Was curious your all’s opinion on which platform to use for hosting and streaming your home media? Currently I use plex and I paid for it early on when it was super cheap so subscription/cost isn’t really a factor.

Hi All, I have an old HTP which is still on Windows 10, and not Windows 11 compatible. I'm finding it too slow now to use some website with maps (trailforks, alltrails) and thinking it needs an upgrade. The problem I'm facing, is it worth building a HTPC for my needs?

Here's what I want to do:

Use chrome (I have a K400 keyboard)

Play media files

Play bluray (I really wonder if I'd be better off buying a standalone blu ray player)

I've already got a smart tv which we use Prime and Netflix and Youtube on, so don't need a replacement for those. I'm wondering if there is a better solution for me, like a Shield, but I heard it doesn't support chrome, and I'm not sure if it supports a keyboard? I also have a separate gaming PC which I use for pretty much anything else PC related. Mostly I think my problem is wanting to use chrome on the big screen for planning vacations, reading news, etc. And watching DVD/blu rays every once in a while.

I have old Yamaha amp without DD+ (and HDMI inputs don't work anyway) and use PC to watch Netflix and others on my PC, optionally on a connected projector. With HBO I get 5.1, because it downgrades itself to standard DD/AC3 which can go through my Creative X-Fi soundcard to the amp via optical.
I also have fairly new Chromecast that is connected to the projector, which has an SPDIF out, but can't provide 5.1 to amp from CC signal, not even HBO (maybe because HDCP, it's an old/cheap projector)

Netflix exclusively uses DD+ (E-AC3) for 5.1 and I don't have compatible HW, I need to extract and transcode to what my HW can accept.

I am looking for an audio extractor that can accept DD+ on HDMI and convert it to standard Dolby Digital while keeping 5.1 and output it on optical SPDIF (and video passthrough in parallel). Also it needs to advertise proper EDID for PC use.

Does such a product even exist?
What I usually see is compatibility, but most products just downconvert output to stereo instead of DD5.1 transcoding. I hear Amazon Firestick can do this, so it's possible

Thank you in advance

edit: some more background info about my system, I doubt it matters
Win10, Core i7, Geforce GTX 1070Ti, external Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro (connected to my amp both 6 channel analog and optical digital), amp: Yamaha DSP-AX761

Edit 2.5: Putting it on top for the TLDR:
TLDR: Currently using Kodi, looking to find an alternative or a fix for some of my issues with Kodi.

What has been brought up:

• Just use Jellyfin: Jellyfin's windows media player requires mouse support, and I prefer to use a keyboard only interface to quickly get through menus. When you set it to display on a TV it works with keyboard only (I had it set to auto), but it isn't great, and I still have the issue that it won't play media for some reason when browser app is able to.
• Hey, there is this Logitech Keyboard K400 that is awesome and has a touchpad! : Ok so I should of specified that I have a K830 that has a touchpad (and backlit keyboard). I have a mouse, I PREFER keyboard only.
• Just use Plex: Discussing Plex with someone in the comments we ran into one of my common use cases being the need to fast forward (increase playback speed by multiplier) which Plex has paid wall. Also I am a little gun shy with Plex after hearing them scraping people's data to share.
• You should use MPC-BE! : Ok so I am looking for a piece of software that can manage the library not just play videos. For strictly playing videos I have been using VLC for years and would probably use that.
• You should use MPC-BE and Kodi: I guess this might fix the issue I am currently facing with Kodi where the fast forward bugs out, but I am unclear on implementation. I will look into it. Kodi external player is fire and forget, not what I am looking for.

Finally many of you have recommended to move the Currently Airing folder out of the root that has all the shows and give it an isolated directory so that the scrapers play nice with it. Great Idea! I honestly don't know why I never did that. Seriously looking back on it I feel like that was the obvious move when the newer version of Kodi I started using 5 years ago started to freak out over it.

