One PC, whole home?

[Bentley81]

I just built a new computer that I am going to use for gaming, work and storage of all my family's photo and video storage and backup.  I have been thinking about placing the computer in my media closet but I cannot figure out if I can link it to all of my TVs and have keyboards and mice linked in all the rooms.

 

So my question...?  Is there a way to use one computer that can be accessed from all TVs in a home?  I have plenty of HDMI ports and DVI to run to all locations that would be dedicated.

 

Thoughts?

[NekoBubbles]

Well HDMI cables only get to about 20 feet. So I guess pair it with female to female parts and link it all the way.... Sounds so inconvient though

[jaslion]

Do you even have enough ports for it on the system?

 

Sure there are plenty of way of doing this (depending on distance the most local one would be data over ethernet but it isnt cheap like at all). Also totally depends on what you are expecting it to do, latency, resolution,...

[dizmo]

I think you'd have a hard time getting the wireless peripherals to work through walls reaching all rooms. I don't think even Linus has that set up, with his living room having it's own PC IIRC.

 

2 minutes ago, NekoBubbles said:

Well HDMI cables only get to about 20 feet. So I guess pair it with female to female parts and link it all the way.... Sounds so inconvient though

Not true, I've purchased 50 foot HDMI cables and I'm fairly certain they come longer as well.

[Kisai]

This is not feasible. Not really.

 

The main reason is that what you're asking for is a KVM switch, but what you want to do is a DLNA(Plex)/Remote Desktop from other device like a smarttv so you can actually seek the video from the controls of the device (eg tablet/smarttv) and get the audio.

 

KVM switches are typically limited to about 10 meters (30ft), Ethernet can go 100m.

 

Basically you have three strategies:

1. HDMI splitter, no input

2. VNC, no audio

3. DLNA services for media, and RDP for remote desktop (one user only)

 

If you want two people to use the same machine at the same time, you need Windows Server's terminal services. Home and Pro are not good enough, and the alternative is a Linux machine.

 

A Linux machine can do all of this, but it's probably not the ideal option for video.

 

[NekoBubbles]

11 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I think you'd have a hard time getting the wireless peripherals to work through walls reaching all rooms. I don't think even Linus has that set up, with his living room having it's own PC IIRC.

 

Not true, I've purchased 50 foot HDMI cables and I'm fairly certain they come longer as well.

Well I was thinking about the budget there are 50+ footers but they can get expensive. 

[NekoBubbles]

Just now, NekoBubbles said:

Well I was thinking about the budget there are 50+ footers but they can get expensive. 

I mean sure theres 200 ft HDMI cordage but that is a bit steep in price at 100+ usd per cord.  if your talking more than like 4 or 5 TV's now your talking like the cost of a TV in itself. 

[Catsrules]

They have converters for HDMI that convert to a Cat5-6 cable that I think gets you the full 300 feet but those are expensive for the converter boxes. 

 

I probably would recommend running like a Plex or Jellyfin server on your PC and then just get some chrome casts, Firesticks, or Roku for the TVs. That is the easiest way. And probably the cheapest you get some some of those for $30-$70

[dizmo]

10 minutes ago, NekoBubbles said:

Well I was thinking about the budget there are 50+ footers but they can get expensive. 

Oh I didn't realize he'd mentioned he's on a tight budget.

[NekoBubbles]

2 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Oh I didn't realize he'd mentioned he's on a tight budget.

Well I tend to assume that and if it turns out they got no budget then they can say or ask "what if money doesn't matter?"

Then I'd give them them the further options. I just try to keep in mind at least right now we are in a pandemic situation so not everyone has money to toss all over the place. 

[Bentley81]

I don’t have a serious budget in mind, I’m willing to spend good money if it makes sense. I like to know all my options… If I did this setup it would be closest to where I plan to game and enjoy most of my media. But it would be nice to use it in my shop that is about 200 feet from where the computer would be, I already have 2 cat6 cables running out and could run plenty more if needed. And then the rest would be in the house. 
 

How does plex and jellyfin work?

[divito]

Need a bit more info to really offer suggestions.

How many TVs would you want to access?

Is there one main TV you'd want to game on that's in your media closet's room? Or do you want to game and have media options on every TV?
Just PC games? What else do you want to do?

[Bentley81]

9 minutes ago, divito said:

Need a bit more info to really offer suggestions.

How many TVs would you want to access?

Is there one main TV you'd want to game on that's in your media closet's room? Or do you want to game and have media options on every TV?
Just PC games? What else do you want to do?

I would hook it up to my 75” tv in my living room that is connected directly to my media closet that is about 10 feet away. I play mostly racing games so I can use my driving seat and then my bedroom tv which is about 30’ away and my shop that is 200’ away. I want to use it as a work station in my shop, a gaming rig and media center in the house. 

