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The future is now: PC on your TV

Posted by Ted Pollak on May 18th 2011 | Discuss
Categories: Hardware Review
Tags: gaming review

Imagine being able to launch an Internet browser (any browser) on your television screen from the comfort of your couch. Imagine being able to visit social and business networking sites, write a paper or letter in a word processor, create, review, and edit spreadsheets, view and edit family photos and video, watch stored and streaming hi-def video, and perhaps most important (personal bias injected), imagine being able to play PC games from your couch. Well you can right now, and it is amazing. And it does not require one of these new “internet enabled” televisions. In fact these new iTVs look pretty toothless compared to the capabilities of the system we tested below, with users being restricted to “apps.”

There are a few things you will need to accomplish what we describe. The first is an HDMI equipped HD television. The second is a PC with an HDMI output. If you have that then you need to get a wireless HDMI video kit, and lastly a wireless game controller and/or keyboard. At JPR’s Mt. Tiburon Testing Labs we ran this kit through its paces and we were impressed. Here’s the bad news. There is no way to be sure how this setup will perform in your home if you want to go through walls or upstairs/downstairs. Different homes have different materials in the walls, objects in between your television and your PC, and radio interference that can mess up the signal. At longer ranges even a person standing in the way can cause interference.

Now back to the good news. The results are worth the effort. If you live in an apartment or condo your chances are pretty good that you will have very good performance. If you live in a home with simple walls and a clean environment around the receiver and transmitter your chances are pretty good. We tested our system in a bit of a nightmare environment, so I think most people could expect even better performance than we achieved. Our receiver was stationed in a media cabinet that was filled with other electronic devices.

With a cleaner environment we can expect better performance, and/or longer range. Also, one could use a longer HDMI cable and extend the receiver as far toward your transmitter location as the cords would allow.

We used an HP 17-inch Envy 3D laptop as the source device and put it on a roll around seat to test the distances and various locations. You can see the HDMI transmitter on the seat. In the photos is an HP wireless HDMI transmitter. The installation was dead simple easy. Out of the box, plug it in, use it. The companion unit, the receiver, plugs into the HDMI socket of the TV. It needs a power outlet too, the transmitter is powered via USB from the PC.

We tested three different kits (The HP Wireless TV Connect, and Brite View models BV-1222 and BV-2322) at five different locations using a number of different applications. The HP receiver is the same size as the transmitter and has a vertical configuration and the Brite Vew receivers for both units are about the size of the BV-2322 transmitter.

One thing that is important to note is that although all these systems can transmit 1080 video easily, if you want to read and type text, you must have the right resolution for your screen size and viewing distance. In our case the television was a 40-inch and the couch was 10 or 11 feet from the TV. At 1080 text was too small even with the Windows enlarged text mode. (This system will work with Apple or any other OS as long as the wireless controller is supported.) If you are sitting closer or have a larger display, then 1080 may be just fine. I would wager that 7 feet would be sufficient for 1080 on a 40 inch TV. So we ran the PC at 720 line resolution when using the TV and it was perfect. Text was easily readable and video quality was plenty good for sources like YouTube.

We rolled the HP Envy around to several locations trying to get the system to break.

The distance from the receiver in the cabinet (sitting on top of the PS3) was about 30 ft away from point 5 in the map.

We should also note that we did not adjust the location of the receiver or the placement/direction of the receiver, which can affect results at various distances. However we believe our results can indicate the general performance characteristic of each unit from a relative perspective.

Video Performance

The five different locations are shown on the diagram above and we rated the video performance of each unit with an A though F rating. An A rating means there were no discernable artifacts on the TV compared to the PC display. A score of B indicated less than 5% of the screen had artifacts; C indicates 5% - 10%, D 10% - 20%, and an F was given if there was either unacceptable quality or a complete loss of signal. I felt that a C rating was acceptable, and that the flickering pixels were often difficult to detect unless you approached within a few feet of the TV. Surprisingly the systems performed almost the same at 720p and 1080p; though apparently 1080p and 1080i have different performance envelopes for the Brite Views, which we did not test. One should also note that the wall behind the entertainment center in the diagram is a thick outer wall of the house.

Performance notes: the BV-2322 received an asterisk because although video was flawless at the number 5 location, it had a hard time establishing the link at that location. It required a “pullback” which means that we went to the number 4 location, established the link, and then pulled back to the number five location. The good news is that the HDMI cord does not have to be plugged in to establish the link, and most people have extension cords and can easily replicate this technique. The HP did the best job of establishing long-range links. The BV-1222, while outperforming the HP at location 4 completely lost the connection a short distance beyond that point.

Computing Performance

Computing performance is defined as basically everything except video games. Web, office apps, photos, etc. We found that the performance of the keyboard (a Logitech Revue keyboard) actually outperformed the video range. The keyboard has a fantastic form factor and the mini touch pad made navigation easy. However the Revue keyboard is designed to work with Logitech’s Google TV system and does not have any right mouse click functionality at this time that we could find. This could change easily if Logitech were to allow a right click with a function button depressed. The good news is that Logitech makes many other keyboards and so do other companies. We used the game controller for the occasional right click we needed. So as far as computing performance using the keyboard we tested, the Logitech performed flawlessly at all ranges.

Just to reiterate—the model is the user sits on the sofa facing the TV, with a wireless keyboard and/or game controller. In a remote location is a PC with a wireless HDMI transmitter and a KBM receiver.

Gaming performance

Gaming performance was very satisfying but very much restricted by the range of the controller and the type of gaming. It is not optimal for First Person Shooters with the Logitech F710. However I must note that dedicated PC gamers would use a desktop mouse, keyboard setup, and the superior resolution of a PC display for their core gaming. The beauty of this system for gaming lies in more relaxed and casual “lean back” gaming.

I chose to test “Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf” and I was able to play it accurately and enjoyably at all but position 5 using 1280x1024 game resolution. Another wonderful use for this system could be family room casual gaming like Monopoly or other board games available on the PC. The response was basically instantaneous, however we found that sometimes sustained input (which is never needed in golf) hit “interference” zones where control input seemed to have a mind of its own for a short spell. One last note is that this setup is begging for a QWERTY game controller.

We thought we found one with the Veho Mimi but unfortunately the drivers for the game portion of the device are almost vaporware and aside from the buttons, the analog sticks are not customizable. Our emails and inquiries to Veho went completely unanswered. Logitech please make one!

Conclusions

We can wholeheartedly recommend these systems for anyone who wants to transmit video. As for computing and gaming, we think this is a self-selecting population. People who want to do this are likely to be power users who will be more comfortable with the intricacies of antenna placement and system setup.

Once these systems are dialed in however, the ability to do computing from the couch is pure bliss. All three units have different price performance characteristics. The lossless clarity of the Brite Views were fantastic when in range but the HP performed more reliably in establishing and holding a connection at longer range. Of course this performance is tied to the configuration of the home and the receiver placement. Results will certainly vary but if you fall within the right parameters you are in for a real treat.