HTPC Tweaks and Fixes - Page 2

EDID Emulators - HDMI Detective, ConnectPro or Dr. HDMI?


I have so far been able to get around needing the HDMI detective due to proper power on sequence with my devices. However, trying to perfect things, I wanted to get a device like the HDMI Detective that would work for me. I tried 3 devices:

Gefen HDMI Detective
This was my first choice, it was able to be powered by HDMI, was built nice and able to be ordered with Amazon Prime (so I could return easy it if it didn't work).

This device had issues with HDCP passthrough with my Nvidia GTX 680 (and my 580 when I had it). Nvidia control panel would show that everything is HDCP compliant, but the moment I'd go to watch HBO, I'd get an HDCP error. Everything else seemed to work right. I worked with Gefen on this for a few days and we were not able to get it to work. They told me they would research it more and then call me back once the fix it--I haven't heard back from them yet.

ConnectPro HDMI EDID/DDC Video Ghosting Emulator TMDS-EDID-1
I bought this device right through the company. This device worked with HDCP, but had other issues. Power of HDMI did not work. Sometimes when I would start everything up, my sound would work on the computer, but my receiver would not output the sound--I had to turn the receiver off and turn it back on.

When using this device, my receiver always reported it was receiving YCbCr 4:4:4 and not RGB--no matter what I set my Nvidia control panel to. Without the device, the receiver reports everything properly. However, colors seemed to look identical even though my receiver was getting the wrong information.

The device would my my Nvidia driver think that the HDMI was DVI (it would show DVI in Nvidia control panel) and sound would no longer work. I would have to restart the device and/or my computer to fix this.

I sent the device back.

HDFury Dr. HDMI
Finally... a device that works. HDCP works, my receiver shows RGB 4:4:4, power over HDMI works. This device is the most expensive--hence the reason I tried it last.

The only issue I have with this (and it happens without the device too), is Windows 8 loses my audio sometimes. Restarting the Audio Services does NOT fix the problem. I have to reboot to fix it. I thought this device would fix that issue as my computer should never lose its connection to the receiver (at least it doesn't think so). Maybe this is happening because the power over HDMI only works while my computer is on, so when waking from sleep, the device takes a couple seconds to start up. I'm wondering if sometimes my computer looks for the EDID information before the device has started up completely. I will try keeping the device always powered via USB if it happens again. It only happens like once out of every 10 wakes.

Anyways, my vote goes toward the Dr. HDMI so far. Although, it'll be upsetting if it can't fix Windows losing its audio after wake sometimes. I'm still using it, so time will tell.

I hope this helps anyone considering these devices. It took a bit to try all three--especially since two of them ship from Taiwan.

HDCP error in WMC after reboot

I have a strange problem the popped up (coincidentally after installing my new IR receiver). Basically, after a reboot, WMC will give me an HDCP error. If I minimize and maximize, it goes away until I close and reopen Media Center. The problem seems to fix itself after a few minutes. I'm not sure if it's a problem with my Dr. HDMI or if Media Center is choking on something, but I noticed that opening Nvidia Control Panel up and going to the HDCP Status section fixes it... weird. Maybe it's a driver issue--I have done a couple fresh installs of the driver.

I'm sure I'll figure out the proper fix in time, but this method may fix other issues for people, so no harm in posting.

Like I said earlier, just open Nvidia Control Panel and go to HDCP Status, then close the control panel.

Since I like to automate everything, I created the following powershell script. It required a bit of experimenting to figure out the command line parameters for nvcplui.exe, since I couldn't find them properly documented anywhere. Here is the script:

#Open to HDCP Page
Start-Process -WindowStyle Minimized -FilePath "C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\Control Panel Client\nvcplui.exe" -ArgumentList "/page:{EEF5290C-7F3D-4640-93F2-F189DC616510}"

#Wait a 1000 milliseconds
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 1000

#Close Nvidia Control Panel
Stop-Process -Name nvcplui

---

I also created a link to the powershell script:
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe /WindowStyle Minimized -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -file "Fix Nvidia HDCP after Reboot.ps1"
set the start in folder to the folder that has the ps1 powershell file, set the link to open minimized, and then have a scheduled task that runs it 25 seconds after log in: cmd.exe /C "link file.lnk"

With the link file and the way I set start-process, everything will run minimized and be unobtrusive. I have to way at least 20-25 seconds for it to work. Also, you might have to adjust the sleep time in the powershell file to be higher if it isn't working.

I'm hoping no one will need this over-complicated solution... but enjoy!

Preventing Media Center from Sleeping when TV/Video/Music is Paused

I've run into an issue where my HTPC will go to sleep if I pause Live TV in Media Center for long. I guess I should be happy that my system actually goes to sleep (knock on wood), but it's not good when Media Center allows my computer to go to sleep, and then I lose my Live TV buffer.

