Hacking Question Has anyone looked into USB drivers for the switch on PC?

[rogerthecamel]

I'm just wondering if anyone has started looking into the possibility of writing drivers for the Switch on PC to enable playback on a PC as though it was a TV, essentially emulating the function of the dock. It could be useful as a software alternative to buying multiple docks if you TVs with computers plugged into them.

 

[Yandere-chan]

Sounds a little bit far fetched.

 

[migles]

i think you probably need an entire usb controller..

 

[froggestspirit]

I think it is possible at the very least. Windows would have to communicate with the same protocol that the dock uses.

 

[punderino]

@shinyquagsire23

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I'm just wondering if anyone has started looking into the possibility of writing drivers for the Switch on PC to enable playback on a PC as though it was a TV, essentially emulating the function of the dock. It could be useful as a software alternative to buying multiple docks if you TVs with computers plugged into them.

The dock uses special hardware to enable HDMI transfer over the USB connection, I don't think it can be emulated because it needs to be supported in the USB controller.

 

[RemixDeluxe]

Sounds like what your asking for is a capture card. Unless I'm misunderstanding.

 

[rogerthecamel]

If it uses some non-standard communication over the USB port then I'd guess it doesn't work. Depends if that's actually what's happening though. According to a quick google search USB C supports transfer rates of 10Gbps while HDMI supports up to 3.4Gbps. So I would have thought there would be no need to hack the USB standard to get the video signal over it.

 

[badpix11]

According to a quick google search USB C supports transfer rates of 10Gbps while HDMI supports up to 3.4Gbps.

The transfer rate is given by protocol not by type, Type C supports USB 3.1 but doesn't mean the console is running 3.0/3.1.
You should have read this: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/5x948s/answering_your_questions_about_usb_typec/
TL;DR: The console doesn't support USB 3.0 yet

 

[Futurdreamz]

The dock has a Displayport-over-TypeC to HDMI adapter, iirc. The likelyhood of that being emulateable is slim. Someone already tried plugging the Switch into a type-c displayport monitor and it fried the monitor.

 

[punderino]

The dock has a Displayport-over-TypeC to HDMI adapter, iirc. The likelyhood of that being emulateable is slim. Someone already tried plugging the Switch into a type-c displayport monitor and it fried the monitor.

I doubt it fried the monitor. There's no reason it'd do that

 

[Jayro]

The dock uses special hardware to enable HDMI transfer over the USB connection, I don't think it can be emulated because it needs to be supported in the USB controller.

The dock is also outputting a DisplayPort signal over USB before it outputs to HDMI, if that matters.

 

[linkinworm]

The latency would be too high to just do over a driver, while its not impossible to do since we have usb capture cards and the switch is designed to take its usb out into hdmi, we would likely need to know exactly how the switch interfaces 1st, what triggers it to switch it might not just be as simple as "usb to hdmi detected alright go" nintendo likely added some sort of protocol that would also deter 3rd parties from making cheap docks.