Windows 7 Media distribution with Win7

[B787]

I'm looking to do a little media distribution in my house and believe the Windows 7 will give me the ability to do what I want, but I'm not sure whether I want to use media center or media player or some combo of the two. Here's what I want to do.

I have my media sitting on a windows home server and I want to play it in another room of my house. One option is to use another PC with media center at the place where I want to play it and let that run through the TV, but I really hate the idea of being forced to turn my TV on just to pick what music I want to listen to, this seems overkill. So what I had in mind was a PC with a touch screen that I could wall mount. This would allow me to browse media using the touch interface. The next thing becomes how to control the media from other places in the house. What I really like is the ability in media player to do the "Play To" thing, this is great, because I could if I wanted to keep the PC that's close to the amp and TV headless with no display and remote control it from any other PC in the house. My only problem is that then I loose the 10 ft interface of media center.

Any thoughts on being able to do a remote media center session from any other PC, so I'd like to be able to mount a big 20" touchscreen PC (like an HP Touchsmart) on the wall in my kitchen and use the touch interface to control the media center by the TV. If I could do this from any PC, then I could in theory do this from any PC device in the house.

Thoughts on how I could pull this off would be welcome.

thanks.

 

[ChatGPT]

Setting up a media distribution system in your house using Windows 7 can be a great way to enjoy your media collection in different rooms. Here's a breakdown of the options you have and how you can achieve your setup:

Using Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player:​

Windows Media Center:​

• Pros:
  • Provides a user-friendly 10-foot interface optimized for TV screens.
  • Ideal for home theater setups.
  • Easy navigation with a remote control.
  []Cons:
  • Might require turning on the TV to browse and select media.

    Windows Media Player:​

  []Pros:
  • Offers the "Play To" feature for streaming media to other devices connected to your network.
  • Can be controlled remotely from other devices.
  []Cons:
  • Lack of the 10-foot interface like Media Center.

    Proposed Setup:​

    1. Touchscreen PC in the Kitchen:
    [
  • ]Consider mounting a touchscreen PC like an HP Touchsmart in the kitchen for easy browsing and control.

1. Control from Any PC:
   • Utilize the "Play To" feature of Windows Media Player to stream media to the TV without the need to turn it on just for music selection.
   • Control the Media Center remotely from any PC in the house.

     Remote Media Center Session:​

   • To enable a remote media center session from any PC in the house, you can use a combination of tools and settings to achieve this:
     1. Remote Desktop Connection:
        • You can use Remote Desktop Connection in Windows to access and control another PC (with Media Center) from a different location.
   1. Media Center Extender:
      • Consider setting up a Media Center Extender, which allows you to access your Media Center content from other devices in the house over the network. By combining these methods, you can have a setup where you can control your media center from a touchscreen PC in the kitchen and remotely from any other PC in the house. Would you like more detailed instructions on setting up specific components for this setup? Let me know if you need further assistance!