I recently purchased the Pulse Eight USB CEC Adapter because my new TV has HDMI CEC, and I didn’t want to buy a second remote to use exclusively with my HTPC. This little magic box controls XBMC, it’s amazing. Below is my review.
I ordered the Pulse Eight USB – CEC Adapter online from their shop, and it arrived 1 week later. I expected it to take longer because it was going from the UK -> Canada. It was packaged in a bubble lined envelope – I don’t have a picture but it was nicely packed and didn’t sustain any damage during transit.
What’s Included
- The USB Adapter
- 15 cm USB to mini-usb cable
- 10 cm HDMI Cable
Below are some pictures of the adapter and cables.
Adapter and Packaged Cables
Top/Front View
Side/Back View
Setting It Up
The setup could not have been easier. There’s no instructions included because it’s so dead simple. The instructions are essentially printed on the adapter. For those interested in how I set it up, I did the following.
- Turn off the TV and HTPC
- Unplug the HDMI cable from the back of the HTPC, plug that into the port labelled TV
- With the supplied HDMI cable, plug that in to the port labelled PC
- With the supplied USB cable, plug that into the port labelled USB, and into an open USB port on your HTPC
- Turn on the TV
- (Optional) I had to manually turn on the HTPC
- XBMC will recognize the CEC Adapter and you’re in business
That’s it! I laid it out in dead simple hand holding steps.. The whole process takes about 47 seconds if you’re drinking a beer.
In Use
Below is a quick usage video I made. (Video is set to not auto-download, click anywhere in the video player to start playback)
[hana-flv-player height=”720″ video=’http://www.homemediatech.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/hdmi-cec.flv’ /]
Conclusion
This little magic box works flawlessly. It’s plug and play, there’s no lag or delay while doing anything. This saves me from having to use two remotes. This also means you don’t need to have line of sight to your HTPC. The only negative I can think of is the price. Personally it’s worth it to me, I don’t have to teach my girlfriend how to use another remote.
IPVanish, which is the only true Tier-1 VPN service in the world. IPVanish allows you to surf the net anonymously as well as access geo-blocked content in Kodi. You'll be able to watch anything unrestricted. They have clients for Windows, OS X, iOS and Android. OpenVPN is an option as well. Remember to use your IPVanish VPN with Kodi!
Does the TV remote control also the volume and mute?
I have purchased the adapter but I cannot control volume nor mute from the TV remote.
Hey Danny,
My remote controls the TV volume, and the TV mute. I actually had to quickly test just now to see. I kinda hoped it would work like this instead of the ‘volume control’ that XBMC can do.
The Pulse-Eight support is amazing. Jot down your setup, including your TV model and see if they can help you out. They might be able to see what’s going on. Their email is [email protected].
Let me know if you have anymore questions!