Most of us have a glorious gaggle of multimedia content housed on our PCs, so
being able to watch or listen to it through a TV or stereo in another room seems
logical.
The majority of today's media streaming devices use wireless networks to
stream this content, so Oneforall's alternative method sounds appealing. Like
the all-in-one remote controls it makes, the
OneForAll
PC Media Kit uses RF to beam information from one device to another.
In the box you’ll find an RF transmitter and receiver, the former of which is
designed to be hooked up to a computer's graphics and sound card. The latter
connects to a TV.
Install the Simplecenter media software onto the computer and you can then
use the supplied remote control to browse photos, videos or music files on your
PC from a television in another room. It’s certainly a nice idea, but we’ve
probably made it sound far more straightforward than it actually is.
Firstly, the graphics card will need composite or S-video outputs and you'll
need to know what is what to get everything connected. Due to the nature of RF
technology, other electrical appliances and power cables will interfere with the
signal, resulting in an image that looks like a poorly tuned TV. This is
difficult to rectify and although picture quality was good when streaming
content in an empty room, this isn't a real-life situation.
On a positive note, any photo, video or music file that plays on your
computer, will also be compatible with the
Oneforall
PC Media kit. This includes downloaded music with DRM encryption as well as the
common formats such as Jpeg, Divx and mp3.
If you’re looking to stream movies, music and photos over short distances and
your PC and TV are in the same room, you’d probably get good use out of this
reasonably priced device. Realistically, though, most of us will want to fire
off media to varying parts of the house and that's where reception will be a
problem.
If you really want this sort of functionality at home, fork out a little
extra and opt for a wireless streamer that uses your home network, such as the
D-Link
Medialounge.
Vista compatible: Yes
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