Connecting mac to tv, no sound

Have trawled the forums but can't seem to find an answer to my problem, hope someone can help?

I've connected my Mac OS X Version 10.5.8 to Hitachi plasma TV using HDMI - Thunderbolt, turned on mirroring, picture works but no sound.

I then connected RCA cable to 3.5mm headphone jack on back of Mac, RCA leads plugged into TV audio ports. Still no sound.

RCA cables tested on other device, confirmed they are not faulty.

Do I need to alter any System settings? Or is their another solution?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Is the audio port you have it connected to on the TV labled "DVI"?
The HDMI port should also be labled HDMI/DVI.
If both of those are not correct, you have it/them plugged in to the wrong port on the TV.

If you can't figure it out after reading the 3rd post here:
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/other-hardware-peripherals/193239-connecting-your-mac-your-tv.html

And checking out the diagram there:

Then you'll need to provide your Hitachi model number for specific directions.
Go ahead and let us know what model your Mac is also.

(Oh, and there is no "thunderbolt" port on any Mac that's running 10.5)

Have you looked at the sound preferences to see what the output is showing?

bobtomay said:

Is the audio port you have it connected to on the TV labled "DVI"?
The HDMI port should also be labled HDMI/DVI.
If both of those are not correct, you have it/them plugged in to the wrong port on the TV.

If you can't figure it out after reading the 3rd post here:
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/other-hardware-peripherals/193239-connecting-your-mac-your-tv.html

And checking out the diagram there:

Then you'll need to provide your Hitachi model number for specific directions.
Go ahead and let us know what model your Mac is also.

(Oh, and there is no "thunderbolt" port on any Mac that's running 10.5)

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, the link was helpful.

More info about my Mac:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac8,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz

I've read through and suspect the issue lies with my Hitachi TV - it is a second hand model and didn't come with any user guide, in addition I've no idea what model it is and the ports have absolutely no labeling beside them, which is really handy.

There is only one HDMI port rather than two. I've tried plugging the RCA cables into every permutation of red and white ports but with no luck (however when I plug them into the composite video red and white jacks I get audio running through a different channel on the TV with no picture, suppose this confirms that all audio output settings on my Mac are correct).

Maybe I'm just one of the unlucky ones with a TV that is incompatible with my Mac

Many thanks for your help.

If the Hitachi is old enough that it only has one HDMI port, that suggests to me that it may be a model from the first couple of years after hi-def TVs were introduced - perhaps '03-'05. During that time, none of the TV manufacturers had yet considered that we consumers would want to connect a device via HDMI that did not carry both the audio and video signal. The TV manufacturers had not yet jumped on board the bandwagon of having their owner's manuals available online yet either.

You may find that you need to use the VGA input on that TV - if it has one - not all of them had VGA during that time frame either. Most of those that did have VGA input during that time, only accepted low resolutions via their VGA port and many of them accepted only a 4:3 aspect rather than the 16:9 aspect of the TV - so, VGA was a not so good viewing experience on them.

Hitachi got out of the plasma market after the '08 models and all of the '07-'08 models had 3 HDMI ports.
While Hitachi was at the top of the lineup, I hope you didn't pay much for that TV.

Your iMacs port is a mini-DVI.
If your TV has VGA and you want to give that a try, let me know.
If it only has S-video and composite connections - personally wouldn't suggest spending the money on the cables you need as the picture will be less than acceptable.

Your other options would be to connect the audio to a stereo/surround receiver.
If you don't have a receiver, for about $100, you might consider something like a "soundbar" - here's just one, link - there are others you can look at and the prices go up into the hundreds, but it's likely even the $100 ones will sound better than your TV speakers - and you can continue using the HDMI for the video portion. If you get a soundbar, find one with similar connections to that one - RCA, stereo mini-plug and optical - then use a mini-toslink to toslink cable for the sound from your Mac to the speaker.