Under TV PC with HDTV installs?

[jitsukadave]

I currently have a PS2 hooked up to a normal TV and my PC that sits in the office. I use both for games, though both are getting a bit long in the tooth.

Anyways, I'm moving as soon as I can sell my house, and I'll need a new TV (all the TVs in my house at the moment are my exes). So I'm going for a mid-size LCD HDTV. With this, I can plug a PC into the TV, and use the PC to run a decent sound system too.

Has anybody done this? I'll still have the workhorse PC in the new office so when I work from home I really do work. I'll use the PC as a PVR, DVD player, sound system and PC Games machine. The TV will be a TV and the monitor. I've already written some code to wrap up what I want, making it look not like a PC, and built a bluetooth remote to control it. All seems fine.

But - has anybody else done this? Am I being naive in thinking it's that easy?

[lockstock2sb]

i dont see why you cant do what you specified mate. I'm doing the exact same thing although mine has been setup for freeview/PVR, DVD, MP3, MPEG, wireless internet through my router and wireless keyboard and mouse so i can sit on the sofa and surf/watch tv on the same screen.. All plugged into a LCD projector. works a treat !


>> Edited by lockstock2sb on Monday 27th February 12:43

[jitsukadave]

Sounds good! I did set one up for my car, but then decided just to fix the CD changer instead, which is why I have a lot of the code already. Just not sure how easy it is to stick it under a normal TV (I have an 8" LCD monitor for the car).

Just need to get a small-form TV receiver that can deal with HD...

Edit - and it seems that getting a GTL setup in the living room is now a go-er! Yeay!

>> Edited by jitsukadave on Monday 27th February 14:36

[lockstock2sb]

not entirely sure how successful you'll be in gettin HD off the pc to be honest. I think it might be early days for a HD PCI Reciever card? Might be wrong.

[jitsukadave]

There are a few from the US, but they are all full size and don't always give the feed to the PC - they have VGA/DVI etc out line. They all seem to have 'time shifting' as standard too, so Sky+ type thing.

Just need a HD feed from free view now (and to get a house in a free view area)...

[Plotloss]

All PC output, well I say all, all cards capable of pushing a 1920x1080 or 1280x720 image over VGA or DVI are HD compatible.

So if you have a 32mb or higher VGA card its already HD capable and has been for many many years.

You need some beef to decode the content though but the graphics card capabilities are perfectly adequate today.

[lockstock2sb]

if you are looking for a freeview card i recommend the Leadtek WinFast DVB1000T - Its the best freeview card out there currently. Does the timeshifting, epg programmable, various video inputs for conversion... Only £47 or so

[Plotloss]

Have you looked at the Twinhead MCE specific Hauppage items?

Very difficult to beat IMHO.