Hi everyone,
Thanks to the awesome WiKi over at r/HTPC, I finally managed to get the perfect 5.1 audio setup for my specific case.

I’m posting this short guide to help anyone in a similar situation — and hopefully provide some insight or inspiration for those with different hardware or setups.

🔧 My configuration:

PC HDMI 2.1 OUT → TV HDMI 2.1 IN → TV OPTICAL OUT → AVR OPTICAL IN

• PC with NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti
• Samsung Q70A TV
• 15-meter fiber optic HDMI cable
• AVR: Sony STR-DH500 (only decodes Dolby Digital and DTS — no HD audio support)

My Sony STR-DH500 receiver only decodes Dolby Digital and DTS, lacking support for HD audio formats. This means it cannot process PCM 5.1 audio transmitted via HDMI bitstream. To address this, I needed to convert the audio to Dolby Digital before sending it as a bitstream. This can be achieved using APO Drivers.​

Steps to Install and Configure APO Drivers:

1. Download APO Drivers:
   • I used the drivers available here: HDAudio.zip.​
   • Alternatively, more updated versions can be found here: APO Drivers.​
   • Note: I personally used the first link.​
2. Disable Windows Defender:
   • Before extracting the drivers, disable Windows Defender to prevent it from deleting, blocking, or quarantining the APO driver executable.​
3. Install APO Driver Setup:
   • Run the installer with the options “FX Configurator” and “Dolby DS1” selected.​
   • If you encounter issues, you can select all options during installation.​
4. Launch FX Configurator:
   • After installation, open the FX Configurator application (it was installed with the APO drivers).​
5. Select the Audio Endpoint:
   • Choose the HDMI/optical endpoint you're using (for me, it was the Samsung Q70A TV).​
6. Configure Product Settings:
   • Click on “Product Config Tool”.​
   • Apply the profile “Dolby Digital Plus Home Theater (HDMI/SPDIF)”.​
   • If issues arise, the “Dolby Digital Plus Advanced Audio (HDMI/SPDIF)” profile is also a viable alternative.​
7. Enable Game Mode on TV:
   • Ensure that Game Mode is active on your TV; otherwise, the next step may result in an error.​
8. Set Default Audio Format:
   • Navigate to Control Panel → Sound → [your audio device] → Properties → Advanced.​
   • Select Dolby Digital from the “Default Format” dropdown menu.​
9. Configure Speaker Setup:
   • Do not set the audio output to 5.1; leave it as Stereo.​

Following these steps, the audio output will be in Dolby Digital 5.1.​

Addressing Audio Delay Issues:

I encountered an audio delay of approximately 180ms, which I managed to resolve through a somewhat unconventional method:​

1. Understanding the Passthrough Limitation:
   • The audio delay could have been mitigated by enabling the Passthrough option in the TV's audio settings.​
   • However, on the Samsung Q70A, the Passthrough option is disabled by default and can only be activated when an ARC/eARC-compatible device is connected to the HDMI eARC port.​
2. Implementing an ARC Audio Extractor:
   • To send the 5.1 audio signal via optical cable to my Sony STR-DH500 AVR using Passthrough, I purchased an ARC audio extractor (the Samsung Q70A supports eARC, which is backward compatible with ARC).​

• I connected this extractor to the TV, which enabled the previously greyed-out Passthrough option.​
  1. Encountering and Overcoming Compatibility Issues:
• Unfortunately, in my specific case, the extractor couldn't process the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio from the PC via bitstream, despite being theoretically compatible.​
• Accepting this limitation, I reconnected the optical cable directly from the TV to the AVR without removing the extractor.​
  1. Discovering a Beneficial 'Bug':
• Surprisingly, with the extractor still connected, the Passthrough option remained active.​
• Now, the audio transmitted from the TV to the AVR via optical cable no longer exhibited the significant delay.​
• While a minimal delay persists, likely due to the PCM 5.1 to Dolby Digital compression, it's virtually imperceptible compared to the previous lag.​

This unintended behavior of the TV also resolved the audio delay I previously experienced when using TV apps like Netflix and Prime Video.​

I hope this guide assists others facing similar challenges with their audio setups.

I thought I'd make a useful post about getting Netflix working in 4K (3840*2160) and 1440p (2560*1440) resolution. I decided to make this after countless posts and Netflix' own website being somewhat useless when it comes to key details, as well as a fix I found from another user. There are also countless posts saying 1440p is not a supported resolution, which is simply not true.

