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I'm wondering if this is possible: I want to open one XBMC (e.g., on my laptop) and use it to control another XBMC (e.g. on my xbox). I've looked for a way to do this, searched the forums, but nothing. I have seen other people mentioning it as something they would like to do, but haven't seen anything about doing it.

I know XBMC can act as both a UPNP media server and UPNP media renderer, so it seems like it wouldn't be that hard to make it also act as a UPNP media controller so that it could control another instance. That is, the XBMC on my laptop would be acting as media controller telling the XBMC on my xbox (which would then be acting as a upnp media renderer) what to play.

I've seen some outdated-looking software that can kind of do this, using the XBMC on my xbox as both media server and media renderer (e.g., http://www.cidero.com/index.html), but the problem there is that you don't have the great XBMC interface, complete with skins. I want the XBMC experience on my computer, but playing what it plays out of my XBMC on my xbox so it comes out of my stereo, displays on my TV, etc., without having to plug my laptop directly into my TV and stereo.

Is any of the possible already? And if not, does anyone know how hard this kind of thing might be to implement?

Thanks!
You can't have searched that hard.. I've already mentioned that it is far backlogged on my todo list.
Fourth thread when searching for upnp controller..

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...controller
Why not use the XBMC web interfare to control it ?
I would implement it as a new player in xbmc, should give you GUI for free. It's the IPlayer class in connection with the upnp subsystem. I'm not really sure how hard it would be to implement.

Windows 7 play to feature should work aswell. For the most part anyway, so you can browse something in wmp's library or xbmc's upnp library and play it in xbmc.
It's nice to see other people thinking about this sort of thing as recently I've been stuck with the same problem.

I have a touchscreen embedded in my wall connected through the wall to a PC where all my data is stored. The touchscreen is in the same room as my HTPC and I would like to use it to control the HTPC instead of navigation via mouse or remote on the HTPC itself.

I tried out Microsoft's PlayTo which did allow me to select media on the touchscreen and have it play over the network on the HTPC (which is the only box that is connected to the tv and speakers). The only problem is that Microsoft did not build the PlayTo framework into MediaCenter. This means that I can't use the nice GUI on the touchscreen to select and media to play on the HTPC.

I've looked at a wide range of possible options including VNC, Remote Desktop, Shoutcast, etc and nothing really works as well as being able to control one pc running a nice media center GUI from another one running the same software.

elupus, how would you rate the likliness of being able to do this in the future with XBMC?

Thanks : )
Mycroft Wrote:I've looked at a wide range of possible options including VNC, Remote Desktop, Shoutcast, etc and nothing really works as well as being able to control one pc running a nice media center GUI from another one running the same software.

From my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, but basically you would like to have exactly the same information displayed on your "touch screen" that will control your HTPC and once you select to play a movie on your "touch screen" it should play immediately on your HTPC (that is dedicated to this task), am I right?

If so, have you considered dualhead system? (twinview or whatever denomination is out there), this way you can put yourself in clone mode and that should do it? (even if it's just a cloning and lacks interactivity),

This said, I believe you still need your touch screen to be available to display the content of your other computer that has all the media, in which I could think of 2 quick ways, 1 opening an RDP when you need it (on the touch screen), or 2 you may (depending of the screen) hook up 2 different sources to this touch screen (1 DB and 1 DVI),

Now the extra question is, what is the resolution of such embedded touch screen of yours?

Just trying to help Smile
fivestones Wrote:I'm wondering if this is possible: I want to open one XBMC (e.g., on my laptop) and use it to control another XBMC (e.g. on my xbox). I've looked for a way to do this, searched the forums, but nothing. I have seen other people mentioning it as something they would like to do, but haven't seen anything about doing it.

I know XBMC can act as both a UPNP media server and UPNP media renderer, so it seems like it wouldn't be that hard to make it also act as a UPNP media controller so that it could control another instance. That is, the XBMC on my laptop would be acting as media controller telling the XBMC on my xbox (which would then be acting as a upnp media renderer) what to play.

I've seen some outdated-looking software that can kind of do this, using the XBMC on my xbox as both media server and media renderer (e.g., http://www.cidero.com/index.html), but the problem there is that you don't have the great XBMC interface, complete with skins. I want the XBMC experience on my computer, but playing what it plays out of my XBMC on my xbox so it comes out of my stereo, displays on my TV, etc., without having to plug my laptop directly into my TV and stereo.

Is any of the possible already? And if not, does anyone know how hard this kind of thing might be to implement?

Thanks!

I like the sound of that, run a gui from a tablet from the comfort of my couch!!
turbodonkey Wrote:I like the sound of that, run a gui from a tablet from the comfort of my couch!!

I'm sure a lot of people would find use of this great concept once it will be available!

Yet, personally I use a Logitech DiNovo mini which is a perfect companion for XBMC with a full sized keyboard, a touch-pad mouse and all the media shortcuts buttons that are working out of the box with XBMC and all of that fits in your palm and communicates in Bluetooth with the comfort of the couch Smile

So I guess the couch comfort is already possible, yet I believe that having a tablet like an iPad or such could be of interest but I still can't clearly see which ones besides the fact that you can see the interface in your hands instead of looking at your TV which could be of interest for small-middle sized TVs but of low interest for big HDTVs (40''+) in which case I believe (at least that's what I do) that you look at the TV itself and the interface is still perfectly clear even at 3.5+ meters distance Smile
For those of us wishing to replicate the theater experience, cycling through movies on the main screen is cumbersome and should be avoided.

Also, it would be nice for xbmc to communicate with other media players over the network, so I can use external players for hardware acceleration.
phillyfan1138 Wrote:For those of us wishing to replicate the theater experience, cycling through movies on the main screen is cumbersome and should be avoided.

Didn't think of that one! You are probably right, it's the final touch for purists... but then bring the projector and the over-sized screen heh Wink

Quote:Also, it would be nice for xbmc to communicate with other media players over the network, so I can use external players for hardware acceleration.

You may already do that using latest Citrix virtualization products with direct GPU virtualization (with just under 1% performance cost) but of course that requests a remote connection and built in XBMC could be a nice concept! Smile
dondre Wrote:From my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, but basically you would like to have exactly the same information displayed on your "touch screen" that will control your HTPC and once you select to play a movie on your "touch screen" it should play immediately on your HTPC (that is dedicated to this task), am I right?

Yep this is basically right. The touchscreen is connected to the machine that stores all the media. I would like the run xbmc on both machines sharing the same library and have the ability to select content from either machine and select it to play on either machine.

dondre Wrote:If so, have you considered dualhead system? (twinview or whatever denomination is out there), this way you can put yourself in clone mode and that should do it? (even if it's just a cloning and lacks interactivity).

Are you talking about running both the touchschreen and the tv off the same computer using the graphics driver to clone the display? If so, as I mentioned, the two displays are hooked to different machines and the machines are too far away for any reasonable sized cable.

dondre Wrote:This said, I believe you still need your touch screen to be available to display the content of your other computer that has all the media, in which I could think of 2 quick ways, 1 opening an RDP when you need it (on the touch screen), or 2 you may (depending of the screen) hook up 2 different sources to this touch screen (1 DB and 1 DVI).

Correct, I need control over the machine that touchscreen is connected to in all other situations (i.e. when not running xbmc).


[QUOTE=dondre;547559Now the extra question is, what is the resolution of such embedded touch screen of yours?[/quote]

I have two 22inch ELO frameless touchscreens that I run at 1600x1200.

Thanks for the help and I welcome any further suggestions!

-Mycroft