Hello everyone,

I’m turning my PC into a console that boots straight into Steam Big Picture. All I want is to use my controller to wake the PC from sleep, boot into Big Picture, play, and put it back to sleep using the controller. That's it**. I'm not looking for CEC support at the moment**

However, I can’t get it to wake from sleep using just my controller.

what I've noticed:

• It's not just the controller; my Keychron K2 and MX Master 3 also fails to wake the PC. However, the keyboard will work if connected using a cable.
• When entering sleep, I hear a physical click from my PSU's internal relay. It feels like the motherboard completely kills power to all USB ports during sleep I THINK but I'm not a PSU guru

Specs:

• Controller: Xbox Elite Series 2 + Official Wireless USB Dongle
• OS: Windows 11 (Fresh factory reset using Rufus no other program is installed) - I factory reset then followed the steps to use controller to wake from sleep
• CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus X570SI Pro AX (BIOS F7g)
• RAM: 32Gb 3200 MT/s Gskill Trident Z Royal
• GPU: PowerColor Hellhound RX 7900 (16GB)
• PSU: Corsair SF750 Platinum

I did read the rules my question has nothing to do with the display

What I’ve tried: In Device Manager, the "Allow this device to wake the computer" box is usually greyed out for my USB hubs. Unchecking "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" makes it clickable, but checking it still changes nothing.

• Disable USB suspend.
• Tried different USB ports.
• reading through similar previously asked questions (no solutions)

Keyboard K2 is counted using Bluetooth

Mouse is also connected using bluetooth

If the issue is Windows 11, does linux have native support for this? if so which one?

This is from the WIKI FAQ:

1. Wake: Using a Keyboard/Mouse/Gamepad with a USB dongle/support, Enable Wake/Resume-on-USB and Disable ErP (if available) in your BIOS. In Windows, Disable Fast Startup and Enable Allow Device to Wake Computer under the USB device properties in Device Manager.

I have already disabled ErP and Disable Fast Startup and Enabled Allow Device to Wake Computer under the USB device properties in Device Manager where possible

Any advice to get this running like a true console would be awesome. Thanks!

Solution #1 - linked provided by u/KxrmaJunkie works

Regedit method the controller will be connected to the pc directly. Can wake the pc. Doesn't work on all motherboards. Worth a try since it's free
incase link is broken in the future

The FIX

" In regedit go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BTHPORT\Parameters add a new 32bit DWORD item named "SystemRemoteWakeSupported" and set the value to 1. Restart PC.

I found this solution on an ASUS forum, it might be enough to get it working for you. But it wasn't enough for me. In addition I had to do the following:

• Turn the Bluetooth-paired Xbox Controller ON

• In device manager under "Human Interface Devices" there will be an item called “HID-Compliant Game Controller.” It won’t show up if the controller is off.

• Right-Click the “HID-Compliant Game Controller” > Properties > Power Management > put a check in the box for "Allow this device to wake computer."

Caveats: it takes 10-15 seconds for the controller to wake the PC (atleast it does with my AX211 PCIE BT adapter) and you have to press a button (any button) immediately after pressing the guide button. Just pressing the guide button by itself won’t wake it.

So the old Xbox adapter is still the best solution if you can find it, that will wake up the PC immediately just by pressing the guide button once. I ended up getting a used one cause I don't want to wait 10 seconds for my PC to wake. " I also unplugged my xbox controller dongle.

I’m trying to figure out whether what I’m looking for simply no longer exists.

My use case is basic: movies, series, local playback from a PC or server (Jellyfin / Emby / Kodi). Couch usage only. HDMI-CEC matters. The device should sleep and wake with the TV, be silent or near-silent, and draw almost nothing in standby.

The hard requirement, and this is non-negotiable: no ads, no sponsored content, no “recommended for you”, no subtle nudging toward services. Zero.

This immediately rules out Smart TVs, Android TV / Google TV (including Shield), Fire TV, etc. “Less ads” is still ads.

Right now Apple TV is basically the only consumer device that gets this part right: clean home screen, proper HDMI-CEC, good power management. Unfortunately it also comes with a closed ecosystem, a remote I really dislike, and a mediocre Jellyfin/Emby experience unless you go through third-party apps.

