Okay I need some ideas. Firstly, this is a work computer and I do not have admin privileges. Second I’m doing this solely for my convenience.
We have a Dell Latitude 3540 and I’m running a generic second monitor that we happend to have around. We do not have a docking station, so we’re using a spare Samsung K550 Soundbar to upscale the resolution on the second monitor through the ARC TV HDMI port. So it’s, HDMI out from the laptop to the sound bar and then ARC HDMI out to the monitor. The issue, the sound bar goes to sleep after 5 minutes of no sound and I can’t disable the auto off feature. This shuts off the feed to the second monitor and it doesn’t resume automatically. I think if I can find some kind of timer that will send some sort of sound to the bar every 4 1/2 minutes or so, then it will stay active. I don’t know how to do this. Does anyone have suggestions? TIA Tug
AutoIt. Just have it play a Windows ding sound every 4min, but also set the volume to zero first.
Have the script launch at login/startup.
AutoIt doesn’t require an install, you can simply copy the script engine to a folder with your script. Been a while, but you may be able to compile your script with the engine too, so you have a stand-alone script.
Or make a silent, 1/4 second long wav/mp3, and use that to ensure you don’t hear anything.
because this is a work computer, make sure to name the program something like logitech_driver.exe or something so it and infosec dont get mad
My only issue with this kind of advice is that, if he gets caught using “soundbar_waker.bat”, IT might get butthurt but he hasn’t really done anything wrong or sketchy. If he’s using “Logitech_driver.bat”, he’s less likely to be caught, but if he is, it’s gonna look a lot worse than it really is.
What I’ve done in this scenario is use a very long silent black video from YouTube. There’s a bunch. It technically plays audio, so the soundbar shouldn’t sleep, but the audio is just a silent signal.
https://m.youtube.com/results?search_query=Silent+black+screen+24+hours
The laptop is on Starlink, so the data usage would be noticed. It is a good idea.
You should download the video if you go with this. You could even download it at home.
You can find a short one and put it on loop as well.
What if you played some ultrasound? You can’t hear it and the speaker is being used.
I wonder if you played a video in the background on mute if it would keep it going. Sounds crazy but I have seen this type of thing work. Might even be helpful to fullscreen it on a a virtual desktop. Windows usually has four virtual desktops as a default last I knew even though most people do not use them.
That’s something that warrants further looking into, thanks for the idea.
If it has a mic or line in socket, plugging something in and going to control panel - sound - recording - listen to this device… Should keep it busy.
I’ll check that and see. That’s a good suggestion, thank you.
Why not direct from the laptop to the monitor?
For whatever reason, they aren’t playing nicely. The resolution is unusable and barley legible. That was our initial solution.
I’ve had this issue. I had to set the input type to gaming or PC. I then matched the resolution to whatever the tv supported, then adjusted dpi scaling.
