HTPC Tweaks and Fixes


This is from another thread I just updated, where I was having issues, but I thought it would fit well in this thread:


All right,


So things looked a lot better this weekend after doing a lot of tweaking. I want to list the things I did, so if someone else runs into similar issues, maybe this will help. I'm not 100% convinced yet that everything is working perfect, but it's a noticeable difference.


My system is running Windows 7 x64 SP1, a gigabyte micro atx z68 motherboard, intel core i5 2500k, EVGA GTX 580 (Nvidia beta driver 290.53), ceton infiniTV quad PCI-express. This is hooked up via HDMI to my Denon 2112ci which runs to my Sony 46XBR909. I'm also using a Harmony One to control all of this.


Screen going blank intermittently and also "Display Driver Error - the video playback device does not support playback of protected content"


-Adjust the follow Nvidia Control Panel item


Go into Nvidia control panel, adjust deskop color settings, apply the following enhancements, content type reported to the display, set this to Full Screen Video


-Proper power on sequence.


This required my calling up Logitech extended support, since power on delays cannot be programmed by users (not to be confused with the other delays). So my TV turns on first, and then my Denon has a 2-3 second delay before it turns on, and then my HTPC has a 12 second delay before waking from sleep, and finally a 7 second power-on delay for the HTPC (the one users can program that tells the remote how long before it can send commands to the device).


Then I have an Event Ghost macro that runs HDMIon ( http://thydzik.com/hdmion-a-solution...nal-on-hd-tvs/ ), and then waits 50 seconds to run:


%windir%\\ehome\\ehshell.exe “/mcesuperbar://tv?live=true”


That's Media Center, starting in Live TV mode. The reason I wait 50 seconds is because that's how long it takes the Cable Card/Ceton to start up and be available (in combination with all the other timings).


-Using Event Ghost, when the Power Off signal is received, I have a macro that closes ehshell.exe, then another macro that waits 3 seconds and looks for the Media Center crash window (which happens every now and then), and then finally another macro that waits 7 seconds and puts the computer to sleep.


Why do I have 3 separate macros for that? Because I have each macro set to stop if the windows isn't found, that way it doesn't close the wrong thing.


-EDID override.


Not sure if this was needed, but I did it anyways. Check out this link: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1227161



-If none of these fixes help, this page lists some more things you can try: http://experts.windows.com/frms/wind...80.aspx#545380


No Audio


-Turn off Media Center sounds. I believe this is only needed if you have your Windows Speaker Configuration set to anything but stereo.


Audio Stuttering or drop out after doing 1.5x fast forward (this can also help speed up channel changes)


-This happens when your Speaker Configuration is set to anything but stereo. The reason Media Center freaks out is because it has to decode the signal and send it out as PCM, so it can play the audio at 1.5x speed. So it switched from Dolby Digital (what the channel is using), to Multi Channel PCM and then back to dolby digital once you hit play. This will create around 10 seconds of audio stutter or total audio drop out, where afterwards it will kick back in.


Two ways to fix this, that I've found:


Set your speaker config to stereo, so 1.5x fast forwarding only switches to regular stereo, and then switches back to dolby digital properly. I personally didn't want to use this method


Or you can go into your audio device properties, advanced and then uncheck "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device." This will force media center to decode the dolby signal and use Multi Channel PCM for everything. So, when you watch TV, it's PCM, when you fast forward, it's PCM. Everything works well now. You won't get the pretty Dobly sign on your receiver though... 

 

Also, an FYI, by disabling the ability for programs to use exclusive mode, their audio will be resampled to whatever rate you have set in your audio properties (on the same tab that you disable exclusive mode). Most may not care or notice a difference. Use your ears to tell and try different sample rates. 

Driver crash with video drivers while browsing the net or doing other simple things


-This is called a Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR).


The newer Nvidia drivers (280 and up) have this issue. Here is Nvidia's sticky thread on this: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=215256


For me, it was a hardware issue with my EVGA GTX 570 SC. I figured this out because driver 275 was still crashing on me, which is Nvidia's recommendation for seeing if it's a hardware issue or not. I'm assuming my factory overclock was bad. So I went with a GTX 580 instead.