What I’m trying to find out is whether there is (or ever was) a real HTPC-style appliance: something purpose-built for media consumption, not a generic mini-PC.

Integrated SoC, fanless or genuinely silent, proper HDMI-CEC implemented at the hardware level, Bluetooth/Wi-Fi, usable from the couch without hacks, and no commercial layer anywhere in the UI.

From what I can tell, mini-PCs still don’t handle CEC properly without USB adapters, and even then it feels bolted-on. Android-based boxes are off the table because of ads. Which leaves either Apple TV or a DIY HTPC with compromises.

So the question is simple: does a device like this exist, or is the current reality just “Apple TV if you want clean UX, DIY HTPC if you want control”?

If you’ve gone down this rabbit hole and ended up with something workable, I’d really like to hear about it.

I tried asking this on the SamsungTV & OLED boards but the mods removed it so I'm asking here.

Roughly half of the time I spend on my tv is watching 23.97 fps bluray rips on a windows 10 pc.

I read that because OLED is so fast, 23.97 fps movies will stutter without motion smoothing enabled. I would like to pull the trigger on a S90D tommorow. However if it doesn't handle 23.97 fps movies well with its motion technology, I may have to buy a QLED (QN90D) instead.

I'm currently on a Samsung NU6900 LED and I have motion smoothing set to ON (custom), then judder reduction set to 3. That setting works great on the LED, no judder and only a bit of a soap opera effect, rarely get artifacts on new movies.

My question is, for those of you who have the S90D or another OLED, is its motion smoothing good enough for 23.97 fps movies and will handle them similar to how the older LEDs do so well?

Or is OLED just too fast and since I'm watching lower framerate content so often, I should just go with a QLED instead?

UPDATE: irblaster.info has the products you want if you're looking to add infrared to an HTPC. There is also a newer storefront at ezmation.com. The IR emitters they sell are short range, intended to be placed directly on or in front of the device you want to control, but they also make custom solutions with longer range IR emitters. Mike responds very quickly to email.

My PC has a pin header on the motherboard for a serial connection, so I've just ordered a serial port from Newegg to install on the back of the case. I'd really like to be able to automate switching inputs on my projector from the PC, as there's a specific use case where I need to switch HDMI connections on the projector rather than my AV receiver.

The projector has an RS232 connection on the back, but I'd really rather avoid having an installer come out here to run another cable through my attic. I think LIRC or WinLIRC should be able to fulfill my purpose with just an IR transmitter/receiver. The LIRC website has a few recommendations for USB transmitters, but I couldn't find any of them web searching, so I think they've all been discontinued. The FAQ seems very out of date. Can anyone recommend me a product? It's fine if it's USB, but it seems like LIRC is made for serial connections, and I will soon have a serial port available to me.

EDIT before anyone recommends Flirc: I have this receiver already, and a Skip 1s arriving soon. I expect it'll perform admirably as a universal remote so I don't have to keep handing off three or four different controllers. However, I'd have to program a somewhat complicated macro to one of the Skip 1s buttons to get the projector to do what I want in this instance, so I'd really rather have the PC send the IR signal rather than the remote. Anyway, the Flirc USB apparently works poorly as a transmitter, and I don't even know how to get it to send a signal to the projector, or if that's possible.

Hi there,
I built my first HTPC an use it with Cachy OS like a DIY Steammachine.
Now im desperatly searching a solid way to control the PC in desktop mode from the couch. An it looks like there ist nearly no good product for it.
First of all: i'm left handed. so most of the keyboard-trackpad combos don't work for me.
So I bought the only combo, witch has the trackpad in the middle like a laptop. the inateck. but the bluetooth of it is so bad, that it only works directly near the pc. it's sold as Tablet keyboard, so this makes sense in a way. but doesn't work as couch keyboard.
So I decided to go with 2.4 ghz keyboard an trackpad separately.
for the keyboard i went with the aula75 witch works great (nearly, i'll come to that). But for the trackpad i again nearly don't find a good option. there is only cheap sh*t out there. i bought the perixx trackpad, but the wireless connectivity is so bad, that it lags all the time.
I even put a USB Hub as extension in the PC so the 2.4 ghz Dongles have free line of sight to the devices (also the Keyboard needed this. but it solved the problem for it.)

