The HTPC Thread - Dont buy an HTPC - The Something Awful Forums

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tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

I think next year I'm going to plan some upgrades for our HTPC. It'd be nice to have HEVC support and some meat for transcoding on demand. The problem is that we bought an AM1 board for the power savings and the 5350 looks like the newest processor for that socket, so a GPU is the only path available. Does plex do transcoding through the GPU?

# ¿ Jul 21, 2017 16:35

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# ¿ Dec 5, 2025 23:17

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Agrikk posted:

Can anyone recommend a small form factor / micro PC build that can be used for a HTPC?

I currently have an AMD-based PC in a full-size Lian Li case that I want to retire and replace with a bookshelf PC with an HDMI port for the TV. I'm thinking an i3 or i5 (but the i5 might be overkill) at 8gb RAM to run Windows 10. My media files are on my file server so the local SSD requirements are minimal. I do DVD and BluRay ripping on a different PC so this PC will only be used for playback. The typical media file I'm playing is a 1-4gb MP4 or MKV file to a 5 year old 44" Samsung LED TV in 1080p.

Why not just a Raspberry Pi with OSMC or Libreelec? Use the other PC as a source and it should work fine if they're both wired.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2017 02:07

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Just automate the file organization with something like sonarr/radarr or filebot or something and use plex for the front end. It�s really sweet!

# ¿ May 3, 2018 01:33

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Yeah FreeNAS always sounded like a nightmare to me but I think the synology stuff has a lot of value added in that area.

# ¿ May 23, 2018 23:07

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Is 16gb enough for that function?

# ¿ Jun 13, 2018 02:17

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

What sharing protocol are you using?

# ¿ Jun 15, 2018 15:15

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

What about Apple TV with Plex on an NAS?

And in what cases does the shield need to switch color spaces? I�m not really sure what that means unless you�re trying to run illustrator and photoshop on the thing.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2018 14:44

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Weird TV/Macbook compatibility question that I don't know how to track down:

I have a 2016 MBP with a dongle that supports HDMI 1.4. I have an HDMI cord that works great with a PS4 plugged into a 4k TV, though the TV is upsampling the signal from the PS4.

When I plug this same HDMI cord into my MBP, I get all sorts of stuttering and poor framerate issues on the TV and the computer. I imagine that the HDMI cord and/or dongle can only do 4k at 30hz, which is what Apple says, but it should do 1080p at 60hz. When I turn the resolution down to 1080p, it doesn't fix the framerate issues. This is the only display I've had these issues with. What gives?

# ¿ Jul 12, 2018 15:34

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

I don�t know, this laptop and dongle have performed perfectly with everything I�ve thrown at them like weird ancient projectors and 1440p displays, this Toshiba TV just does not like it though. Or vice versa.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2018 16:33

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

RestingB1tchFace posted:

IDK. Streaming media over the home network from a laptop I figured is something that people would still be interested in. I guess I'm not aware of the fire sticks and rokus doing this. Maybe chromecast?

I think almost nobody cares about this. My source is like, talking to coworkers for years and having friends over for little movie nights where they see my HTPC and give no fucks because movie goes. They don�t want movie that they can�t make go and don�t care to get movie to make go beyond Netflix.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2019 21:05

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

RestingB1tchFace posted:

I got them for free and figured that I could toss on some linux OS and they could be potentially useful. No skin off my teeth to have a couple sitting around.

You can probably use them as little IoT devices, VPN servers, ad blockers, stuff like that.

Though they�re probably way overpowered and power hungry for any of those tasks. I guess it�ll save you $$ on RPis!

# ¿ Mar 10, 2019 18:48

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Ixian posted:

it completely baffles me why so many people stick a microphone in their homes that's directly connected to a giant corporation trying understand how to sell them things more effectively

Yeah, this also makes me feel like a confused paranoid weirdo. The benefits are so marginal and the risks are so loving huge but everyone else is just like, "meh I have nothing to hide!"

# ¿ Apr 17, 2019 23:54

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

codo27 posted:

Yesterday I texted gf we should go back to this restaurant, a review of which I saw I left on google. "I've never been there" she says. So I go into google maps, search the place, and find the date we went along with a complete list of places we were on that day, with pictures I took along the way.

None of that necessarily implies any privacy concerns (though it probably does, because Google). Like, I could search my photo library on an airgapped computer for coordinates and find the date I was at the location taking those photos and it would have basically the same result as what you described. It just sounds like Google Maps is giving it a nice front-end and connecting your use of a couple of services for you, that may be entirely internal to your devices.

