I can get sound to my tv from you tube and Netflix thru HDMI but Sonar (8.5) doesn't seem to see the HDMI.

Have you tried WDM/KS mode in Preferences->Audio->Playback and Recording? This will allow SONAR to "see" everything that Windows does, so the HDMI "should" show up then. One other point that I noticed using the onboard Realtek on my machine is that the hardware only uses 16 bit, so to get SONAR to run using it (properly), I also had to change the "Audio Driver Bit Depth" (Preferences->Audio->Driver Settings) to 16 bit.

You wouldn't be able to use ASIO and route to HDMI at the same time for Sonar.
 
The best possible bet for Sonar is to buy a dedicated audio interface, which will most likely have ASIO drivers that work well.  Beware of closeout sales on audio interface, because they may well not have current drivers being maintained.
 
You should be able to find a good audio interface for around $150, maybe a bit cheaper, that has a couple of decent mic preamps and good A/D converters, as well as up to date Windows drivers.  Focusrite has one that is quite popular with folks.  it uses a USB connection to a USB 2 port.
 
Bob Bone
 

I run 3 LCD TV's as monitors. Plug your TV's into a small power bar, then the power bar into a switched Power Conditioner (Furman etc). Dont swtch off your TV's with the remote, use the main switch on the power conditioner.
That's how I do it anyway.
 

Most of the computer monitor screens that are advertised as Full HD, are just taken off the same line that is turning out 1080p TV screens. The huge demand for that format for TV is what makes computer monitors so cheap these days. Instead of a tuner, they use an EnergyStar power controller that can sense the computer messages to turn on from standby, go back to standby after delay etc. The screen format designed for widescreen movies and TV has major flaws as a computer monitor. For most computer uses text based apps and even internet use the low number of vertical lines relative to horizontal means that you are wasting a lot of real estate. I am currently using a 4:3 monitor, (nominal 20 inch diagonal, 12" x 16", 1400 x 1050) which works great for word processing and even photo editing. To get a screen with that much vertical space on 16:9 HDTV (1920 x 1080) you would need to go to a 26 inch diagonal. And unless you are pillarboxing and downsizing text it, you will only be able to see 2/3 as much of the vertical extent of the page zoomed to full screen width.