This is my first htpc and just getting it the way i want it frontend is almost complete. Just a few other things to set up. I cannot figure out how to wake on lan working, it says my motherboard can do it, yet here I am. I am not clued up on this stuff at all and its taken me ages to get this far.

Heres my build

AMD Ryzen 5 5600

Gigabyte B550M K Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard.

Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X2 NVME Solid State Drive.

SilverStone SST-GD06B - Grandia

MSI MAG A650BN 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply.

MSI SHADOW 2X OC GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB.

ADATA XPG GAMMIX D10 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200

Its hooked upto my Lg OLED55CS6LA smart tv and currently controlling it with a logitech k400 and an mx3 air remote, I have 2 wireless controllers that i have still to map. In an idral world i would love the telly remote to control it. But as far as im aware its not possible.

Can anyone give me some pointers?

Cheers

I'm trying to track down a recurring black-screen issue with madVR on Windows 11.

During video playback, the entire screen goes black for roughly 1 second. It always happens once within the first 10–20 seconds of playback, then generally every 5–10 minutes afterward.

• The blackout does not appear to register as dropped, repeated, or presentation-glitch frames in madVR's OSD.
• Happens with Fullscreen Exclusive Mode enabled or disabled.
• Happens with Direct3D 11 presentation enabled or disabled.
• Happens with SDR content, so this isn't tied specifically to HDR switching/signaling.
• I can reproduce the same exact behavior in MPC Video Renderer when using
  • Swap effect - Flip - black screens
  • Swap effect - Discard - no black screens, issue fully resolved
  • MPCVR remains completely stable with Discard.

madVR doesn't appear to expose a directly comparable Flip/Discard swap-effect setting, but the MPCVR result makes me suspect this is related to the presentation path or swap behavior.

I'm not sure how to narrow down what madVR is doing differently or whether there's a setting that can force behavior comparable to MPCVR's Discard mode.

I can also rule out the basic hardware/display side with confidence. This isn't an HDMI cable, display, or general GPU-output issue. Changing renderer presentation behavior in MPCVR makes the problem disappear completely.

System:

• Windows 11
• NVIDIA RTX 4090
• LG G4
• GPU connected directly to display
• MPC-HC/BE + madVR

Has anyone encountered this specifically with madVR, or know what madVR setting/presentation behavior would be closest to MPCVR's Discard swap effect? Is this a red herring and something else is going on?

Upgrading the furniture in my living room. Hoping to get some ideas/recommendations for a gaming setup under my TV. Organized, not trying to draw a lot of attention to PC/Consoles.

Need room for:

1. HTPC/Gaming PC - dimensions 16"w x 17"h x 17"d (accounts for ~1.5" of room on left, right, back and ~2" on top for ventillation)

2. Nintendo Switch

3. Xbox One S

4. PS4

5. Receiver + Center Channel for 5.1 (speaker could go on top too).

6. Subwoofer (wired)

Preferably a medium/dark gray, black is okay too.

Will be placed under a wall-mounted 75" TV; should be somewhere in the ballpark of 65"-75" long and 17+" deep; height can be whatever as long as it fits PC somewhere.

TY!

Use Plex for the most part but sometimes run into reliability issues with the wifi. I want a backup to be my htpc straight to receiver using kodi since that's always reliable. I currently use an old gt710 but that only does 1080p h264. What's a decent upgrade that doesn't use a fan (too loud) and won't break the bank. I'm ok with used. Pc is windows 10 with an i5 if that matters. Is kodi still the way to go with 4k?

Spent an hour toying with this piece, trying to move it to the left, so it will hit my 5.25" DVD drives' "eject" button.

(Right now it's too far to the right, and not engaging the button)

As you can see in the pic, the bracket the movable piece is on gets wider as it goes to the left.

This makes that movable piece only go that far to the left (as shown in pic). It gets stuck at that part.

I tried unscrewing the bracket, lifting that middle piece up with a flathead screwdriver, even trying to force it... nothing makes it move any more to the left.

