Hey Folks,
I am trying to setup a HTPC that I could use to serve two HDTV's - so far my plans have failed for various reasons. If you guys can give any tips or have tried it please post your feedback.
Configuration:
- My box has Intel i5 Processor
- 8 GB RAM
- 128 GB SSD & 500 GB 7200 RPM Disk
- On board HDMI
- Radeon HD 6450
The specs may not look too good but I am hoping this is enough for my target.
What I want :
I am running a 30 feet HDMI cable from my HTPC to bedroom room and it is connected to my living room using other HDMI output. I want to be able to run XBMC to stream content to my TV in bedroom and in my living room I sometime use my HTPC to watch movies. Its just like sometime my wife wants to watch TV in bedroom while I am watching a movie in living room or probably doing development on my Development VM.
So far I have tried two ways to achieve it.
1- I initially tried to run VMWare Workstation 8 with an XP guest running XBMC in it and stream directly to bedroom, but turns out VM cannot directly send signals to my PCIe card. The only way to do is using the VMWARE ESXi and I don't think I am ready for that.
2- I tried to setup it using multiple monitors setup. I tried a few multi monitor softwares as well (Fusion & Actual Multiple monitors) and I placed a full size XBMC on one TV and the other desktop remained connected to my living room. However when I switch OFF one tv, Windows 7 assume the TV has been disconnected and it messes up everything and brings back the XBMC on Monitor 1 and screws up the whole thing. Switching TV back on does not help and all the windows are on just one desktop again.
Do you guys think there is a way to achieve this? I really do not want to use mouse to move windows here and there and just want to use my iPad to control the XBMC.
Any help, suggestions and links are welcome.
Thank you Guys.
I am trying to setup a HTPC that I could use to serve two HDTV's - so far my plans have failed for various reasons. If you guys can give any tips or have tried it please post your feedback.
Configuration:
- My box has Intel i5 Processor
- 8 GB RAM
- 128 GB SSD & 500 GB 7200 RPM Disk
- On board HDMI
- Radeon HD 6450
The specs may not look too good but I am hoping this is enough for my target.
What I want :
I am running a 30 feet HDMI cable from my HTPC to bedroom room and it is connected to my living room using other HDMI output. I want to be able to run XBMC to stream content to my TV in bedroom and in my living room I sometime use my HTPC to watch movies. Its just like sometime my wife wants to watch TV in bedroom while I am watching a movie in living room or probably doing development on my Development VM.
So far I have tried two ways to achieve it.
1- I initially tried to run VMWare Workstation 8 with an XP guest running XBMC in it and stream directly to bedroom, but turns out VM cannot directly send signals to my PCIe card. The only way to do is using the VMWARE ESXi and I don't think I am ready for that.
2- I tried to setup it using multiple monitors setup. I tried a few multi monitor softwares as well (Fusion & Actual Multiple monitors) and I placed a full size XBMC on one TV and the other desktop remained connected to my living room. However when I switch OFF one tv, Windows 7 assume the TV has been disconnected and it messes up everything and brings back the XBMC on Monitor 1 and screws up the whole thing. Switching TV back on does not help and all the windows are on just one desktop again.
Do you guys think there is a way to achieve this? I really do not want to use mouse to move windows here and there and just want to use my iPad to control the XBMC.
Any help, suggestions and links are welcome.
Thank you Guys.












