Operating System HTPC + HDMI + Win7 and its many issues... (3 Viewers)

Golfimbul

Portal Member
June 24, 2013
26
2
Home Country
Australia Australia
For the pin 19 trick. is there a HDMI connector plug which you can use? One could customize a plug to tear out one pin. on one side.
Just thinking out loud.

I was actually thinking of using the DVI -> HDMI cable and completely removing pin 16 on the DVI end

Would be the same as covering pin 19 on the HDMI I believe

Whilst the tape works I might just leave well enough alone
 

edterbak

Portal Pro
March 4, 2008
2,114
1,176
Home Country
Netherlands Netherlands
  • Type: haakse adapter 90 graden
  • Aansluiting 1: HDMI A Male
  • Aansluiting 2: HDMI A Female
  • Materiaal van behuizing: plastic
  • Connectors: verguld
€ 14,99
138713

Kill one pin and voila.. Or am I thinking too simple??
 

johanj

MP Donator
  • Premium Supporter
  • January 31, 2009
    781
    398
    46
    Home Country
    Sweden Sweden
    Look at earlier pages of this thread for how to modify an adapter like that. This modification also included rewiring to get voltage on one of the pins so it's better than just removing a wire. I used that modification for quite some time and it worked great. However, after doing several things at the same time with the HTPC I no longer got image when using the adapter. It worked for LCD but not projector. I got annoyed at spending too much time on the issue and ordered an Dr. HDMI, I connected that and everything just works.
     

    Sebastian Doan

    New Member
    April 18, 2014
    1
    1
    42
    Richmond, Victoria, Australia
    Home Country
    Australia Australia
    Firstly like to send out a HUGE thanks to Gibman for starting this HDMI HTPC AVR audio issues thread and then secondly to Xisque for suggesting 'AVR Audio Guard' which ultimately fixed the issues for me.

    Although I'm not a MediaPortal user I've been aimlessly trying to resolve HDMI audio issues since adding a ONKYO TX-NR515AE receiver to my HTPC setup. A search on Google led me to this discussion, hence I'm sharing my experience in-case it benefits others.

    I'm currently running the latest version of Windows 8.1 and have an ATI Radean HD 6450. Since adding the AVR I've had audio cutout issues. My setup is HTPC > Onkyo AVR > Samsung 65" LCD. The problem I had was that sound would intermittently cut out when passed through the AVR. Upon HTPC boot sound would work fine though HDMI, working well with XBMC and WMC (my main media setup). My sound would however cut out when using either IE or Chrome and playing back anything on Youtube or Flash video. I could get sound going again by either rebooting or going into XBMC and switching over to WASAPI audio then back. Whilst doing this and so long as the Youtube video was still playing back in the background sound would work again.... until the next youtube clip started, which forced me to do the whole XBMC WASAPI thing again. Clearly this was tremendously annoying and the WAF factor nearly led me to give up using the ONKYO AVR altogether. Luckily I discovered that turning the TV on and off did the same trick, which bought me a little more time with the wife.

    Following Xisque's recommendation to try "AVR Audio Guard" this has fixed things for me. I've since learnt that my issue is known as the "HDMI Silence Bug" which is caused when the ATI Radeon gets confused over what audio signal to send to the TV via the AVR. This HDMI audio confusion occurs immediately after an audio signal starts following a period of silence forcing the video card to decide if it should send a 7.1, 5.1 or 2.0 channel sound. What the program effectively does is keeps a silent audio signal going in the background as a workaround to avoid having the HTPC trying to decide what signal it should send after the period of silence.

    Although issues described by others on this thread are related to HDMI audio issues after power cycling of either the TV or the AVR, I think the "HDMI silence bug" is worthy of a mention too since it compliments Gibman's aim of helping people to resolve their HTPC>AVR>TV audio setup issues. I might send this thread to ATI and Microsoft also, because the "HDMI silence bug" is something clearly fixable through software. Thanks again Gibman & Xisque... It has certainly saved me giving up my ONKYO to appease the wife :D
     
    Last edited:

    blub

    MP Donator
  • Premium Supporter
  • October 1, 2013
    223
    82
    Giessen
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    Hi

    I have searched extensively over the last 4 Months. Here are my solutions that solved all HDMI related issues:

    1)
    For anyone with a decent AVR just make a HDMI EDID override by capturing your AVR's EDID and make a windows monitor-inf-file (merging TV and AVR makes only sense when the TV does support something the AVR doesn't).
    You will definitely get rid of "no audio" (for bitsreaming - "normal" sound see below) and "no video" bug that's sure - given that you don't have a bad cable or HDMI plug.

    2)
    You will still have the half-screen issue with MP though. You can get around that one by configuring your HTPC to a monitor resolution of 1080p with NO hardware attached (meaning no TV no AVR - just unplug HDMI at the back of your HTPC).
    You then should access your HTPC via remote/RDP connection such as VNC clients.

