Author Topic: controling a living room PC (Read 1228 times)

Mongoose · **on:** January 31, 2011, 13:11:02 PM

controling a living room PC

on: January 31, 2011, 13:11:02 PM

My parents have recently stuck a spare PC behind their tele to allow them to watch iPlayer and the like on the big screen from comfy chairs.

This is great, except that the old Logitech wireless keyboard I found in the loft and connected to it doesn't have the range to control the PC from the comfy chairs, which means you have to grovel around on the floor directly in front of the TV to select what you want to watch.

So, all those of you with PCs in your living room, what do you recommend control hardware wise?

soopahfly · **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2011, 13:41:35 PM

Re: controling a living room PC

Reply #1 on: January 31, 2011, 13:41:35 PM

Put boxee or xbmc on there for them, then use a PS3 remote over bluetooth.
This is what I'll be doing over the next few days

Mardoni · **Reply #2 on:** January 31, 2011, 14:06:40 PM

Re: controling a living room PC

Reply #2 on: January 31, 2011, 14:06:40 PM

Not sure you can do iPlayer on XBMC (yet)

I use a Logitech Harmony remote control for XBMC and then have a cheapo trust wireless keyboard with built in trackball for everything else.

soopahfly · **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2011, 14:25:20 PM

Re: controling a living room PC

Reply #3 on: January 31, 2011, 14:25:20 PM

http://code.google.com/p/xbmc-iplayerv2/

Shaun · **Reply #4 on:** January 31, 2011, 21:36:57 PM

Re: controling a living room PC

Reply #4 on: January 31, 2011, 21:36:57 PM

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/104608 isn't bad and has a decent range so long as you can get the dongle in line of sight, I used a USB extension Cable.

Battery life isn't bad with light use my first set lasted well over 2 months, but then we had a change around and it took over the role as the main email, web and Office computer, the battery life dropped to about 2 weeks, but for light use and maybe a bit of email I would highly recommend it.

Mongoose · **Reply #5 on:** February 01, 2011, 10:24:11 AM

Re: controling a living room PC

Reply #5 on: February 01, 2011, 10:24:11 AM

thanks all,

XMBC and Boxee both look pretty cool, but aimed mostly at media centre functions whereas the primary role of this PC is iPlayer/ITVplayer/4OD/demand5/YouTube. I think software wise they're pretty much good to go with Opera's quick dial home page.

That keyboard looks good, and if I understand where they've now put the machine correctly LoS for the dongle shouldn't be a problem.