But it's probably being used to advertise stuff to you and could expose you to all sorts of security risks. :iiam:

# ¿ Apr 18, 2019 13:26

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

hooah posted:

So putting aside the question of ripping and organizing the media, I'd like to ask about the hardware side of things. I've been eyeing the Synology DS218+, but I'd like to know if building my own NAS is cost effective, as it is with a desktop computer. If not, is that NAS a good choice?

The decision was made for me when an RPi that was doing NAS duty broke for the fourth time from a power outage. Then when I looked at the power consumption of the DS 218+ and an equivalent computer I could build myself + the jank of FreeNAS and another poorly implemented Linux solution (on my part, I barely know what I�m doing). We decided on the DS 218+ doing double duty as NAS and Plex server to a chromecast through our phones. It almost always works perfectly and has had no additional downtime through power failures and stuff that would nuke my old solution. We were prepared to buy a Shield as well to do the heavy lifting transcoding job of the plex server but haven�t needed it.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2019 13:08

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Ixian posted:

While there are definitely areas of the world where extremely high power rates are more of a factor, in general no one will recover the investment of buying in to a NAS solution just for the power savings. There are other good reasons to do it, power just isn't really one of them.

I don�t think that�s necessarily true. Assuming $.12/kWh as the average, and rounding the power usage for ease of calculations:

A very lightweight PC uses 100w. (I think ours was a 90w PSU.)

A DS218+ going full tilt uses 30w. (A 115j uses 11w. But an RPi running freenas in some high maintenance monstrosity uses like 1.5w so you can really push the envelop here)

Assume these power consumption figures 24/7.

That�s 70w of power savings, or .07kwh.

.07kw*8760(hours in a year)=613kwh

613*.12=$73 saved per year of operation.

A DS218+ is $300 on Amazon. So the NAS pays for itself in a little over 4 years. Less if your HTPC uses more than 100w or your power is more expensive, longer if you have a very lightweight pc or very cheap power. The savings are increased if you schedule shutdowns or something.

The formula to check this yourself is super straighforward:

Cost of NAS/((Difference in power consumption in watts)*1000*8760*[power cost in $/kWh])=time to pay off in years

# ¿ Sep 3, 2019 01:38

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

maniacripper posted:

So I decided to take the thread titles advice and build a HTPC...

I have an old 4690K / GTX970 sitting around I plan on using for a HTPC. I digitized all my movies and TV series locally and I've always used plex to stream to a max of 4 devices. Would I be better off just getting a shield tv pro so wouldn't waste so much power? The only negatives I know about the shield is that USB becomes bottleneck at some point as far as streaming from local storage.

But seriously is there a box I can put together for under 400 bucks that will drastically reduce my power consumption and outperform a shield TV?

The less painful solution is to like, sell your hardware, buy a shield for the Plex server and an NAS for media storage, connected over Ethernet.

I think the Shield may be a little bit overkill for this if you want to save the $200 or whatever it is now (and you�re not casting like 4K Blu-ray rips). I have a Synology DS218+ and a chromecast on the tv. Plex is running on the NAS and gets cast to the tv from phones. Running, I believe this uses about 30W. I only have a 1080p TV though, so maybe that�s why it works so well.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2020 06:40

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Forum Joe posted:

I'm hoping you can give me some advice, thread.
I need to give a presentation that involves lots of videos and lots of talking. It's for a birthday party and it will be in my loungeroom. All the videos have been filmed already, and they're 1080p and I want the video quality of playback to be schmick!

Available resources: I have a Shield I use mostly as a Plex device, and I have a windows PC in another room that is my Plex server, and also has folders set up as network shares.

I want to be able to use my shield as a playback device for the videos, but I want to have an extremely simple interface (almost like a powerpoint presentation) where the speaker can press a button to play a video, and the video automatically pauses at the end, and then a single click will start the next video. I have renamed the videos so they're to be played in alphabetical order. I don't really think Plex is the right software for it, since the videos aren't TV shows, and I've tried to use the Plex photo library but I can't really get it to work well for my needs. Is there a better Android TV app that will do this? Or is there a way to get the Plex photos to play the videos pausing after each one? Oh, and the videos are too large for the Shield's internal memory, so the app needs to be able to read from a network share.