Issue with HDMI Detective not passing through HDCP


-When I tried an HDMI Detective (which I'm not using, but just tried out for a day), I found that it doesn't work with my GTX 580. My Nvidia control panel would say that my display is HDCP compliant, but then as soon as I tried to watch TV or a Bluray, it would switch to saying my display is NOT HDCP compliant. I was unable to watch any copy protected material.


This did not happen with my Intel graphics... so I'm sending it back as it doesn't function properly or as I need it. I tried using longer HDMI cables, which has been said to fix some HDCP issues.


Quick switching between 5.1/7.1 speaker config and Stereo, so your receiver can upmix.


-I wanted to have a quick way to switch my speaker config to Stereo when listening to music, so my Denon could upmix it.


There is a little AutoIT script someone wrote to do this: http://blog.contriving.net/2009/05/0...s-soundswitch/


I would recommend getting the beta 3.0 version, as the stable version didn't work the way I needed it. Customize the config file to your needs. I believe there is another app called Sound Switch as well, but that one didn't work for me--use the link I provided above for the proper script.


I have a Logitech K800 keyboard and it has a calculator macro key that I mapped to trigger sound switch (which is something like ctrl-alt-F12). Now I just press one button and my computer switches.


Issues with Event Ghost (in windows 7) and automatically starting SoundSwitch.


-Event Ghost has a special plugin that installs a service in Windows 7 for use with MCE remotes. I do not use this as it breaks Windows remote functionality for me once I restart my computer.


Instead, I use the normal plugin for MCE remote (the one that does NOT say for Windows 7/Vista). However, this doesn't work by default, you have to run Event Ghost as Administrator for this to work.


So, go into Scheduled Tasks and create a new task for Event Ghost. Check the box that says Run with Highest Privileges and set the task to trigger whenever anyone logs in. This will auto start it for you, so no need to use the Start with Windows checkbox in Event Ghost.


This also solved the issue with SoundSwitch (which also requires admin privileges). Just add another task with "Run with Highest Privleges," that triggers whenever anyone logs in.



All right, hopefully I didn't miss anything, as I don't have my home computer near me to verify everything.


I just wanted to dump out all the issues and fixes I've had trying to use an HTPC, and I hope this might help others.


J

Another one I forgot to include:

Black screen while watching video in Media Center, but you can hear audio


-This happens with the latest stable Nvidia driver (as of this time 285.62). Change to a newer beta driver or older stable driver to fix this issue.

 This is a good place to go for lots of pearls.

More HDCP troubleshooting tips, thanks to audit13 and Davinleeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by audit13 /forum/post/21508408


Does your video card have dvi and hdmi outputs? If it does, try connecting the video's dvi to the tv's hdmi, turn on the tv and set the resolution to 1920x1080. Connecting the video card's hdmi directly to the Denon. Turn on the Denon, set the tv as display 1, set display 2 as the Denon, and extend the desktop from display 1 (tv) to display 2 (Denon).


If I'm not mistaken, the HDCP would be provided via the connection to the tv and the PAP would come from the connection to the Denon.


I can't take credit for the possible solution. It was suggested to me by Davinleeds.

Click to expand...

Actually, after you've put together a couple dozen of them, it's not so hard



Quote:
Originally Posted by StardogChampion /forum/post/21515859


Actually, after you've put together a couple dozen of them, it's not so hard

Click to expand...

Haha, I bet. Yeah, maybe these are more of beginner tips--I wish I knew them starting out. Hopefully someone will find them of use.



Quote:
Originally Posted by assplats /forum/post/21515870


Haha, I bet. Yeah, maybe these are more of beginner tips--I wish I knew them starting out. Hopefully someone will find them of use.

Click to expand...

I think the extra dimension of "hard" is the A/V equipment the HTPC gets hooked up to. YMMV with the AVR and TV these things are hooked up to and how well they cooperate.


There are a lot of nuances for sure. Like, who would think setting sound to "stereo" in WMC would fix the stupid "Video Error" problem. And, would someone new to this realize that even with stereo set, you still get Dolby 5.1, DTS-HD, etc. bitstreamed to your AVR despite that setting?


Yeah, there's definitely a steep learning curve. Or, stuff just works.

