HELP...How to stop audio switching

[mattn85]

Background:
I had a small atom based HTPC that was no longer capable of what I need it to do so I have just recently switched to a 2012 mac mini i5.

Set Up:
I have the mac mini connected to my AV Amp (Denon 2113) along with an xbox and apple TV. All connections use HDMI.

Problem:
Everything works fine when I am using the mac mini but then if I happen to be listening to music or watching a video and switch to another source the mini reverts back to the internal speaker.

Tried:
I tried to set the internal speaker to mute. This works for stopping the internal speaker from playing, but I have found that when I switch the source back to the mini it shows that it is using HDMI, but I get no sound until i refresh the page (tested while listening to Songza).

Additional Info:
I have also noticed that when I switch back to the mini from anything the screen flickers after about 2 seconds and then it is fine. I assume this is the HDMI switching back for the audio.


What I would like:
If possible it would be great if someone could tell me if it's possible to disable the HDMI detection or to stop it from searching. I am still pretty new to using macs so any help would be great.

Matt

 

[dencentral]

HDMI video/sound problems, switching out

mattn85, Having very similar trouble to yours, I'm a lifetime Mac user my Mac mini 2010 on OS X Yosemite.

My HDMI Out thru new Sony AV Recvr to Sony 3D TV, also using for PS3 on HDMI with no trouble.

But switching receiver off or away then back to Mac can result in no Mac output on screen, and/or sound preference switched to Headphones out.

No video from my Mac leaves me with no way to manually switch monitor and sound settings.

I have to resort to a hard restart for the Mac (ugly), at which point it detects the waiting HDMI Out and restores video. Half the time I then have to reset sound output prefs manually as well.

Interesting you mentioned it, sound is sometimes fixed by a refresh of the software source. Note software such as VLC Player and Elgato EyeTV have their own audio out prefs independent of System Prefs.

For video trouble I have also tried to get to my desktop using my remote desktop app, LogMeIn, from another computer.

This normally works fine but when this switching problem comes up, LogMeIn hangs up and can't... well, log me in to the afflicted Mac either. Note LogMeIn shows up as yet another output option in my System Prefs.

Disabling auto switching sounds like the solution, but that's not a Mac option I know of with much user experience.

If you know UNIX command line, you can override the system prefs using the Terminal app in Applications/Utilities. There are many resources available with hacks to tweak your system.

Finally, this was never an issue for me before adding a new Sony AV Receiver. Previously my Mac HDMI was direct to the monitor, separate analog sound by Headphone jack to the older receiver, never trouble.