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Audio soundbar connected to monitor's USB through HDMI cable?
Hi, if we have a monitor like the Dell P2419H connected with Displayport OR HDMI, will the monitor recognize and use a USB connected soundbar like the Dell AE515M if the soundbar is connected to the monitor? I'm specifically thinking about small conference rooms where the user will normally only connect the HDMI cable, will they get the monitor's audio through the soundbar? Or will the soundbar only work if it's connected directly to the PC?
Will this work with any other Dell monitor?
Thanks!
jphughan
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May 11th, 2021 13:00
@drivesmeupawall There are several displays that support multiple "upstream" USB connections to multiple sources and can switch which upstream USB path is active based on which video input is active. Dell makes some. This feature is called a built-in KVM. The idea is that if you plug you have two (or more) PCs that you want to control through a common keyboard and mouse. You connect those peripherals to the display's USB ports, run video and USB cables between the display and each source PC, and then assign each USB upstream interface to a corresponding video input. When that video input is in use, the corresponding USB upstream interface is activated, and therefore the keyboard and mouse will be used with the "right" PC whenever that PC's video signal is being displayed. The catch here is that Dell typically only offers this on higher-end displays, such as ultra-wides.
For USB-C displays, most Dell displays with USB-C inputs use that as the sole upstream port, and therefore don't support connections to multiple sources. You'd use a USB-C to USB-A cable to connect to a system tha didn't have a USB-C port, but then you'd only get USB data over that link and would need to connect video separately. Some other displays have a USB-C input and one or more USB-B "upstream" ports, in which case they quality as having a built-in KVM. And some of Dell's latest 2022 model year displays have a USB-C input for video+USB data (and power delivery to a laptop) and also have a separate data-only USB-C upstream port, which can be used with PCs that don't connect via USB-C.
An alternative that's almost as convenient and allows you to use any display you want is a USB host switch, like this one. This allows you to connect up to four USB 3.0 peripherals to the switch, and the switch then connects back to two separate hosts. Of course in this setup you'd have to switch the display input and USB switch separately each time you wanted to switch PCs, but you can use whatever display(s) you want.
The way to use whatever displays you want and have easy switching is a full standalone KVM, but those can be quite a bit more expensive. That same IOGear company for example makes a KVM that supports 2-4 source PCs and supports dual displays up to 4K 60 Hz each, such that whichever source PC is active sees a dual display setup (not one display per source). But even the dual source PC model is about $350.
Anyhow, if the guest will be plugging into a display via HDMI, then it might be easier to simply rely on the mic built into the laptop. It's not clear to me that using a mic built into a soundbar will deliver increased convenience or audio quality -- unless the laptop will be quite distant from the speaker because you're planning to use long HDMI cables.
But hopefully this awareness of products that you didn't seem to realize existed gives you some setups to ponder.
DELL-Cares
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May 11th, 2021 10:00
Thank you! We have received the required details. We will work towards a resolution. In the meantime, you may also receive assistance or suggestions from the community members.
jphughan
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May 11th, 2021 11:00
@drivesmeupawall Just to be clear on the solution I proposed above, the U Series displays only offer audio output. Since you mentioned a conference room solution, if you were counting on being able to connect a soundbar to the display in order to get bidirectional audio from a soundbar that has a mic built in, that is not going to work in the setup I proposed above. But that's because HDMI and DisplayPort audio don't support that setup. Yes, HDMI has an audio return channel capability, but it can't have audio running in both directions at the same time.
jphughan
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May 11th, 2021 11:00
@drivesmeupawall I need to sticky one of the many answers I've written to this question. The P2419H will not accept audio over HDMI or DP. Getting audio to a soundbar via USB requires a USB data path all the way back to the source, either over a typical USB cable or a USB-C cable on displays that have them. The reason for this limitation is that the display is not an "audio host", meaning it will not accept PCM audio from DP/HDMI and then become a USB audio source itself. The display essentially just has a USB hub built into it, and if you want to use it, then you need a USB connection back to the source system. And at that point, the source system controls the USB soundbar just as it would if you connected the soundbar directly to the source system. This also means the source system itself needs to support USB audio output. PCs and Macs do, while game consoles and media boxes typically don't.