Thanks for the quick audio switching link. I am going to have to look in to that. I was just about to post a question for something like that. I have many movies in 5.1 AAC and they only work right when the speakers are set to 5.1. But just like you I like to have my music and TV shows upsampled which is only possible in Stereo.



Quote:
Originally Posted by assplats /forum/post/21515870


Haha, I bet. Yeah, maybe these are more of beginner tips--I wish I knew them starting out. Hopefully someone will find them of use.

Click to expand...

I'm building my first HTPC, so I will definitely be referencing this and other links.

Got another one for Harmony users:

Getting discrete On/Off working with Harmony One and HTPC

EDIT: I have found an IR receiver that works with discrete on

I purchased the OVU400102/71 from eBay and discrete on finally wakes the computer! Just to help out any others trying to fix this issue. Here is the link to the eBay posting:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Media-Center-IR-Infrared-USB-Receiver-OVU400102-71-/220760295263?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D3605237159653650041%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D220760295263%26


It's sold from 3a.life from China.


Now, one thing I should note. I already had an IR receiver and this new one didn't work properly (discrete on and it was sluggish) until I uninstalled the eHome receiver from both the Human Interface Devices and Universal Serial Bus controllers in Device Manager, unplug the device, restart the computer and then plug the device back in. I also did another restart after all that.


Good luck!


Old method, but still useful for the additional things I have EventGhost doing

I have a Harmony One remote and I got a RC6 MCE IR receiver off ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-IR-USB-...item53e5b513a8


It's an OVU412002 receiver, and there are a few re-branded versions of it.


When I originally set up my Harmony One device for it, I did MCE Remote. This does not include dicrete on/off, but instead just a power toggle.


After doing some research, I found that if you use MCE Keyboard as the device instead of MCE Remote, you will get Power Toggle/Power On/Power Off (and a bunch of other things that are useful, like alt-enter).


The issue with this (for me and a few other people) is that the Power Off works to put the computer to sleep, but Power On will not wake it. Power Toggle still work to wake the computer, but using that, you have the chance of putting your computer to sleep by accident if it's already on.


My solution requires a couple things, including Event Ghost. First, go into Power Management settings->Advanced->Power Buttons and Lid->Sleep Button Action and set it to Do Nothing.


Now Power Toggle will not put the computer to sleep, but it will still wake it. The problem is that now Power Off will not work either. This is where Event Ghost comes in.


All you need to do is create a macro in Event Ghost that catches the power off signal (sometimes it alternates between two different signals, so make sure you try it multiple times to get both IR codes), and then puts the computer to sleep.


Now in your Harmony set up, you just need to configure the device to where the Power On command is Power Toggle and where the Power Off command is Power Off.


I also happen to use the Power On IR code to do some other tasks, so it doesn't go to waste. I set the Go to HTPC activity on my Harmony to have a custom input (souce, such as TV, Videos, Pictures, etc...) that I created which uses the Power On command. This triggers another macro in Event Ghost that does what my first post in this thread details (runs HDMIon and then waits 50 seconds to run Media Center in Live TV mode).


It may seem somewhat complicated, but once you get it going, and get use to Event Ghost, it works really well. Make sure you read the first post that describes how to get Event Ghost to behave properly.

I personally find this thread commendable and hope that the op keeps it maintained as well as other veterans chiming in on some basic / complex issue and solutions that crop up . Especially in the beginning stages of a new htpc build . It can be very daunting for us noobs to search all over hell and half an acre to search thousands of thread queries for a situation that mimics the issue at hand .



Thanks OP !!


-flocko



Quote:
Originally Posted by flocko /forum/post/21525756


I personally find this thread commendable and hope that the op keeps it maintained as well as other veterans chiming in on some basic / complex issue and solutions that crop up . Especially in the beginning stages of a new htpc build . It can be very daunting for us noobs to search all over hell and half an acre to search thousands of thread queries for a situation that mimics the issue at hand .



Thanks OP !!

-flocko

Click to expand...

You're welcome! I'm happy to see it's helping. I'm hoping as well that some veterans will chime in and share some tips. I feel it could help out a lot of we keep the same format--bolding the tip so it's quick to pick up if you're scanning the thread.



