Diva features

HTPC mode

Telling a source it is talking to a monitor

A PC treats a monitor and a television differently, and gets the choice wrong often enough that devices in the middle offer a switch for it. On the Diva it is one option in CONFIG, with one condition attached.

HTPC stands for home theatre PC, a computer used as a source in an audio visual system. HTPC mode is the compatibility option that tells such a machine it is talking to a monitor rather than to a television, and it exists because Windows behaves differently depending on which of the two it thinks is attached.

The differences are not cosmetic. Against a monitor a graphics driver normally chooses full range RGB and native desktop timings; against a television it tends to choose limited range YCbCr and a broadcast resolution, which is what makes a desktop look washed out or slightly soft. The other half of the problem is re-detection. Every time a machine resumes from standby it reads the attached display again, and if what it reads has changed or arrives late, Windows rebuilds the desktop: icons move, scaling changes, and windows land on the wrong screen.

HTPC mode on the HDfury Diva

The option is in the CONFIG section of the web server, in the group headed HDCP and HTPC, next to HDCP VERSION, which selects or forces the HDCP revision used on the TX1 output port. The manual describes HTPC MODE plainly: it is useful if you have trouble with the Windows desktop and icons when a machine resumes from standby. That is the symptom it is for, and it is worth trying before anything more elaborate.

One condition comes with it. With the default firmware, HTPC mode is not compatible with an HDCP signal, so it belongs on a machine used for the desktop, for games and for local files. If you turn it on and a protected streaming application goes black while everything else looks fine, HTPC mode is the first thing to switch back off.

What to check alongside it

• The EDID the computer reads. In CUSTOM mode each input is given its own table, so a PC can be told one story and a disc player another; the command is set edidtableinp0 followed by a bank number from 1 to 100.
• Colour space. To force RGB rather than YCbCr, tick the no YCbCr flag in AUTOMIX, which is set edid yuvremove on, or choose RGB FULL as the colour space under Custom Scaling for TX0.
• The television's own PC setting. Most UHD sets need a port enabling first: on a Samsung that means UHD colour under settings and HDMI, then assigning the port as PC in the tools menu.
• ISSUE HOTPLUG in the CONFIG section, which sends a hotplug event and performs a soft reset of the setup, is often enough to make a source look at a display properly again.

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