For your use case, you'll want a U Series display. They have 3.5 mm audio output jacks, and therefore they CAN accept audio over HDMI or DP and pass it out through their 3.5 mm jacks to a soundbar that can accept audio via a 3.5 mm input.
drivesmeupawall
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May 11th, 2021 11:00
Hi @jphughan thanks for the reply. I can't recall which monitors have presented themselves with audio over HDMI, as we have several different models, but some have. When that happens it can often mess up the Windows audio by changing the default output to the new source. Sometimes this is a monitor that has "audio" available over HDMI, but doesn't actually have any speakers attached. Another way this _could_ work would be if the monitor could have switchable USB outputs - i.e. the accessories attached to the monitors USB hub could 'switch' when the video input switches. So for each video input there would be a matching USB output. I'm not aware of any monitors that are capable of this.
There are two scenarios I'm thinking about. The first scenario is the small conference room/huddle room/shared office space, where a guest user plugs in HDMI and in addition to a speaker we would like a mic available to them. I can see how a U-series monitor would handle this if a USB cable is also connected, or if it's a USB-C type connection in the first place.
The second scenario is one we are running into a lot these days, where an at-home user is sharing a monitor with multiple users. For example, a permanent connection to a desktop computer with DisplayPort and a temporary user on a laptop with an HDMI cable. The only way I'm aware of to transfer the USB ports of the monitor is to physically switch the USB uplink cable to the other computer, being aware that some monitors are separate cables and some use USB-C. I don't have a USB-C monitor, so I'm not sure if that includes the monitor's USB hub and type-A ports, or if there are multiple USB-C inputs on those.
Anyway, I appreciate your feedback. Hopefully the data throughput of USB-C can allow some two-way audio to become part of the connection in the future.
Nakeman
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May 12th, 2021 04:00
It should be recognized, in case if it will not - just let us know.
drivesmeupawall
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May 12th, 2021 06:00
@jphughan Hi, thanks for your reply. I was not aware that there were KVM capable monitors! I see that the Dell P3421W is such a beast, and hopefully others will follow suit in the future. That would theoretically resolve the multiple users issue. I'm not always using the latest tech, but here's a situation that makes it very attractive.
The soundbar offers noise cancellation and volume control and is well suited for use in a small meeting room, I was trying to find a way to simplify the connection process. Not all of our systems are USB-C capable but they definitely all have HDMI and even the older ones will show HDMI as having an audio output. I know there are "ethernet over HDMI" protocols, so I know HDMI can carry more than just video signal, but I wasn't sure just how that is utilized, it seems like the typical monitor doesn't do anything with that option either.
Anyway, your reply was very informative. Hopefully this discussion is useful for others. I marked your last reply as the solution. Thanks for getting back to me and being knowledgeable!
jphughan
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May 12th, 2021 07:00
@drivesmeupawall Happy to help! In terms of the soundbar, I’m not sure what you mean about the soundbar offering noise cancellation. Are you talking about on its mic input?
With respect to HDMI’s Ethernet channel, yes it does exist, but even though I do try to stay on top of the latest tech (albeit not always successfully), I have not seen a single mainstream product actually use that standard. The closest I’ve seen has been the eARC standard — enhanced Audio Return Channel — that is capable of carrying higher-bandwidth audio codecs than the original ARC. That relies on the pins normally allocated to HDMI over Ethernet, but I don’t think even that actually uses actual Ethernet traffic for its purposes. But I may be wrong about that, or there may be stuff out there that I don’t know about. And last I checked, that standard only supported 100 Mb Ethernet. That’s plenty for audio of course, but is rather a bit slow compared to typical copper/fiber Ethernet and even modern WiFi.
At least for now, the simplest solution would probably be to add a USB cable into your solution. If users are already connecting an HDMI cable, a USB cable doesn’t seem like too much more to deal with. That will get you full soundbar functionality, and you may even find other use cases for having a USB data path between the presenter system and the display, such as having a camera mounted on the display that would capture the entire room and could be plugged into the display’s USB ports. Good luck!