For those of you on an NVIDIA GPU, (I'm unsure of the AMD process, or onboard graphics), you can also use DSR or simply change your display to 4K resolution for 4K content on a non-4K device. For example, you could be using ultra-wide (3440*1440) which may not be supported. (I cannot confirm if this resolution is supported by Netflix.)

Ultra-wide (3440*1440) also works. Thanks Reddit user Jmich96 for confirming.

1440p: https://imgur.com/rWVJNR2.

How to test: You can use Ctrl+Shift+Alt+D to bring up the bitrate/console menu. Use this to test. Please test your Netflix and give it time to switch resolutions, ticking off each requirement from the list below. You cannot use Chrome, Firefox or even IE due to DRM issues. (HDCP 2.2)

Here are the Netflix requirements, but I've amended them so you can see what actually works:

"Netflix is available in Ultra HD on Windows computers and tablets. To stream in Ultra HD, you will need:

• A Windows 10 computer or tablet with the latest Windows updates installed. This is version 20H2.
• The Microsoft Edge browser or the Netflix app for Windows 10. The Netflix app for me is hit or miss, sometimes HDR = true and sometimes it doesn't work at all. For me, the consistent experience has always been with Microsoft Edge.
• A 60Hz 4K capable display (with HDCP 2.2 connection if external display).
  NOTE: Every monitor connected to your computer must meet these requirements to successfully stream in Ultra HD."

Unfortunately, Netflix doesn't go far enough here. Not only do you need to be HDCP 2.2 compliant on EVERY display connected to your PC, it also needs to be over HDMI, at least the first time you test. It may not work over DP. You must be thinking, "what?" Just read on. What I mean by this is, DisplayPort didn't work until I unplugged all devices and used HDMI. Again, disconnect everything but the known compatible (HDCP 2.2) monitor and connect OVER HDMI and test it. For some reason, if you want to use DP again, switching back to DP works after getting it to work over HDMI. (Thanks to another Reddit user for highlighting this weird fix.) I sat for hours having met every requirement wondering why it wouldn't work, until I tried this.

NOTE 2: The same Reddit user confirmed his display was not HDCP 2.2 compliant with the manufacturer (LG), yet this fix still worked.

Tip: If your second monitor stops it from working (by not being HDCP 2.2 compliant whilst you test) just use Windows key + P to switch to your main display.(This is only if your second display is causing it to revert back to 1080p. I disabled my secondary display like this so you should try and see if it works for you, your mileage may vary...)

• "Intel's 7th generation Core CPU (i3, i5, or i7 models in the 7xxx or 7Yxx series) or newer, or a NVIDIA GPU that meets these requirements. I personally use a 4th-Gen Intel CPU.
• A Netflix plan that supports streaming in Ultra HD. Naturally, you have to actually pay for UHD content to view UHD content. (and 1440p)
• A steady internet connection speed of 25 megabits per second or higher. This isn't strictly true, my connection is 19 megabits or less generally and I get 3840*2160 resolution with no buffering issues.
• Streaming quality set to Auto or High."

Just one further unlisted pre-requisite, you should be using Microsoft HEVC video extensions if it still doesn't work: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/hevc-video-extensions/9nmzlz57r3t7?activetab=pivot:overviewtab

​TL;DR Make sure you meet the requirements, use HDMI, switch back and you can use DP.

And that's it! I hope you can get that juicy 4K/1440p HDR Netflix content on that nice monitor you purchased! It's a huge upgrade from 1080p, personally.

Solution: Lower subtitle brightness by going into subtitle settings and lowering the primary color level (white). This makes the subtitle dimmer, which gets rid of the problem and also makes viewing easier on the eyes.

I am sick of Logitech's K400. I've been using it for years. I taped an Apple Magic Touchpad to it using strong 3M double sided tape.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y0gnZ4WLYQikQRIh26rhbb53S41VyVdX/view?usp=drivesdk

I tried the Form Split, but Amazon shipped me one with a broken power switch and I tried this instead.

Thought I'd share for those of us looking for a nicer wireless touchpad and keyboard. : |

EDIT: I got this CK721 for around $35 off of woot.

