2011-11-21, 03:47
@Cash
I'm with you on that one. I've also been looking into multi-output from one PC to multiple TV's.
Right now i have an HDMI to ethernet wall plate from monoprice.com that sends audio and video to the living room TV over two 75ft cat6 cables, and even sends the IR data from my remote back to the PC. I thought it would be cool to have the same setup for other TV's and all from one centrally managed box.
For me, i'm researching into the linux "multiseat" concept. Where you can create multiple sessions on the same PC and every one can have it's own display, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. Windows has something similar called "windows multipoint server", but it's got to cost an arm and a leg and it's built on top of windows server, so who knows what it's media capabilities are.
I see the pro's for this kind of setup as lower power, less wiring, less management. The ATV2 and other small boxes may be nice, but it's one more box of wires to plug in, setup and manage. Each with it's own operating system to upgrade and maintain. Plus XBMC has no server/client setup at all, meaning you must make all the PC's try and play nice with data and databases. It's been done, i know, but it's not simple and elegant for sure.
As for the super PC part. From my understanding, if your chosen graphics cards have on-board video decoding, then all the work is done on each cards processor and the systems processor is hardly touched. Correct? If that's the case then you really don't need a power horse to handle everything.
I could be wrong and to each his or her own, but i think it's an awesome idea. If nothing else, it should be a really fun learning experiment.
Good Luck!
I'm with you on that one. I've also been looking into multi-output from one PC to multiple TV's.
Right now i have an HDMI to ethernet wall plate from monoprice.com that sends audio and video to the living room TV over two 75ft cat6 cables, and even sends the IR data from my remote back to the PC. I thought it would be cool to have the same setup for other TV's and all from one centrally managed box.
For me, i'm researching into the linux "multiseat" concept. Where you can create multiple sessions on the same PC and every one can have it's own display, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. Windows has something similar called "windows multipoint server", but it's got to cost an arm and a leg and it's built on top of windows server, so who knows what it's media capabilities are.
I see the pro's for this kind of setup as lower power, less wiring, less management. The ATV2 and other small boxes may be nice, but it's one more box of wires to plug in, setup and manage. Each with it's own operating system to upgrade and maintain. Plus XBMC has no server/client setup at all, meaning you must make all the PC's try and play nice with data and databases. It's been done, i know, but it's not simple and elegant for sure.
As for the super PC part. From my understanding, if your chosen graphics cards have on-board video decoding, then all the work is done on each cards processor and the systems processor is hardly touched. Correct? If that's the case then you really don't need a power horse to handle everything.
I could be wrong and to each his or her own, but i think it's an awesome idea. If nothing else, it should be a really fun learning experiment.
Good Luck!
