What do you use...

when most of the stuff you want to watch on TV is on a 1TB disk attached
to a computer in one room, and the TV itself is in another room?

I've tried an old IBM T42 laptop I had lying around. It's dog slow with
XP, and I don't have XP media on hand to reinstall it. Ubuntu 10 won't
install because it's a fossil. Ubuntu 9 does install, but I lost the will
to live before getting it to display anything on the TV. I've also got a
thing called a Verbatim Mediastation Pro, which is a good idea but was
designed by Taiwanese toddlers on crack and doesn't fucking work.

I've considered a cheap PC attached to the TV. This might do the job, but
there isn't a convenient surface nearby to use a mouse. A compact
wireless keyboard with a trackball or somesuch built in might fix that,
if anyone makes one. Or maybe this is barking up the wrong horse.

Someone must have the ideal solution. Is it one of you?

 

Long cable.

 

Not bad. The network version might do the trick. Thanks.

 

Done. Now where can I get that yellow and black stripy sticky tape (a lot
of it)?

 

http://xbmc.org/download/

Though I think you might have some problems with the raw power of the
T24. You could try the live CD version.

Certainly would work with a cheap machine and cheap wireless keyboard

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158377

But remote control is much slicker.

If you could get an old XBOX (not 360) with the mod, that would do it
nicely.


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Farnell, Machine Mart, Screwfix....

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Many multimedia disks have a USB connector where you can attach your
data disk.

If you explore DealExtreme you can find multimedia craddles that can
convert your SATA disk into a multimedia disk for as few as 25 bucks.

 

You could use a keyboard with a touchpad built in. I'm sure Logitech do
one.

I just use a wireless keyboard and mouse, with the latter on the arm of
the sofa. Problem solved.

 

[snip]

Either I'm being thick, or you're not explaining yourself very well.
Is the PC concerned on a wireless network?

<fx: takes wild stab in the dark>

http://www.dabs.com/products/akasa-scala-full-hd-media-player-73QM.html

 

A Playstation 3

Hi-Def playback and there's a Bluetooth remote control available

 

XBMC wouldn't run on my old XP VAIO laptop even from live CD. I've put
Puppy Linux on it dual boot and am currently watching Blues Britannia on
gxine 0.5.9 streamed by wifi from my main PC.

That just leaves the connection to the TV, which if it is a modern one
shouldn't be an issue.


--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

For clarification that's a Windows XP machine with an external USB
drive mounted as a Samba share (pnethood just works).

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

noisy as ****, though.

Fine for "Dead or Alive 2"; not so good for "Julie and Julia"[1]

[1] the two films I watched over the last two nights respectively.

 

Mine's not too bad - you can hear it, but it's not an intrusive noise unlike
the X-Box 360 I got recently. [1]
The slimline model is supposed to be quieter too. £200 for a blu-ray player
and media centre with wireless networking is pretty decent value for money,
even if you don't play games on it, and the PlayTV turns it into a PVR for
not much extra.

[1] They really do feel like they were designed by a deaf accountant.

 

Thanks both of you. You inspired me to have another go, and after a bit of
a fiddle with the video drivers I've got xing working on Ubuntu. Result!

 

That looks rather good. I had no idea there were so many of these things
around. Very cheap, too.

I think I've done it with Ubuntu now, but thanks to all!

 

My TV's have a USB slot, so I use a memory stick loaded with what I want to
watch.

 

Jollyu *good*!

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

The Western Digital HDTV. Cheapish, Cheeryish excellent picture quality
does actually do full HD. Stream to it from the PC access SAMBA shares
or CIFS or whatever its called nowadays.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=735

If you are a linux user you can format external hard drives for it as
ext3 with a big block size for huge files otherwise it runs FAT or
NTFS[1]

Comes with a remote. Its a single purpose device for showing stuff on the
tellybox so no mouse needed. You can I believe add a wireless usb network
with a bit of jiggery pokery. Also does Youtube out of the box[2].

[1] It had some permissions issues in my experience.
[2] Not too useful for Turkish values of youtube blockage.

 

really? I must have got the "swings and roundabouts" versions, as my
PS3 (connected to the front room main TV) is much louder than the 360
(connected to the back room secondary TV).