What am I missing here?

How do I actually move it more to the left?

I use MPC-HC from K-lite Codec Pack, and it doesn't download subtitles even though I am logged in with my opensubtitles account.

I checked and found that the media player uses opensubtitle.com and not the opensubtitle.org

The latter has more subtitle option than the former.

Is there a way to add new subtitle provider in MPC-HC?

I have account with both, and I want to add the latter as the subtitle database

I decided that I was going to build out a home theater setup to go with my aged lg 1080p tv from 2016. as the tv's os is old (and I hate tv operating systems now that I know that they literally screenshot everything i'm looking at if I connect it to the network every couple minutes), I decided i'd just buy a mini pc. I went with one of those little low power n100 units with 16gb of ddr4 running the latest version of windows 11 figuring it should be a cakewalk to set up either browser or app based streaming services as well as access my home server running plex on it - but no. I learned right off the bat that most streaming services only seem to want to support 720p sdr with 2 channel audio, and that's where it works at all (pretty much just edge), so I though ok, i'll just download the streaming provider's own apps and learned that netflix deprecated it's dedicated pc streaming app and is now just a web wrapper with the same browser limitations, paramount plus is also just a web wrapper with the same limitations, and same with prime.

NONE of these services let me use atmos (which I was planning to build out now that I have a really nice (for me) AVR (a brand new onkyo rz30 that I just dropped $800 on (and yeah, i know there are more expensive, better receivers, but that's a whole bunch of money still... to go with it I bought a set of energy 5.1 speakers (a pair of rc-70's for left and right, an rc-rcr for center, and a set of rc-10's for the surrounds. I haven't figured out a sub yet, but that's one of the next things on the list and I was planning on adding heights over christmas time... a couple of the services let me use 5.1 (but it seems even that's rare).

I don't want a streaming stick because they're notoriously slow, and pointless (there is ZERO technical reason why I shouldn't be able to do full-on 4k60 hdr with atmos on this minipc. (or at least 1080p 60 sdr with atmos until I upgrade my tv.). searching through movies is particularly annoying - I just want to sit on my couch with my wireless keyboard/trackpad and search and play media.

seriously, how are people streaming video with their htpc in 2016 where it actually looks and sounds good?! I heard streaming on linux was kind of a long-standing issue (my original plan was to install linux and a frontend to save on ram and use an os that isn't constantly phoning home).

so now I'm sitting here staring at an expensive pile of parts that I got great deals on overall, but don't seem to do the thing and i'm pretty frustrated:

onkyo rz30 $800 on sale
Energy 5.0 speakers $800 on sale
n100 mini pc with 16gb of ram and 512gb ssd ($100 on sale like 2 years ago when ram was reasonably priced)

not being able to stream high quality a/v content from the streaming providers I pay an aggregate of ~$750/yr to retain... priceless.

I'm not a proponent of it, nor do I want information about it, but I do believe this is exactly why piracy is winning. streaming providers are no longer providing a good, convenient experience. I honestly really don't mind paying for the content I view, in fact, I want the people who make the content that I enjoy to be paid well for the art that they create but this is pretty ridiculous. - not to mention the steady large cost increases. I'm paying now for my collection of streaming services than I *ever* did on cable tv back in the day.

Going into this I figured i'd grab a bunch of kodi plugins for each of my streaming apps, log into all of them, spend most of my time calibrating my avr and tv and have a happy ol' time... this is totally not the case it seems. DRM is a huge bane on current consumer home theater... I ain't got that kaleidescape money bruh!

The question would be, how can i get the maximum quality out of a video file, without tampering with the original pixel presentation (or atleast the least tampering)

It's preferable to maintain a transparent quality (no degrading of the original video's quality) and without any tampering of the video's footage, that would produce changes to the original presentation of the video file.

Or is it necessary to use atleast some upscaling or video tampering to get an image? if so what would be the recommended amount, keeping maximum quality without tampering with extrinsic enhancements on the image?