I looked all over to find a fix for this, hoping for an easy registry change--not going to happen. Herman's Standby Tool (MST) has an option for this, however, since my computer seems to be working well with sleep, I just wanted a very small, lightweight option. Also, I read that MST prevents sleep no matter what type of content is being paused (Live TV, DVR, Video).

To fix this, I learned how to make a Media Center background app in C# and created my own little addin. It will poll media center every so many seconds (configurable) and see if certain content is paused (also configurable). If it detects that one of the configured content types is paused, it will prevent your computer from going to sleep.

It's lightweight and takes around 9-12 megs of memory. I made a MSI installer that will make installation easy. In the program's folder, there is a config subfolder that contains a configuration XML file. It's formatted to be very easy to edit, and I included comments to explain the couple options.

I use this on my Windows 8 Media Center, and developed it with Windows 8 Media Center. It will require .Net 4.0, the install should prompt about that if it's missing. EDIT: I compiled a version for Windows 7 as well, see below for the .NET 2.0 version.

Let me know if you have any issues. Enjoy and hope it helps!

Also, I must throw in: USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED. However, you shouldn't have any issues, and the uninstall should clean everything up if you do happen to have any issues.





Windows 8 Version (.NET 4.0):
WILL NOT WORK ON WINDOWS 7. Doesn't require .NET 2.0, which Windows 8 doesn't have by default
Link for any lurkers that do not have an AVSForum account:
http://speedy.sh/adpmR/PreventSleepOnPause.msi
MD5 Checksum for the MSI file is: d6c9c426ae582078854fc5aa34fbfbad

PreventSleepOnPause.zip 394k .zip file


Windows 7/8 Version (.NET 2.0):
Link for any lurkers that do not have an AVSForum account:
http://speedy.sh/xTNMF/PreventSleepOnPause.NET-2.0.msi
MD5 Checksum for the MSI file is: 501ce637e34bd1026ea8fc14de909a39

PreventSleepOnPause .NET 2.0.zip 398k .zip file
Edited by assplats - 1/11/13 at 7:13am

Thank you for letting me know! Should be good now--after a refresh.

J

Awesome! I'm glad to hear the thread is helping out.

Removing Stale Icons from the Tray/Notification Areas and Running Tasks on Computer Wake


Running a script when the computer wakes
Some apps on my HTPC do not act properly after waking from sleep (Logitech Gaming Software). In order to fix this, I have a scheduled task that triggers based on a windows event. The event details are:

Log Name: System
Source: Power-Troubleshooter
Event ID: 1

You can set up a task in Task Scheduler that runs a powershell script or batch when that event is thrown. A quick example of a powershell script to do this is:

Stop-Process -Name setpoint
Start-Process 'C:\Program Files\Logitech\SetPointP\SetPoint.exe'



Cleaning the notification areas
The problem with terminating an app if it is in the Tray/Notification area is that it leaves a ghost icon behind. This icon doesn't go away until you mouse over it. I created a small c# console program that will send the mouse over message to the Notification Area automatically. It doesn't actually move your mouse cursor, it just tells Windows that the mouse is moving over the tray, which then cleans it up.

It requires that you specify and argument. The arguments tell which Notification Areas you want to clean (arguments are stackable):

/CleanOverflow - When you click the up arrow by the clock, this area is called the Overflow. This is what most people will be working with. If you use this parameter, it will clean that area.
/CleanUser - will clean the user promoted notification area. When you drag an drop an icon from the Overflow to the taskbar, so you can always see it, this is the user promoted notification area.
/CleanSystem - will clean the system promoted notification area. When you see an icon pop up on the task bar (or if there is a balloon), this is the system promoted notification area. Typically icons will only stay in this area for a short time before going back into the Overflow.
/CleanAll - quick argument for cleaning all three areas

Here is the program:

http://speedy.sh/ghyjE/RefreshNotificationAreas.exe
MD5 Hash: eb681fb8fce8d5f611ffc3d9800d5a8d

RefreshNotificationAreas.zip 3k .zip file

For those of you who don't want a console window popping up when you run the app, I made a gui/headless version (if you run the app without arguments, it pops up a windows dialog):
http://speedy.sh/egfnT/RefreshNotificationAreas.exe
MD5 Hash: fd72e919f726c1fce41466c5d4ec04cb

RefreshNotificationAreas.zip 3k .zip file
Edited by assplats - 1/11/13 at 1:46pm

Awesome. Glad to hear it helped!

By the way, here is a test pattern I like to use to check my RGB range (as well as chroma subsampling):

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1381724/official-4-4-4-chroma-subsampling-thread/60#post_21477025

I also like to use this pattern to test out my contrast and brightness levels:
http://www.spearsandmunsil.com/articles/images/700x420_Contrast.png

I'm glad it helped out! Make sure you use the latest Nvidia drivers, as they seem to help with the missing audio when you wake your computer from sleep.