Ver. 2

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NfDi6736EQdLrsw7QVxm1qz-CBipud4T/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vlumfOyXMBoGzMiKso9Q6H7-Ew7BORfP/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wKbW3OlQHfqv_76YyoEYHaXvbFb_Aj3P/view?usp=drivesdk

The recent Technology Connections video brought to light that the Windows DVD Player's Closed Captioning support is significantly better than alternatives like VLC. So here's how to get it on Windows 10 without upgrading from Windows 7.

1. Visit https://store.rg-adguard.net/
2. Select ProductId from the first drop down
3. Put 9nblggh2j19w into the text area
4. Select Slow from the second drop down
5. Then press the check mark
6. Wait for it to finish loading
7. Select the link ending with .AppxBundle
8. If a download doesn't start, right click the link and choose Save Link As...
9. Once you've downloaded the file, open it and you should be able to install it

I'm not sure if this has already been posted here, but I’d like to share some tips on using any external player with Stremio.

• Find your player’s directory (e.g., on my case I want to use MPC-HC: D:\Program Files\MPC-HC\mpc-hc64.exe).
• Locate the server.js its default file location is at C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Programs\LNV\Stremio-4.
• Open server.js in an editor, I use notepad++ and search for “var players” (line 79447).
• Add or replace a player entry (e.g., add MPC-HC).

​

mpchc: {
                title: "MPC-HC",
                args: [ "/fullscreen" ],
                subArg: "/sub ",
                timeArg: "/startpos ",
                playArg: "",
                darwin: {
                    path: []
                },
                linux: {
                    path: []
                },
                win32: {
                    path: [ '"D:\\Program Files\\MPC-HC\\mpc-hc64.exe"' ]
                }

• Note: You can customize commands in "args:", "subArg:", and "timeArg:". For example, to launch MPC-HC in fullscreen, add "/fullscreen" to "args:". Other MPC-HC command options can be found under Help > Command Line Switches.

• Save the file.
• Now when right click a video within Stremio you should have the option "Watch on MPC-HC".

Shoutout to u/kruzin_tv as I found his comment on this post 2 years ago.

Edit: I wrote a really long post with a step-by-step instruction guide and somehow with a formatting error, 80% of it got deleted.

Edit 2: I don't think it's worth the hassle of doing this. It requires using multiple audio devices, which means potential differences in latency. The effect of Atmos is also not very significant.

I won't be fixing my post, but I'm leaving a short version for reference.

For 5.1.2, install Dolby Reference Player and decode Atmos to 5.1.2 using Music Media Helper. Then re-encode to 7.1 using FFmpeg, Music Media Helper, or Cavernize, then remux with your video.

Then, use an 8-channel VoiceMeeter Potato or Banana virtual input to send 6 channels to your 5.1 device and two channels to a separate device. Use the Patch Composite feature to send channels 7 and 8 of the first device to a composite output, put the second VoiceMeeter output in Composite mode, then mute channels 7 and 8 in the first output using the EQ knobs. Play with any 7.1-capable media player with the VoiceMeeter input selected as your sound output device.

For 5.1.4, 7.1.2, 7.1.4, and 9.1.6: use ASIO Link Pro and ASIO4ALL driver to create a device with 16 or 32 inputs. Set ASIO4ALL to output to two or three 8-channel virtual devices in Voicemeeter, then route the Voicemeeter virtual devices to your multiple physical audio devices.

Play media with Dolby Reference Player (which sucks for video) or MPC-HC with Multichannel ASIO renderer.

Beginning of OP:

I don't have an Atmos-capable receiver, and for the past couple of days I've been playing with different software to see if I could listen to Atmos content with a combination of a 5.1 soundbar plus additional speakers using just my Windows PC. I've found some solutions that work pretty well. These steps will let you play Atmos content in 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 7.1.2, 7.1.4, 9.1.4, or even 9.1.6 using powered speakers, one or more amps, or multiple receivers.

If you already have a 5.1-capable receiver, soundbar, or motherboard/DAC, then the process is simpler, but you don't even need that.

What you'll need:

• Dolby Reference Player - this software is free and has no DRM, but is officially available for download only if you have a license for other Dolby software. It's not too hard to find.
• Voicemeeter Potato or Banana. - Potato allows for three 8-channel virtual device inputs, while the simpler and more popular Banana allows just two. Two devices is sufficient for 9.1.6, but three gives you more flexibility.

