[nzlug] Specs for Laptop as Home Theatre

[Alex Thomson]

Roderick Aldridge wrote:
> I plan to get a Linux-friendly laptop for general use. I would also 
> like to get a good LCD screen to use with it when I am at home which 
> would be capable of displaying Free-to-Air Digital TV and Blue-ray 
> DVDs in true HDTV/Blue-ray resolution. I don't want to fork out for an 
> HDTV as well. I have been Googling to find out what the minimum 
> hardware requirements are and what would be the best hardware 
> combination to do this, but I haven't found the right queries to get 
> the answers i need. The resolution required seems to be 1920x1080.
> Can anybody supply answers or point me in the right direction so that 
> I can make a short-list of suitable hardware?
> Then all I will have to do is make sure it is Linux-compatible and 
> come up with the cash.
> TIA
> Rod
>
I think the cost will be getting up there for a laptop with a blu-ray 
player, and I don't think there are linux friendly TV cards (let alone 
external cards) that support the mpeg4 over DVB-T Freeview that we have 
here in NZ (happy to be proven wrong here!)  What I use, and recommend 
is getting a PS3- for under $800 you get a blu-ray player, a DVD player 
that can upscale well, and also a box capable of playing UPnP streamed 
media, which means you can have another linux box you have lying around 
to serve up all you photos/mp3s/divx's over wireless.  Work great.  
Added bonus- near the end of the year they are releasing PlayTV which 
will let you record/timeshift, etc. Freeview HD using the PS3.

There are some friendly gurus here that will be happy to help -> 
http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/forum/index.php






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