Quote:
Originally Posted by assplats /forum/post/21526472


You're welcome! I'm happy to see it's helping. I'm hoping as well that some veterans will chime in and share some tips. I feel it could help out a lot of we keep the same format--bolding the tip so it's quick to pick up if you're scanning the thread.

Click to expand...

Really you should link all the tips in your first post of the thread.


Even split them into categories.


BTW it takes a lot of work to maintain a thread like this. Trust me.



Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin /forum/post/21526513


Really you should link all the tips in your first post of the thread.


Even split them into categories.


BTW it takes a lot of work to maintain a thread like this. Trust me.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I believe you. Your threads are great and definitely took a lot of work. For now I'm going to just let it be an ongoing thread with people chiming in. Too bad there isn't a wiki posting that everyone can edit and keep them all in one post.


White flickering due to 29/59hz issue


Here is a good fix I just found. I recently upgraded my video card to a gtx 680 and had to put the new nvidia drivers on. Any nvidia driver above 290 has a bug handling improperly encoded content (rapidly switches from 29hz to 59hz, hit 411-info and scroll to the right in media center to see this).



This is a quote from a Microsoft employee in another forum and provides another fix for black level clipping using hdmi ( http://experts.windows.com/frms/wind....aspx#551676):


Do this:


Do NOT use the nvidia control panel settings to set dynamic range. Set it to application default (or whatever it's called). Using the nvidia setting exposes the flickering.

Use the registry settings that instruct Media Center to implicitly set the nominal/dynamnic range:

16-235 uses this:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Debug\\ehPresenter.dll]

"NominalRange"=dword:2


0-255 use this:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Debug\\ehPresenter.dll]

"NominalRange"=dword:1


This should mask the change in brightness on the interlaced/progressive transition.


Bonus points for video fidelity nuts: configure your nvidia card to treat HDMI like DVI and avoid clipping blacks to get proper levels:


Search for the file nv_disp.inf where the driver was extracted by the nvidia installer and open it.

Search for the section [nv_miscBase_addreg__01]

Under this section add the registry value:

HKR,,SetDefaultFullRGBRangeOnHDMI,%REG_DWORD%,1

Repeat this step for [nv_miscBase_addreg__02] and [nv_miscBase_addreg__03] and so on until all [nv_miscBase_addreg__xx" have the above registry value.

Save this .inf with the changes.

Re-install the driver.*

After this your GPU will treat HDMI exactly like DVI and will no longer to weird stuff your video levels over HDMI.

 

 

With Intel Graphics, disabling the Adaptive Contrast Enhancer in the Intel control panel will fix the white flickering.



Quote:
Originally Posted by assplats  /t/1387832/htpc-tweaks-and-fixes#post_21900120

White flickering due to 29/59hz issue


Under this section add the registry value:


HKR,,SetDefaultFullRGBRangeOnHDMI,%REG_DWORD%,1

Click to expand...

Is there a reg file we can use to simply merge the settings into an existing install?

^^^ I missed this post. Sorry.


Unfortunately I don't think it's that simple. It looks like Nvidia keeps adding registry keys every so often. However, it may work now and for the next few releases. I'm guessing there are currently 42 registry entries.



If you don't want to have to manually add every line, you can do a find and replace with Notepad++ (free software). Just copy the last line from the Miscbase entry, do a find/replace on that. Replace it with what you just copied, PLUS add:

"\nHKR,,SetDefaultFullRGBRangeOnHDMI,%REG_DWORD%,1" (without the quotes)


Now, in order for Notepad++ to replace the \n with a line break (enter), you need to check the second box in the find/replace dialog called "Extended (\n, \r, \t, \0, \x...)"


Good luck! Hope this helps. If you happen to make a reg file, please post it.




Btw, to fix white flickering, I do not think you have to worry about doing this or the ehpresenter anymore (I think the new drivers are better). However, you do have to do both if you want the expanded black/white RGB levels. If you don't do either, you'll only get RGB limited (16-235). If you only do one, you'll either get clipping or crushing in Media Center. The Nvidia driver trick forces the card to send 0-255 down HDMI (the default for DVI), the ehpresenter (with an entry of 1) forces Media Center to use 0-255. Otherwise, Media Center will just send 16-235 and you'll get crushing.

