Sound problem in Vista MC

A short recap of a problem I posted at The Green Button.

My sound stopped working over HDMI today in Vista MC. It has been working for several months previously without problems. Today the problems started, and I haven't even installed or updated any new software. I'll try to explain the details (I've rebooted, checked cables and all the simple stuff):

- Sound over SPDIF (optical) works
- Sound over HDMI does not work with Vista codecs in VMC (e.g. playing DVD or live TV). It does work with ffdshow audio, e.g. playing a Divx file - even within VMC. This makes me think the problem is not hardware related.
- Sound does not work with ffdshow audio through zoom player, but it does work using Media Player Classic (as well as VMC). This is extra weird since the codecs in use are the same.

If I exit VMC, open audio properties and play some windows sounds the sound is spotty, i.e. it comes and goes. If I configure the HDMI sound device the test sounds play perfectly.

The next day I figured new drivers could never hurt, but had problems finding them. It turns out that Intel High Defnition Audio HDMI is bundled with the driver for the G965 graphics. I found a new version over at Intel, dowloaded, installed, rebooted and the sound is back to normal.

What still has me stumped is that I had made no modifications at all to the system to make the problem appear. But I'm happy it seems to be solved now.

DVB-T bug in Samsung Q97/Q96 plasma TV

After I got my HTPC I noticed that the built-in DVB-T reciever in my Samsung Q97 started to behave erratically (Q96 is an identical model with slightly different looks and should behave the same). Often the TV displayed "No Signal", although the analogue channels were working fine and the DVB-T receiver in my HTPC was showing digital channels perfectly.

Sometimes I could get the digital receiver to work after switching the TV off and then back on again, but after a while that didn't help either. So I had to start thinking. What had changed in my setup? I had added an HTPC connected over HDMI. After some testing I came to this conclusion:

If there is a signal on HDMI when you start the TV, the digital receiver will not work. Workaround: make sure your HDMI connected device is off when you turn on the TV.

I haven't seen this problem described anywhere else, but I'd be surprised if my TV was the only one behaving like this. Its a minor annoyance, but not a big enough problem to bother with the hassle of returning the set.