Media Player With 2 Hdmi Outputs

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Silvana Fleischacker

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Aug 3, 2024, 5:17:39 PM8/3/24

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I was very impressed by an Arduino compatible MCU (Teensy 3.2) that can do some DSP which the user configures using a graphical editor. But my only option to have digital inputs is to use a Windows PC as USB host. The audio I want to process comes from an HDMI extractor's Toslink output. My goal is to use a USB soundcard with a Toslink input to route the signal from the extractor through Windows and out to the Arduino.

So my question is this: will the signal coming in one USB cable and going out another USB cable come into "contact" with the audio portion of a video file which a media player is running out the HDMI port? I want to use at least one or more of: Windows 7, Windows8.1, and/or Windows 10.

If your video player lets you use WASAPI Exclusive Mode, you should do so. This prevents Windows from performing any conversions (sample rate, etc.) of the output, allowing you to preserve a bit-for-bit identical stream.

Use an audio repeater that reads a stream from your USB input and writes it to your USB output. These are commonly included with "virtual audio cable" packages, though those primarily focus on drivers that loop output to input. You want input to output.

The easiest way is probably to just set your video player to use a specific output, and set your USB output as "default". Then you can use Windows' built-in "listen to this device" on the USB input, which will play it to the output. But if you want a bit-perfect stream you'll need to use a repeater tool.

When I use the composite cables (red, white and yellow) the media player works fine which makes me think there is a problem with the HDMI output port. ALL 3 HDMI cables are working because we use them to connect Xbox 360 consoles and PS3 consoles with no issues.

Plug in the HDMI lead and the composite lead. Set the TV to the composite output (not the HDMI). Select HDMI on the WDTV and set it to say 720p (which your TV should be capable of), now select auto on the rest of the questions. Now select the HDMI output on your TV. Do you get a picture.

I've almost finished my first NAS with OMV for home. I'm using a single board PC (BananaPi) and a 1TB HD. I'm working on the case. I'd like to stream videos to my TV, and I'd like to know if I have to forward the HDMI port to be accessible on the case.
The qestions are:
- is it "better" to stream the video via ETH using Plex, Emby, ... plugins or output the video on the NAS HDMI and connect it to TV?
- is it even possible to output video on the HDMI?

P.S.: actually, I don't have any TV yet... I can't do many test at the moment. But I'd like to know if I have to further drill the case or not, so I can finish the job now and close everything, without needing to rework the case later.

I'm using a single board PC (BananaPi) and a 1TB HD. I'm working on the case. I'd like to stream videos to my TV, and I'd like to know if I have to forward the HDMI port to be accessible on the case.

"Forward the HDMI port"? I'm guessing you're looking for something like this adapter (on E-bay) or, maybe a short cable?
HDMI adapter To do what I think you're talking about requires a male to female, HDMI cable or adaptor.
(Maybe run a normal cable through a hole in the case?)

To "stream" from a NAS, as you suggest above, you'd have to have your TV hooked up to another PC. I do this, using a small form factor PC as a HTPC (Home Theater PC) The connection between the PC and the my flat screen TV is HDMI. I have a stereo receiver that is HMDI capable, between the two. (HDMI carries HIFI sound as well.) If your TV has speakers, a stereo receiver or amp is not necessary.

A "smart" TV is another matter. Some TV's can be hooked to a network VIA wired or wireless Ethernet, and stream media from a server without the need for a PC. (However, their streaming functions tend to be limited.)

While many use Plex, and it works very well for organizing media, it's not really necessary. I don't "stream" media per say. I have a short cut on the HTPC desktop to my video folder(s) and I simply click on the files I want to play. (Even 100MBS Ethernet works fine for this purpose.) I use a standard player for MP3's, with play lists, with files on the remote server.

Can you connect OMV directly to your TV VIA HDMI? You could but, given OMV's server based design, it would require additional configuration and it wouldn't be very convenient. OMV is designed for hosting files (NAS) and network streaming operations as a server. Also, OMV is designed to run "headless" - meaning that, after the initial setup, a monitor or TV is not needed. After setup, OMV is accessed over the network, by it's Web site interface.) Again, playing, or displaying media files is a client function.

