INTERACT FORUM
Devices => PC's and Other Hardware => Topic started by: InflatableMouse on January 25, 2014, 12:12:33 pm
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So I got my new NUC yesterday. It's up and running and its mostly fine. There is one major annoyance however, and I'm sure some smart people here have suggestions :P.
The NUC is connected via HDMI to the receiver. TV is obviously connected to the receiver :).
When the TV is turned off however, VNC can't connect. Actually, it connects but immediately disconnects. Intel has acknowledged (http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-034652.htm) the issue and suggests to use RDP or revert to the default Windows driver (duhuh). One of the discussions on Intel Community can be found here (https://communities.intel.com/thread/46788?start=0&tstart=0).
I don't want to use RDP, because it locks the desktop session and when the RDP disconnects, it requires the desktop session to be authenticated first. It's a HTPC to be used for everyone without the use of keyboard and mouse, so this is simply not an option.
Reverting to a default VGA driver for obvious reasons is also not an option.
The Intel support page also mentions people have had success using a VGA terminator (for pure headless systems) or a HDMI device called Dr. HDMI (76 euros for crying out loud!). VGA dummy terminator isn't an option and 76 euros for fixing a stupid handshake problem that shouldn't even exist is also out of the question.
So, what other options do I have?
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Newer Receivers / TV tend to have HDMI EDID persistance that should prevent this stuff. That said, I ended up having to put my DVI (read HDMI) Detective Plus back in line as the EDID was changing when the PJ was powered on/off.
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I noticed I can turn the TV off as long as my receiver is turned on with HTPC selected. Useless, as I want to access the HTPC when someone else is watching TV.
I've never seen this problem before with any of my other PC's as HTPC. The previous one reverted to 800x600 resolution when the receiver was turned off but via VNC that can be easily fixed.
So is there no software solution or something cheaper than that silly dr.hdmi rip off? What is this HDMI detective you speak of? Something similar I reckon?
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Internet search gave me this:
www.gefen.eu/EXT-HDMI-EDIDP.htm (http://www.gefen.eu/EXT-HDMI-EDIDP.htm)
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Here is some info on EDID override:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/jj133967(v=vs.85).aspx
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1091403/edid-override-thread
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Another thread from Tulli with detailed instructions on EDID override - http://www.avsforum.com/t/1227161/edid-overrides-to-solve-bitstreaming-issues-for-ati-5xxxs
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Thanks I'll look into that.
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Splashtop (http://www.splashtop.com/ (http://www.splashtop.com/)) is a third-party alternative to RDP and works very well, it doesn't lock the desktop and doesn't require re-authentication afterwards. I've used it without the TV being switched on.
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Ow nice. I see they have a Windows client now as well.
I had it on my ipads but they didn't have Windows client so after I got rid of the ipads, I never reconsidered using it.
I'll give it a try. Thanks!
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I had a brainfart; I'm using Debian on my client.
There appears to be a client for Ubuntu but it has dependencies I can't satisfy on Debian.
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I had a brainfart; I'm using Debian on my client.
There appears to be a client for Ubuntu but it has dependencies I can't satisfy on Debian.
The 12.04 client seems to work fine on my i386 wheezy.
Can't get the server to work though.
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Thanks. I might have another look one day as it does seem to have some cool advantages (3D, mainly) over traditional remote control applications.
I got so tired of this problem that I ordered a Dr. HDMI device for that rediculous amount. Cheap plastic device with virtually nothing in it for a problem that should never occur but oh well.
The problem as it turned out was not just remote control, but apparently the entire video logic is shut down so MC also loses its audio/video device settings and this is not picked up when the receiver is turned back on. In fact, closing/restarting MC doesn't help either so each time I had to reboot for MC to pick up the correct devices again.
Anyways, DrHDMI seems to work fine. I can use VNC again to remote control the HTPC even when the receiver/TV is turned off and MC is no longer losing device settings.
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Yup it is way too expensive.... but it "just" works.
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Wow - these NUC's (http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-board-dn2820fykh.html?wapkw=intel+nuc+n2820) can be cheap. Just got one including 4GB of Mem for the equivalent of US$200. It will be fun seeing how these things perform.
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Simple: It won't. ;D.
On a more serious note, its a mobile celeron with HD2500. Don't expect to break any records. Other than that these are very nice machines to play around with.
I posted my Jrmark (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=54396.msg595277#msg595277) in that jrmark thread.
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I'm not expecting much in the way of performance but it should be fine with RO STD and it should be better than using DLNA to a PS3 or WD TV Live to play content.
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I'm not sure what version of GPU it is using but according to the Intel Doco (http://downloadmirror.intel.com/23417/eng/DN2820FY_TechProdSpec01.pdf) the GPU runs "up to 756MHz" and supports HW Acceleration for all major Codecs:
The Intel HD graphics controller features the following:
• HDMI 1.4
• 3D graphics hardware acceleration supporting DirectX*11, OCL 1.2, OGL ES
Halti/2.0/1.1, OGL 3.2
• Video decode hardware acceleration supporting H.264, MPEG2, MVC, VC-1, WMV9
and VP8 formats
• Video encode hardware acceleration supporting H.264, MPEG2 and MVC formats
• High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) 1.4/2.1 support for content
protection
Others are reporting that video playback is fine.... but I guess I will know this weekend!
Edit - more on the Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail) (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-Bay-Trail.103037.0.html)
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Regarding the original question, which I see you have solved by spending $'s anyway, could you not have modified Windows to accept a second, concurrent RDP login, which would have its own screen resolution settings and hence would not affect or be affected by the NUC video settings, and as a separate session it would not require re-authentication of the primary NUC user, and it wouldn't lock up the desktop session of the NUC either. In fact a user could be watching the TV while you fiddle around on an RDP session doing maintenance or whatever. Theoretically when the TV or Receiver was turned off, the RDP session would still work.
There may be other reasons why this doesn't meet your original needs, such as you wanted to be logged on to the NUC using the same UserID as MC. Or the NUC may not have enough grunt to run both a user desktop session running MC, and at the same time run a RDP session. But it might have been worth thinking about.
The method to make Windows 7 accept a second concurrent login via RDP is described here: http://www.serverwatch.com/server-tutorials/how-to-enable-concurrent-remote-desktop-sessions-in-windows.html
Although it was originally created for Windows XP, people claim it works with Windows 7 SP1. I didn't see anything there for Windows 8/8.1, but there may be a solution somewhere on the internet.
As usual, all disclaimers. It's your PC so if you break it, it's your problem. ;D
When the TV is turned off however, VNC can't connect.
So, what other options do I have?
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I couldn't find that for Windows 8.1. I ran into so much junk its probably full of viruses/malware so I gave up.
I used to have concurrent RDP patch on Windows 7, worked good.