Everyone talks about it, but how many of us can afford it? The convergence of the personal computer and television is the subject of weighty discussion, and most of the solutions that are on offer seem tailored to those with weighty purses. But if you already own a reasonably configured home PC, it may be possible to add some neat pieces of hardware and software that can transform your machine into a TV and also allow you to control all your entertainment viewing and hearing — films on CD or DVD, TV content, music from CDs or MP3 folders — through a remote.
One device that makes this possible is the Pinnacle MediaCenter made by a U.S.-based digital entertainment outfit co-founded in 1986 by a BITS Pilani graduate, Ajay Chopra. He is the Chief Operating Officer today.
What you get for just under Rs. 3,000 is a programme CD and a chunky remote, together with the infrared eye that you can attach to the PC’s serial port. The software takes a good hour to install — mainly because they throw in Microsoft’s .Net framework and SQL Server, two bulky utilities that are apparently the backbone for Pinnacle’s own application.
Once installed, you can use the remote to click through an on-screen menu that allows you to operate your PC’s CD or DVD drive, to play music or video; search through your hard disk to find the music, pictures or video that you may have stored and generally access all the entertainment playable on your PCs from TV-viewing distance.
If you want to see TV on the same PC monitor, you have to install an additional PC-TV card that costs the same again, as the basic MediaCenter. This will allow you to receive TV signals from a cable TV or antenna plug and also provide some basic recording functions.
turn your PC into a TV
Everyone talks about it, but how many of us can afford it? The convergence of the personal computer and television is the subject of weighty discussion, and most of the solutions that are on offer seem tailored to those with weighty purses. But if you already own a reasonably configured home PC, it may be possible to add some neat pieces of hardware and software that can transform your machine into a TV and also allow you to control all your entertainment viewing and hearing — films on CD or DVD, TV content, music from CDs or MP3 folders — through a remote.
One device that makes this possible is the Pinnacle MediaCenter made by a U.S.-based digital entertainment outfit co-founded in 1986 by a BITS Pilani graduate, Ajay Chopra. He is the Chief Operating Officer today.
What you get for just under Rs. 3,000 is a programme CD and a chunky remote, together with the infrared eye that you can attach to the PC’s serial port. The software takes a good hour to install — mainly because they throw in Microsoft’s .Net framework and SQL Server, two bulky utilities that are apparently the backbone for Pinnacle’s own application.
Once installed, you can use the remote to click through an on-screen menu that allows you to operate your PC’s CD or DVD drive, to play music or video; search through your hard disk to find the music, pictures or video that you may have stored and generally access all the entertainment playable on your PCs from TV-viewing distance.
If you want to see TV on the same PC monitor, you have to install an additional PC-TV card that costs the same again, as the basic MediaCenter. This will allow you to receive TV signals from a cable TV or antenna plug and also provide some basic recording functions.
source-hindu