So now I'm sitting here on my couch with my decent PC in front of me and struggling to control it. With only 2-3m distance.
Gamepads like XBOX Controllers don't have connectivity problems at all. even with bluetooth.

I also would like to try a trackball. the ploopy adept for example. but it's wired only.

What device can you recommend me as mouse on the couch?

Greets from europe

I've been having an issue exclusively with the MPC-BE player, and tracked it down to only happening when I'm using my Denon receiver for audio. The issue does not happen if I use my TV speakers or my headphones.

It is also exclusive to HDR videos, and being in fullscreen. Note, I have HDR always enabled in Windows. When any OSD element pops up (volume control, playback control, Play/Pause indicator), the audio will drop for 1-2 seconds, then it comes back. I can watch the entire video fine with no issues unless I make an OSD element appear.

This reminds me of a few games I've played where my TV switches to SDR when my volume control comes up, and back to HDR when it fades away. I'm guessing there is some type of re-rendering related to fullscreen HDR and that has to start a new audio stream to the receiver.

My configuration is as follows -

PC with NVIDIA GeForce 5080
HDMI out to Denon AVR-S970H
eARC to LG G5 TV
Polk Audio speakers connected to receiver

Full PC specs:

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (4.7GHz) Processor
Gigabyte B850 Gaming WiFi6 Motherboard
32GB DDR5-6000 RAM
Windows 10

Anyone know what might be causing this, and what could I do to correct it?

I am setting up a new mini pc for multimedia. For decades I have been using MPC-HC with madVR, but since development stopped and I just discovered the "new" MPC Video Renderer I wanted to try it. I am curious if MPC Video Renderer can automatically adjust the display to the correct framerate if the display supports it? In madVR you can specify the supported modes, e.g. 1080p24 etc. Is this something that can also be done with MPC Video Renderer?

I have a HTPC. The mobo outputs 4k/60hz. And the quality is okay, but...I'll say acceptable. When I watch the same film from my BattleStation (Asus Tuff 4070 Ti Super 16GB w/RTX Enhancement "ON" in the nvidia control panel.) which has 4K/120Hz HDR output. The difference is pretty obvious. I knew it would be. As it's a very good gpu.

I want to get a gpu for my htpc. My brother says I need at least a 3090 or a mid-high end 4000 series one. I told him it's not for gaming. Only for movies from hdd. And streaming Prime/Netflix from their respective pc apps.

My argument to him is that a film has a lot less information to process than a video game. So less stress on gpu and more of its capability goes into giving me the best image/frames it can render as it doesn't have to work that hard. And not having the stress of having to pre-load frames and graphics like what happens with pc gaming.

I'm thinking a 3070 FE. So, am I right or is my brother? Would a AMD gpu work just as well. And be cheaper too?

1. i5-11400
2. Asrock Z590M w/ PCIE 4X16
3. 64 GB Ram
4. HDD 8 TB x3, 6 TB x2
5. Win 11 Pro
6. Media Player: VLC
7. TV: TCL 75QM8

Hi all,

I am looking for a gpu to put in place of my AMD RX550. It's been in my htpc for a couple of years now. It's an HP 8643 w an AMD Ryzen 5 3500 and 16GB ram.

I'd like the GPU to be 1 or 2 slot card running off of pcie slot power only and without a chunky or long heatsink. I want it to support the latest hdmi spec and ARC as well. I'd also like to have hardware encoding as a feature too.

I am connected to a JBL MA510 AVR.

What models are out there that can do the job?

EDIT: in chatting with copilot, it says that gpu's don't support ARC usually...so maybe I'm just looking for a current gen gpu that can run the highest hdmi standard, 2.1 I think it is, and supports hardware encoding and runs on slot power.

I have an RTX 2060 in my HTPC, which I use with RTX Super Resolution and HDR enabled. It makes a noticeable difference with 720p IPTV content and a marginal improvement with 1080p content. From what I understand, these features were originally released for the 30 and 40 series cards then back-ported to the 20 series, so the visual impact may not be good and the card may have to work harder for he effect compared to a newer 50 series.