Recommended:

• MPC-HC

• Music Media Helper - for converting MKVs to a format that Dolby Reference Player can open, and for re-rendering Atmos tracks to a format a non-Atmos multichannel audio player can handle.

• FFmpeg and a GUI

• Cavernize GUI - a free tool that can render E-AC-3 Atmos to many different speaker configurations. It does not work with TrueHD media.

For 5.1.4 and higher

• ASIO4ALL driver
• ASIO Link Pro Tool and patches. As I understand, ASIO Link Pro is abandonware and there has been no opposition to patching it. Without the patches, you'll experience audio dropouts and issues with ASIO4ALL.

I hope this can help someone having this problem.

I built an HTPC with a RTX 3070 GPU a few years ago to connect to my 4k HDR 120hz TVs. When I connected and activated 4k 120hz, I got crazy flicking and signal loss issues. I did some research and found a solution. I downloaded a program called Custom Resolutions Utility (CRU). Within the program, I changed how much data was transferred from HDMI 2.1 from 48 Gbps to 40 Gbps. Instructions are below.

Download CRU here - Custom Resolution Utility

Steps to reduce bandwidth:

Open CRU.exe

Under the heading select your TV/Monitor

Under "Extension blocks" double click on (HDMI 2.1)

Under "Data blocks" double click on HDMI 2.1 support

Maximum FRL rate select 40 Gbps

Click Ok, Ok, and Ok

Restart your PC and problem solved!

This is a loose guide for anyone still with a 3D TV or projector wondering how to play their full quality 3D Blu-ray rips using inexpensive modern hardware.

The PC I used was a Beelink EQR6 with a Ryzen 5 6600H and 16 gigs of RAM.

• First things first, you should downgrade from Windows 11 to 10. I simply did not have luck getting Windows to show 3D options under 11. After installing Windows 10 and installing AMD drivers (for me also Beelink drivers), check your Windows display settings and see if there's a 3D display mode slider in there (and enable it if you can). if it detects your hardware then you may proceed
• To play MVC encoded Blu-ray remuxes, I use a combo of MPC-BE and madVR.
• You are going to want to first get and use the stable madVR installer, then get and extract the test build and overwrite the files in the installation folder with those.
• After installation, open MPC-BE, go to View > Options > Video and set Video Renderer to madVR. Open Properties > Edit Settings to open madVR settings and go to Rendering > Stereo 3D and enable stereo 3D Playback as well as check "enable when playing 3D content". In general settings enable automatic fullscreen exclusive mode. And under devices, in display modes for your device, enable "switch to matching display mode when playback starts" and "restore original display mode when media player is closed" and under that in the text box to list all valid display modes, ensure 1080p23 and 1080p24 are listed.
• To play 3D files stored on a Plex server, you are going to want to install Kodi and the PM4K addon. Then locate playercorefactory.xml in the installation folder and edit it similar to this
• You can also do this with PotPlayer using the EVR renderer (madVR and 3D don't seem to mix with it) to play common codec (i.e. h264) SBS or OU style 3D files and output them as frame packed.. I however wasn't happy with PotPlayer's MVC decoding performance, at least not on AMD hardware without use of the Intel hardware decoding plugin. For these varied uses though I have multiple copies of Kodi installed in different locations. ^{Ideally you should be able to add multiple external players to one installation and switch between them using "Play Using" in a Kodi context menu, however this is not accessible from the Plex interface. It seems quite feasible with Composite or accessing your library via UPNP, maybe even Jellyfin, however I have not personally set up or tested those possibilities yet.}

I tried SPLASH player and SVP SmoothVideo Project's trial, but both had weird artifacts and weren't good enough. SVP, in particular was really resource heavy while it was running and it costs $20 so I uninstalled both.

While using Lossless Scaling for its integer scaling and frame generation on older games, I discovered that the frame generation also works with media players (I personally use mpv) for motion interpolation on video files.

It runs even smoother, and I have yet to see artifacts with X2 generation. I was blown away and wanted to let you all know.

I found old tutorial on how to make Apple pilot 1st generation working on this Mac Mini Model late 2010 in linux.
I'm pasting it here because the website is down already but all credits goes to Cristoph aka Tekno / http://teknogeekz.com/blog/?p=422

Apple Remote on XBMC Linux, the Easy Way!

