View Full Version : PC for TV
I am interested in getting a Windows pc in the lounge to download internet TV. Obviously I would prefer not to have a fan buzzing away.
At the present time I have been using my 3 year old netbook but it is clearly inadequate for the job as its graphics and RAM aren't up to speed.
Any suggestions as to what I can get to do the job at a reasonable price; I don't need a monitor?
A nice cheap, reliable Linux box?
Skypilot
1st May 2012, 14:54
Sounds like you need an HTPC. There's an entire thread on building those here (http://www.pprune.org/computer-internet-issues-troubleshooting/439684-htpc-components.html).
Milo Minderbinder
1st May 2012, 15:33
just internet TV? Or any TV?
If just the internet almost any PC with fast enough graphics and a big drive would do. The network connection is really the limiting factor
Or do you intend to use tuners as well? If so, satellite or terrestrial?
I am looking to download Internet TV onto my TV in the lounge and get a decent picture. With the netbook the picture keeps buffering and breaking up when ther is fast movement.
I presume that a decent graphics card and memory is a must.
Milo Minderbinder
1st May 2012, 16:18
"the picture keeps buffering and breaking up"
Thats more likely to be network speed issues
How do you connect to the internet? How fast is the broadband feed and how fast is your local network? Wireless or wired?
Can you output a video file from your hard drive without buffering? If so then the problem really is with the network
Mike-Bracknell
1st May 2012, 19:42
Acer Aspire Revo R3700 Nettop - Revo Nettops | Ebuyer.com (http://www.ebuyer.com/279898-acer-aspire-revo-r3700-nettop-pt-semec-036)
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XBMC (http://xbmc.org/)
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MEDIAPORTAL - a HTPC Media Center for free! (http://www.team-mediaportal.com/)
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BlackGold - BlackGold offers a range of software components for licence and turnkey products are available for immediate manufacture. We specialise in providing OEM design and consultancy solutions, including turnkey DVB-T, DVB-S, Freeview, Freesat a (http://shop.blackgold.tv/)
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There you go - now you can stick your movies on your old PC, stick a TV card in it, and MediaPortal backend, and stream it to a PVR-equipped build of XBMC running on an Acer Revo delivering content silently via HDMI to your TV etc.
:ok:
Alternatively, if you only want internet TV then just buy the Acer Revo and get a better internet connection.
Milo,
The issue shouldn't be internet speed as I am with Virgin on fibre with 10mb.
My feeling is that it is more to do with the graphics card on a cheap netbooks processor.
hellsbrink
2nd May 2012, 13:42
The issue shouldn't be internet speed as I am with Virgin on fibre with 10mb.
Yes, but do you run a cable from the virgin router to your netbook or do you use wireless to connect?
Mike-Bracknell
2nd May 2012, 17:29
Milo,
The issue shouldn't be internet speed as I am with Virgin on fibre with 10mb.
My feeling is that it is more to do with the graphics card on a cheap netbooks processor.
Frankly, "Virgin Fibre with 10mb" means diddly squat when you don't know the entire route the data is taking to get to your laptop. For instance, the person providing the uplink of data might just be on a broadband link shared with their family, etc.
Saw a box on sale in LeRoy Merlin (F) last week which plugs into your TV (SCART or HDMI) and connects via wifi to the internet. Box contains a hard drive, runs on Android and once set up you can download films and everything else off the internet and play them on the TV. No need for a local PC, you can even set your router up over the box.
If everyone else knows about this already don't flame me !
OFSO
Milo Minderbinder
2nd May 2012, 21:49
"The issue shouldn't be internet speed as I am with Virgin on fibre with 10mb. "
So what? Whats the bitrate and definition of the files you are trying to stream?
And what else is running on the local network? Whats the source of these 'net TV channels. Most of the ones I've seen have been severely bandwidth restricted, often using peer-to-peer networks
You don't need much in the way of hardware to stream video. We could do it 12 years ago using 8Mb ATi Rage Pro chips and AMD K6-II CPUs. The processing power of even a basic modern machine such as a Notepad with Intel Atom guts is far more powerful than that.
I am downloading sky go to my second TV (as my wife doesn't football) using the Notebook. I have an 30m ethernet cable between my study where my virgin media Netware gateway comes in to a Linksys WRT160N in the bedroom where there is a decent TV. I then have taken a 2m ethernet from that to the notebook outputting the notebook via a monitor cable to the TV.
I have done a speedtest on the notebook in the location and got 9.26 Mnps download and .98 Mnps upload. I have a smartphone in the house that is connected by the WRTWiFi but isn't used at the time.
I am with Virgin on fibre with 10mb. - Hmm! If all you get is 10mb on 'fibre' ....................................I suspect you are on ADSL2+ or similar via BT./Unbundled in which case you would be 'sharing' your data download with others around you.? I would complain if you are paying for a '50 or 100mb' or so connection.
No, I'm definitely on fibre that's all I pay for at the present, they are upgrading to 20Mnps in June. Unlike others you get the download speed that you pay for with Virgin.
