Pulse-Eight USB CEC Adapter Review
by Ganesh T S on January 24, 2012 7:45 PM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- HDMI
- Pulse-Eight
- CEC
At CES, Pulse-Eight showed me a new product based on the USB CEC adapter. The board inside the adapter (which happens to have an Atmel microcontroller as the main component) was taken out and the connectors modified a bit to to interface with the HTPC header on the Intel DH61AG motherboard that we talked about earlier. The HTPC header with the CEC pin is also available in the Intel DN2800MT board.
One set of pins connects to the HTPC header, while the other set connects to an internal USB header. All the HDMI pin 13 routing is handled internally on the motherboard. This makes the system self-contained and the end-user doesn't need to deal with external adapters and the whole setup process we discussed earlier. The removal of the HDMI connectors, casing and cables is also bound to dramatically lower the cost of the adapter.
Of course, the above internal adapter can be used only if the motherboard has the appropriate HTPC header. Intel has already taken the initiative and I really don't see any reason why other HTPC friendly motherboard manufacturers like ASRock and Zotac shouldn't implement this. The cost of putting in a CEC header on-board should be pretty minimal (as it just involves rerouting some HDMI wires), and they can always leave it up to the end-user to decide whether they want the CEC functionality or not. If needed, the user can just purchase the internal CEC adapter from Pulse-Eight directly. In this way, the cost of the motherboard also doesn't increase. For pre-built HTPCs like the ASRock Core series or Vision 3D series / Zotac ZBox series, the manufacturers could get rid of the MCE remotes and integrate CEC functionality in the system (for control through the TV remote). In the higher end systems, they could optionally bundle in the Motorola Nyxboard Remote for full home theater control through the HTPC.
Support for the USB CEC adapter is currently available to the public only through XBMC Eden. However, Pulse-Eight indicated that Windows Media Center, Event Ghost and MediaPortal would also be able to take advantage of the USB CEC adapter by the end of February along with support for wake from standby through the adapter.
In summary, the USB CEC adapter works as advertised. Yes, there are certain quirks / issues as described earlier, but nothing which a HTPC enthusiast experimenting with new gadgets is not accustomed to. From a home theater perspective, the adapter is priced right for a standalone entertainment system, but, if the user does a lot of YouTube searches etc. in XBMC, it might be worthwhile investing in a RF / Bluetooth mini-keyboard / trackpad combo also (Most TV remotes aren't optimized for interactions of that sort). The bigger picture is the home automation and control scene. It is up to the software community to come up with interesting applications using the adapter, but there is nothing of note in the market right now in that area. There is a lot of scope in the CEC protocol and its potential lies untapped. That said, things seem to be moving in the right direction for Pulse-Eight. Being a small and driven company, they seem to be ready to put in the extra effort to ensure the success of the CEC adapter. With regular updates in the pipeline in terms of supported programs and ease of setup, the USB CEC adapter is bound to become popular with HTPC enthusiasts.
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ganeshts - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
You need to get the wire out and also get the logic to read stuff on the wire / write onto it (this is where the Atmel microcontroller in the box comes into the picture). What is read and written is transferred through the USB port and controlled by libCEC / XBMC Eden built-in code.Malard - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
You are correct you could use our Internal Adapter (when it's released) and tap the CEC wire straight onto it, but the internal adapter relies on 3.3v constant power, which those mainboards supply, again, with enough soldiering you can rig any board to support CEC with the internal adapter, but its time vs reward, and you would be faster to just use the external adapterzilexa - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
Wich case is being used in this setup? I can only see the back in the picture. I am looking for a new case for my new HTPC and this one seems interesting. I am looking for a small one but they have a limited power supply (60-75 watt).ganeshts - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
zilexa, Please look up the specs of the Vision 3D 252B. It is ASRock's custom case and doesn't come with inbuilt PSU (there is a laptop power adapter sized unit delivering the power). Also, the case is pretty small, and I won't advise putting in CPUs of more than 45W TDP in there.Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
I would love to be able to remote control my receiver. But there aint no way I'm paying those kinds of prices. lol. What is wrong with a simple RS232 serial port? It only costs a few bucks for USB to RS232 converter so you are covered even if your pc has no serial port. It is ubiquitous and pretty easy to program.ganeshts - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
That is a DIY solution :) and good luck getting it integrated all into XBMC. This is a OOTB answer to the home theater control issue.Monkeysweat - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
I got a question you might be able to answer,, at home I have a LG TV and a Samsung HTIB that has no HDMI inputs,,,both units are CEC capable but don't work with each other as missmatched brands,, however I can only plug my PC into the TV and the TV is connected to the HTIB by HDMI (receiver output to TV) and by optical cable (output from TV to receiver) - I have anything I play on my TV passthrough by optical output to the stereo as luck would have it, the TV allows DTS passthrough on HDMI
If i use the CEC adapter from the PC to TV,, would it be able to control the hometheater in a box connected on a different hdmi line?
Malard - Friday, January 27, 2012 - link
Yes, they are a unified bus, so long as all the hdmi wires connect via some device or other, be in the receiver or the TV then you will be fine.There is also no restriction as to where in the chain you connect the CEC Adapter
Monkeysweat - Friday, January 27, 2012 - link
sweeeeeeeeetwill this be made to work with raspberry pi as well? Kinda funny to buy an adapter that'll cost more than the device running it, but c'est la vie
Googer - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
I suspect, It's not going to be long until nVIDIA and AMD both start implementing CEC in to their hardware and drivers. So devices like these may possibly become short lived.