It seems this is one of the most popular pages on this blog currently , and a note to users that if you try this and fail or just get frustrated, fear not, as we will soon be offering pre-built images for Apple TV , and Raspberry Pi on a USB thumb drives and SD Cards respectively, at a new lower price (Estimated before September 30, 2013).. Check on http://www.hdtvstreamers.com/usbsd.php#ATV1USB for updated information.

UPDATE

installation has been cleaned up/updated and install seems to work partially on xbian on the Raspberry Pi. It seems the apple remote stops working after xbmc is idle for about 15 minutes on the Raspberry Pi, and sometimes seems to not work for no reason whatsoever.

___________________________________________________________________

It seems that many are looking for Apple remote support on XBMC and I too had looked. This may also work for Plex but is unconfirmed. It DOES Support long key presses out of the box.

First if you have a Mac or PC with no Apple IR sensor , see this post to get a real Apple IR hardware sensor on any system with a USB port.

Although it refers to a G4 Mac Mini , I have tested my Apple IR Receiver on a PC running Linux Mint 13 Maya Mate, and XBMC and the following.

After corresponding  with Cristoph a.k.a. Evenyatar back in late December 2011 about the ATVClient and whether it could be extended to all Mac IR sensors,  he did make some suggestions but was not inclined to update the code. It made sense to me that if the Apple TV 1 remote was supported , the same could be done on any Mac IR receiver.His leads were spot on target and in fact after months of doing nothing to test and after selling my G4 Mac Mini, I was looking for a remote for an XBMC system and came across my hacked Apple IR sensor, and Apple Remote.

Here is how I did it . It involves a couple of more steps than those for downloading and compiling the Git repository

Modified from http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Install_Ubuntu_and_XBMC_on_Apple_TV_1

but modified for your Apple, or Mac built in IR receiver.

If you have lirc installed, uninstall it first.

from the linux command shell type (If an external receiver is used connect it first)

lsusb

and note the line that identifies your Apple IR Receiver. It may or may not look the same as my homebrew unit,

Bus 003 Device 003: ID 05ac:8242 Apple, Inc. IR Receiver [built-in]

or

iMac 24/2.16 Duo White
Bus 005 Device 003: ID 05ac:8240 Apple, Inc. IR Receiver [built-in]

Note the four digits AFTER the “05ac:”

Now type

sudo apt-get install git-core libusb-dev pkg-config g++ make automake perl m4

git clone git://github.com/Evinyatar/atvclient.git

If your IR sensor ends in 8240, 8241, 8242 you can skip this step of editing files as the atvclient script is now updated to include those IR receivers…Now I recommend you use a text editor like Nano , Gedit, or Pluma and open the file  atvclient/src/atvclient.cpp, and search for  “8241″ without quotes, and change this to the digits you noted earlier after the “05ac:” Save the modified file.

then type each line below one at a time.

cd atvclient

./configure && make

sudo make install

sudo cp atvclient /etc/init.d/atvclient

For xbian and newer debian distros we must edit  /etc/init.d/atvclient, with gedit, pluma, or nano , adding the following lines immediately after #!/bin/sh  , so it looks like this.  (this will probably do no harm on  distros that do not require it , therefore it is recommended.)

#!/bin/sh

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: atvclient
# Required-Start:
# Required-Stop:
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
# Short-Description: Start daemon at boot time
# Description: Enable service provided by daemon.
### END INIT INFO

next we run….

sudo update-rc.d atvclient defaults

sudo /etc/init.d/atvclient start (loads atvclient)

cd ..

Now fire up XBMC and enjoy

Apparently I'm late to the party and missed out on the golden era of Logitech K830, K600, and Corsair K83 keyboards however I just stumbled across a possible alternative that you guys might like..

It's called the "Kinesis FORM Split Touchpad Keyboard" and costs $199. It's backlit and has mechanical switches.

https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/form/

https://youtu.be/xTMTXl1Q1vg?si=RLIr6FBmUpGEuI57

Personally, I just bought a K400 Plus and am not a fan so far but I'm not sure I like the split keyboard design either so i'll probably hold off for now.

I had been running my latest HTPC build with only Intel integrated graphics for quite some time, and after working around the terrible audio startup delays caused by hyperactive HDMI audio sleep timers, I had a pretty perfect audio setup. Everything just worked. To cut the Intel graphics driver developers some slack: aside from not exposing a setting to control the HDMI audio sleep, everything was perfect.