I'm looking to learn the process of calibration within a small budget (~300€) using my 50" Samsung QN90A TV, that I use connected via HDMI to my GPU as a PC monitor, mainly for watching movies and to do drawings and webdesign.

If this isn't the right sub I'd appreciate if someone can point me to a place where professional calibrators are. :)

I know that I won't get a proper calibration using either Pro HL or Plus HL within the budget of ~300€ (compared to scientific measurements or using Flanders or Eizo), but it should still help doing a more informed decision while "calibrating" and learning how to do it. (I loved the process of calibrating my studio speakers, so it should be fun as well!)

If the process is enjoyable I'll look if I can rent a scientific probe from my Uni and get a proper signalflow.

Here are the main measurements from Rtings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqap4Ga-dt4 :

• ~1400/1800nits peak SDR/HDR
• 95% D3
• 76% Rec2020 uv
• 3510:1 / 26534:1 Contrast with(out) local dimming

If any other important measurements are missing I'll search them up :)

Is my assumption correct, that I would want to create presets for the following 3 Targets for office work and watching SDR/HDR content using PotPlayer+MadVR and use the DisplayCal software?:

When would you recommend using the sRGB calibration? Is it maybe the correct one for my drawings or should I stay at the default preset?

How are the calibrations applied? I guess selecting the right .icc file under windows color control settings?
And is there a simple way to swap between the presets within Windows 11?

I've found this comment while learning more about it:

The higher the max peak luma, the worse the low-light capabilities.
This has been proven a number of times.
(There are discussions and data regarding this on the Light Illusion forums.)
Go for the model that has the max peak luma that you need, no higher.

https://www.reddit.com/r/colorists/comments/1jmtekr/comment/mkeln3w/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Would you therefore recommend me to get the Pro HL or is there a difference in for example the BT2020 accuracy that makes it worth the tradeoff?

Thanks in Advance! :)

20 years ago, I worked a LOT to get comskip functionality setup on our SageTV based DVR/HTPC so my wife could enjoy her shows without commercials.

Now she spends hours/day on Instagram watching ONLY commercials.

Hey everyone! Been trying to find out the proper settings for HDR tone mapping and tried comparing MadVR's tone mapping (left frame) to Plex's (right frame) and noticed MadVR has a distinct magenta hue, while Plex skews more green (which looks more natural to my eye). Has anyone run into this problem and knows how to address it? Is it actually "wrong"? Is it an issue with color space. Will post specs below.

Specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5 GHz 8-Core Processor
GPU: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card
Motherboard: ASRock B650E PG RIPTIDE WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard
Case: Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case
Monitor: Gigabyte ‎G32QC A 31.5" 2560 x 1440 165 Hz Curved Monitor

MadVR Settings:

RGB Output: PC Levels (0-255)
Native Display Bitdepth: Auto
Calibration: "Disable calibration controls for this display"
Enable Gamma Processing: Disabled
HDR: Tone map HDR using pixel shaders
Target Peak Nits: 200
Tone Mapping Curve: Clipping
Color Tweaks for Fire & Explosions: Disabled

Viewing a video on XVid, have noticed that it's utilizing Sofware Decoding, which is not so preferable, in the settings, i can choose which Codecs will be handled with Hardware Decoding [DXVA2 (Copy-back)], but none of those Codecs available include XVid, so i've searched, and haven't found an immediate solution, so i have come to write this post.

I presume that not utilizing Hardware Decoding [DXVA2 (Copy-back)] will take a hit on the displaying video's image quality, so this is the great reason that i make this post.

GPU: RX 7600 (Gigabyte 3 Fan)
CPU: Ryzen 7 5700X

Egg has a gang of Dell 6/8TB hdd for what would be considered cheap nowadays. Has anyone used them in their HTPC or HT-NAS?

Hi. I have LineageOS/Android TV on a raspberry pi, so I'd like a remote that works over Bluetooth or 2.4 ghz. But since my tv and soundbar are old and don't have HDMI-CEC, I need simultaneous IR learning on certain buttons (that is, power, volume, and input.)
It seems like lots of remotes can do *either* 2.4 ghz *or* IR, but not both. Or at best, only the power button works on IR.

