Wow. Secret menu? Didn’t even think to look for that. What does it slow you to do?

Humm. How long has it been disconnected? I wouldn’t reconnect just in case it starts a timer back over or something.

You have to disconnect the internet for a while. Think a month or two.

Don’t over complicate it. 3 copies: backup, main, and offsite; 2 different media: hdd and data center; 1 offsite. I like blackblaze but anything from google to Amazon will work.

Not true at all. Yes you do have to do an initial setup connected to the internet (and making a roku account), but after that you can disconnect it from the internet completely. It even looses its initial ad after a certain time.

I really dig my tcl roku tv. Ultra cheap and has plex/jellyfin. Has 1 ad on the main screen that can be easily blocked but can also be setup to insta launch an app on boot. These tvs also have decent latency in game mode too (my most important requirement).

I was able to adapt my ups to use lithium ion batteries. I bought 2 giant ones that are used for rv solar systems. I tried using the other batteries and even when sitting by idle they loose their effectiveness.

That’s not a server that’s a gaming pc. Seriously what do you want to run? I use a raspberry pi for a server and it works just fine.

This is what you want to get surround sound to work in windows again.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/aaf-optimus-dch-audio-modded-driver-for-windows-10-11-for-all-hdaudio-enumerator-chips.292621/

This driver will work with both hdmi and toslink (optical) and possibly other connections.

Evidently Microsoft used to include a Dolby digital driver back in the day but has removed it due to licensing.

Oh and this will also enable surround sound in games too.

Htpc for YouTube and gaming and native tv app plex streaming content from my plex/nas media server (pi4). Works great. Power is crazy high in California right now at over 49c /kwh so I need to boot up the htpc as little as possible.

Before getting all crazy and changing the setup why don’t you try Wi-Fi. Yes Wi-Fi. Your cable might only be 100mbit and your WiFi may be faster.

Wi-Fi 5 can theoretically transmit data at speeds of up to 3.5 Gbps. And obviously WiFi 6 and 7 are even faster.

This sounds awesome but not sure it would apply to my use case. Maybe you could elaborate.

What I want is to have 1 pc be a host for all the tvs in my house (4, master bedroom, guest room, office, and living room) each room has a video output and a usb cable with a hub that has keyboard and mouse and maybe a controller for games.

So far what I have is all the displays are mirrored and the keyboard and mice and joysticks work in each room but all the displays show the same thing.

It would be rad if each one was a vm and had its own front ends so you could watch plex in one room while someone plays Dave the diver in another.

Yeah totally agree with you on the smart speaker and camera bit. My google home mini resides in an upper cabinet in the kitchen. You have to yell in its direction to get it to hear you. We mostly just use it to add items to our shopping list. It also connects to a Bluetooth speaker system (that doesn’t have a mic) to play music through.

The cameras I’m getting are just for the outside of my house and I’m planning on getting the (rtp?) feed off of them and self hosting.

I don’t use them but I work for a dj that uses them to backup all their music and production music. This has been going on for over 10 years now and they are still using them. At one point I was over there while they were downloading a large batch of their files and the speed was fast enough to saturate his internet.

Wow thanks. I’ll look into it. I bought a 4 pack of smart plugs for $25 and figured there had to be a catch. But 4 years later they are still working fine. Nothing I use them for is mission critical or high amperage but I’m happy.

I also have 4 levitation smart switches which I’m not as worried about them but still keep them on the vlan.

Besides those I have a cheap smart ir transmitter, and a google nest smart speaker. About to add 2 WiFi cameras to the vlan, so we will have to see how the performance works out.

I honestly think you would be more happy with any hackable (openwrt compatible) router over the pi. The pi is great for many things but for a router is really lacking.

I don’t think I am special but I have a few vlans setup. May main concern is using cheap “smart” devices from china and isolating anything they see or do to their own private network.

I also have a vlan setup for my guest network because I let my neighbors use it and wouldn’t want them exploring my nas.

Hey looking back through my setup I realized I have something a little different. I have my htpc with hdmi going to my tv and then toslink (optical) audio feeding my surround sound.

It looks like to get my setup work had to install a custom audio driver. It’s called “aaf Optimus” which allows me to select Dolby digital as an option under “default format” in the audio properties menu.

Not sure this applies to you as my setup is kind of convoluted. Anyways when I watch YouTube the sound is just plain 2 channel audio and when I play something from Netflix it does pass through surround. Games are also in surround sound.

Just wanted to double check everything and give you a heads up. Good luck.

There are 2 versions of plex. One is just called plex and you can use your mouse. The other is called plexHTPC and it uses arrow keys and spacebar to select content. It took me a while to figure out that there are 2 different versions out there. The htpc one does ac3 pass through just fine.

Yeah basically. The point is you will never be able to make a real clean room in your home. This gets you 90% of the way there for a tiny bit of time and only takes a few minutes to get going.