Sorry OP, I think your best option for this is a laptop connected to the tv via hdmi, PowerPoint, and a presentation remote. Or just a wireless mouse I guess. None of the home theatre stuff is really designed for presenting.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2020 05:51

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

The low-headache option seems to be an upgrade in internet bandwidth and then plex, no?

# ¿ Mar 17, 2020 13:24

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Can�t use either if your internet don�t go.

Except plex from a local box. But that�s maintenance.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2020 22:51

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Ixian posted:

I missed they had an Apple TV somehow. If they like that you could just plop down $7 and get them MrMC, which is the Kodi fork for Apple TV that's allowed on the TvOS store because it doesn't support addons.

Assuming they have a PC that's on anywhere else on their local network you could then attach a portable drive filled with videos to that, share it, and you're off. MrMC's interface is like a simpler version of Kodi, pretty Netflix-like last time I saw it.

Edit: Or they have portable network drives now for good prices on Amazon, which I see a lot of MrMC and Infuse people like to use. Speaking of which Infuse is another option to compare to MrMC.

So, cheapest/simplest with AppleTV - portable network drive/hotspot with your movies, Infuse or MrMC app.

Yeah, that sounds really cool! You can even keep it maintained with syncthing/resilio sync, ssh (or a VNC app), and a clone that lives in your place!

# ¿ Mar 20, 2020 16:52

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

I don�t understand your compulsions to hoard these objects but I guess I�m glad it makes you happy? :shrug:

# ¿ Mar 28, 2020 21:28

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

PerniciousKnid posted:

I ripped a DVD with handbrake or something and the sound sync is off, I hate technology now. I guess I should just torrent all my DVDs.

Yes.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2020 03:10

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Hughlander posted:

Not sure if this is the thread for it but maybe...

Is there any app/tool/self-hosted thing that will maintain a single watch list across services? Like if I want to watch good place on plex, and Stranger Things on netflix, and Mandolrian on Disney+ that it can check the APis for those and remind me what the gently caress I'm watching and what service it's on? I swear that I start about 10x more shows then I finish and just forget about them.

I want to know what I was watching and how far through I got so when I have a few mins to watch somethign and I'm not sure what it can go, "Oh yah you were watching Andy Richter Saves the Universe on Plex, and you're on S1E8"

Justcast is an app that does this, I think. I use it to check the n+1 streaming services for stuff.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2020 03:51

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

um excuse me posted:

Do y'all not just run an old dusty computer with huge drives with Plex running 24/7? Slap Hulu, Netflix, Disney +, Prime, etc and go to town. Steam remote play has added additional functionality for me. What is Shield, Chromecast, and the like bringing to the party that an old PC isn't?

Reliability.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2020 03:08

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Thermopyle posted:

Yeah this is true...if you have a very low amount of stuff to serve since you can't hook up a ton of storage to the thing.

Doesn�t it work with an NAS as the storage for the media and the Shield just does the heavy lifting?

# ¿ Apr 24, 2020 03:14

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Thermopyle posted:

It can I suppose, but people mostly just run Plex server on their NAS.

I thought the shield was much beefier for transcoding than most NAS boxes, though. Am I wrong? The Tegra is definitely going to kick the poo poo out of the Celeron in my Synology.

I was thinking it would be a good upgrade because then I could serve to friends and stuff.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2020 23:09

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Your old honking gaming pc with a Xeon processor (like 80W all by itself!) is basically a space heater and definitely not free to run indefinitely. There�s a break-even point where a low-power NAS + a chromecast or whatever will pay for themselves and then save you money over that computer. Thing�s probably costing you like $150-$200 a year already.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2020 04:38

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

charity rereg posted:

the computer is an i5 3570k

You are extremely triggered by my observation that your old gaming pc uses more electricity than something else. This is a strange response to a discussion about the functionality of an appliance.

# ¿ May 1, 2020 04:49

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Organic Lube User posted:

What's the best way to set up a VPN and then be able to search TPB for torrents and download them on the Shield? I no longer have access to a PC of any sort, and I'm having trouble finding a guide that feels trustworthy.

Can you install Docker on it? Might be the use case for a VPS or Seedbox! Edit: otherwise a computer might be the ticket. Specifically a Raspberry Pi with transmission and a vpn.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2020 13:37

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Organic Lube User posted:

I'm only generally familiar with the Pi, is there a model or specific kit you could recommend for my purposes? Just glancing on Amazon, this thing looks like it should be able to do what I need. Will it need additional local storage for OS and other software, like an SD card?

As long as you�re comfortable with a command line!