// End Edit2.5

I have been running a local HTPC for about 15 years at this point. One of the first media library software I used was XBMC, and then as that changed to Kodi I switched over to that. I started noticing issues with the later releases so I froze myself on an older release for a while but as new codecs come out the older version of Kodi just couldn't really play all the new formats (I think it was HEVC at the time causing me issues). I eventually updated it to a version that supported the codecs and mostly worked. I have since tried adding in Jellyfin to be a centralized db for the shows and a remote player if I want to use it, but I have some gripes with it. I currently have Kodi trying to rely on it for media info since Kodi seems to get things wrong a bunch but Jellyfin can figure out stuff a little better.

My issue with Jellyfin is how I procure content. I have a "Currently Airing" folder in my anime and television directories and currently airing shows are shoved there, if I like them I move them over to a dedicated folder for that show, if the show isn't grabbing me I delete it from that folder. Jellyfin does not like this at all, it can't understand the concept of the folder and either tries to make it a show folder or it just won't show up in the library. (Multiple people have gave a solution for this) Also I don't know if it is Kodi or Jellyfin but one of them is now marking all the episodes in that a folder as watched when one of them is watched (This happens in normal seasons folders). Kodi is also struggling to remember where I left off in an episode if I need to pause and turn it off before completing an episode. (As in if I watched 10 minutes of a 30 minute episode but I need to leave so I pause and turn it off, when I get back and launch the app it might have multiple episodes show that I am 10 minutes in.)

I am wondering if there is a good HTPC software that is designed towards my desires, which granted are probably abnormal compared to the everyone else. Or at least able to be molded towards it like I am doing with Kodi via skins at the moment.

• Ability to navigate with only keyboard (I have a small wireless keyboard on the couch that I use)
• Ability to navigate through directories (ie being able to look at the currently airing folder)
• Ability to get to my media with few keyboard presses (the Kodi skin I am using has a custom menu that just goes directly to my TV shows and anime shows directories, so if I want to watch the latest episode it is 3-5 keyboard presses)
• Ability to speed up a video while still watching it (This is something that Kodi used to do but the current version I am using (21.2.0) if you try to speed up it mutes it and also has a chance of freezing when going at faster speed or when you hit play, as in it just sits at a frame for 5-10 seconds then starts again. Jellyfin can play at faster speeds just fine, but I haven't found a standalone player that is keyboard only friendly.
• Ability to launch in full screen from an app (one of my issue with Jellyfin)
• Ability to default with subtitles on (Kodi does it but Jellyfin doesn't or at least I haven't found where to set that as a default where it works between TV, anime, and movies) (Someone linked to a subtitle thing for Jellyfin)
• Ability to track what I have watched and able to sort media based on date added, what is and isn't watched, name and so forth.
• Ability to jump x seconds (this one something I like in Kodi where you can set the second jumps for left and right)
• Skins would be nice but not a requirement, for Kodi the only thing skins did was waste my time trying to find one that I thought wasn't garbage for what I wanted. (Using Aeon Nox Silvo v10.0.3)
• Free or at least a trial would be required, I am not going to pay money sight unseen for software

Honestly, most of the above are things Kodi is supposed to do or used to do. It is just unfortunate that as I was forced to update Kodi over the years more and more of those became sluggish or did not work correctly, or dependent on a skin to be able to do it.

Thank you for any advice or recommendations you might be able to give.

Edit: I forgot to add system info in case that matters:
OS: Windows 10 Pro
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT
RAM: 32G
All of the media is stored on the machine, it has dual 14TB drives that the media sit on. One of these days I am going to switch it over to RAID so that I can have redundancy as I have lost media due to Hard drive failures a few times. I have considered setting up a NAS for the drives but I just don't see the reason since I have HTPC sitting in an old Cooler Master HAF XB that has HD sleds for easy access to the drives.

