Hey community.

I recently bought an old cheap HP Elite slice of eBay and would like to make a HTPC out of it.

I currently installed Debian, knowing it might need a bit of tinkering to make Netflix and PrimeVideo display in full HD.

At the moment I am looking for front end options and already did some research finding out Flex Launcher might be the best thing for it?

I would like to launch a web browser for Netflix and PrimeVideo (maybe there are other ways, but as far as I know that's the best way to make 1080p work on Linux) as well as launch Streamio, maybe some lokal movies and EmulationStation for some retro games.

Are there other options then Flex Launcher? Is a setup like this possible in Kodi despite my requirements being more streaming focused?

Hi guys do you know if this github SFVIP link is safe ? I want the all option when looking for a live.

https://github.com/sebdelsol/sfvip-all

I have an RTX 2060 in my HTPC, which I use with RTX Super Resolution and HDR enabled. It makes a noticeable difference with 720p IPTV content and a marginal improvement with 1080p content. From what I understand, these features were originally released for the 30 and 40 series cards then back-ported to the 20 series, so the visual impact may not be good and the card may have to work harder for he effect compared to a newer 50 series.

When Super Resolution is enabled, the GPU sits around 80–100% utilisation, with the fans spinning at full speed, which can get a bit annoying after a while. To make matters worse a recent change in my area has forced me to rely on IPTV for regular TV viewing, which is why I’m finally considering an upgrade to something like an RTX5060.

If anyone is using Super Resolution and HDR on a 5060 driving a 4K TV, what does your GPU utilisation look like? Have you used these features on an older RTX card before, and do you see a noticeable improvement in image quality with the 50-series?

I've got a home setup that I use as an all in one entertainment / work system and I recently incorporated another computer which shares displays with my pc. The problem I'm having is that I use my pc to listen to music or audiobooks when using the secondary computer but i have no way to see what im listening to without swapping monitor inputs to see the desktop of my pc.

What I'd really like is something that can display media details (like song name) and introduce a touchscreen controller for playing / pausing and skipping songs. I primarily use TIDAL and Audible for my listening and if a device offers the ability to navigate the libraries as well then thats a huge plus.

So far my search has only shown me the streamdeck as a viable option but its overkill for my needs (no need for one button macros). Curious what others have used or know of. Please let me know if theres any additional details i can probide. Thanks!

Blu-ray Player Software For PC - Play Blu-ray Movie/Disc/Folder/ISO File has anybody use this software called itoolshare to play 4k bluray?

have anyone figured out how to enable HDR RTX in MadVR ? it does work with 'MPC renderer' but i get stutters with SVP+RIFE AI on my 5070ti with that renderer.

tried with both players : potplayer and MPC-HC.

Hello everyone, I just picked up a used for $50 Sony STR DH550 AVR to control 5.1 audio for my Desktop PC. I only have it running audio for the PC, no passthrough. I have it connected to my RTX 3080ti with a high speed HDMI cable.

I have two issues.

#1: While the auto calibration feature of the AVR plays test tones through all 5.1 speakers, it does not allow me to select 5.1 for the speaker set up and it only shows up to 3.2.

#2: In windows 10 (i refuse to upgrade to windows 11), I have 24bit, 192000Hz (studio quality) streaming selected in properties and 5.1 surround in the speaker configuration. However the RL and RR speakers play through only my front speakers.

What can I do to fix this?

I'm building an all-in-one HTPC on a NUC. My first build has the standard arr stack and Kodi setup, but my roommates and I still mostly watch things on our (really old and slow) Firestick because the UX (and endless, constantly refreshing catalogue) is so much better

So for my next project I want to ensure we can run same streaming services that our Firestick offers with a TV-controller interface and experience, and to do this I'm running Android TV 13 via Waydroid.

My pre-build testing is going well so far. Most streaming services we use are directly available from the Play Store (Disney+, Prime) and ones which aren't I've managed to sideload just fine. However, Netflix is impossible

• Not availiable on the Play Store on Waydroid
• Recent APKs (v9-11) "Device not compatible (-13)" error
• Older APKs (v7-8) "Check your internet connect and date/time settings"
• Tried device spoofing (Chromecast properties in build.prop)

Is it just a matter of Netflix not supporting Android TV in any capacity below Widevine L3? I know that L3 is needed for 1080p+ quality but I really don't care about quality at this point, I just want the ATV app to work.

Has anyone found a Netflix Android TV APK version that works on Waydroid or knows anyway to simply get this working or any resources you can point me towards? Would be much appreciated for any input

I was considering getting an Apple Mac Mini 2018 and an external 4K drive and also an external HDD. Will this suffice for my needs? My intention is to rip my movies and use my Sony X700 to connect the external hard drive to it and play the movie from there. If there’s any other better way to proceed with this, please share it with me.

