Re: TFT monitor as TV

["Andy Laurence" <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Kevin Hawkins wrote:
>    > -----Original Message-----
>    > From: Andy Laurence [mailto:andy@xxxxxxx]
>    > Sent: 04 June 2004 19:00
>    > To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
>    > Subject: Re: [ukha_d] TFT monitor as TV
>    >
>    > drownedrat wrote:
>    > > Wondered if anyone had tried any of the TV-VGA tuner
>    > boxes to use a
>    > > monitor as a TV? got a 15" TFT that would save a lot
of
>    > room in the
>    > > bedroom if I could use it.
>    >
>    > No, but I'm about to implement old laptops as TVs ikn the
>    > smaller rooms.
>    > The plan is to use the Nebula Freeview card
>    > (http://www.nebula-electronics.com)
multicasting to
>    > clients around the house.  OK, and I may do a how-to for
>    > the group too (depending on how successful it is).
>
>
> Andy - do check the 'old laptops' have enough horsepower to
> receive/decode the multicast stream satisfactorily

That is my only worry - horsepower.  I'm using PII laptops for this (or at
least I will be).  I only plan to multicast one channel at a time due to
bandwidth limitations.  I have to use wireless to the lounge, hence my
choice of solution.  The only solution I could think of to get TV to/from
the front room without running CAT5 was to use wifi and dedicated PCs.  I
tried the wireless video senders, but these required I turn off the
wireless
network, which is a PITA for myself and SWMBO.

> - and I'm sure you
> probably know this but only the stations on the specific mutiplex
> that the DigiTV is tuned to can be received on the multicast - but it
> does work, Maybe you are just sending one channel though ? I believe
> later software will even allow multiple Nebula cards each serving
> their own station or mux.  I strongly recommend 100MBs Ethernet (or
> more) and good quality network switches, maybe you've already got a
> trial system running ?? I think the Nebula Digi TV card is great, a
> tad expensive and a little CPU intensive but very polished and a
> great picture !

It looks very good, but there are a few features that I prefer in Xlobby
(always the way, eh?), such as the weather reports.  Ideally, I'd have a
server multicasting the data controlled by xAP or xPL, and send the
relevent
commands from Xlobby.  That assumes that I can find a client that works
with
the multicast software, or multicast software that works with the card!

Cheers,
Andy
--
http://ha.andylaurence.co.uk
http://projects.andylaurence.co.uk