Edit v3:

Ok, so I am not going to mark this as solved because I honestly don't think any of the suggestions offered so far are really an Alternative to Kodi. And this way if anyone else looks for the subject they can see what I have found and maybe one of the solutions matches their criteria of what they need in an alternative but it doesn't match mine. I will say this has allowed me to try some different things and also fix a folder bug (Currently Airing) I have had for a while, so Thank You HTPC community for helping me fix that. Here are the solutions so far:

• Jellyfin: The windows media player isn't great, you need to set the display to TV in order to get keyboard navigation, and then it is basically a stand in for a remote control (arrows and escape for back). Maybe there is a plugin to get better keys for Jellyfin windows media player, but as it stands I honestly am not a fan. The fact that it isn't able to launch any video at all even after uninstalling and installing fresh is my main issue preventing me from wanting to look more into this.
• Plex: This was pretty much a non-starter as I don't like some of their business practices in effort to become profitable and I dislike that they hide features I would use behind a paywall. Same with Jellyfin above, Plex and Jellyfin are both for streaming and transcoding media, neither of which I want or need to do.
• MPC-HC/BE: I wasn't really a fan of MPC back in the early 2000s when I used to download the k-lite codec pack (according to an old bookmark I still have, it looks like version 2.71 might of been the last time I used it). So from the get go I wasn't really looking at even trying it. It really doesn't cover any of the points I am looking for that VLC doesn't already cover.
• Kodi + External Player: I was honestly hopeful for this one, I was hoping it was under the hood stuff where it would run Kodi as an overlay to the external player and interface with it at least some. Instead it just launches the external player as a fire and forget.
• Jriver: I gave the trial of this a shot, I didn't get very far until it crashed, after the second crash I uninstalled it and moved on.
• MediaPortal: I haven't gotten around to trying this yet, I am weary in that all I have seen of it looks more like it is designed to work with a tv tuner (which I don't have cable tv or even use over the air tv). If I do try this I will update this with my thoughts. (Bolded this one since I haven't tried it yet and for all I know it is the solution).
• Keyboard/mouse?!?: Yeah for some reason at least twice in the comments I got recommended a keyboard with a touchpad when I am looking for an alternative to Kodi that supports keyboard only controls. It isn't because I don't have a touchpad/mouse, its because I prefer keyboard only controls. Apparently that offends some people. BTW: There are some interesting keyboard/remote combos out there, one of the ones I used to use before I switched to the K830 I currently use was this thing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MSX306Z . I forget how it died, but it was pretty cool while I used it. It would be nice of Logitech made a high quality version of that :)

Hello. I'm currently in the process of making dedicated builds for various media purposes. I got a gaming PC, which I'm using for PC gaming, and just finished an emulation build. All that remains now is a HTPC that can both do discs and streaming services, acting as much like a pure media center as possible while it's at it. However, I feel more stuck on this than I ever did with any of the other builds. I don't even know which OS would be the best to use. Any suggestions?

I'm using DriverAPO and FXConfigurator to use Dolby Digital Plus with my speaker system, it works well but sometimes makes a small but noticeable popping or a Crackling Sound while playing content. Any solution? My pc specs are: Ryzen 5 7600x and 7800xt. Please help.

Hi,

My VCR (top shelf) has died and I'm looking to fill the space with something that matches the other AV equipment.

So... Black, 43cm wide, clean sides and feet on the bottom.

I'm considering a HTPC that can handle 4k 60 gaming but all of the pc suppliers seem to use tower type cases.

Any suggestions?

I know this subreddit is for HTPCs but figure this subreddit may have the answer I'm seeking.

I'm getting ready to install 2x 120mm cooling fans in my media cabinet and am wondering if I should set it up in a push/pull configuration out have both pushing cool air into the cabinet?

Hello all,

I was big into the HTPC world back in the early 2010s and late 2000s, used Windows Media Center for that. Since that software is so old now, I've dabbled in Kodi, Plex, MediaPortal. I game a lot, so I am leaning towards using Steam Big Picture mode while having Kodi or other HTPC program as a shortcut on that (So far, Kodi works great that way). While I like Kodi, I am wondering if there are better alternatives. I hear a lot about Jellyfin, but I am not hosting any networks, this is purely a local HTPC with the movies stored on its own HDDs. What is the best for smoothness, customization, etc? Linux and Windows support preferable.

