u/al_with_the_hair

I've been using MakeMKV to back up my 4K discs as ISOs, since the videos won't play directly from the discs on PC without skipping. Hasn't been a problem for any other content so far, but Andor has audio skipping problems – FREQUENTLY. What's strange is that if I prevent madVR from switching the display mode when in full screen and leave it at 60 Hz, I have no issue. Why would that be the case when the content is definitely 24 fps?

• Fractal North Mid Tower
• ASRock B550M Pro4
• Ryzen 5 5600
• RX 6700
• 16 GB DDR4
• Windows 11
• MPC-HC and madVR
• Receiver: Sony STR-DH790
• Projector: BenQ TK800M

I have also posted this question in r/htpc.

My PC has a pin header on the motherboard for a serial connection, so I've just ordered a serial port from Newegg to install on the back of the case. I'd really like to be able to automate switching inputs on my projector from the PC, as there's a specific use case where I need to switch HDMI connections on the projector rather than my AV receiver.

The projector has an RS232 connection on the back, but I'd really rather avoid having an installer come out here to run another cable through my attic. I think LIRC or WinLIRC should be able to fulfill my purpose with just an IR transmitter/receiver. The LIRC website has a few recommendations for USB transmitters, but I couldn't find any of them web searching, so I think they've all been discontinued. The FAQ seems very out of date. Can anyone recommend me a product? It's fine if it's USB, but it seems like LIRC is made for serial connections, and I will soon have a serial port available to me.

Before anyone recommends Flirc: I have this receiver already, and a Skip 1s arriving soon. I expect it'll perform admirably as a universal remote so I don't have to keep handing off three or four different controllers. However, I'd have to program a somewhat complicated macro to one of the Skip 1s buttons to get the projector to do what I want in this instance, so I'd really rather have the PC send the IR signal rather than the remote. Anyway, the Flirc USB apparently works poorly as a transmitter, and I don't even know how to get it to send a signal to the projector, or if that's possible.

UPDATE: irblaster.info has the products you want if you're looking to add infrared to an HTPC. There is also a newer storefront at ezmation.com. The IR emitters they sell are short range, intended to be placed directly on or in front of the device you want to control, but they also make custom solutions with longer range IR emitters. Mike responds very quickly to email.

My PC has a pin header on the motherboard for a serial connection, so I've just ordered a serial port from Newegg to install on the back of the case. I'd really like to be able to automate switching inputs on my projector from the PC, as there's a specific use case where I need to switch HDMI connections on the projector rather than my AV receiver.

The projector has an RS232 connection on the back, but I'd really rather avoid having an installer come out here to run another cable through my attic. I think LIRC or WinLIRC should be able to fulfill my purpose with just an IR transmitter/receiver. The LIRC website has a few recommendations for USB transmitters, but I couldn't find any of them web searching, so I think they've all been discontinued. The FAQ seems very out of date. Can anyone recommend me a product? It's fine if it's USB, but it seems like LIRC is made for serial connections, and I will soon have a serial port available to me.

EDIT before anyone recommends Flirc: I have this receiver already, and a Skip 1s arriving soon. I expect it'll perform admirably as a universal remote so I don't have to keep handing off three or four different controllers. However, I'd have to program a somewhat complicated macro to one of the Skip 1s buttons to get the projector to do what I want in this instance, so I'd really rather have the PC send the IR signal rather than the remote. Anyway, the Flirc USB apparently works poorly as a transmitter, and I don't even know how to get it to send a signal to the projector, or if that's possible.

I'm referring to this.

tl;dr is that I caved and bought an 8 TB HDD, since ripping works well and direct playback doesn't. (I mean only for 4K Blu-rays. I haven't really watched any standard Blu-ray with these drives, but I don't expect the same problems.)

When I asked originally, I had been exclusively using an ASUS 5.25" drive in a Vantec enclosure. It's been able to rip everything so far, although one or two discs took multiple attempts. Hopefully I don't encounter any discs that just fail. Unfortunately, as I stated, many discs were unable to play all the way through without hiccups. On the recommendation I got from my original post, I picked up a slim LG external drive (BP50NB40). It played back without skipping a couple discs that had tripped up the ASUS, but at least one of my discs couldn't get all the way through on this one either. It's also unbelievably loud. I think this was the only drive that was able to rip Lawrence of Arabia on the first try, though, so props for that. Finally, since my financial recklessness had apparently not abated, I ordered a Buffalo MediaStation from Office Depot. I think there's a Hitachi-LG drive inside. It is pleasantly quiet. Haven't played many discs on it yet, but it couldn't get all the way through the first disc of Lawrence of Arabia, which I think was the first one I tried. Ripping performance seems unremarkable compared to the other two. It struggled with the same discs that they struggled with.

I can't tell if the hype about the Pioneer drives is real or not, but anyway, it seems not many like to play from disc as much as I do, so I suspect the praise has mainly to do with their ripping performance. And it seems I'll never own one anyway. I would like to hope that drives that have the 4K Ultra HD branding can play back movies more smoothly, since the logo should mean 100% compatibility for the format, CPU requirements notwithstanding. If anybody has experience playing discs on one of these drives that's natively 4K, especially if it's LG and can still be bought somewhere, I'm curious to know.

If we're talking about ASUS and LG drives that require flashing for 4K Blu-ray, though, the answer I was looking for seems to be that they can't play back those discs smoothly. Like I said at the top, I made my peace with this and got an HDD for storing rips, but I hope I might still have a chance of directly playing my discs in the future. It's convenient, especially when I get a 4K that's brand new or borrowed, and there's something for me in the physical ritual of movie night much like there is for vinyl enjoyers.

I've had a 120" Silver Ticket screen for about a year, and I'm really getting fed up with the curving of the image around the edges. The frame has been bowed outward, with the center poking out from the wall, as long as it's been hanging there. Yesterday I took it down and laid it flat for 16-18 hours, hoping the screen material would stretch a bit, but I'm honestly not even sure if it's tension that's warping the frame. I think maybe it's just the way the weight is distributed when it's hanging that causes it to do that.

Anyway, if anybody else has dealt with this problem with one of their fixed frame screens, I'd love a fix. Otherwise, I'm considering a replacement in a similar budget.

(My current drive is ASUS BW-16D1HT.)

I know ripping is a favorite pastime in this sub, but I actually quite like playing my movies from disc. I have a feeling there are going to be more and more people in my boat the way HDD and SSD prices are skyrocketing. I never really intended to rip my whole library for storage. I just want an HTPC for the advanced video rendering capabilities.

My initial tests with libmmbd seemed very positive. Once I had MakeMKV install the library, I had no trouble playing movies directly from disc like I had when I attempted with libaacs and libbdplus. VLC and MPC both just worked. I've since come to realize that just scrubbing through the timeline is not a very good indicator of what to expect. Evidently a lot of consumer 4K Blu-ray players struggle with triple layer discs, and I seem to be having a similar issue. Either I get a bit of visual corruption for up to a couple minutes, or the drive locks up and I have to eject the disc to get it playing again.

Anecdotally it sounds like the only players with no skipping issues on 4K Blu-rays are PlayStation and Xbox, so I'm not terribly surprised that my burner also has some playback issues. I'm just wondering if I should consider switching it out for another one at all. Unfortunately, I don't have a good option for connecting the drive except for my USB 3.0 enclosure from Vantec, but I'm going to attempt to hook it up with SATA at some point to test if it makes any difference – I'll just have to leave the case open to get the cables in.

Are the LG or Pioneer drives better or faster, giving me a shot at better performance if I switch? Could it be the laser itself, and do all the LibreDrive compatible options use the same laser?