It you're looking to do it cheaply, you could get another PI (A $29 Rapberry PI 3 perhapes?) and load it with a Raspbean desktop client. With a wireless keyboard / touchpad combo (Logitech K400R - $30 Wal-Mart) you'd have a low cost Theater PC.

In essence, (and in my opinion) it's best to separate the NAS and network server functions, from the client function of playing files. Also, for a good experience on the client end, it would be better to have something with more horsepower in your HTPC than an ARM processor.

My purpose is to have a direct connection between the NAS and the TV, to minimize the gadgets in the living room (already have a Volumio box for playing MP3, and several other stuffs. Wife already on the verge of nervous breakdown...).

For HDMI streaming (yeah, I know that "streaming" is not always the right word to use in this context...) I planned to use a short male-female cable, as you said. But, as I was expecting from an headless device, you confirmed that it will be quite hard to output the video/audio from an OMV box.
One less hole to drill...

About the second option, my idea is to reproduce on a TV the behavior I have when watching videos stored in NAS from my PC: the NAS will simply send data on the LAN (that's its job!), and the PC will render them using some software (VLC, ...). I was thinking about a SmartTV, that I suppose is capable to do such things. In this scenario, the NAS processor power will not be a problem (again, sending data on the LAN is its job).
But some new questions arise:
- how "limited" (you used this term) is a Smart TV in terms of streaming from a remote server? Formats problems? Data access?
- do one actually need to install some sort of media server to access the data from a TV? Or is it just to have some fancy interface to select multimedia?

I am using a headless Raspberry PI 3B, which has Plex Media Server and also miniDLNA.
the RPi is connected with ethernet, and so is my Samsung Smart TV.
with all this I can stream video's up to x264, AVC, AC3 from my RPi to the TV.
the management is done from my laptop.
the main thing is to avoid Transcoding while streaming video.
a small device like RPi is not able of doing that.

If I was to guess (regarding compatible servers, data format, access, etc.), I'd say "all of the above". My limited experience with this revolves around a Philips 55" "Smart TV". It's network aware and supports DLNA. It can detect a server, that's advertising itself, on a local network segment. With the TV's remote, it's possible to navigate to individual files, movies, etc., and play them without a client PC. Would I do it? No way. It's so awkward, I'd rather shoot myself. (Just a figure of speech. :- ) If you have a good number of files, and sub-dir's to organize your files, you'd get lost in navigating. I found, quickly. that I'd rather do this sort of thing with a mouse, not a TV remote.

I am using a media "player" for MP3's, which catalogs the music collection but more importantly, it allows me to set up play lists. Also, I use Calibre for sorting E-books (tiles / authors / etc.) but I load books manually onto my reader. (This is on the client end.) Going beyond that, personally, I don't think a media server is necessary but I'm old school. (Going back to smoke signals and all that. )

Having developed my own little methods over the years, before media servers were available, I've developed directory names and structures that are intuitive to me so I can find nearly anything on my server in less than a minute and I have a LOT of files. On the other hand, some like the attractive interfaces of Media Clients like PLEX, that can organize a senseless mess of files, display Movie posters, a cast of characters, song lyrics, album covers, etc. And there's no doubt that a PLEX server on OMV, with a PLEX media client on the other end, would be the right way to go for many users.

Oh and a last note since you're using one of the various PI's:
Use a quality (16Gig) SD Card like San Disk, for your boot drive. Install OMV's Flash Memory Plugin and follow the instructions under "Notes" so it works as designed. Lastly, when you have a working configuration that you like, clone your working SD card so that you have backup that's "plug and play". (This is a bit insurance that may save you some grief, down the road.)

I'm old-school, too. Well organized folders/subfolders and everything can be easily reached.
BTW, sometimes it is nice to have a fancy interface with covers and so on; things will (sometimes) become more accessible for other users, that don't know your directory tree.

I have to study a little more the "media server" world. I hoped for a simple web interface access (like in my Volumio box), but it seems that a client side app is needed, instead. And for Plex and Emby these client apps are non-free (or free for some devices, non-free for others. Still confused about this...)