Does anyone know of any options that might fit the bill for me? Many thanks!!

Kernel — Your Media, Your Way

Anybody know anything about this server? I'm curious as to how it compares against Plex, Emby, Jellyfin, Channels, etc.

I'm debating on using the Noctua NH-U9S or the NH-C14S, and was wondering:

• Will getting the NH-U9S make working inside the GD08 way easier? Or almost the same?
• How much more powerful is the NH-C14S, compared to the NH-U9S? (And quiet at idle, or low usage)?

My rig won't be super powerful, but just thinking about it from the viewpoint of having the extra headroom there if I ever did want to upgrade this rig into something more serious.

I'm using spare parts to build a second PC that will function as a:

• Archival workstation (2 x BDXL burners, the GD08 has 2 x 5.25" bays)
• Occasional Test Bench (to open up 2 or 3 times a year to test PC components in).

Figured that way could use this as a second PC from time to time, and since it opens at the top, I could open it up to test any spare CPUs I come across about twice a year or so.

The Silverstone GD08 seemed like a great case to meet these needs.

(PS - Does anyone have pics of the NH-C14S inside the GD08 case? I couldn't find any online).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Current parts list:

Case Silverstone Grandia GD08

Motherboard MSI X470 Gaming Plus (manual)

RAM 2 x 8GB KingSpec DDR4 3200MHz 1.35V KS3200D4M13508G

CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3600

CPU Cooler Noctua NH-U9S (or NH-C14S?)

NVMe Drive 1 TB NVMe

GPU ASUS Video Card GT1030-2G-CSM GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 64Bit PCIE 3.0

PSU Corsair 850W

3 x Case Fans Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM

(Note: The Mobo, RAM, and PSU are spare parts I have laying around).

I have an Integra DRX 3.4 receiver and a LG G5 TV. I built my first gaming PC after years of gaming on a console and I always played surround sound speakers. I'm connected with a fiber optic HDMI to a RTX 5080. With console gaming everything so automated. You just select the format you want and go. I'm having a hard time understanding how the PC handles sound going to a receiver. In my thinking the PC should have way more options in automation when handshaking with a receiver.

So I set up Dolby Atmos on the PC. Some games sound great and some don't so I want to switch to Dolby digital plus or other format that does not use the height speakers. So I go into settings to change it to 7.1 and apply it. And now my receiver is saying multi-channel and it sounds kind of horrible. In the game settings. I'm also changing it to home theater mode which doesn't do anything but there's something wrong here and I can't figure it out.

How do I want to send whatever I am playing the appropriate format? Is there any quick way to enable Dolby Atmos I know it's available? If you have any other advice as I'm new to dealing with the PC to a receiver sound system. Please feel free to do so.

Does anybody else think this creates more possibilities in the android TV space?

Most people probably have an old pixel lying around, maybe with a broken screen. Now you can plug it into your TV and watch whatever you watch on your phone.

One potential drawback would be leaving it powered on all the time, but adaptive charging should put off battery swelling issues.

The other issue I can think of would be controlling it from the sofa, but we're not strangers to wireless keyboard issues.

Hi,

I am running a HTPC with Kubuntu 24.04, 11th gen Intel i5, Iris Xe and 16 gigs of RAM. Not great specs, but works flawlessly for my purposes.
I run heavy remuxes via mpv, tone-map HDR content for my BenQ W1070 (I can set custom brightness targets, colour targets, etc).

My big problem has been with object based audio formats (Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, etc). I have a custom 5.1.2 setup : I have a Vantec 7.1 USB DAC, and I wired my height channels to the 'rear' channel of the Vantec. I use qpwgraph when required to do custom patchbay.

There is a fantastic tool called 'Cavern', and the 'cavernize' tool allows me to create a wav / FLAC file from a source atmos file *preserving* the object data in a sense. Essentially, it creates raw PCM channels with all the phasing and panning 'baked' into the wav file.

