It happened to me a few days ago. I had a group of people sitting down at a sofa, ready to watch a movie on Netflix. I had to use a VPN to change the Netflix region, and thus, I used a VPN on my computer and then used an HDMI cable to show the content from the computer on the TV. This is normally a great solution and we were ready to stream and have a good time.
The movie started... but the volume was low. I raised the volume to max on the TV, but nothing happened. That is when I understood that the present sound doesn't come from the TV at all, but from the computer. What is going on? Why isn't the sound coming from the TV? Shouldn't that happen by default when you use an HDMI cable?
The streaming party was ruined and they started to chat and it was hopeless to enjoy the movie.
I had to grab the computer and look for a solution. What caused this problem? Why didn't I hear the music and sounds from the movie on the TV, but on the computer?
My quest for sound on the TV and not from the computer (Ubuntu)
I started to search for solutions, and that is how I bumped into Pulse Audio, a panel that will give you bigger freedom in Ubuntu for solving sound issues. And yes, that is how I managed to change the output sound settings, making sure that the outgoing sounds will be sent through the HDMI cable and not coming from the computer loudspeakers instead.
Would you like to learn more about how this all happened? Find out how you can solve sound issues in Ubuntu right here.
I was enriched by this experience, and later, we could watch a movie. Unfortunately, time had gone by, so we didn't watch what we had planned, but we ended up streaming something else instead.
No matter what, a problem solved is something learned, so now I know more about Ubuntu and the operating system and how to solve such issues, meaning that I am enriched. I hope you are as well!