Why is this tech not integrated into any graphics cards (whether that be Intel/AMD/Nvidia)? It's so useful, a box like this shouldn't have been necessary in the first place.
lots of various reasons, mainly support, there are so many variants of the CEC implementation that it is not financially viable for all the vendors to re-roll the CEC library required each time, on top of that, then needing to expose it at the driver level.
If they advertise that their GFX card supports CEC and it doesnt work with that particular TV as expected then the customer will return it, despite the graphics card being fine. Resulting in an expensive lost sale
What percentage of TVs support CEC? And how is that distributed across models from the last few years? How new does a TV have to be for there to be a reasonable chance of it supporting CEC?
Im really hoping ivy bridge motherboards start including the htpc header. Ivy bridge sounds like a htpc wet dream. I'd love to get rid of the extra wires that my harmony rf extender brings into the picture.
Growing up I was promised a future of flying cars and hover boards, but I'll settle out of court right now for the removal of wires. Induction power, and everything else communicating wireless. Maybe someday, but the cec stuff does sound pretty awesome until then.
You need to get the wire out and also get the logic to read stuff on the wire / write onto it (this is where the Atmel microcontroller in the box comes into the picture). What is read and written is transferred through the USB port and controlled by libCEC / XBMC Eden built-in code.
You are correct you could use our Internal Adapter (when it's released) and tap the CEC wire straight onto it, but the internal adapter relies on 3.3v constant power, which those mainboards supply, again, with enough soldiering you can rig any board to support CEC with the internal adapter, but its time vs reward, and you would be faster to just use the external adapter
Wich case is being used in this setup? I can only see the back in the picture. I am looking for a new case for my new HTPC and this one seems interesting. I am looking for a small one but they have a limited power supply (60-75 watt).
zilexa, Please look up the specs of the Vision 3D 252B. It is ASRock's custom case and doesn't come with inbuilt PSU (there is a laptop power adapter sized unit delivering the power). Also, the case is pretty small, and I won't advise putting in CPUs of more than 45W TDP in there.
I would love to be able to remote control my receiver. But there aint no way I'm paying those kinds of prices. lol. What is wrong with a simple RS232 serial port? It only costs a few bucks for USB to RS232 converter so you are covered even if your pc has no serial port. It is ubiquitous and pretty easy to program.
I got a question you might be able to answer,, at home I have a LG TV and a Samsung HTIB that has no HDMI inputs,,,both units are CEC capable but don't work with each other as missmatched brands
,, however I can only plug my PC into the TV and the TV is connected to the HTIB by HDMI (receiver output to TV) and by optical cable (output from TV to receiver) - I have anything I play on my TV passthrough by optical output to the stereo as luck would have it, the TV allows DTS passthrough on HDMI
If i use the CEC adapter from the PC to TV,, would it be able to control the hometheater in a box connected on a different hdmi line?
I suspect, It's not going to be long until nVIDIA and AMD both start implementing CEC in to their hardware and drivers. So devices like these may possibly become short lived.
There is quite a bit of software driver work involved in supporting this. I am not sure whether NVIDIA and AMD want to devote resources to handling this. Probably, they will just need to license the stuff from Pulse-Eight.
Will this also turn on the tv, when i turn on the tv, like it works with the playstation? Does the pc get turned off when i turn the tv off? And van i start the pc by selecting it from the hdmi device menu of the tv?
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22 Comments
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NickB. - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - link
Really appreciate the love and attention for the HTPC and XBMC world.shadowarachh - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - link
it's mini USB.just sayin...