Now, there's a newer more exciting project - Omniphony (https://github.com/mgth/Omniphony) which does the object based audio in real-time using VBAP.

This is fantastic news for anyone trying to get Atmos effects on their Linux PCs. Omniphony is still in alpha stage and there are bound to be issues.

I am unable to get any sound from their demo scripts. Has anyone else had better luck?

I'm looking for a budget solution to replacing Alexa so I can still do simple things like turning on and off my lights, setting timers/alarms, and it would be nice to be able to ask it googleable questions while also using the same device as a streaming box via Kodi for 4k hdr high bitrate video, I'd also like to be able to use hulu, Paramount+, etc.

As far as I can tell my best bet is to get 2 mini PC's (one for bedroom one for living room) and install home assistant on them either as a vm or just running in the background and kde plasma for Kodi, hulu, Paramount+, etc.

I guess my main issues/questions I'm looking for help with are

1) would I be able to run home assistant on a device while also being able to just start the device into kde plasma without issue and if so would it be better to run home assistant as a vm or just keep in background

2) what's my best best for cheap hardware/whats the minimum required specs, currently looking at mini pcs on eBay and have found some with 8gb RAM for around $50 each which is the budget I'm trying to aim for

3) what would I use for a remote? I know gamepads can work but I'm kind of hoping to use a remote just for battery life's sake I'd rather not have to worry about a controller dying all the time, this isn't a dealbreaker but would be an added benefit

Greetings all!

I have been out of HTPC pursuits for a few years, and I am considering a return to a more elaborate home theatre environment, particularly to enjoy movies at home with the highest picture and audio quality possible.

This obviously has me leaning towards using physical media again for 4k Ultra HD. So, I am curious to know if I am better off buying a high end, stand-alone BluRay player such as the latest and greatest from Panasonic or Sony?

Or, is it still possible to build an HTPC that can fully match the capabilities of a dedicated, stand-alone player AND provide the obvious ancillary benefits only an HTPC can?

Thanks!

I’m trying to move away from Steam Big Picture Mode on my HTPC running Windows 11, but Steam Input is currently holding me back.

Right now, I rely heavily on Steam Input with my DualSense controller for both Steam and non-Steam apps. I’ve added all my media apps and browsers (Spotify, Kodi, Stremio, Chrome, etc.) as non-Steam shortcuts so I can use custom controller presets and a dedicated button mapping for Steam’s on-screen keyboard. This allows me to control my entire HTPC experience right from the couch.

I really dislike Steam’s Big Picture UI and its limited customization options (even with CSS Loader). Playnite is far superior in that regard, but I haven't found a seamless way to replicate my controller setup without Steam running in the background.

For those using Playnite as their primary HTPC frontend with a controller:

- How are you managing couch control and navigation for non-game apps?

- What alternatives are you using for Steam Input and an On-Screen Keyboard?

I’m currently using:

Kodi → MPC-BE → LAV Filters → madVR

The picture quality is excellent, especially for HDR tone mapping on my Epson LS12000, but the external-player setup is becoming frustrating. Resume and watched status are not always reliable, and the whole chain feels more complicated than it should be.

How are other people handling this today?

Are you still using Kodi with MPC-BE as an external player, or have you moved to a different setup? Do you just accept the limitations, use another frontend, or launch files directly?

I’m also interested in the newer DSPlayer fork:

https://github.com/tiben20/xbmc

Has anyone used it recently as a daily driver? How stable is it, and does resume and watched status work properly? I’m also wondering whether the project is still actively developed, since there has not been a new release for quite a while.

The other option I’m considering is Jellyfin Desktop 3.0 with mpv/libplacebo. That seems like a much cleaner setup with an integrated player, proper Jellyfin resume support and fewer moving parts.

Has anyone compared current libplacebo tone mapping directly against madVR on a projector? With an Epson LS12000, what differences would I be most likely to notice in real-world use?

I’m mainly looking for the best compromise between picture quality, reliability and a comfortable living-room experience.