HDMI to TV, Composite out to speaker

[IDontUnderstand]

Hello, the problem is with my current TV, but there's also another TV that is arriving in a few days.
Recently I've bought a tower speaker that I thought would be able to get the audio from the TV that has HDMI input from a laptop and play it.
So my problem is that when I plug my composite R/W to TV's monitor out and input to speaker, while the TV is on HDMI input from a laptop, the speaker doesn't play any audio out.

Laptop to TV (HDMI) > TV to speaker (Composite), not working

Help please, thanks

 

[Wolfshadw]

My guess would be that your HDTV does not do digital (HDMI) to analog (Composite/RCA) conversions. Try this:

HDMI from the Laptop to the HDTV.
Headphones out to the tower speaker using a 3.5mm Stereo to RCA L/R audio cable.

Make sure to select the non-HDMI audio output as the default device.

-Wolf sends

 

[IDontUnderstand]

Thanks for the reply, I don't think I have an headphone to Red/White cable, but I have MP3 to AUX that came with the speaker, if that does any good. Also did you meant select the non-HDMI audio output as the default on my laptop or the HDTV?

I've searched on internet for a bit and some people said that I'll need an amplifier. Can someone explain what that is and maybe an example of it so I can look for it.

Thanks, again.

 

[Wolfshadw]

The MP3 to AUX cable that came with the speaker might work for you. If not, you could get one from a local electronics store like RadioShack for under $10.

I did mean setting the non-HDMI audio output as default on your laptop.

Without knowing the exact model of the Tower Speaker you have, I can't say what all you need and what you don't need. Since the speaker came with an MP3 to Aux cable, one might assume it has an amplifier built in. In most home music systems with separate speakers, the receiver (where the speakers connect to) doubles as the amplifier.

-Wolf sends

 

[IDontUnderstand]

I forgot to mention that the TV does provide audio through composite to the speaker when it's receiving signals from Coax cable. Could it be possible that my HDTV only does Coax to composite and not HDMI to composite? The HDTV is about 6 years old, it's an Hitachi P42H401 to a Craig CHT910 Tower Speaker, if that helps.

Do you think that newer HDTVs nowadays are usually capable of doing HDMI to composite?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Wolfshadw]

It sounds like my suspicions were correct. HDMI is a digital interface. Coax, composite, component, and S-Video are all analog interfaces and your TV is not doing the conversion from digital to analog (to be honest, I'm not sure any TV does). The Headphones output of your laptop is also an analog source, so you should be able to connect the HDTV to your laptop using HDMI (for video only) and your headphones output of your laptop to your tower speaker (the speakers are powered so no need for a amplifier) using a cable like this one.

This set up, while a bit messy, should work for you.

-Wolf sends

 

[IDontUnderstand]

One last question, if my new HDTV, Panasonic TC-L55E50, which is capable of accessing internet on its own. Do you think that it has the ability to composite out to speaker? since the TV is streaming on its own instead of using HDMI from another device.

Thanks

 

[Wolfshadw]

As I said, I don't know.

-Wolf sends

 

[IDontUnderstand]

Thanks a lot for helping me understanding my problem.

 

[IDontUnderstand]

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