Using my desktop all around the house (Streaming, run cables?)

thewheel2.0

I have two rooms:

• Sitting room with big tv, game consoles and UPC box.
• Computer room with desk, monitor, keyboard and mouse.

I want to mirror the screen of my desktop in both rooms so I have a fully featured desktop everywhere, it doesn't matter which one it lives in.

What options do I have? Is there a way to do it with minimal lag? I get the feeling there's a way to do this I'm not thinking of...

bassey

Where are the rooms in relation to each other? Like would a long hdmi cable and a drill do the trick?

thewheel2.0

bassey wrote: »

Where are the rooms in relation to each other? Like would a long hdmi cable and a drill do the trick?

Upstairs and downstairs but I'm renting so I can't drill unfortunately.

Celly Smunt

ah sure just a little drill hole...

thewheel2.0

Celly Smunt wrote: »

ah sure just a little drill hole...

I'd love to but the landlady had 5 things on the contract and drilling was one of them. It would want to be a huge hole for HDMI's thick connector to fit through...

danger_mouse_tm

You could run a cat 5 cable down the stairs and tack or stick it to skirting boards with out too much mess. Then you a HDMI balun at either end. I think you're going to run into problems with screen resolution straight off the bat. Any time I've run a dual monitor setup (whether it be mirrored or extended) there was a problem with getting each one the way I wanted. Maybe that was just the limitations of the graphics card I was using. A far far easier way is to get some Donkey of a laptop (once it has HDMI ) even one that may have a broken screen and just RUN the hdmi into your TV. You should have no problem streaming content wirelessly from your desktop upstairs using simple networking or even the homegroup. If you want to see your desktop screen and run programs then either use Team viewer or Remote Desktop.
Here is a great keyboard to use for your downstairs setup.

danwhite88

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

I have two rooms:

• Sitting room with big tv, game consoles and UPC box.
• Computer room with desk, monitor, keyboard and mouse.

I want to mirror the screen of my desktop in both rooms so I have a fully featured desktop everywhere, it doesn't matter which one it lives in.

What options do I have? Is there a way to do it with minimal lag? I get the feeling there's a way to do this I'm not thinking of...

Would a Nas box be an option? Run everything off a local network?

ED E

Personally id do:
Main PC where it is
Viewer PC at tv, good network connection between the two
Microsoft RDP for general use
Steam IHS for gaming

The two problems are: youtube etc over RDP will suck and not all games support IHS as far as I know.

thewheel2.0

RDP fecks up the quality, I'm hoping for perfect picture/sound/usability in both rooms.

I need to develop software at the desk and then downstairs is for entertainment. I was hoping one computer would do both.

I wonder if I ran a long HDMI cable or CAT6 would a wireless keyboard or mouse work through the ceiling, that's the next problem I guess.

I could just convince herself to allow me to move ugly office furniture into our sitting room...

Any other options?

ED E

glynf

You could go for HDMI over power cables, like this one. Silly expensive, as in 380ish Stg. and prone to electrical interference such as microwaves crap cabling.
Another option would be wireless HDMI senders & receivers, again not cheap for a decent one.

If it was me I would go for a long HDMI with a micro connection at one end, so you can get away with an 8-10mm hole-easier to convince your landlord to go for, and easier to patch up when you remove it. You can buy an adapter to go from micro to standard HDMI for a few quid.

Serephucus

Since you're going to be developing on your machine, I'd think it'll have to live in the upstairs room.

So, now we're only concerned with the sitting room. Do you absolutely need a fully-fledged desktop experience? What things exactly are you going to be doing?

.G.

I have a HDMI over Cat 5 extender from my PC to my tv. Run in 2 cat 5 cables and plug them into the extender on each end. Works very well for me. You'll be hampered by the range of wireless keyboards though. I have a Logitech one and its range isn't very good at all.

thewheel2.0

Serephucus wrote: »

Since you're going to be developing on your machine, I'd think it'll have to live in the upstairs room.