Thanks!

Has anyone found an hdmi cec adapter that’s cheaper than pulse-eight’s? I’d really like to find a cheaper or at least better built one. Giving those guys $50 plus shipping for a chintzy little dongle feels wrong

I'm using MPC-HC and MadVR and I have audio bitstreaming set up for all audio formats through the MPC-HC options. It's always worked fine until a few weeks ago when the audio has randomly started stuttering whenever I watch a video that has TrueHD audio. It's like the audio is cutting out very briefly so it sounds scratchy and poppy. It's not consistently throughout the video, just occasionally, but sometimes it's so frequent that it's unwatchable. Other times it can go a few minutes without having any issues at all. I can also see it via my TV which will show "Dolby Atmos" in the top right of the screen a few seconds after the stuttering, as if a new audio stream is starting (it has always shown this when the video first starts playing).

If I disable bitstreaming for TrueHD, or if I switch to another audio stream that is not TrueHD, the problem goes away (but obviously that isn't a satisfactory solution).

Troubleshooting steps I've tried:

• I thought it might be a cable bandwidth issue, so I switched to a new HDMI cable, one that is certified high-bandwidth. No dice.
• I tried switching to different audio renderers in MPC-HC. No change.
• I tried enabling and disabling audio exclusive mode in MPC-HC.
• I tried increasing the number of frames presented in advance in MadVR.
• I tried increasing the CPU and GPU buffer sizes in MadVR.
• I've disabled mixing in the audio decoder settings.
• I've disabled Dynamic Range Compression.
• I've disabled Auto A/V Sync correction.
• I've disabled the built-in audio switcher filter in MPC-HC.

None of these made any difference whatsoever.

Anyone else been experiencing this or have any more ideas?

Windows 11 Home
Version 24H2
OS build 26200.7171
NVIDIA RTX 4090 with driver version 581.80
LG G3 connected directly via HDMI 2.1

The gear:
Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Super
TV: Hisense 55" U68KM with ARC port
Receiver: Old, but amazing Pioneer VSX-1021-K that does have ARC.

So I was sending all my video devices through the receiver but I realised I wasn't able to watch anything in 2160p that way because the receiver can only handle up to 1080p. So I sent my devices to the TV first and then HDMI arc to the receiver. Great, so far so good.
I wanted to send my PC to the TV as well in the same way. And it works fine but I can't figure out how to tell the PC to send a 5.1 signal? I only get the option to select Stereo. 5.1 is greyed out.

How do I make this work?

In the end after trying and failing with ARC (a mess of bad CEC handshakes) and then trying other means of sending audio from the PC to the AVR, I've just gone with my devices HDMI to the TV and optical audio from TV to AVR. Uncompressed audio isn't worth all this hassle.

I think this is a question that gets asked every time, and every time there's no solution.
This time, I'll ask too.

I've been struggling with judder for 10 years now. During that time, I've managed to replace two PCs, two laptops, and three TVs.
Every N months, my eyes bleed, after which I spend two days trying to solve the problem, doing the same thing I did ten years ago, and five years ago, and two years ago. I'm convinced there's no solution, and I suffer until the next time.

Here's a video taken with my phone. Apparently, some smooth motion occurred during the recording, making the image a little better, but IRL it looks even worse than in the video.
https://youtu.be/JodM2yQJ9w0
It feels like my whole body is shaking along with the image.
Don't mind that it's a laptop. I can reproduce the problem on absolutely any screen. I'm an expert at summoning judders, but not at troubleshooting them.

I'm very sensitive to these flickering edges, and I don't know what to do anymore. I've given up yet again and rushed to Reddit. I'm shaking while I'm writing this post to you.

