this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2025
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No real technical advantage; it's just owned by the same shitbags that dominate the TV market, so it's the only way to connect to a lot of consumer living-room displays
This is the problem. I would switch to DP instantly but my TV only has HDMI ports.
There are DisplayPort to HDMI converters available
Pretty sure DRMed content refuses to play on those.
🏴☠️ Well 🏴☠️ I 🏴☠️ don't 🏴☠️ care 🏴☠️
Random clips on the web are DRMed these days, like news articles with an embedded video. Many CMSes just DRM all clips. Totally BS but I've seen the video frame staying black on a bunch of sites now.
Then I won't watch those, simple as. Plus, I've been running LibreWolf for like a year, whick blocks all DRM by default, and never in my life did I have issues playing a video. Even live videos from TV channels work 50% of the time.
Plex tv is the only one that seemingly requires DRM from when I looked into it. Didn't decide to use it specifically for that reason.
Doesn't change facts for millions of others.
How many embedded DRM-controlled news article videos are you watching on your living room tv though? PC monitors usually have native display port nowadays, no converters or HDMI necessary.
Obviously it's only a fraction of the overall DRMed content out there but it exists, most notably for live sports that TV stations stream for free on their website but require paid subscriptions when using streaming apps.
TBH you should be playing DRM content though smart TV/TV box apps anyway. Desktop Windows playback is more technically limited (for instance, no auto resolution/refresh rate switching) and aside from that you usually get a worse bitrate stream on a stuttery player.
I don’t even know about DRM playback on Linux.
People who connect TVs to the Internet only invite malware. They usually don't receive big fixes after a few years and tend to spy on all watched content.
Then watch on a plug-in Android TV box. Or take to the high seas.
I’m just saying, if you're going to stream from an internet service anyway, video/audio on every HTPC streaming app I’ve tried looks bad. Netflix is the best, and it’s still heavily compromised. And (at least on my Sony), the local Android apps tend to have the best system integration for rescaling, HDR, setting the correct refresh rate, per app IQ settings and so on.
But that obviously doesn’t apply if you’re hosting it locally though Kodi, Jellyfin, Plex or whatever.
You should literally never use the apps built in to your TV. Unless you just really like letting the TV manufacturer know exactly what you are watching and when.
On Linux you check the box in Firefox that says Allow DRM Content and then yes, as far as I know, you need to be using laptop or a HDMI display.
Fine. then use a Roku or Apple TV or whatever. He literally included those.
Rokus have the same problem regardless of form factor. But this thread is about people who want to use the Steam Machine for streaming.
Latency, desync, probably can’t do full 4k/120… just because something exists doesn’t mean it’s a viable solution.
Display port to HDMI cables are pretty good
Active ones aren’t cheap, though.
Yes HDMI forum are shitbags, but there are definitely technical advantages to HDMI. Just that I can think of, DisplayPort doesn’t have ARC (audio return for sound systems), or CEC (device can turn on TV/display, TV remote can pause movie playing on console, etc) and the max length for a DisplayPort cable is no more than 3 meters before you have to go to expensive active cables. Most of these are easy to work around for most PC setups, but if Valve wants the gabecube to easily fit into living room/TV setups, it does present a challenge.
All of these supposed advantages are solved by USB-C though. Even the length is higher (5m, I believe). I'd be fine if the DisplayPort connector is gone, but the actual standard is just better for most purposes.
Cec over USBC?
I've never actually used CEC, but everything I've seen says it's just like a USB HID, correct? According to wikipedia, there already exist USB to CEC adapters.
I don't know what HID is, but CEC lets you control Kodi with the TV remote.
HID means a human interface device, so most commonly a keyboard, but remote controls can and do use the same protocol just fine.