Display for foyer presentation

Hi, I am getting together some ideas for a new presentation display for the foyer.
My first idea is to get a small computer straped to the back of a 40"+ display ideally the PC would have HD output but I am new to the murky world of HD so any pointers here would be good. is there such a thing as a PC with built in HD? I would run Irfanview via command line/task sched opening a folder on a server where staff can drop their pics and videos. I'd kill it and rerun it once per day so that new files are added to the playback

idea two is to use a media streamer like this

Popcorn-Hour-A-110-Networked-Media-Tank

not sure if it would connect to a network share n a server and do looping etc. Does anyone have experience of these and can recomend device, my experience with these things is they do nearly everthing you want but always seem to miss some critical functionality that you dont find out about til you buy it!

I have this mobo Universal abit > Motherboard, Digital Speakers, iDome, AirPace, Multimedia which has an intergrated hdmi socket and have it connected via a hd cable to my hd ready tv.

hope this helps

Have a word with Navaho, one of or bestest friends and look at their MediaCat product :)

http://www.navaho.co.uk/

We use the Samsung 460DXn screen which has a pc built in but currently only running Windows XP Embedded, i'm hoping to put Windows XP Pro on someday soon. We then use Sadeo imageflyer which is great!

Have a look at Xibo, works really well once its set up
Xibo Open Source Digital Signage


Also most LCDs have vga inputs so any PC will do. But if you want HDMI i know theres SFF Gigabyte motherboards around with it.

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Originally Posted by Dos_Box

Have a word with Navaho, one of or bestest friends and look at their MediaCat product :)

http://www.navaho.co.uk/

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We are Navaho's reseller in the UK - we have lots of info we can send over to you. PM your email address and i will send some product info + pricing over to you!

We can also offer special 'Edugeek Members Only' discounts!! :p

Splendid! thanks for all the quick replies, Mandy I have used the contact form on the website, but I shall PM Also.
Bob

Hi,

We are using tiny Asus Eee Box PCs to drive a number of information displays around our site. They come with a bracket for mounting on the back of an LCD monitor (75x75 or 100x100 VESA mounting holes) and this can equally well be used for mounting on the wall above or behind a large screen LCD TV (if the TV bracket has enough clearance).

When choosing a suitable TV, go for one that has a serial control input. The EeeBox needs a USB-Serial converter cable (and a gender changer) to connect to the 42" LG screens we have, but then allows scheduled jobs to be run on the PC to turn the TV on and off, select the correct source input, disable the IR remote and buttons etc.

The EeeBox will quite happily drive a full HD TV at 1920x1080 resolution via a DVI to HDMI cable.

hi read a review on the eee box saying it was stutering with high quality, your experience is different I take it, are you running XP on it?

ASUS's Eee Box B202 small form factor PC - The Tech Report - Page 3

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Unfortunately, 1080p playback is simply beyond the Eee Box's capabilities. Some bits of our highest resolution video played back smoothly, but any major changes in the image resulted in fits of lag lasting at least a couple of seconds, rendering the video as a whole largely unwatchable. Because of this difficulty and the infrequent but noticeable stutters during 720p playback, I can't recommend using the Eee Box for watching high-definition content. YouTube and other video rendered at or below standard definition runs perfectly fine, but the Atom and GM950 can't handle much more.

This reality leads to a disappointment. Something like the Eee Box could potentially be an ideal multimedia machine, but Intel's decision to tie the Atom to the 945 chipset is a real hindrance. Even an inexpensive GPU like a Radeon HD 2400 could mitigate the weaknesses of the GMA 950. Unfortunately, Intel is reportedly preventing partners from including PCI Express interfaces on their Atom-based Mini-ITX boards, and it stands to reason that this limitation extends to OEM designs like the Eee Box. Atom system builders may be forced to rely on Intel for the platform's graphics component, which makes it hard to blame Asus alone for the Eee Box's high-definition playback shortcomings.

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We are using our Eee Boxes for looping powerpoint slide shows in the main, although we have tried SD video without problems. I wouldn't suggest that this device is capable of playing back HD content! It did stutter a lot on some of the HD sample files available on the Microsoft web site.

Sorry, forgot to say yes we are running XP Pro on them.

I'm about to embark on a project using Xibo as the software and hard glass 24" monitors being run by eee boxes.

Ben

Most LCD TV's have a VGA input, they are seen as just another monitor by windows (or LINUX). I would probably hide the PC away from the screen. Multiple reasons, ease of access and also if the screen is nicked you don't lose the PC as well.

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Originally Posted by Hacksawbob

hi read a review on the eee box saying it was stutering with high quality, your experience is different I take it, are you running XP on it?

ASUS's Eee Box B202 small form factor PC - The Tech Report - Page 3

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Go for the B206 or B208 model when it comes out - these have HD capable ATI 3450 cards which will run smoothly.

What screens do people use for this sort of use? theres plenty of really big monitors out there But I am aware that it pays to get the resolution of the driving device to match the output on the monitor, can VGA mobos really match the performance of these 40-50" monitors without upsampling being done by the monitor, I'd hate to spend all that dosh and have that fuzziness you get when the bits dont talk nicely to each other. I understand there is a lot of BS regarding HD, ie need to get the output device matching the input to see any real improvement over VGA/DVI