    Set the resolution to 1080p. If it cannot be selected (greyed out or not available) set refresh rate to 30hz and look again - for ATI/AMD users it should the be available then. Once 1080p is set Windows will no longer re-size your desktop on HDMI connection loss/adding.

    3)
    If you don't have audio after resume in MP it is most likely due to windows away mode muting your soundcard and then not restoring/unmuting it - or some other windows bull*** or MP itsself is muted.
    Download SoundVolumeView.
    Open MP and play a video file - you should see MP in windows audio settings with a volume silder, if you don't then your are currently bitsreaming. Either select a different file or disable bitsreaming for a moment.
    Once you see MP in windows volume options open SoundVolumeView and save the profile. Make a batch file that loads that profile with a delay of your liking - I have set 30s)
    Configure Windows scheduler to start that batchfile after resume and you should be all good.

    If you have questions feel free to ask.
     

    rich110

    Portal Pro
    July 16, 2005
    127
    6
    Melbourne
    Home Country
    Australia Australia
    Hi
    1)
    For anyone with a decent AVR just make a HDMI EDID override by capturing your AVR's EDID and make a windows monitor-inf-file (merging TV and AVR makes only sense when the TV does support something the AVR doesn't).
    You will definitely get rid of "no audio" (for bitsreaming - "normal" sound see below) and "no video" bug that's sure - given that you don't have a bad cable or HDMI plug.

    2)
    You will still have the half-screen issue with MP though. You can get around that one by configuring your HTPC to a monitor resolution of 1080p with NO hardware attached (meaning no TV no AVR - just unplug HDMI at the back of your HTPC).
    You then should access your HTPC via remote/RDP connection such as VNC clients.

    Set the resolution to 1080p. If it cannot be selected (greyed out or not available) set refresh rate to 30hz and look again - for ATI/AMD users it should the be available then. Once 1080p is set Windows will no longer re-size your desktop on HDMI connection loss/adding.

    hi blub, can you offer any further details on this:

    1) Just to clarify, did you just replace your original monitor-inf information (presumable with you TV details) with one containing your AVR information? Also, do you have a link to a good guide for replacing EDID monitor-inf files

    2) - I tried to set the resolution on my HTPC computer via the built-in windows Remote Desktop application, but it says I can't change resolutions over remote desktop (if I right-click desktop) and the nVidia control panel won't load (similar message - not available over remote desktop).

    Cheers, Rich
     

    blub

    MP Donator
  • Premium Supporter
  • October 1, 2013
    223
    82
    Giessen
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    Hi rich

    1) I replaced the generic PNP monitor driver which collects the EDID info at every handshake connection (that's often the culprit because it can be an incomplete handshake) with my AVR's EDID information.
    Most people say that you should capture your AVR's and TV's EDID info and merge it into one "driver inf file" for windows .
    However my AVR supports so many more audio and video formats that I only captured my AVR's EDID and saved it as an inf file - then just go to device manager and select the "generic pnp" monitor and replace/load the newly created inf file, reboot - done :)

    Guides I used:

    http://www.avsforum.com/t/1227161/edid-overrides-to-solve-bitstreaming-issues-for-ati-5xxxs

    http://www.avsforum.com/t/1091403/edid-override-thread

    Tools: MonInfo and getedid schould both work.

    2) You have to use a remote desktop client like TightVNC or UltraVNC - that should work.
     

    peque

    Moderator - Spanish Forums
  • Premium Supporter
  • August 4, 2007
    861
    99
    Home Country
    Spain Spain
    If all you review the thread, I came here searching for a solution to my problem: I've got my HTPC connected to an AVR, and I had the problem that I needed to switch on TV, wait for some seconds, then switch AVR on... Otherwise, HTPC didn't display anything. This was a problem if I wanted to set up a little macro with my remote to switch on both.

    Solution: switch graphics card. I had a nVidia GT240 (I've been using nVidia cards for many years in my HTPCs) and now I've bought an (AMD) HIS 7750 iSilence 5 trying to avoid some other minor glitches that I suspected were caused by nVidia drivers.

    I've got rid of all that glitches... and BTW also this one.

    bye!
     

    Golfimbul

    Portal Member
    June 24, 2013
    26
    2
    Home Country
    Australia Australia
    For the pin 19 trick. is there a HDMI connector plug which you can use? One could customize a plug to tear out one pin. on one side.
    Just thinking out loud.

    I was actually thinking of using the DVI -> HDMI cable and completely removing pin 16 on the DVI end

    Would be the same as covering pin 19 on the HDMI I believe

    Whilst the tape works I might just leave well enough alone

    This worked with my nvidia GPU but not with my intel onboard

    Great solution though! Better than fiddly old tape!

    The intel onboard (haswell) boots to the uefi setup but once windows 8.1 starts to load I get no video. Even tried remoting in and scanning for hardware changes etc. No dice

    Was no issue with the nvidia card though (gt 640)
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Top Bottom