I won't tell you what I pay for the package otherwise you will get jealous. :ok:
Well, sky in my opinion, if you are 'paying' for fibre you are being ripped off!
Saab Dastard
3rd May 2012, 17:21
Virgin's 10Mb service that's being upgraded to 20Mb is most likely cable (co-ax). It's certainly not ADSL, and unlikely to be fibre-optic to the house.
Our Virgin cable domestic service has recently been upgraded to 20Mb from 10, and I'm getting 17-19Mb on one wired PC and one wifi PC, but 2 wifi PCs further from the WAP are getting between 8 and 12Mb (802.11g). One was only getting 2-4 until I replaced the antenna on the NIC with an external antenna further from the PC.
Wireless throughput does drop off rapidly as signal strength decreases.
SD
Yes, I was thinking co-ax too. Out of interest, what is the expected top speed on co-ax?
PS Chi is on BT's list for NGA (not sure whether to congratulate or commiserate :) )
No it's not fibre optic to the house it's fibre optic in the street and the usual telephone wire to the house.
But then I'm only paying £29 for broadband, line rental and unlimited phone calls 24/7 other than 0870 and 0845 and I can get around that. I could pay more but frankly don't need it.
Now why is Sky Go buffering and not particularly good; any thoughts?
Yup - you are being ripped off! £20.48 + Vat here for the same package 'up to 24mb'.:)
Milo Minderbinder
3rd May 2012, 23:51
"No it's not fibre optic to the house it's fibre optic in the street and the usual telephone wire to the house."
well that sounds like an unbundled BT Infinity service - except AFAIK BT haven't let anyone else resell Infinity yet.
All the pointers are that you simply have an unbundled ADSL service through Virgin using BT's local cables. NOT a Virgin cable service
In which case you do have all the contention ratio issues to play with.
And one final point - you're trying to download Sky Go through a Virgin network??? One suspects you may be falling victim to some kind of traffic profile shaping or prioritisation. Internet companies hate streaming services, and especially those of their competitors. It would not surprise me if streaming Sky video had a low bandwidth priority for Virgin
Milo - it appears we may have a yet another 'hoodwinking' by the 'system' on what is being sold here. The sooner OfCom flash their rubber teeth and sort this out the better. Whether 'Dear Jeremy' will have enough time in office, of course, before the door hits his backside on the way out..........................
We are diverging as usual from track, but.........:),
I think it extremely unlikely that BT will ever 'unbundle Infinity' due to the antiquated way it is distributed via new PCPs, each of which has the necessary VSlam installed and is linked to the E-side and D-side lines at each original PCP. I can see (under pressure!!) BT being forced to offer PIA to other providers for their fibre supply INTO the new PCPs but that would require, as with Rutland Telecom/Gigaclear, the 'other' putting in either a new PCP for FTTC or termination point into a FTTP network, or of course into a fixed wireless network as I am working towards here is Sussex (40mb). However, as Rutland and others have discovered, doing 'straight' deals with BT. is a task for Dr Faustus.:mad:
Meanwhile, of course, the UK waits breathlessly to hear from the government which of the 9 (no, 3) (no, 2) major bidders will prevail for the £530 million. I wonder.......? 2 letters, beginning with B and ending with T perhaps?
Milo,
It isn't a BT line, the NTL fibre optic line was laid about 10 years ago. Give us credit for knowing what is outside my house.
Your second comment could well be the truth.
Give us credit for knowing what is outside my house. - of course we do, it is just that the technology you describe is completely unknown to me. As I have been active for a while in trying to get a better broadband in my locality it would be useful to know more. Can you tell us how your 'phone lines' are connected to this NTL fibre in the road?
From what I understand there is an NTL box on the pavement opposite where I presume that the cable is transferred to standard telephone line to the houses in the street.
From what I can gather telephone cable is perfectly adequate up to at least 20Mnps but at higher speeds cable is used to the house.
Is there any way I can measure bandwidth to see if Virgin is chocking off SKY?
Milo Minderbinder
4th May 2012, 14:41
From memory, NTL lines were a composite hybrid
The TV and phone signals were carried by a pair of fibreoptics buried in the cable, but broadband was carried on an embedded copper co-axial. The copper could carry a faster signal than the fibreoptic!
You have to remember its 20+-year old technology and the fibreoptics were primitive by modern standards
One things for sure - its not standard phone cable
Mike-Bracknell
4th May 2012, 15:25
well that sounds like an unbundled BT Infinity service - except AFAIK BT haven't let anyone else resell Infinity yet.
Wrong. Would you like it (when I say "it" I mean FTTC/FTTP not "Infinity" which is BT Retail's tradename for it)
Milo Minderbinder
4th May 2012, 16:46
Thats what comes from extrapolating a local situation nationally.... round here only BT are offering the end-user service so far, they started around five weeks ago. I'm waiting to see if/when Zen come up with an offering