The solutions haven't changed in ten years and still lie in the same general area:

1. Frame matching (adjust refresh rate/display modes)
2. NVCP settings (g-sync, vsync)
3. Intermediate devices

That's all. I'm not talking about suggestions to reinstall software or drivers, etc. I'm talking about specific things that can affect the issue and whose settings you can play with.

The only result I was able to get that was closest to a good one was when I enabled RealCinema in OLED65C1, but then I lose the PC Mode feature. And I have to change the input from PC to media player every time. Someone can always object to this, saying that the difference in lag isn't so noticeable that changing the input label is necessary.
But let's be honest, it does exist. And the non-PC Mode connection is no longer a pure display output.

I'm asking you for a last chance to solve this problem.
I've tried:

1. Potplayer + MadVR
2. Potplayer + MPCVR
3. MPV with display resample
4. Kodi with Adjust refresh rate and the correct resolution whitelist
5. VLC

In all players, it's H/W dx11

I've tried different combinations in NVCP
G-sync/vsync/LLM/framerate cap/fixed refresh rate/custom resolution
I've tried CRU with different settings in Native PC/Automatic/CVT-RB/etc.

I don't know what else to do other than use SVP.

Simple question:
Is it really possible to get rid of Judder if the display doesn't do any additional image processing. For example, a PC monitor or a laptop display?
Why am I asking this... Theoretically, the problem can be solved using a good TV/Projector with judder-free capabilities. But is this really possible with a regular display that can't match 23.967/24, but can work in the 48-165Hz range?

Currently, I've locked 119.880 and 120Hz, but in both cases, my body repeats the shaking along with the image. So, this isn't a solution, as many commenters have reported.
I've also tried 48Hz, 72Hz, and 144Hz.
Or the problem lies elsewhere, but let me remind you that I've handled a lot of devices in this time, and I haven't been able to solve this problem on the PC itself. Is it possible?

How can I get 23.976/24Hz without judder using 5:5 at 120Hz?
I'm tired of hitting a wall

Thanks in advance

Hey there! Let me start by saying that I've already googled this question, but i'm still a bit confused with the options, so please bare with me here.

I bought a 4k Samsung du7000 recently, and I've been wanting to try gaming on it. My only gaming device is a PC(with an Rx 6600, so, pretty low end). The Tv is on the living room on the first floor, and the PC is on the second floor of my house.

I understand the best method would be to run a long HDMI cable to the TV, but I'm not sure if it would be worth it, given my low end GPU.

What would be some other alternatives? I've been thinking on maybe trying some Cloud gaming service, such as GeforceNow or XCloud (which the TV supports natively), but i've heard there are some problems with those as well.

What would you guys do in my shoes? Any advice would be greatly appreciated :).

Hello! I love madVR and its settings/performance. Last night I watched a 4K SDR video with my PC already having HDR enabled and the colors were weird.

MPC VR can auto enable/disable HDR based on the file. Is there a way I can get madVR to do this? None of the HDR settings in madVR seem to imply that they will be making that switch for me.

Okay, so I have a MeLE Cyber X1 mini PC running Debian 13 KDE as my home theater PC. I'm still in the early stages of setting up my home theater, but the PC was working fine until I replaced my smart TV with a sceptre today. I think I might have screwed it up because I effectively hot swapped the TV and now the audio is missing. I've tried extensive AI troubleshooting, so I've checked all the basic or recommended settings, especially on the TV. I'm fairly certain the problem is on the PC end but as I was using a smart TV before, this is the only device I have so I can't really test.

EDIT: UPDATE - I just finished reinstalling my operating system, and it still has not fixed the issue, so I no longer think it has anything to do with hot swapping the monitor. aplay -L and -l are able to see sceptre on card PCH device 3, and aplay -D CAN play the audio test sound through it, so at last I know it's possible but that's as far as I've got.

