Mac Mini March 2009 - Mini Display Port Audio?

[GustyPolo]

Hey.

I have the 2009 Mac Mini and was wondering if the mini display port has audio output. Does anyone know? I just want to minimize the amount of cables going to my tv.

Thanks,

 

[DewGuy1999]

Hey.

I have the 2009 Mac Mini and was wondering if the mini display port has audio output. Does anyone know? I just want to minimize the amount of cables going to my tv.

Thanks,

I don't believe that Apple supported audio over mini-DisplayPort until the MacBook Pros released earlier this year. I think from that point on any Macs released with mini-DisplayPort then supported audio over it. I believe in your case you need a separate audio cable.

 

[bzollinger]

Everything my research discovered is that the early and late 2009 mini's don't support audio over mini display port.

I even tried it with no go.

So I'm running optical out to my AV reciever and mini display port to HDMI for video.

For a second audio option I'm going to leverage the "zone 2" feature of my AV reciever.

 

[Thermonuclear]

I'm fairly sure that the 2009 Mac Mini (Mac Mini 3,1) will shove audio through the mini DP output -- if you're converting to HDMI and have the right cable.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/CBLMDPHDMI/

Note that not all HDTV HDMI inputs handle audio input; this is actually a good thing for sources where the audio is carried separately.

 

[Cave Man]

I'm fairly sure that the 2009 Mac Mini (Mac Mini 3,1) will shove audio through the mini DP output -- if you're converting to HDMI and have the right cable.

Mini 2009 does not have audio over MDP - it simply isn't in that iteration of the 9400m chipset.

 

[GustyPolo]

Thanks for the responses. Right now I'm just using a 3.5mm jack into my tv. I dont have an av receiver yet. I just wanted to see if I could get rid of that 3.5mm jack and then when I purchased an av reciever I could just use the optical out on my hdtv.

In terms of getting the audio out of mdp, would it be a matter of a firmware upgrade or does the port in these machines just not have the power to move audio?

 

[Cave Man]

Yes, the audio ports are dual analog/digital (optical). Just plug in a mini-Toslink cable and it'll work.

No, a firmware update will not fix your gen Mini. The NVidia chipset simply does not have audio over MDP.