How to deal with absence of HDMI on HP Pavilion

[brava]

I’m not a computer geek, but lately decided to connect my HP Pavilion Media Centre TV m8031.sc-a to a TV. I was absolutely sure that my HP Pavilion Media Centre had a HDMI output. The machine is called a Media Centre and it is only one year old. I bought an expensive HDMI cable and to my horror discovered that HP Pavilion Media Centre was not equipped with HDMI !!!!!!! In the shop I was recommended to use DVI-HDMI cable. Further, I was told that it is possible to activate sound on my display/screen card (I’m not sure if I use a correct jargon here, may be graphic card would be correct). I have X1700SE Radeon. Is there anybody who can enlighten me about how to deal with that issue?