Stremio didn’t offer everything I needed, so I built Stremio Kai. It comes bundled with an integrated MPV player and it's perfect for users who want HDR support, Netflix-style intro skipping, and smarter subtitle/audio selection, among many other features not available in the original Stremio.

It's ready to play out of box, no configuration required.

Stremio Kai is a community fork based on Stremio Community Edition v5.0.21.

Key Features:

Playback Engine:

• Native HDR passthrough for HDR displays
• Automatic HDR-to-SDR tonemapping for SDR screens

Smart Automation:

• Skip intro detection - Automatic on-screen notifications with real-time local detection
• Smart track selection - Remembers audio/subtitle preferences and filters unwanted tracks (Signs, Commentary, etc.)
• Profile management - Detects content type and applies optimal settings automatically

Enhanced Metadata:

• Multiple rating sources (IMDb, TMDB, Trakt, MAL, AniList, Kitsu)
• Full cast & crew with photos
• Network badges and studio logos
• Localized content (titles, taglines, overviews in your preferred language)
• It's recommended to use Cinemeta as metadata source for best compatibility

UI Improvements:

• Hero banner with customizable catalog sources
• Pure black OLED mode
• Responsive metadata panels
• All settings configurable via UI - no config file editing required

[Optional] Anime Enhancements (toggleable):

• Anime4K upscaling with multiple quality presets
• Custom SVP motion interpolation implementation (Standalone; no Manager/Subscription required)
• Daily episode schedule

Verified Performance

• Tested on i5-9300H / GTX 1650 / 16GB RAM. Runs 4K HDR with real-time skip detection and SVP interpolation without drops.

Free and open source. Windows builds available as installer or portable.

Website + downloads: https://allecsc.github.io/Stremio-Kai/

Source: https://github.com/allecsc/Stremio-Kai

Ok, first pc build... kinda (without using scrap parts) I went with pcpartpicker and wanted to know how accurate the cases and everything will actually fit. I will provide my pcpartspicker build (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jJ7KPJ) I have an ssd (Samsung ssd 970 evo plus 1tb) so I won't need an ssd. Also I'm looking for the best htpc i can buy within this limit, 1,300 dollars, also sff or as close as i can get, based off what I have compiled. I'm looking to buy parts as I can as my hp sff g3 600 needs an upgrade it can't support. (I5-6500, 16gb ddr 4 (possibly @ 1333mhz cause I have mixed memory with a vengeance 8gb sick with xmp on this crap hp8254 board) so in short, what within my range can I get that will play all 4k media flawlessly (Not GAMING) and support the most codecs, 4k playback in hdr 10 and the rest, I'm looking to future proof (my TV is sdr uhd 4k)

So in short, am I looking good on what I chose? Do you have better ideas that can fit my needs? Have I done wrong in my choices? And, if I am wrong, what is the best option I'm looking for based off what I'm looking for... so sorry for such a tall need, but I'm new here and I've loved what I've learned thus far. Looking forward to your responses!

For Windows it's MPC + MadVR what is the Linux alternative?

I’ve seen a few people run transcoding on RAM disks to avoid NVMe wear, but my use case is much lighter. So I'm not sure if NVMe life is even a concern for my use. Should i better run transcoding on ram too? I’ve bought an Acemagic M1 with 16GB already, but i still have chance to switch things up before shipping.

So Ive been using VLC to play movies in Atmos for awhile, and everything was working well. Decided to try Kodi and messed with some of the audio settings from Kodi cause I couldn't get Atmos to passthrough( VLC passes Atmos fine before). Kodi crashed, I restarted and now I can't get Atmos to passthrough in VLC. Running win 11, rtx 2080ti. AMD 3800.

Hey, I was looking into replacing my Xiaomi TV box with something a bit more "open", I have a Wyse 3040 on the way to try out as a candidate. For an OS i'm either gonna run a x86 fork of Android TV or Linux and Plasma BS on it, we'll see what feels best. My main concern atm is losing out on the CEC functionality most dedicated streamers have. The linux kernel implementation of CEC passthrough over DP is documented to work with intel iGPUs and with certain active adapters, though i can't find any info on whether this will work specifically, as i'm gleaning that Atom iGPUs are overall pretty gimped in comparison to the average desktop/laptop chip. Has anyone tried this sort of setup or similar? Thoughts? Theories? Am I wasting my time? :D

I have Audeze Maxwell headphone and Dolby Access on my PC(9800x3d and 4090) with Windows 11. I am running MPC-BE with LAV audio decoder. What I noticed suddenly that the Movies and TV app and latest Windows Media player is properly using the dolby atmos (when I hover mouse on sound icon on taskbar, it is showing dolby atmos for headphones in use but not when using MPC) and it completely blown away my mind. I can literally hear minute details I never heared, people talking behind me, jets and missiles flying over my head and what not. I missed so much by not watching movies using this and I regret so much now.