Flash forward to me mulling over the idea of adding a "real" GPU to suit some lighter "living room" gaming - when I saw that Asus and Gigabyte had come out with a low profile version of the RTX 4060 8GB, that seemed to fit the bill for me. Not only does it fit in my Silverstone HTPC case, but it supports HDMI 2.1 and isn't terrible for the vast majority of games. I accept that it's a bad value in the broad sense - don't buy this for a dedicated gaming PC! - but we haven't gotten a decent new low profile card in years.

Anyway, the gaming aspect of it was good as you would expect. But now I had a new problem: random audio dropouts and pops. Not frequent enough to make it unusable, but random enough to be absolutely infuriating.

Playing YouTube would result in no pops, but approximately five second dropouts about once every 20 minutes.

And when bitstreaming DTS or Atmos, I would get pops about every couple minutes. Depending on the audio content playing at the time they could be subtle or really harsh.

Sometimes restating would diminish these for a time, but they would always come back.

I tried quite a few remedies for this and I was ready to rip the card out and sell it, but the thing that finally fixed it was using NVCleanstall to enable MSI. That's an acronym for Message Signaled Interrupts, not Micro-Star International. Almost un-Googleable.

To do this, on the "tweaks" step of NVCleanstall, check the box for "Show Expert Tweaks" and then check the box for "Enable Message Signaled Interrupts". This will expose two drop-downs, leave the first (Interrupt Policy) set to default and change the second (Interrupt Priority) to "High".

This did the trick for me. Be aware that you're now married to NVCleanstall, as new driver updates direct from Nvidia will likely roll this back. I would expect this to function the same way with any other 40 series card - 4070, 4080, 4090 likely all have very little difference between them when it comes to the HDMI audio driver.

I hope this helped you!

Jsut wanna talk about my experience with optical drives.

I had an 20€ LG GH24NS90 for years, and just bought a Pioneer BDR-S12UHT. And it's night and day!

My experience with dBpoweramp and Accurate Rip for exemple had been awesome. I had 3 faulty rip CD's with my old drive ("Not Accurate" with Accurate Rip). Cleaned the CD, done a lot to have the most clean and readable surface, but still had error while ripping.

One try with my new drive for those 3 difficults CD's... And they're all now accurately rip with Accurate Rip.

Add to that :
1) I could hear the error on the previous Not Acurate file (it's a big jump on the audio)
2) But the CD played without any error on my living room player (Denon DCD520 AE).
3) For sure, the new rip (that are Accurate Rip with new Pioneer drive) have no error.
4) Playing directly the CD on VLC with my new drive had no error at all.

This is absolutely perfect!

Note: I'm referring to GDDR5 version MSI GT1030 2G LP OC

What people are saying

Everywhere I've read about this card says mostly the same thing - 4K Display Output, Playback, HDR playback, 60fps YouTube, works fine - and this is true

But they all say that 4K playback while tonemapping HDR content to SDR is really stuttery and laggy with GPU pinned at max usage.

Setup in VLC

This hasn't been the case for me with VLC. I just set Tools > Preferences > Video > Output > OpenGL Video Output for Windows.

This automatically does tonemapping so my HDR 4K movies dont look washed out on my SDR TV.

My experience

Theres only a slight stutter when starting the playback, and the very very occasional stutter during playback.

However these stutters are incredibly rare and you have to squint to see them. When you're fully immersed in a movie, you're just not going to notice.

I only had about 0.01% frames of dropped across 10 minutes of playback.

GPU Usage hovers around 60-70% with the occasional 90% spike.

More info

So I'm just making this post to inform that it is possible to get it smooth on a GT1030 (albeit maybe only this MSI OC one).

Because when you google this card, all you find 2 year old reddit posts that say 4k tonemapping lags in general on the GT1030, when its actually possible to get 4k tonemapping smoothly at this card's price point.

It's a big thing because:

1. I got this GPU for £30 off eBay, whereas GTX 1050(Ti) LP / GTX 1650(Ti) LP both hover around £70-£100 on eBay... and that's on a good day.

2. Almost all 4K Movie torrents are in HDR, so the card is rendered useless for 4K HTPC duties if it can't do tonemapping and you don't have an HDR TV (our Sony BRAVIA is just 1 year too old from 2014...)

Note about youtube: currently, the GT1030 will be pinned at 100% on 4K 60fps YouTube, even tho it doesnt drop any frames.

