Macbook Pro w/ retina display connected to Dell U3011 monitor via HDMI – periodic error message about audio

audiodisplayhdmimacbook pro

I have my retina MacBook Pro running a Dell U3011 monitor via the HDMI port. Periodically, the monitor shows an error message:

Unsupported audio format
Please set the audio output on your audio player to Pulse-code modulation (PCM) if available.

People have suggested to use some other method of connecting the monitor to the Thunderbolt ports as a solution and this would work but in my case, I want to run this monitor from the HDMI port. Anyone have any suggestions?

Best Answer

Go to the Utilities folder in the Applications folder and open the Audio MIDI Setup application. Select the HDMI Audio Device connected to the Dell U3011 monitor. Configure the audio format to "44100.0 Hz" and "2ch - 16bit Integer". As far as my minimal testing shows, this should fix the issue.