You don�t need all that stuff, just the RPi, a 16gb SD card, and a 15W USB-C power supply. And an Ethernet cable, of course. A case will keep you from accidentally shorting connections on the board, but unnecessary as long as you never touch it while the power is on!

A power supply like this will work: https://www.amazon.com/JOVNO-Converter-Transformer-3-5x1-35mm-Micro-USB/dp/B08C9M27L8
Any old SD card will do but this one is $7 https://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-Ultra-Micro-UHS-I-Adapter/dp/B073K14CVB
If you want a case this one�s only $8 https://www.amazon.com/MazerPi-Raspberry-Cooling-Heatsink-Model/dp/B07W3ZMVP1

The case comes with heat sinks and a fan that�s surely noisy as poo poo. Totally unnecessary but probably not harmful. I have an RPi3 that�s intermittently done VPN, NAS, Adblocking, and Plex media serving duties simultaneously and never throttled or shut down even though it lives in a lovely 3D-printed case behind a filing cabinet suspended by an Ethernet cable.

As for how you get that going, you download the raspbian lite image, and then burn it to the SD card using Balena Etcher or dd if you have a bash machine or whatever other utility you like. You may have to go to a library or friend to use a computer for this. Then you go into the boot directory of the SD card and add a file that�s just called ssh. No extension or any contents.

From there, you plug it into your router and the wall and get an ssh app for your phone. Hostname is raspberrypi, user pi, password raspberry. Raspbian is a fork of Debian so it uses apt. You�ll also want to run raspi-config once you get in. There are many guides online for turning it into whatever kind of machine you like, but it runs docker and stuff. As a media server, you�ll be plugging in USB drives or going crazy and using a SATA hat

Something that really sucks is that RPis are very sensitive to power loss so you should either backup your SD card every time you spend some time on it, or get a cheap UPS (or build your own!). A power failure could straight-up destroy the SD card and force you to start from scratch except your external devices.

tuyop fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Aug 29, 2020

# ¿ Aug 29, 2020 02:23

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Charles posted:

Oh, I just got a Harmony 665. I bought a Samsung sound bar at Costco. But the HDMI CEC doesn't work properly. It takes about a quarter second before it responds. It also sounds worse than the old sound system I was using before, so I've gone back to it and I like it much better. The only problem is the battery contacts aren't very good, and if you whack it, it resets the whole thing.

Yeah folding half a business card on top of the batteries inside the compartment solved that for me.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2021 20:43

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

codo27 posted:

I liked the original Shield remote although the volume control was a little less precise than I'd like. And I'm pretty meh towards the new one. My setup will always be too eclectic to bother with anything universal unfortunately. Also too bad the Shield has decided to completely poo poo itself when it comes to CEC since I upgraded from an 850E to a TCL 6 series.

E: I loving hate how hard it is to do anything with a browser on a TV. Yeah, Silk is alright but what if you aren't using a fire device? Trying to watch the hockey game (legit service, broadcasters website) last night was loving orangutan manure. Xbox now has the latest version of Edge! Video wont play. Load up my bastardized browser on the Shield, video plays alright for a few minutes then goes stuttery until I refresh. I cant wait to just run a HDMI from my desktop into the living room, picked up the HDMI wall plates the other day.

Airplay to an Apple TV works pretty great :ohdear:

# ¿ Sep 28, 2021 22:03

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

fletcher posted:

I got a Fire Stick TV (3rd gen) for the guest room TV and put Kodi on it, it's annoying how choppy 4k playback is. I was tempted to get a Shield instead, but now I'm wondering if I should just get another 10th gen NUC to avoid any playback headaches. The 10th gen NUC is what I use on my main TV and it's been great. Only downside is the price and the Windows license. Anything else I should consider replacing the Fire Stick TV with?

I don't run Plex currently, just Kodi and my NAS. Moving to a transcoding solution would let me use thinner hardware, I dunno if I want to go that route though.

10th gen nuc is seriously overkill but if that works for you at least you can save some money on an SA Mart windows key.

Otherwise why not just get a shield ultra or 4K Apple TV? You can mount a network drive on both of them. If those are stuttering then the issue is probably your network rather than the hardware.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2021 02:17

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Megasabin posted:

My 10 year old HTPC is finally starting to hit a wall with content. I simply cannot play HEVC files well. Graphics card prices are insane so it doesn't really make sense to build another right now.

If I just bought a NVIDIA shield pro, could that take care of all my media playing needs, if I mainly just play local files stored on a hardrive? What would I do, just put everything on a portable HD and plug it into the shield?

