Wireless Keyboard/Mouse

[JiF]DispDave · Post by **[JiF]DispDave** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:44 pm

So I've decided I want to connect a Media Center PC to my 50" Widescreen. The TV has an HDMI input that I can use and I have a great spot out of the way near the TV. Here is the problem, the room is set up theatre style and the two primary chairs are about 10-12 feet from the TV and where the PC would be.

I'd like to find a wireless keyboard setup that would work over that distance. I tried the Logitech one from my home PC and no luck. Any thoughts?

(BDU)opcenter · Post by **(BDU)opcenter** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:42 pm

I have this one and it works great. The pointing stick thingy takes a while to get used to, but once you do, it's awesome. Much better than a trackball because you don't have to constantly clean it out. I have it hooked up to a Mac mini that's plugged into my DLP TV.

[JiF]DispDave · Post by **[JiF]DispDave** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:44 pm

Op - what kind of distance do you get from the keyboard?

I didn't even think about a Mac mini - that would a great size too! Does it have a HDMI output or are you using a converter?

I want to connect it to my 50" DLP.

(BDU)opcenter · Post by **(BDU)opcenter** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:22 pm

I generally use it around 10-12' but I haven't tried it any further, I can give it a test this evening to see how far away I can go.... I've never had any problems with it dropping out or anything.

My TV has a DVI input (it's pre-HDMI), so I don't need a converter. However, as long as you get a decent converter it should work great.

[JiF]DispDave · Post by **[JiF]DispDave** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:27 pm

(BDU)opcenter wrote:I generally use it around 10-12' but I haven't tried it any further, I can give it a test this evening to see how far away I can go.... I've never had any problems with it dropping out or anything.

My TV has a DVI input (it's pre-HDMI), so I don't need a converter. However, as long as you get a decent converter it should work great.

OK, I look forward to your test.

Thanks

[JiF][AARP]Jimbo · Post by **[JiF][AARP]Jimbo** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:29 pm

Apple is or has come out with this, may want to look at it.

http://www.apple.com/appletv/

(BDU)opcenter · Post by **(BDU)opcenter** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:06 pm

As great as the appleTV thing looks, my main issue with it is that pretty much all of my video is in DivX/XviD format and I don't want to have to convert it all to H.264. I also like having a web browser on the TV, it sometimes comes in handy.

However, if you have all of your media in iTunes and have no such need for browsing the web on your TV, then it's a great product.

[JiF]DispDave · Post by **[JiF]DispDave** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:17 am

I get most of my stuff from tvtorrents.com so I'm still leaning towards the media center.

But I must admit the Mac Mini is appealing.

(BDU)opcenter · Post by **(BDU)opcenter** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:58 am

Yeah, the mini is a good choice for that. I've been very happy with it as my multimedia system. I'm eventually going to setup a MythTV back-end on my Linux server and then run MythTV front-end on the mini so I have a better interface for playing videos. But, for now, just using NFS to serve the files over the network and VLC to play them, I've been perfectly happy.

As for the keyboard range, it looks to work as far as I can take it in the room (probably around 15') and it seemed to still be working outside of the room. RF rocks.

[JiF]DispDave · Post by **[JiF]DispDave** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 4:07 am

Thanks Op