware support this function. AFAIK, even 4,1 don't support this function, need 5,1 firmware to make it work.