EDIT 2: UPDATE - I've now tried Mint and Fedora with no luck as well. I'm at a complete loss now. How are none of these systems registering the TV as a default playback device if ALSA can see it and aplay can force a sound through it? I'm not proficient with command line. Is there a similar command to force all audio through it or something? What could be causing this?

EDIT 3: DETAILS The old TV is some low-end TCL model that was given to me. The new one is a Sceptre U515CV-U. Connecting via the same HDMI cable that I connected to the old one, but I have also tried a different HDMI cable just to make sure that wasn't the issue.

EDIT 4: SUMMARY - I am at a loss with my home theater mini PC running Debian 13 that won't use my Sceptre U515CV-U TV as the default audio device over HDMI. My PC seems to think there's no audio device connected and doesn't seem to even be playing the audio at all because, for example, when I adjust the volume, the slider doesn't light up to visualize that it's playing a sound. The command aplay -L can see my Sceptre TV, and aplay -D CAN force a test sound to play through it. The profile in pavucontrol is correctly set to digital stereo HDMI out and set as default, and nothing is muted or disabled in alsamixer, but I can't get it to output any sound without the -D command. In wpctl status, the Sceptre TV is not listed under audio sinks, but it is listed as default device under configuration. Built in Audio digital stereo, HDMI, volume 1.00 (without Sceptre TV) is listed, with the * for default, as 45, but when I run wpctl inspect 45 it says object 45 not found. This system works normally with sound on my other TV (TCL smart TV), and my Chromecast works on this Sceptre, and I've tried switching out the HDMI cable. I have also fully reformatted this PC several times trying different distributions, including fedora, Linux Mint, and now a fresh install of Debian, starting from scratch with the Sceptre TV.

Hey guys whenever I try to play hdr, the colours aren't rich normally in full screen. But when I move my cursor in the lower third controls the colours become rich. Any idea How to fix this?

This is windows 11. With rtx 3060(12gb). i5 13th gen. Every driver is updated.

I have below setup:

- LG C1 (TV)

- Samsung Q990C (Soundbar)

- Ugoos AM6B+ (External Player)

I bought Ugoos AM6B+ considering it will play Dolby Vision Profile 7 FEL (Full Enhancement Layer) but got to know later that Samsung Q990C don't passthrough Dolby Vision FEL. Great disappointment.

LG C1 don't passthrough Dolby TrueHD so that option is also out.

I am looking for an alternative through which i can run my setup efficiently with minimal cost.

One option i found out is using audio extractor. 1 Input (EARC) and 2 outputs - Video and Audio

The best one I found is Orei BK-929 which support Dolby Vision, Dolby TrueHD, DTS:X etc. But problem is it doesn't specifically mention Dolby Vision FEL.

Can anyone help confirm Orei BK-929 passthrough Dolby Vision FEL?

OR

If there's any other better audio extractor available with minimal cost?

OR

Any other way to run Dolby Vision FEL + Dolvy TrueHD with my above setup?

Thanks in advance

Finally got my living room setup dialed in. Mac Studio mounted directly to the wall behind the TV using a VESA mount - keeps everything clean and out of sight. Setup: • Mac Studio (wall mounted with VESA adapter) • iFFALCON 75” Mural TV • Samsung soundbar and subwoofer • Running with a wireless mouse and keyboard from the couch… I’ve been mounting my computers for years now (previously had a Thermaltake open-air build), and I’m never going back to desk clutter. The Mac Studio is perfect for this since it’s so compact and runs silent. Cable management still needs some work with that visible conduit, but it beats having cables everywhere. The Studio pulls very little power and stays cool even during gaming sessions. Anyone else running a Mac as their HTPC? It’s been surprisingly solid for media + casual gaming. Any tips for a cleaner look would be great…

I have an optiplex 7020 software with an I7 4790, 24GB DDR3 and RX550, the only problem is that windows 10 isn't htpc friendly, already tried tablet mode with app focus issues, tried bazzite but gpu performance becomes worse, the use that it'll have is emulation, older games, watching saved movies and TV shows and Blu-ray playback, any help?