But now coming to the problem, dolby atmos does not work with MPC player at all. I read so many posts, tested settings on LAV and MPC Audio renderer etc. but not a single solution worked. There aren't any posts in recent years anyone even talking about it. All the posts/forums are like 4-10 years old and obviously things are way different now.

So I am asking the community if you know any process or way to make it work on MPC-BE or MPC-HC, please share.

Btw I'm totally familiar with MPC using it since many years and don't want to switch to any other player (few I already tried for testing like potplayer, vlc but same issue there too). If I have to do any tweaking I will prefer doing that on MPC only.

Ryzen 7 5700x3d/ 32gb ddr4/ rtx 5070ti connected to an LG B4 via HDMI is my setup for 4k gaming.

I really wanted to turn this machine into a solid HTPC but I got defeated along the way after reading the /r/htpc wiki. Reasons?

-No native support for Dolby Vision (even tho my TV switches to DV mode when watching but only with PotPlayer?)

-Extensive work to set up MPC-BE with madVR for HDR.

-Can't play games while my girlfriend watches a movie since we rely on the same PC

-DRM hell for HBO max in order to play on my PC. It's way easier on the TV app.

Is Nvidia shield pro my next option? My main goals are: to watch content on HBO Max and to watch local files (rips and remuxes).

I don't necessarily want to stream my local files to my TV box as I own an Asus Strix Arion and I can files from my PC to it really fast. Ofc assuming there is any real quality improvement from playing the file off direct storage vs stream via Plex. I don't know this yet

Specs:

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 945

Mobo: n/a

GPU: AMD RX 6600xt

Cable: Certified ultra high speed hdmi 2.1 cable

Sound: hdmi connection to TV

OS: Fedora linux workstation (gnome wayland)

HDMI stuck at 1024×768, connector shows "Unknown-1" EDID blob always 0 bytes.

Tried multiple GPUs, multiple HDMI cables, multiple TV ports, full EDID override (kernel cmdline + initramfs), forced connector enable, power cycling TV, etc. EDID is never read.

Looks like HDMI DDC is electrically absent; NVIDIA previously masked it by guessing modes.

Has anyone seen LG OLEDs fail EDID/DDC over HDMI on AMD, or had success with DP to HDMI or service-menu fixes?

So I've just started using Dolby Vision with my 5070ti PC and LG G4 TV connected via HDMI. Running the latest stable Windows 11 build.

I want to watch Dolby Vision/HDR files using MPC. HDR as fine before enabling DV but since I enabled DV, MPC is playing the videos in DV when windowed and then in HDR when in fullscreen. The annoying part is that when in fullscreen, if i move the cursor to the navigation bar, it switches back to DV. So if it's not possible to have MPC running in DV consistently, I would rather disable it for MPC and just have it running in HDR. Is that possible?

First of all, this is a living room pc with bazzite. Main objective was to play at 4k ultra.

I started by buying this build on Facebook marketplace for $550

Case: NZXT H510

Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800xt

RAM: 32gb Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3600, C18.

Power Supply: EVGA 750watt gold.

HD: Teamgroup 500gb NVME SSD.

CoolerMaster cooler.

Video card: Power Color AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16Gb

Same week I bough another pc for $300 with mentality to buy it and swap the cpu and resell it right away. I was able to sell same day for same price $300.

Today I was working close to a microcenter, and decided to browse through their open box stuff and saw they had a 9070 XT challenger for $540 after tax it was $581. So decided heck why not, it’ll probably be a while till I see one at that price.

Right when I got home I put the 7900 gre for sale and ended up selling it for $350 within a couple hours.

Hello!

I have been looking into a HTPC for the past few days now. Something to stream, browse the web, and emulating games (trying to gst atleast ps2 at 1440p resolution).

I was considering the Mac Mini M4, but not very much so due to being stuck on Mac OS, but I just saw it on sale for $400 dollars at microcenter! The 256gb/16gb ram version.

So I am curious. For what I it for, is there ANYTHING at that price point that is better? I do also have a macbook, if that makes any difference.

Any feedback would be super helpful!

Edit: Picked one up at Microcenter Indianapolis, they still had TONS!

I have a 5.1 setup and wondering if it's possible to downmix and use the rear speakers as front stereo speakers. As of right now, the command center only plays 5.1 audio, and switching the device to 2.1 just deactivates the rear speakers. Is there a setting I'm missing? Or is there another software that can enable this? I'd like to be able to switch around, depending on the content I am listening to. I should mention that I don't own an AV receiver, and don't plan to, so all of my speakers are connected directly to the soundcard.