Having Media Center In more than 1 room ? ways of doing it ?

[DaveMark]

OK as title says guys

I all most completed the build of the main media center PC in the house but im wanting ways i can extend this to other TVs but still be able to control watch TV etc .. wile someone else is using the other one .. (like other setup boxes)

Recommendations / cost ?

Dave

[KriC]

Dave,

You'll need to get a MCE extender. Try an xBox 360 - they are cheap and loads are available second hand to try it out (some even come with the remote control so you don't have to buy one seperate).

Once you plug it into your home network, the MCE PC will pick it up and start to install/download the software. Just follow the on-screen instructions. Dead easy.

Cheers
KriC

[Fireblade]

Try an xBox 360 - they are cheap...

£210 [minimum] is "cheap" :eek: :confused:

[Danny Boy]

Compared to building a second MCE machine, yes it is cheap. £80 just for the OS, then add the hardware on top and its a lot more than £210. Dunno about the prices of specific media center extenders though, they could be cheaper, I dunno.

[DaveMark]

yeah danny boy is defo right .. whole mce for me was around £400 prob more near 500. as for extenders all reviews have been a bit poo

Dave

[Deviant]

For a cheap no frills option, you could obtain a cheap PC if you haven't got one and use something like VLC to stream from your main media centre PC. Perhaps then VNC to control the media centre PC. I guess that doesn't really mean that you can watch both at the same time though...

But anyhow, streaming from the media centre PC to another PC might be one way to go...

[Graeme*Kustom*]

We've got a follow up HTPC article on the way which includes the use of Media Extenders including the Xbox 360. It's a very simple process, but we'll show a bit of background on how to set it up with some pretty pictures along the way. Hopefully be ready in the next week or so !

[Cosmo_1847]

The way I am thinking of it is if you have a dual screen card you can one screen on each as a mirror and extent the IR interface of the remote or use bluetooth if it can go though your walls. This will give you control of the media center to display the same thing in 2 rooms but they will be the same thing.

[jameson_uk]

I all most completed the build of the main media center PC in the house but im wanting ways i can extend this to other TVs but still be able to control watch TV etc .. wile someone else is using the other one .. (like other setup boxes)
TV is going to be your issue here as you are going to need a fair bit of bandwidth to transmit live pictures.

Came across the slingbox (http://www.slingmedia.com/uk/) the other day which has just gone on sale in the UK and may do what you want.

That said, if you have external STB you always will have a problem that you have to actually turn over that STB and unless you have multiple boxes (really meanining independant boxes) you need to have someway of easily controlling the main machine remotely for which I have seen no suitable method that does not compromise usability or quality.