Monitor Reset Tool - Replaces hdmiOn


So, I've found that the hdmiOn tool is very helpful for fixing HDCP issues. As stated above, I have event ghost run this before kicking off media center. However, it appears that hdmiOn will turn your monitor off, but tries to send the monitor on command too fast, thus not turning your monitor back on until you move the mouse or Media Center opens.


Because of this, I went ahead and made my own small program in c# that will do this. By default, it waits 500ms before sending the power on command, but you can type a number after the command specifying how many seconds to wait before turning the monitor back on. I've attached it below.


I also put together a quick Powershell script that accomplishes the same thing--just in case you are weary of downloading and running a random .exe off a forum. The Powershell script waits 1 seconds by default, because it doesn't act right if you set it shorter.


Enjoy and I hope this helps!


P.S. I compiled this with .net 4.0, so you'll need that for the .exe to work.

Monitor Reset.zip 53k .zip file



P.P.S.


Here is the .net 2.0 version if you don't have or want .net 4.0 on your computer:

Monitor Reset (.net 2.0 version).zip 53k .zip file


Here is a link for the Monitor Reset tool as well, if anyone wanted that:

http://speedy.sh/UB9Qd/Monitor-Reset.net-2.0-version.zip


MD5:


588d568ba37f834827987559dd991f61

Nvidia Full RGB over HDMI Fix Utility


All right, so in an earlier post, I linked to a forum where Ian K. tells you a trick for enabling full RGB over HDMI. By default, Nvidia does full RGB over DVI, but not HDMI. The fix on that thread takes a decent amount of time and causes the driver to show as potentially unsafe (since it was modified)--which also causes it to fail in Windows 8 (unless you boot without driver enforcement).


So, I went ahead and wrote a small little .net 2.0 C# program that will search the registry for an Nvidia key that I know exists, and then add the Full RGB key.

USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED. However, I've ran it tons of times in many different ways, and it works great with the latest driver 306.23.


You'll most likely need to reboot for the change to take effect, or do some video changes like changing the resolution (not sure if that will do it).


Hope it helps. Enjoy!


Edit: By default, my program was searching for the registry value Nv_MultimonState. That value only exists on computers with multiple displays. I have changed it to look for NV_Modes by default now. I've reattached the new version below:

SetFullRGB.zip 94k .zip file



Here is a link:.

http://speedy.sh/Vx7F4/SetFullRGB.zip



And here is the MD5:


MD5: 3a144de9053e322d985dcad924aef127

can't wait to try this out. You sir are a genius.



Quote:
Originally Posted by charlievoviii  /t/1387832/htpc-tweaks-and-fixes#post_22493798


can't wait to try this out. You sir are a genius.

Click to expand...

Hope it helps! Let me know the results.

I used this "toggler" just two days ago after installing a new video card. It just worked!. Be sure to run as administrator. Not sure if it is the same as above.

Nvidia Full Range Toggler ZIP



Quote:
Originally Posted by DanPackMan  /t/1387832/htpc-tweaks-and-fixes#post_22494627


I used this "toggler" just two days ago after installing a new video card. It just worked!. Be sure to run as administrator. Not sure if it is the same as above.
Nvidia Full Range Toggler ZIP

Click to expand...

I'm assuming it's the same thing, but with a GUI. I can't say for sure though. The one I made just quickly pops in the appropriate reg key to the first driver key it finds (which then replicates to the other keys automatically). If you run it with /clean, it removes the reg key. It also has other options available, so if Nvidia changes the reg key, it can keep working.

i have a question. You guys software is the same as me go inside the Nvidia control panel and set it to full range 0-255?



Quote:
Originally Posted by charlievoviii  /t/1387832/htpc-tweaks-and-fixes#post_22496662


i have a question. You guys software is the same as me go inside the Nvidia control panel and set it to full range 0-255?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, as far as I know, no. If your computer is hooked up via HDMI, Nvidia only sends limited RGB, unless you force it to with a Reg key. That's what the program I created does. You can do it manually add it, but the key changes, so you'd have to do a basic search to find that key.