[divito]

18 minutes ago, Bentley81 said:

I would hook it up to my 75” tv in my living room that is connected directly to my media closet that is about 10 feet away. I play mostly racing games so I can use my driving seat and then my bedroom tv which is about 30’ away and my shop that is 200’ away. I want to use it as a work station in my shop, a gaming rig and media center in the house. 

Well, the "easiest" thing I can think of, is having Plex Media Server on your PC, then have something like a Fire Stick/Cube for your bedroom TV (assuming it's not a smart TV) for Plex, Netflix, etc...

The shop part presents a bit of a problem, but again, for simplicity, an additional Fire Stick/Cube can work with Microsoft Remote Desktop as far as I can remember. There are some sites that go over the steps, and then you'd be able to access your PC through that. Get a USB hub for your keyboard and mouse or use Bluetooth options and that should be it.

[dizmo]

2 hours ago, NekoBubbles said:

Well I tend to assume that and if it turns out they got no budget then they can say or ask "what if money doesn't matter?"

Then I'd give them them the further options. I just try to keep in mind at least right now we are in a pandemic situation so not everyone has money to toss all over the place. 

It's just odd to make it seem like they simply don't exist. Rather misleading, actually.

[Catsrules]

2 hours ago, Bentley81 said:

How does plex and jellyfin work?

They are both media servers with companion apps for most media devices, (chromecasts, Roku, Firestick, apple TV. etc..) Think of it like your own personal Netflixs. You give it a media folder and Plex/Jellyfin will scan the build a media library from your media you give it. 

 

Then you install the companion apps on the drives connect to your tv and point them to your PC over the network and it will give you a nice interface to browse and watch your media library.

 

This is just for videos and photos. 

 

Plex is a more mature software and will have the best supported apps and probably is easier to use. But it is closed source and you need an account from what I understand. It has a free and paid version.

 

Jellyfin is a little over a 2 years old, it is open source software it is a fork of Emby. It doesn't have as much device support as Plex. It might be a little bit harder to setup but not by much.

Anything else like game streaming you will have to find another solution. But you could do something with like a NVIDIA shield or Steam Link with Raspberry PI.

[Bentley81]

33 minutes ago, Catsrules said:

They are both media servers with companion apps for most media devices, (chromecasts, Roku, Firestick, apple TV. etc..) Think of it like your own personal Netflixs. You give it a media folder and Plex/Jellyfin will scan the build a media library from your media you give it. 

 

Then you install the companion apps on the drives connect to your tv and point them to your PC over the network and it will give you a nice interface to browse and watch your media library.

 

This is just for videos and photos. 

 

Plex is a more mature software and will have the best supported apps and probably is easier to use. But it is closed source and you need an account from what I understand. It has a free and paid version.

 

Jellyfin is a little over a 2 years old, it is open source software it is a fork of Emby. It doesn't have as much device support as Plex. It might be a little bit harder to setup but not by much.

Anything else like game streaming you will have to find another solution. But you could do something with like a NVIDIA shield or Steam Link with Raspberry PI.

Thank you, I will look into some of these options.

[mikeyw64]

No Problem, ask Linus if he still has this card lying around ;o)
 

 

[NekoBubbles]

18 hours ago, dizmo said:

It's just odd to make it seem like they simply don't exist. Rather misleading, actually.

Well I don't want to assume they need all the extra length either >.> Hence then they can detail if they need it longer then you give them the links to the longer cables. Why start with the longest and MOST expensive? Its not your job to sell a product for that company.

[NineEyeRon]

I use an Apple TV 4th gen to play games  from my PC in my living room, latency isn’t great but it’s playable for everything but Rocket League and alike.

 

I also use my tablet for the same thing, mostly sick days when I can’t get out of bed but want some Skyrim or FM.

[GDRRiley]

On 4/27/2021 at 5:36 PM, NekoBubbles said:

Well HDMI cables only get to about 20 feet. So I guess pair it with female to female parts and link it all the way.... Sounds so inconvient though

that wouldn't work you have to move the HDMI over Ethernet or SDI

[GDRRiley]

22 minutes ago, FoxMan said:

Cables will solve your problem. It's only a question of cost

not really, this is trying to have the PC run every TV and get inputs. its a lot more than just cables.

 

 

[wasab]

Depends on whether your tv is a smart tv or not. All smart tvs can connect via local networks or internet. 

[XGoodGuyFitz]

On 4/27/2021 at 7:38 PM, dizmo said:

I think you'd have a hard time getting the wireless peripherals to work through walls reaching all rooms. I don't think even Linus has that set up, with his living room having it's own PC IIRC.

Linus could do it if he wanted. Im sure he could pay someone to figure it out. (And linus probably has a pc for every screen in his house. /j )

[whm1974]

18 minutes ago, wasab said:

Depends on whether your tv is a smart tv or not. All smart tvs can connect via local networks or internet. 

But are not Smart TVs really Slowww...?