Not sure a good discussion place to post this. I just want some brainstorming.

Looking for ideas on how to set up a faux-TV in the living room using a computer. I want to put an entertainment center across from the couch and have a place to watch media. But I have no interest in paying for cable/satellite/public broadcasts. (Why pay to be advertised to?)

I have a good collection of shows and movies on external hard drives. I figure I could buy a big monitor and plop it up there with a laptop attached. I could do a makeshift mouse using a game pad and Steam.

I just wanted to check if anyone had alternatives in mind. The mouse situation is suboptimal. Having to get another laptop is also suboptimal. But I can’t think of any other way! Any ideas or have I pretty much figured it out?

  • imvii@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    6 hours ago

    I have a projector hooked to a Win10 computer in my living room. I also have another computer on the network stuffed full of music and videos. I’ve shared these media folders as read only on the network. I use a small wireless keyboard and trackpad to drive it (Logitech K400). I play the video files in VLC. The music I usually just use winamp. Super simple.

    In the past I’d tried using the media center servers like MediaPortal, Plex, etc. They’re pretty, but I found them to be more problematic than just browsing files in directory. I also watch youtube stuff from time to time so I just open a browser on the WIn10 computer.

    The girlfriend sometimes gets a Netflix account for a few months at a time and we watch via a browser instead of using a smartTV app.

    I’ve been doing this for years and it works well for us.

    • TimewornTraveler@lemm.eeOP
      0·
      6 hours ago

      That sounds ideal! The projector would be hard to set up for how my house is organized, but that’s the general idea I’m talking about.

      Also, a little shy to admit this, but I’ve never had any luck sharing files through the home network. Dunno why, never cared much to look into it. You’d think the best way to get files onto a laptop connected to wifi from a desktop connected to ethernet would be to just share them over the router but it wasn’t that easy and I wasn’t that determined for a solution. Maybe I should look into that… it’s probably as simple as checking the right boxes somewhere.