Ask Slashdot: Best Wireless PC-to-TV Solution?

jez9999 writes: I have a slightly unusual requirement. I don't want to use some console like an Xbox, Steam Machine, etc. I just have a desktop PC which I use for most of the stuff I do (gaming, video, work, etc.), and it's upstairs. From time to time, I'd like to use it downstairs. Is there a wireless solution that will let me take control of the PC from downstairs, using the TV (HDMI) as the screen, and the TV's speakers to replace my desktop speakers? Ideally there would be a wireless transmitter in the PC, and a downstairs wireless receiver box into which I could plug the keyboard, mouse, and of course, the TV via an HDMI cable. Obviously Bluetooth wireless peripherals won't do for this as there's no line of sight between downstairs and the upstairs PC, and besides, I prefer wired peripherals anyway which I can actually plug in to something (no battery recharging needed). Have a question for Slashdot's readers? Take a look at other recent questions first to see if someone else has had a similar question. And if not, ask away! The more details and context you include, the more likely your question will be selected.

Comments

Extra hardware

[darkNeko]

You can use a chromecast if all you want is video. If you want a more complete solution, try AirTame, a kickstarter product. The hardware looks good, but the apps and drivers are still beta. It works with Win-Mac-Linux tough.

There probably isn't one

[danomac]

Especially if you are looking to wirelessly transmit 1080i/p reliably. I've tried and wireless was so unreliable (display artifacts and whatnot not present with wired) that I wound up going to the crawlspace and running wires to every device in the house.

I wound up only using wireless for phones and tablets, every other device that has a physical LAN port is plugged in. I haven't had any network related issues since I ditched wireless.

Back in the late 90s I tried a wireless video transmitter (back then it was composite video) and every time my neighbour turned on the microwave the signal cut out. Presumably for low res video you could probably get away with wireless.

Compustick

[sectokia]

You can get a Intel compustick for like $100. Full pc that can simu wifi to a shared folder and play whatever you want, plus as it runs windows or Linux you can do anything you want

Re:Compustick

[amicusNYCL]

You can get a Intel compustick for like $100. Full pc that can simu wifi to a shared folder and play whatever you want, plus as it runs windows or Linux you can do anything you want

A PC that can play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in high-definition and costs 1/6th as much as my video card? Impressive. Or are you using a slightly loose definition of "play/do whatever you want", more along the lines of "do anything it was designed for?"

Re:Compustick

[Guspaz]

You may be looking at two different solutions, then. One to handle the audio and video, one to handle the keyboard/mouse.

Does it absolutely need to be wireless? Both HDMI and USB are easy to run over ethernet cabling with pretty cheap passive adapters, and it's the only solution that isn't going to have any sort of lag or quality loss. $12 adapters get you 150ft over ethernet cabling for USB, $20 gets you HDMI over 98 feet of ethernet cabling, and there are active solutions if you need to get HDMI farther. Drill some holes between each floor and hide the cable and that should work for you. Note that these don't use a network for extending, they use the ethernet cabling directly.

If it does need to be wireless, it's not going to be cheap, it's not going to be lossless, and it's not going to be low latency. There are various solutions, like WHDI transmitters (~30 feet through walls, maybe $170 for a kit), or h.264 transmitters (~60 feet through walls, maybe $500 for a kit). You may also be able to combined the h.264 transmitters with a powerline network to get more range (the ones that I have do wireless or ethernet, since they use UDP/IP). Both will add latency and reduce quality slightly.

USB is trickier, as wireless USB extenders are VERY rare. The few that I could find had all been discontinued, so the only option might be enterprise-grade USB-over-IP extenders that might work over wifi adapters (they're not tested over wifi).

Really, just drill some holes and run some Cat6 cable with some cheap Monoprice HDMI-to-Cat6 and USB-to-Cat6 passive adapters. This will save you hundreds (or thousands) of dollars as compared to wireless gear that will always be a really crummy experience.

Intel NUC.

[xenotransplant]

Get a NUC.

Wires

[oldmac31310]

yeah wires

Raspberry Pi

[i_ate_god]

If ALL you want to do, is watch your media on your TV, then get a Raspberry Pi + wifi dongle, and share your media drives on your LAN.

