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lorax1284
Journeyman III

Game audio drops out when switching computers on a KVM

I have a 4K60 compatible KVM that supports 4 PCs dual head (2 x 4K60 monitors).

When I switch between PCs, normal Windows sounds are fine: the sound from the PC is delivered via HDMI to the KVM, the KVM passed it through to the TV, and the KVM even has stereo audio out that it picks up from the FL and FR channels of the HDMI sound (if only it had 5.1 audio out and could turn HDMI audio into 5.1 via my PC Surround system... but I digress...)

Anyway, when I'm playing a PC game, sometimes the sound doesn't return when I go back to my gaming PC: I have to exit the game and restart and the sound is OK again.

I'm not switching up my system all the time: I don't need the computers connected to the KVM to try to "detect" every time I switch: Just pump out the sound and don't expect to have to respond to devices being plugged in or unplugged all the time.

I'm wondering if this is the game trying to push-out an HDCP compliant signal and when the path is interrupted it's getting all worried about "Oh, NO! This media pirate is trying to grab the DIGITAL AUDIO STREAM and sell it on the interwebs! I must stop this nefarious activity!"

I'd gladly give up the ability to watch protected content on my gaming PC in order for games to not drop sound when I switch away and back.

Is there some guide I could use to get my Radeon Vega RX 64 and also my Radeon 570 cards to do better in games when switching away and back? Is this just a weakness in the game itself?

(note I also have a Nvidia-powered gaming laptop that doesn't have this problem AS MUCH as my two Radeon cards, but it does happen sometimes if it's the laptop being used and I switch away and back)

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royc
Journeyman III

Sounds like we have like systems except for the dual monitors.  When switching from one computer to another, I would drop sound.  I disconnected an external usb3 hard drive and stopped having the audio issues.  Might try that.

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