Previously I'd installed TightVNC on the PC driving the TV. This allows to control the TV computer from another computer while sitting on the couch. On the couch computer I installed WIN2VNC (shared keyboard mouse so you can use the couch computer keyboard & mouse to control the TV computer) and TightVNC viewer (this creates a Windows window that mirrors the TV computer & TV screen). All in all this arrangement works well.
I've been testing with my new Sony laptop. That's OK for testing but I wanted to use the smaller Dell 410 as the couch computer. Just now the Dell 410 Windows 7 is doubtful long term with what appears to be a illegitimate Windows 7. So I installed Ubuntu alongside Windows 7. This allows me to get some experience with a mixed Windows/Ubuntu network. I had some issues with the wireless connect on the Dell 410 but worked through those. Then installed the Vinagre VNC viewer and presto the Dell 410, now couch computer, and control the TV computer.
I mostly settled out on content.
- hulu - tv, some news, some movies
- netflixs - movies
- pandora - music
- youtube - various including amusement, some news, some education
- noaa - weather
- CNN - news
- PBS - news and some tv
- various networks - tv
That's way more than I can consume or even want to some by by Comcast.
I am still struggling with recording OTA TV. It turns out that a 2 tuner TV receiver card requires more computer than I have available. So I'm currently looking for a fast enough used computer to setup as an OTA TV DVR. That will allow me to schedule and record various TV shows and save them on disk. I set the disk up as a media server and play the recorded TV/movies/etc. using XBMC and MythTV on the TV computer.
While this all sounds complicated, it's actually simple.
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