Exploring the digital home

Explore the digital home

Until recently, the cost to distribute music or video around your house meant that these sorts of things were enjoyed only by those could afford to spend tens of thousands of pounds on custom equipment and installations. Now, much of this can be offered through relatively simple and inexpensive solutions based around your PC.

The choice and technology can be baffling but The PC Guys are working with AMD Live!™ to help you get the most from your entertainment systems at affordable prices. If we help you buy and install a system, we’ll guarantee to get it working or your money back.

See the examples below or contact us to find out more about what can be done

Music Streaming:

If you’ve built up a collection of MP3 or other format music files on your PC, perhaps for use with your MP3 player, did you know that you can stream all this music to your HiFi in the living room, or a music player in the kitchen or bedroom?

The PC Guys currently suggest a couple of AMD Live!™Ready components that can enable this.

The most straightforward is the Logitech Wireless DJ. This is a stylish remote control that sits in a recharger cradle connected to a stereo system in your living room (for example). A simple USB device is plugged into your PC, wherever in the house it is, and this streams the music stored on your PC over to the Wireless DJ, which enables you to control the music, including features such as party playlists. Find more information on the Logitech Wireless DJ here

If you want to stream different music to different rooms in the house, we suggest the Terratec Noxon 2 radio for iPod. This uses a wired or wireless network (which we can help you set-up), to stream multiple channels of music around your house. You can either plug it into existing stereos, or add a stylish speaker module for an all-in-one solution. Imagine the whole family uploading their music onto one PC, and then everyone having their own Noxon in their room, able to access all the music on the PC, listen to internet radio, even plug in your mate’s iPod when they comes round….Find out more about modules here

Even if you haven’t got your music on your PC we can help! As part of a music streaming installation, for 99p per CD, we’ll transfer your music from CD onto a disk drive and upload it to your PC. We can do this for you even if you don’t use us to set up your music streaming – contact us for pricing.

Photos and Video Streaming:

More people now have large collections of photos on their PCs from their digital cameras, and even have the family videos on there. Or maybe you like downloading video clips from the internet? Either way, clustering around a PC monitor to show the latest family holiday movie isn’t the most comfortable way to do it. It’s far nicer to sit on your favourite sofa, and watch it all on the TV instead – especially if you’ve just invested in a HD Ready TV…

The PC Guys suggest the AMD Live! ™ Ready KISS DVD player from Linksys. This is not just a high quality DVD player (which will “upscale” standard DVDs to 1080i HD-quality), but also a networked media player that uses your wired or wireless network to stream music or video from your PC or display your photo slide shows. There’s more information about this here

Gaming:

The latest consoles such as the PS3 ™ and the Xbox 360 ™ have been designed from the beginning to work with your digital home. Network capability for streaming from your PC, on-line gaming and high definition DVD playback are all possible. Contact us to find out how to get the most from your console.

Windows home server:

We're very excited about Windows Home Server, the new server operating system for the networked home user who wants to organise and secure all their information in one place. it provides automatic backups, media streaming and access to your files from anywhere in the world, you might even be able to recycle an old home PC to run this out of sight under the stairs;

Home security, monitoring and automation:

The PC Guys are aware of how your PC can help you around the house in ways other than entertainment. Network cameras can keep an eye on things while you’re out, even uploading images to a website you can view anywhere in the world. A home security system can connect to your PC to contact you on your mobile should the alarm be triggered. Or you can use your mobile to switch the garden sprinklers on, or turn the lights on, or even set the temperature of the Jacuzzi (ok, we might be moving a little further from affordable with that one)… This area is one where the service is tailored to individual requirements, so if you have an interest in home security and automation, please click here