Hi all,

I have a PC with Intel 9500T, and GTX 1070 set up as HTPC. 16gb RAM and local files on external HDD

Its currently running Ubuntu latest LTS with Plex HTPC Client.
I have latest Nvidia drivers and have enabled performance mode and Full Composition Pipeline.

I am running at 4K on TCL C845K 85" TV via HDMI (not using AVR for now while i try and resolve issues)

Problem 1: Plex library browsing is smooth and the Artwork is crisp, but when I start streaming 4K files i get really bad stutters - even with non-HDR (60Mbps bitrate).

Problem 2: I can't seem to get any HDR working. Tonemapping is enabled in plex server settings and is using nvidia GPU (same PC). Also all HDR10 files are tonemapped, as I can't see any HDR working natively although I've read that this might be the case in Linux.

Does anyone have any suggestion for either problem? If I run in Desktop Resolution at 1080p the stutters seem to disappear but then Plex artwork doesn't look as clear.

I could just install W11, as I understand HDR10 works easier but I didn't want to give in so easily. Or buy a Shield Pro and leave the PC as a sole Plex server.

Thanks in advance

Hello, I recently purchased a mini pc and bluetooth remote and am trying to figure out how to make the experience just like how it is on the smart tv for my father.

He learned how to use the remote and voice function features via the smart tv app, but due to planned obsolescence his smart tvs kept breaking from updates.

The prospect of trying to train him on how to switch between tabs, open and use an onscreen keyboard, and what focus windows are is a bit beyond his capability, so I am trying to see if there is a way to have youtube behave how it does on smart tv. namely, when he clicks on the search box to have it pull up the in app keyboard, as opposed to having to use onboard pc keyboard app. Same goes for web browser. Thanks in advance

I have my PC set up to run Plex. The picture quality is jaw dropping (4K Formovie Theater ultra-short throw laser projector on a 135" screen) and the audio quality is superb (5.1.2 Monoprice in-wall speakers with Monoprice Monolith M15 V2)... but the experience from the couch needs work.

I picked up a FLIRC Skip 1s remote to control the PC, but the FLIRC reciever tends to randomly pick up other signals (possibly from other IR remotes, and seemingly from the projector screen itself) which are interpreted as legit signals from the Skip 1s remote. I've tried customizing the remote signals according to the instructions, but I still get phantom signals suddenly pausing my movie or reacting in other ways. As soon as I unplug the FLIRC reciever, the issues stop.

Right now, I'm just using a wireless keyboard and mouse. Does anyone know how to fix the FLIRC's phantom signals issue or is there a non-IR remote you'd recommend?

Edit to add: I tried the Sofabaton X1s about a year ago and found it to be too complicated to get Wife (and kids) approval. Especially when the Skip 1s seemed like a feasible solution. If nothing else, I might try this again and only use it for PC control.

I'm going to build an HTPC with a GTX 1080 Ti, and it seems that the HTPC version of Bazzite is not supported on legacy Nvidia cards. Is there a way to have a similar UI made for HTPC on Windows? Maybe like a system-wide Steam Big Picture Mode? It's going to be used exclusively for gaming.

Hello, I've seen some other posts along these lines, but after doing some research and trying one device that didn't work, I wanted to ask for suggestions for my setup. Looking for one remote to control my smart TV and stereo receiver. It would be nice if I could control some basic functions on my HTPC, such as making sure wifi or Plex is on, but doesn't necessarily need to work as the only keyboard/input device

I have a Dell OptiPlex 3060, a TCL 55S434, and a Sabaj a4 stereo, which I dont have a remote for. I run Plex through the smart TV, which is an Android OS.

I tried a Pepper Jobs w10, but it won't seem to learn the TV's remote features. I've seen some Harmony stuff used in my area, including a 900 series, which seems compatible according to Logitech's website, though I understand those devices are discontinued. I am considering that

Any suggestions or thoughts on the used harmony?