Yeah exactly

# ¿ Jan 9, 2022 19:02

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

codo27 posted:

I was having trouble with my copy of Homicide: LotS, where the third season was way out of order (there was actually kind of a good reason for it). So I replaced it with another copy and ever since then ain't poo poo will work on Plex on my Roku TV. Works fine on Shield, which is also the server. Data is on my NAS. I'm going to lose my poo poo with this. I just deleted Plex from the TV and reinstalled, but it seemed to retain most data and I dont think there's much room to gently caress around with the rusty innards of things on Roku.

I also had to make an adjustment in the router to allow my brother to stream my poo poo remotely, so maybe something happened there and thats where I'm going to investigate now.

Sounds like a Plex database issue. I would migrate the server to a different device like the NAS or an RPi or something and test it out from there

# ¿ Jan 11, 2022 21:54

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

I know it�s annoying as hell to be an apple fanboy but I bought a 4K Apple TV because I got tired of the jank in my chromecast and it�s been so good that I got a used one for a friend as well. Just a totally boring, predictable set top box that does direct play in Plex and does steam link perfectly and never gives me any drama.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2022 03:19

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

TrueChaos posted:

I am currently running my plex server off my main PC, which normally isn't an issue, except when I'm gaming and someone starts something that transcodes 4K content down to 1080 or whatever. I'd like to get something that I can shove all my storage drives in (space for 8 drives would be great, at ~32tb of content going up), that can act as the plex server. What should I be looking at here?

For the least amount of headache, probably a synology diskstation. The 9xx+ series has enough oomph to transcode one or two 4K streams. Very expensive, though.

Another option is to build your own server and run Unraid or something like that on it. Probably really expensive as well.

The cost-effective solution would probably be to buy a used 6-8th gen i5 workstation from an office liquidator. I just grabbed one of those for $400 Canadian and it�ll be doing server duty for a local Nextcloud folder and as a Plex server for media files on my NAS. You could just plug a cheap USB HDD into one and have it serve files off of that. I think an 8th gen can handle 3-4 4K transcodes iirc.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2022 15:13

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

TrueChaos posted:

I'm also in Canada, and this sounds like an excellent idea - which liquidator did you grab one from?

I spent awhile looking around and this eBay seller had a really good price so I could grab another 12tb drive to shuck for my budget.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/HP-ProDesk-...1-127632-2357-0

Locally on FB Marketplace there are a couple of liquidators in the suburbs and they had a good deal on an ultrasharp monitor (for a different project) but they wanted more than twice the price for the same workstation. Your local classifieds might be more competitive.

Here are some search terms and listings that I found were the most appropriate. I was very frustrated with the model numbers and generation stuff between Dell/HP/Lenovo/Intel.

tuyop fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Jan 15, 2022

# ¿ Jan 15, 2022 19:44

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Medullah posted:

I don't believe I asked in this thread, think it was in the Windows thread but figure someone here might have experienced it.

I have an arcade cabinet with a PC in it, hooked up to a TV. Everything works great until I turn off the TV. At that point it will no longer have video when I turn the TV back on, which requires me to either hard reset with the power button on the PC or remote in with my other computer and do a reset through windows.

Windows 11, tried multiple HDMI ports and cables and still the same issue.

Yeah windows doesn�t like having all its displays yanked like that. I think you have two options:

1. Try mashing win+p and waiting like 15 seconds. Repeat through all the options in the projection menu.

2. Get a headless hdmi dongle thing so windows always thinks it has a monitor. When your tv is on, just mirror the displays. This is what I use for my pc when I just want to remote into it sometimes and other times I want to give it a monitor: DTECH HDMI Dummy Plug 4K 60Hz... https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07BK311DC?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

# ¿ Sep 22, 2022 19:07

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# ¿ Dec 5, 2025 23:17

tuyop: Sep 14, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

fletcher posted:

This Kodi issue on my Intel NUC has been so annoying: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=361253

About 10% of the time when I try to play something it will hang for a few seconds, then start the video with no sound, then freeze after a few seconds. I've got a Shield on a different TV and haven't encountered this issue, so I'm tempted to ditch the NUC for a Shield because I can't seem to fix this issue.

You could run Kodi through a Linux on there and save yourself having to buy another piece of hardware. I don't know if it'll fix your problem but at least it's free.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2022 21:56

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The HTPC Thread - Dont buy an HTPC

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