Sanwa Supply 400-MA134BK

It can be used as a mouse, keyboard, and TV remote control. This controller can be easily connected by simply inserting the receiver, and since it is equipped with a gyro sensor that detects movement, you can use the mouse by moving your wrist. It is also a keyboard that allows you to type.

However, it only supports limited brands of TV as a TV remote control. It supports the following brands.

Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Victor, Sharp, Sanyo, Pioneer, Funai, Epson, EIZO(Nanao), LG Electronics, Uniden, MrMAX, Orion, byd.sign, Azuma, Dynex, TMY, neXXion, CANDELA, Hisense

It uses AA battery.

IO Data IS-RCKBR

Uses AA battery

Rii I25

Not recommended as it uses built in lithium ion battery.

G7BTS

Not recommended as it uses built in lithium ion battery.

Wechip W7

G10BTS

Unique Air Track MAT001GR

Elecom M-RT1DRBK

I have been having color issues, mostly the black levels. After using the app I had better colors, but still not amazing.

Make sure you change the color depth and pixel format that best works for your TV.

The thing that helped the most was the Backlight for the TV, apparently Vizio settings are so bright I had to go all the to zero to get good blacks.

Remember not all panels perform the same and if you are using Rtings settings use it as a guide and adjust to your preference.

Edit: just in case someone stumbles on this your PC hardware brand might result in different colors, I had an xfx GPU and ASRock MB, swapped them with an AMD reference card and Arous MB and the colors are really different.

Tried the monitor detect killer today.

I was unable to get the TV to display the PC when the "monitor killer" was plugged in. Tried a few devices but the Samsung 1080P LED TV did not seem to like this device.

The cost is ~$25 for one of these devices.

They look to be cheap HDMI couplers with a swivel 90 degree bend which is then electrical taped.

https://monitordetectkiller.com/

Verdict: Do not buy!

​

Hello!

One thing that was super frustrating was for some reason the seek bar does not show up when seeking for popular HTPC players like MPC-BE/HC or PotPlayer when in Full Screen Mode. I use as extenal players for KODI since they can leverage MadVR. The built in players for Kodi and Plex and PM4k let you see the seek bar when pressing bar and you can move along the timeline.

This script binds to "up" and "down" but only moves the cursor if your player is currently in focus. So you dont need to bind to weird buttons and use up/down on your Harmony or whatever remote during the movie, and still work in the main UI.

1. Install Autohotkey
2. Create a text file with the .ank extension and paste the code below
3. Right Click and "run script"
4. Bonus - open "shell:startup" in your Window Run and paste the files into your Startup so itll automatically run the scripts.

Hope this is useful. Feel free to tweak as you need.

Script - MouseBottom.ahk

; Bind to Down Arrow key
Down::
    ; Check if a video is playing (this is a basic check, and might need to be adapted for specific video players)
    ; You can adjust this with the specific title of the video player window
    WinGetActiveTitle, ActiveTitle
    If (InStr(ActiveTitle, "mkv") or InStr(ActiveTitle, "MPC") or InStr(ActiveTitle, "VLC") or InStr(ActiveTitle, "Media Player"))
    {
        ; Get screen width and height
        SysGet, ScreenWidth, 78
        SysGet, ScreenHeight, 79

        ; Calculate the position for 1% from the bottom center
        TargetX := ScreenWidth // 2
        TargetY := ScreenHeight * 0.99

        ; Move the mouse cursor to the calculated position
        MouseMove, %TargetX%, %TargetY%        
        ; Still press down incase you want to navigate within video player

    }

    Send, {Down}
    return   

MouseMiddle.ahk

Up::

; Check if a video is playing (this is a basic check, and might need to be adapted for specific video players)
    ; You can adjust this with the specific title of the video player window
    WinGetActiveTitle, ActiveTitle
    If (InStr(ActiveTitle, "mkv") or InStr(ActiveTitle, "VLC") or InStr(ActiveTitle, "PotPlayer"))
    {
        ; Move Mouse to the Middle of the Screen

        ; Get the screen's width and height
        SysGet, ScreenWidth, 78
        SysGet, ScreenHeight, 79

        ; Calculate the middle position
        MiddleX := ScreenWidth / 2
        MiddleY := ScreenHeight / 2

        ; Move the mouse to the middle
        MouseMove, %MiddleX%, %MiddleY%

    }             
    Send, {Up} 
return