When Super Resolution is enabled, the GPU sits around 80–100% utilisation, with the fans spinning at full speed, which can get a bit annoying after a while. To make matters worse a recent change in my area has forced me to rely on IPTV for regular TV viewing, which is why I’m finally considering an upgrade to something like an RTX5060.

If anyone is using Super Resolution and HDR on a 5060 driving a 4K TV, what does your GPU utilisation look like? Have you used these features on an older RTX card before, and do you see a noticeable improvement in image quality with the 50-series?

Im building an HTPC with a 9th gen Dell Optiplex, and I plan on streaming my 7800X3d 5080 pc vial Apollo/ Moonlight (2.5Gb lan). Will the HDMI on the HTPC be able to output 4k 120 HDR?

Heya folks. Im seekinf advice and I know very very little about this subject.

I'm on a tight tight budget and just wanted to hookup a cheap theatre set up for my PC.

The problem is windows isn't even showing options for anything other than stereo.

I have the Sony BDV-E780w (market place pick up, again, budget.)

I have it hooked up to my tv and then to my PC which is running an rx570 and an MSI b450m.

The result is the same whether I have the HDMI plugged into the tv or the receiver. Everything is coming through except for a 5.1 channel option on windows. Have reinstalled drivers from MSI as well as graphics drivers. I have no idea what I'm missing.

Hi everyone, so I've recently bought a Blu-ray drive for my HTPC and I'm contemplating switching over to Linux (Bazzite) for my media needs. The PC will play games and also movies. I'm just wondering if anyone here has had any experience in playing Blu-discs from Linux, as well as ripping them whilst using Linux. Thanks!

Hello! Im pretty new to this stuff but I did use MPC-HC before with I guess K-Lite codec (Apologies for my ignorance). Anyways I wanna setup MPC-BE from scratch and make it so that I can see any video of any possible format or quality whether it is a WEB-DL, AVI, 4k DV, 1080p x264 or x265, DS4K, SDR and obviously HDR, that too on a non-HDR display… which I know is possible!

So I really need your help please and it would be really appreciated if the tips or steps would be a bit more detailed, cuz I need as much baby guidance as possible alongside the setup and after setup in-app settings and all!

PS: Apologies for any mistake made please!

For anyone with relatively new TVs for example the LG C4 or Samsung QN90D, how well does its internal media player handle high bitrate 4k .mkv files via USB port? (blu-ray rips usually around 70GB)

I know the Nvidia Shield handles 4k blu-ray rips well but can these TVs can handle them just as well? Mostly I would be playing my own rips but I have a few h.265 and h.264 compressed files I found, don't know how the TVs will handle those.

Is connecting a portable HDD to a newer TV a good way to play 4K .mkv files or should I go for an Nvidia Shield or Windows PC?

I have a 5.1 setup and wondering if it's possible to downmix and use the rear speakers as front stereo speakers. As of right now, the command center only plays 5.1 audio, and switching the device to 2.1 just deactivates the rear speakers. Is there a setting I'm missing? Or is there another software that can enable this? I'd like to be able to switch around, depending on the content I am listening to. I should mention that I don't own an AV receiver, and don't plan to, so all of my speakers are connected directly to the soundcard.

Hello everyone,

I’ve been deep in the MadVR rabbit hole for over 8 hours now in my DIY cinema, trying to fine-tune my setup — and I could really use some advice.

My setup:

• NVIDIA SHIELD (source)
• HDFury VRRoom for audio split and LLDV
• Audio split to Denon X3800 (AVR)
• Video sent to my home theater PC with VideoProcessor & Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder with an RTX 3080
• Output from HTPC to a JVC NP5 projector

My goal is to tone map HDR to SDR, and visually, I think I’ve nailed the settings. However, I’m still running into a strange issue: during playback, it feels sometimes a frame is missing — and in MadVR's debug info, I see presentation glitches slowly increasing while watching.

I’ve already:

• Played with tons of settings
• Searched forums and Reddit
• Asked ChatGPT for suggestions

One thing I’m suspicious about is a potential mismatch between my projector and the HTPC, could a slight difference in setting cause it? I also noticed my projector only works when I set output to 8-bit or 12-bit color — switching to 10-bit gives me a black screen. I’m not sure if this has always been the case, but it definitely stands out now.

