SillyDog701

[Don_HH2K]

My "TV" is currently a 4:3, 1080p-capable set, comprised of an old-but-good 17" Dell Trinitron monitor and a couple of signal processors.

Here's a quick diagram of how everything gets from their various formats to VGA (click for full-size image):



The TV tuner is an RCA DTC-210 (actually a DirecTV tuner, but I'm using it to pick up free-to-air stations). The RF modulator is made by Pelican Accessories, and the component box is a no-name based on a TVia TrueView 5725.

Here's a shot of how it looked while I had it hooked up in college, and excuse the messy room.

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[Antony]

Might sharing some photos of the actual setup, DJGM?

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[DJGM]

Might sharing some photos of the actual setup, DJGM?

Indeed ... I've posted some hi-res photos on flickr.com ... filesize of each pic is about 2.5MB.

Here's a forum-safe sample pic . . .


Having my ancient laptop hooked up to the TV is temporary. I'm planning to get a PC of some
sort to go either on the shelf below the XBox360 (size permitting) or a small tower PC to go
alongside the TV cabinet, to playback MKV videos the XBox360 doesn't support yet.

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[Antony]

Looks nice, thanks for sharing the photo.

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[Mandrake]

Might sharing some photos of the actual setup, DJGM?

Indeed ... I've posted some hi-res photos on flickr.com ... filesize of each pic is about 2.5MB.

Here's a forum-safe sample pic . . .


Having my ancient laptop hooked up to the TV is temporary. I'm planning to get a PC of some
sort to go either on the shelf below the XBox360 (size permitting) or a small tower PC to go
alongside the TV cabinet, to playback MKV videos the XBox360 doesn't support yet.

You can install media server software on a PC that is hooked up to the same network as your Xbox 360 to transcode those MKV files on the fly. I use PS3MediaServer (despite the name, it works well on the 360 too) to access all the MKV files on my main system since the PS3 doesn't support that format out of the box.

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[Mandrake]

I got a new phone. My old Nokia 6300 finally died (the charging port was busted, so I was unable to recharge the battery and the phone for some bizarre reason doesn't support charging from the USB port)



Click to enlarge.

HTC Desire wearing the very important InvisibleSHIELD (If it wasn't for Antony's habit of using them on all his gadgets I wouldn't have known about them. ) and a new 16GB SanDisk 16GB MicroSD card ready to go into the phone. The stock 2GB card that HTC includes with the phone is too small for my needs.

The Desire runs the Android 2.1 OS and is supposed to be getting an update to Android 2.2 later this year. It's a gorgeous phone, the screen is simply amazing and it really does make me wonder how I used that old Nokia 6300 for close to three years.

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[Mandrake]

Click to enlarge.


I thought my setup was OK, until Antony went and got the 52" version of my TV.

Sony HDTV, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and Pioneer sound system.

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[Antony]

Congratulations on your new mobile phone.

When I was looking for a non-Apple smart phone (there are reasons), I was looking at HTC Desire model as well, but I ended up with outdated Touch Pro 2 instead.

HTC Desire wearing the very important InvisibleSHIELD (If it wasn't for Antony's habit of using them on all his gadgets I wouldn't have known about them. )

Excellent! I am so happy to know that.

InvisibleSHIELD does make gadgets less slippery, and you might take a while to adjust to that feeling. I hope you will like InvisibleSHIELD.

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[DJGM]

You can install media server software on a PC that is hooked up to the same
network as your Xbox 360 to transcode those MKV files on the fly . . .

I've tried various media server apps in the past for streaming videos to my XBox360, but they don't
seem to work so well on my wi-fi network. The crappy Thomson TG585v7 router supplied by the O2
is partly to blame for that. I'm considering switching to a Powerline based network setup later
this year, and most likely ditching comparatively unreliable wi-fi altogether.

The only media server program I had the most luck with is Windows Media Connect on Windows XP,
but since I'm on Windows 7 now, that program won't work. The built in media streaming feature
in Windows Media Player 12 (and especially 11) is absolute rubbish by comparison.

I think it'd be more convenient in the long run to have a PC near the TV with a Radeon HD card
that has HDMI output, and copy video files to it over the network, once I've moved to wired.

Meanwhile, it's no problem for me to pre-convert any MKV files I have to AVI or WMV format.

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[Antony]

I think it is my turn to show my poor man's (portable) TV. No where as big as you guys, not even HD TV. It's only 4.3-inch!

Presenting my poor man's TV:



It's not (just) a portable media player, but a TV, since I can watch live TV on it.
Some of you may remember that I have Sony Play TV (for Sony PlayStation 3) which it transfers my PlayStation 3 from a gaming console to a poor man's TiVo.


And the setup:

(Sony PS3 and Sony PlayTV are in the background of the picture above, please excuse my messy setup)

With the help of Remote Play enabled on my Sony PlayStation 3, and Sony PlayTV, I can watch live TV as well as recorded shows on my tiny Sony PSP (via WiFi).

Without a doubt, the Sony PlayStation Portable has the very important invisibleSHIELD on.

It is only 4.3-inch, and not 1080p, not even 720p, definitely not a HD TV. Antony is poor.

(More at this blog entry.)

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[iJohnE]

Antony, a PSP is a not a poor mans TV. Those things are expensive....

And they break easy.

(I miss my PSP, a lot.)

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[Don_HH2K]

The closest thing I own only has a 2.25" screen that outputs 2-bit greyscale. No 1080p, no 720p, not even 480p or 480i; it's just 160x160. I must be poorer..

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[Antony]

Antony, a PSP is a not a poor mans TV. Those things are expensive....

And they break easy.

(I miss my PSP, a lot.)

Learn to treat your belongings/gadgets with care and love, and they will last long and pretty much scratch free!

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[iJohnE]

Antony, a PSP is a not a poor mans TV. Those things are expensive....

And they break easy.

(I miss my PSP, a lot.)

Learn to treat your belongings/gadgets with care and love, and they will last long and pretty much scratch free!

I was in a car accident, it was out of my control.

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[Antony]

Antony, a PSP is a not a poor mans TV. Those things are expensive....

And they break easy.

(I miss my PSP, a lot.)

Learn to treat your belongings/gadgets with care and love, and they will last long and pretty much scratch free!

I was in a car accident, it was out of my control.

Oh, well, most devices break easily in car accident, not just Sony PSP.

I hope you were all right.

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