Help with MP3 pc w/ TV-out (1 Viewer)

[Joe Frederick]

I have searched all over and cannot believe I am the only one with this problem. I built a PC to hook to my home theater for playing MP3s through the stereo. My idea was to buy a cordless airmouse and output the pc to tv and use the tv for MP3 selection. The prob I have is that the PC is running XP with a Radeon 7500 with tv out, and the lowest RES that tv out will go is 800x600. Trying to view WMP on the tv and select songs is nearly impossible becuase it is so blurry on the screen. Is there ANY type of Windows jukebox software out there that has a BIG graphical front end so that you can read the files and directories or playlists on a tv screen? The linux world has some (check this one out: http://freevo.sourceforge.net/screenshots.html) but I can't find anything for Windows. I may just have to blow away XP and Install Gentoo or Mandrake Linux.

 

[Mike LS]

J. River Media Center has a video mode that only puts the basic info on the screen in a very large font.

I haven't played with that much yet (I have the same setup you do) so I don't know if it would display enough info, but you can demo the program for free at

http://www.musicex.com/mediacenter/

 

[Camp]

MediaCenter's Hairstyle is a good option.

Another is MyHTPC. It's free and a little more refined for TV viewing than Hairstyle. However, it's playback options (IMO) are a little lacking for me. Still, for basic MP3 playback it can't be beat...it's free too.

http://www.myhtpc.net/

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Myhtpc is decent- although have you tried switching Winamp to double size (you can change the playlist editor to double size by right clicking on the PLAYLIST bar at the top, options, double size)?

Also, in the upper left corner of the playlist box is a plus sign, clicking that will give you a SCALE setting, which you can set as high as 400%! If i scale it to 400% at 1024x768 the box takes up the whole screen (after I resize it) with HUGE display of titles!

-vince

 

[Joe Frederick]

Thank you for your quick responses! I really appreciate that. Vince, I had no idea that option was in Winamp. Looked for options like that in WMP but never thought Winamp would have them. Will look at all 3 options tonight.

Thanks again!

 

[Jeff Savage]

I know a lot of people don't like x10 stuff because of all the pop-up ads but I bought this product and I really like it so far. I have only had it about a week but it is cool. Things I really like

Interface made for TV (fonts etc..), wireless RF remote for program start and navigation (no need for mouse/keyboard), remote also controls all my other x10 stuff (one less remote for have laying around).

x10 Lola

Laters,
Jeff

 

[Tekara]

easiest things that can be done is to go into appearance and pick windows (extra large) scheme. this will increase all your font sizes on the desktop making everything a lot easier to read. if you want them even larger you can always manually increase all the font sizes of whatever scheme you want.

if you are going to use it to surf the net, download music, listen to net radio etc. you can go to view->text size->largest. this will have the same effect of boosting all the font sizes on web pages.

hope this helps you out some.