Answer for "why all answers here seem a bit off"

[cloud.pt]

There is a very specific reason that you can't find any decent sugestion on these comments getting 5+. To put it simply, there's no silver bullet.

(for brevity I'll summarize my sugestion here, just combine the following: Control the PC with Remote Desktop for Android; Stream Audio+Video with Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter or a cheap Miracast Dongle; Have a PC that enables flawless screen casting over wifi, preferably using Intel WIDI on Win8+ and an Intel GPU; Have some very good domestic WIFI network; Forget long cables exist: they won't give you control over the PC, they are more expensive than a good enough router and they are cumbersome when you don't need their lenght anymore)

Everyone has very specific needs (marked with * are yours):
- some already have a gigantic library, so they need fast/reliable access to it wherever it is (also varies)
- most (of the afforementioned) formats are picky: lossless/lossy/weird audio formats and won't play everywhere nicely
- ...and they may also need subtitle support
- some just want to stream popcorntime (or youtube, or hulu, or [insert your brand of constantly updated content])
- others just want to cast their PC screen *
- then they realize they also want to control it from afar...*

But then, everyone has very specific, sometimes catch-all habits:
- some want to use the thing everyday, so they want swift performance, intuitive UI control and quick pinpoint of programing, even some form of "zapping"
- some watch sporadically and can take the hit on performance, usability, and even availability
- some want to use it once a year, but they want it to be flawless that once

Everyone has a certain flavour of a crucial part of the "system":
- no decent internet uplink from the ISP
- no decent WIFI for streaming HD content (remote or local)
- no chance to wire the place around for solving previous issue
- Linux, Mac, Windows, Android, HDMI (and its versions), DVI (and its versions), DisplayPort (you knwo how it goes), D-SUB..... USB (...Micro; Type-C lel)...

And then there's the real nitpicky shyte: low power usage, low noise, below 50$, must use https/proxy/VPN yada yada. Seriously I think there isn't two people in the world that, whatever solution they attempt, both of them will never be completely happy with that solution. But there's certainly one for your needs and I have a sugestion that just might be it:

Since you want video, audio, and control over two separate floors, you surely need to use that WIFI network. No way around it: and HDMI cable won't totally control your PC from afar. So you want at the very least 802.11n everywhere (router, tv-side, pc-side, smartphone-side). If you are thinking of streaming to pc from the interwebs, you might even need either wired connection router->PC, or alternatively dual band "ab" stuff so local throughput doesn't get chopped by the big mesh dynamics going on. Since we got the "medium" out of the way, now we need your "control device". Three words: Android Remote Mouse (google it). Now the most important part: how to get your display+audio out of that PC and into that HDMI? Unfortunately there's only one decent choice in my humble opinion (it has many names though...) Miracast/Widi/screencasting. And that narrows your choices a lot: PC side you need an intel CPU and Windows 8+ as they are the (to my knowledge) the most viable way to share desktops SEAMLESSLY; TV side, I will say you want a Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter or any decent Miracast dongle that suits your pocket. People say chromecast will also allow it but I wouldn't trust 2yo product on a constantly feature-changing (sometimes without warning) software platform.

Re:I wish!

[JMJimmy]

- Wireless HDMI (can be expensive to get low latency, doesn't do anything for peripherals)
- Wireless USB hub (can be expensive last I checked, no clue how good it actually is)

I'm starting to think that using these two in tandem is the best I'm gonna get. Ideally there would be a product that bundled them up into one high-quality WiFi connection, but I'm not seeing such a product sadly.

Intel WiDi maybe? https://www-ssl.intel.com/cont...

Actiontek My Wireless TV

[pdscomp]

Greetings OP, I have one of these rigs: Actiontec My Wireless TV WiFi / HDMI Multi-Room Wireless HD Video Kit http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi... I use it to sling HD video, USB and IR from my downstairs to upstairs, and it works great! There is a small amount of latency but it's not at all unusable. Sounds like it would do exactly what you want! I'm very happy with mine--normally I'm a bit skeezed out by Actiontec products (FiOS wireless router ugh) but this one has been completely solid. Good luck! Regards- pdscomp