So, now we're only concerned with the sitting room. Do you absolutely need a fully-fledged desktop experience? What things exactly are you going to be doing?

In the sitting room I need it for steam gaming, sites with flash video that don't have smart tv apps, Sky Go - stuff like that.

thewheel2.0

ED E wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmxAcVvAO40

I got around to watching this and had a brain wave.

If I put my computer upstairs can't I just run a single USB 3.0 cable connected to a hub in the sitting room, then this USB3.0 to HDMI adapter connected to my TV? it should work right? Is it true that USB 3.0 can carry 1080P?

That way I get peripherals and display on the same cable, or am I over complicating things?

Calibos

If it were me I'd run cat 5e and use a cheap intel NUC or gigabyte Brix mini PC at the Tv. The mini PC perfect for everything except gaming but with SteamOS also installed as a bootable OS on it you can then use Steam In Home Streaming of all your games from the main gaming PC as others have already mentioned. Afaik there is no limitation on the games that can be streamed from the windows gaming PC. The limitation ED E might be thinking of is that only Linux games will run natively directly on a Steam Machine with Steam OS installed.

ED E

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

I got around to watching this and had a brain wave.

If I put my computer upstairs can't I just run a single USB 3.0 cable connected to a hub in the sitting room, then this USB3.0 to HDMI adapter connected to my TV? it should work right? Is it true that USB 3.0 can carry 1080P?

That way I get peripherals and display on the same cable, or am I over complicating things?

Thats why I linked it You could do PC

---

usb3

---

PoweredHub and have all the peripherals through that.

Still a bit clunky IMO, but it should work

Calibos wrote: »

If it were me I'd run cat 5e and use a cheap intel NUC or gigabyte Brix mini PC at the Tv. The mini PC perfect for everything except gaming but with SteamOS also installed as a bootable OS on it you can then use Steam In Home Streaming of all your games from the main gaming PC as others have already mentioned. Afaik there is no limitation on the games that can be streamed from the windows gaming PC. The limitation ED E might be thinking of is that only Linux games will run natively directly on a Steam Machine with Steam OS installed.

I didnt realize everything worked with IHS, in this case two discrete PCs is definitely the better option.

thewheel2.0

ED E wrote: »

Thats why I linked it You could do PC

---

usb3

---

PoweredHub and have all the peripherals through that.

Still a bit clunky IMO, but it should work

I didnt realize everything worked with IHS, in this case two discrete PCs is definitely the better option.

I'm a pedantic nerd! I want all my files in one place, easy to backup and no need for a second PC wasting electricity.

I think I'm comfortable with running cables down the stairs. I checked last night and there is room for cables underneath the doors so no drilling needed. So I'm looking at the following:

Option 1 - Run one cable £51.19 (1xUSB 3.0):
HDMI USB Adapter £23.50

2x 5m USB 3.0 USB Cable £17.70

USB 3.0 Hub £9.99

Option 2 - Run two cables £14.74 (1xUSB 2.0 and 1xHDMI):
HDMI 10m Cable £6.60

USB 2.0 Cable 10m £8.14
Already have a USB 2.0 Hub

Running Cat6e is expensive by the time that you buy all the adapters and stuff, isn't USB 3.0 pretty much the same?

Now that I'm running cables - Is there any inventive way of doing this that I'm not thinking of?

TheBandicoot

If you are pushing the video for the TV through a USB port, will it actually be driven by your GPU? I thought if you don't use the connectors on the card itself your picture is being driven by the integrated graphics on the MB.

the_syco

Consider the cable going out upstairs window, and coming in downstairs window? I remember a house in Riverside in Carlow a decade or so ago that was linked by a long ethernet between the two houses ^.^

thewheel2.0

TheBandicoot wrote: »

If you are pushing the video for the TV through a USB port, will it actually be driven by your GPU? I thought if you don't use the connectors on the card itself your picture is being driven by the integrated graphics on the MB.

I'm an idiot, you're dead right. That makes option 1 a bit expensive for what it is.