ganeshts - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - link
oops! sorry, corrected nowr3loaded - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
Why is this tech not integrated into any graphics cards (whether that be Intel/AMD/Nvidia)? It's so useful, a box like this shouldn't have been necessary in the first place.Malard - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
lots of various reasons, mainly support, there are so many variants of the CEC implementation that it is not financially viable for all the vendors to re-roll the CEC library required each time, on top of that, then needing to expose it at the driver level.If they advertise that their GFX card supports CEC and it doesnt work with that particular TV as expected then the customer will return it, despite the graphics card being fine. Resulting in an expensive lost sale
mckirkus - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
Hence "This is an unsupported beta feature"Malard - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
Well, its not unsupported in our adapter, but GFX card vendors stay clear etcMobiusStrip - Saturday, April 7, 2012 - link
What percentage of TVs support CEC? And how is that distributed across models from the last few years? How new does a TV have to be for there to be a reasonable chance of it supporting CEC?Jsw98765 - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
Im really hoping ivy bridge motherboards start including the htpc header. Ivy bridge sounds like a htpc wet dream. I'd love to get rid of the extra wires that my harmony rf extender brings into the picture.Growing up I was promised a future of flying cars and hover boards, but I'll settle out of court right now for the removal of wires. Induction power, and everything else communicating wireless. Maybe someday, but the cec stuff does sound pretty awesome until then.
nubie - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
If I read this correctly, all one needs to do is solder a single wire on the HDMI port to enable this on any motherboard or graphics card?Sign me up, I have plenty of re-work style wrapping wire. I don't need a lousy "htpc" header.
If the internal style would plug directly into the usb header and then I solder 1 wire, I would be completely set.
I don't own an HDMI TV unfortunately, but the day will come, and I will be ready.
ganeshts - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
You need to get the wire out and also get the logic to read stuff on the wire / write onto it (this is where the Atmel microcontroller in the box comes into the picture). What is read and written is transferred through the USB port and controlled by libCEC / XBMC Eden built-in code.Malard - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
You are correct you could use our Internal Adapter (when it's released) and tap the CEC wire straight onto it, but the internal adapter relies on 3.3v constant power, which those mainboards supply, again, with enough soldiering you can rig any board to support CEC with the internal adapter, but its time vs reward, and you would be faster to just use the external adapterzilexa - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
Wich case is being used in this setup? I can only see the back in the picture. I am looking for a new case for my new HTPC and this one seems interesting. I am looking for a small one but they have a limited power supply (60-75 watt).ganeshts - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
zilexa, Please look up the specs of the Vision 3D 252B. It is ASRock's custom case and doesn't come with inbuilt PSU (there is a laptop power adapter sized unit delivering the power). Also, the case is pretty small, and I won't advise putting in CPUs of more than 45W TDP in there.Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
I would love to be able to remote control my receiver. But there aint no way I'm paying those kinds of prices. lol. What is wrong with a simple RS232 serial port? It only costs a few bucks for USB to RS232 converter so you are covered even if your pc has no serial port. It is ubiquitous and pretty easy to program.ganeshts - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
That is a DIY solution :) and good luck getting it integrated all into XBMC. This is a OOTB answer to the home theater control issue.Monkeysweat - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
I got a question you might be able to answer,, at home I have a LG TV and a Samsung HTIB that has no HDMI inputs,,,both units are CEC capable but don't work with each other as missmatched brands,, however I can only plug my PC into the TV and the TV is connected to the HTIB by HDMI (receiver output to TV) and by optical cable (output from TV to receiver) - I have anything I play on my TV passthrough by optical output to the stereo as luck would have it, the TV allows DTS passthrough on HDMI
If i use the CEC adapter from the PC to TV,, would it be able to control the hometheater in a box connected on a different hdmi line?
Malard - Friday, January 27, 2012 - link
Yes, they are a unified bus, so long as all the hdmi wires connect via some device or other, be in the receiver or the TV then you will be fine.There is also no restriction as to where in the chain you connect the CEC Adapter
Monkeysweat - Friday, January 27, 2012 - link
sweeeeeeeeetwill this be made to work with raspberry pi as well? Kinda funny to buy an adapter that'll cost more than the device running it, but c'est la vie
Googer - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
I suspect, It's not going to be long until nVIDIA and AMD both start implementing CEC in to their hardware and drivers. So devices like these may possibly become short lived.ganeshts - Thursday, March 1, 2012 - link
There is quite a bit of software driver work involved in supporting this. I am not sure whether NVIDIA and AMD want to devote resources to handling this. Probably, they will just need to license the stuff from Pulse-Eight.Maverik11 - Saturday, December 8, 2012 - link
Will this also turn on the tv, when i turn on the tv, like it works with the playstation? Does the pc get turned off when i turn the tv off? And van i start the pc by selecting it from the hdmi device menu of the tv?