Full desktop access 2 floors away?

Mercutio · 23 Dec 2015 at 12:54

I'm after suggestions for what, I'd hope, would be a fairly common "problem" folks will have novel solutions for.

I basically want full use of the desktop of my office machine on the TV in the living room. Needs to be good enough to watch films/etc on and output sound to the TV as well.

Options considered:
HDMI extender + wireless keyboard+trackpad with good range.

HDMI over ethernet + wireless keyboard+trackpad with good range.

I'm assuming there's quite a few streaming type boxes that could do it but I'm not sure what would be best to use. Does the steam streaming box do more than just steam? The awkward bit is needing movies to be able to do Greek subtitles as well so I pretty much have to be able to throw the output of a software player to the TV.

As a thought - is this something VLC is designed to do? I have a smart TV with DLNA downstairs. If VLC can be set up to send something the TV can receive with subtitles that might do the trick. Would prefer full desktop access though.

Bantu · 23 Dec 2015 at 14:06

From the sound of your setup i think you would be better off with a small secondary PC in your living room and then using software like TeamViewer to access your office PC.

I have bad experiences with using wireless keyboards in different rooms so would really not recommend it.

lsg1r · 23 Dec 2015 at 14:18

I'd probably go for one of the intel mini sticks or similar. For 'work' you can remote network and for media you can access the 'media drive' via network shares.

This is in essence how mine is set up.

If it's just for movies you could consider a chromecast/amazon box/roku or similar plus plex app (needs server on pc).

As you say tv has dlna. My samsung has it and I use serviio with it's native player (also has plex app). Apart from subtitles needing to be ripped from 'all in one' mkv's it's played everything I've chucked at it so far.

gee3000 · 23 Dec 2015 at 14:22

I doubt wireless devices will work at that range so if you just need control of the machine but not video streaming then Teamviewer will work. Streaming video over Teamview is very poor.

If you just want access to media and don't necessarily need direct control then DLNA may work but I'd recommend setting up Plex on your pc and getting some HDMI stick that supports Plex client app (unless your smart TV has a Plex app available). Very easy to do but you do have to keep Plex Server running and it's a bit of a resource hog so it's usually recommended to put it on a dedicated/unused machine.

If you need direct control and to be able to play media directly then you will have to run a HDMI and a USB extension all the way.

Mercutio · 23 Dec 2015 at 14:26

Can I set the source for DLNA to push the subs into the stream or is it something the client would have to add?
I'd prefer control but... it's looking a bit awkward.

As a random idea, can the steam streaming box do video with downloaded subs? That and some high end homeplugs would save me quite a bit of floorboard lifting/etc

hellarda · 24 Dec 2015 at 22:00

If you've considered using HDMI over ethernet (HDBase-T would be my recommendation) then why not couple that with USB over ethernet?

dalehitchy1 · 25 Dec 2015 at 09:51

maybe its not what your after but those amazon fire stick tv coupled with plex on your machine is a great setup. im pretty sure they support subtitles if you have the subtitle file on your computer.

CaNsA · 25 Dec 2015 at 10:03

Rpi2 + W10 IoT + RDP ?

Blackjack Davy · 26 Dec 2015 at 00:27

Logitech bluetooth mouse + keyboard will work up to 20' away but two floors would be too much I imagine.

Mercutio · 30 Dec 2015 at 08:34

hellarda said:
If you've considered using HDMI over ethernet (HDBase-T would be my recommendation) then why not couple that with USB over ethernet?

Hmmm... hadn't really considered full on "over ethernet" (over Cat X is more at the physical layer). Could work though

Mercutio · 30 Dec 2015 at 08:37

dalehitchy1 said:
maybe its not what your after but those amazon fire stick tv coupled with plex on your machine is a great setup. im pretty sure they support subtitles if you have the subtitle file on your computer.

This could be an option. The main thing is really the movies without added hardware (so ok, £30 fire stick, meh), if I can occasionally recline on the couch while gaming too is merely a minor positive