USB – HDMI-CEC ADAPTER FROM PULSE–EIGHT

Review by Michael Miloslavsky

I use this tiny (13g) adapter as reliable solution for the typical scenario. When PC starts up, the adapter powers on the TV, and switches the TV's input to HDMI1. When PC shuts down, the adapter powers the TV off.

All I had to do to make it work is to install the latest version of libCEC by Pulse-Eight on GitHub, and follow the instruction "Turn on/off TV using USB-CEC Adapter (Windows Batch script)" published in FAQ section on Pulse-Eight web site.

The adapter also works in opposite way. If my PC is in sleep or hibernate state and I turn on my TV, the adapter wakes up the PC after 30 seconds, provided the HDMI1 source is selected on TV when it powers on. The same happens if I switch from watching TV to HDMI1 source (without 30 seconds delay). Don't know how to turn off this 'wake the PC' feature, though.

By the way, when I power off the TV, the PC remains powered on.

My configuration:

    ADAPTER - firmware v9, libCEC v4.0.3, recognized in Windows Device Manager as "Pulse-Eight USB to HDMI CEC Adapter (rev.2)", and for unknown reason as "HID-compliant mouse".

    TV - Samsung SmartTV LT27H390S (PC monitor with built-in TV-tuner), supports CEC v1.4.

    PC - Intel Core i5, Windows 10 x64 v1903.

The adapter supports CEC v1.4 (there is no difference between v1.4, v1.4a, and v1.4b in terms of CEC). It can emulate many CEC-types of devices: Recording, Playback, Tuner, Amplifier. It's even possible to emulate several types at once.

Hardware part is based on energy efficient AT90USB162 microcontroller. That's why the power consumption is less than 0.1W, and the box doesn't heat up.

Software part is based on Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable Package (x86), and employs libusb-win32 when upgrading firmware.

For those who experience any problems, here is a short troubleshooting list.

    Ensure that the option "Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC)" is on (located in TV Settings => General => External Device Manager).

    HDMI cable that connects adapter to TV supports CEC.

    For 'power on' feature to work, the adapter may have to be physically connected to HDMI 1 port (not HDMI 2, etc).

    Update the firmware and software of your adapter.

I would definitely give this device 5 stars, but it has some considerable drawbacks:

    As many users have already complained, there are no clear documentation, such as User Guide or at least step-by-step Quick Start Guide instruction in PDF form.

    It seems like the development of libCEC has stopped. No new version has been released from November 2018 to January 2020.

       Powering on the TV wakes up the PC if "Allow this device to wake the computer" setting is cleared.

    There are some functionality and usability issues with cec-client.exe and cec-tray.exe (both are part of libCEC software), but that's another story...