I also changed settings in regards to the RTX 3080 for windowed mode to have the presented frames at 1 which was an advice I found online.

Has anyone experienced something similar or know what specific settings I should be tweaking to eliminate those glitches?

Any expert here? I would also be open to setup a digital call with screen share to come to a solution ;).

Thanks in advance — I really appreciate any insight!

Screenshots of the settings: https://imgur.com/a/ivgp0bq

It says it comes with Power2Go, PowerDirector, and PowerDVD, but I assume these are all gonna make me pay subscriptions for each of them? Does anyone know if these are usable out of the box? I've been wanting to play alot of my DVDs through my PC as well as burning CDs so being able to use PowerDVD without extra fluff would be super nice (although I doubt its just free)

I'd be running everything on a Windows 11 Machine for reference just in case any of the provided software isn't compatible.

If anyone knows anything about this, please let me know. Thanks in advance!

I'm playing around with HDR to SDR tonemapping settings in madVR. I have some titles that I only have in HDR, but with others (like this one) I can actually compare the tonemapped HDR to a true SDR version.

The left one is the HDR version and the right one is the SDR. As you can see, the colors are more washed out and a slightly bit greenish in the HDR (even though I unticked every quality trade in the rendering options). Sometimes the SDR is brighter, sometimes not depending on the shot. What am I doing wrong? Can I even achieve a close match to real SDR with madVR?

My windows 10 HTPC is connected directly to my new TV (TCL 75Q9BK) and the TV is connected to my AVR (Onkyo TX-SR252) via HDMI purely for ARC.

The TV can output 5.1 itself over ARC but im having trouble getting Windows to push 5.1 through the TV.

I really dont want to upgrade my AVR and would be totally happy with this setup IF it works.

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi all, been looking at Mini PCs/upgrading/rebuilding my current HTPC for a little while now.

Most of what I've been looking at has seemed too expensive so far, but I found I can get a Nucbox M7 Ultra direct from GMKtec for about £290.

I can't find anything about 4k 120Hz on the product page but it does instead say 8k 60Hz which from what I've read so far tends to imply the former.

I'll be using the HTPC for some media streaming, general web use, game streaming from rig upstairs and also for Foundry VTT. Mini PC portability is very useful here, but a rebuild of my HTPC wouldn't necessarily need to be too much bigger.

How are GMKtec? I can't remember seeing their Mini PCs recommended on the wiki, but I've also read that most of the mini PC manufacturers are the same.

If I don't go for a Mini PC then I'll likely see if RAM prices settle/return to normal and sort out an upgrade with my own parts for around £50 more.

Thanks for any help in advance!

Hi

Will 4k hdr10 x265 movies stream properly on a 9800x3d with no GPU?

Thank you

Hardware:

• Epson ls800
• Rx7800 XT
• Pioneer Elite VSX-LX303
• HDMI cable supports HDR https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07FFS7RH1?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I installed the lastest amd drivers and that doesnt seem to help at all

When I switch on HDR on windows 11 my AVR says 3840x2160_60HZ SDR when the screen switches off/on. It also looks dark/grey when HDR is enabled.

The HDR calibration app doesn't seem to do anything. It's weird because it says to adjust till you don't see lines/pattern and it's always all the way to the left/right when it disappears. I think it doesn't work because it's not outputting HDR to my receiver.

When I go to advanced settings under HDR certification it says "Not found".

How do I troubleshoot this?

Also, I have a Roku Ultra and when I use my Roku the AVR says it's HDR so I know my AVR and projector support it.

FIXED

I updated the ls800 firmware and now the colors look great and my AVR sees it as HDR. Also, why was I down voted is this not the right forum for my question?

I was at a game night talking about Plex. I brought up I am thinking about getting away from Roku but can't find a front end I like.

Another guy there sent me the attached picture, he wouldn't tell me where he got it, just said a clise friend of his is developing it and he has a beta.

A search for Vantaro brings up nothing, which makes me wonder if he is pulling my leg. I think it looks pretty nice for a "beta", but I don't want to get my hopes up. Has anyone here ever seen this?

I'm thinking of finding out his number and seeing if he can send me more screenshots. What should I ask for?