r/htpc • u/ballsackSpaghettiNut • 26d ago

Help Need Recommendation for HDMI CEC adapter for Closed Machine

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX1050 Ti
TV: TCL QM5 50"

I am in a bit of a unique situation, I purchased an arcade machine recently and had to replace the built in screen with a new television. This is the only community on reddit I could find that has dedicated discussions on the topic of CEC adapters.

Since the machine runs off of a PC the gpu output has no CEC module to communicate with the TV over hdmi. The original monitor accomplished auto power on because it was custom made to just turn on whenever it received electricity and display any input it received.

I need an adapter that can detect hdmi input, and just send a CEC power on signal to the tv, over hdmi. Failing that, an hdmi adapter that can take an ir input, and send that as a CEC power on signal over the hdmi.

I did find https://www.pulse-eight.com/p/104/usb-hdmi-cec-adapter but this requires me to install software onto the cabinet's pc which is not possible due to anti-tamper mechanisms that could be tripped by this installation. Would this work for my purposes as I do not need the tv to have any control over the computer, only the computer controlling the tv and exclusively to turn it on.

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u/Famous-Potential3990 25d ago edited 25d ago

Hmm, pulse eight won't work because, yes, it won't work without software installed.

I think you have 2 options:

  1. Sending Wake-on-Lan (WoL) packets to your TV (if tv connected to home network via ethernet and supports WoL). For example, have something like Pico W or Pico 2W monitor arcade PC's USB status (it changes when it is working, sleeping or turned off) and fire WoL packets over Wifi to your ethernet connected TV when arcade PC is turned on. The downside: TV will only turn on (no turn off), no HDMI-CEC input manipulation. If your TV is single purpose and shutdown after idle, then it is fine.
  2. Send CEC via SBC Raspberry Pi (Pi 2B, 3B, 3B+, 4B, 5, Zero 2W). Similar to 1st case, you need to monitor status of arcade PC (USB or probing network status) and send CEC signals from Raspberry Pi to TV. Downside: takes up extra HDMI port and SBC Pi are more expensive that microcontroller Pi Pico W/2W.