The PalmButler Review - Part 4

 

The requirements

Some requirements have to be met to make the usage of the PalmButler system possible and useful. The requirements for the PC are relatively low:

 

  • To ensure a smooth playback of DivX and DVD movies the CPU should have at least 800 MHz
  • The graphics card used must have a TV output
  • A sound card (or onboard) must be present
  • If you wanna use web TV or radio an internet connection must be present of course
  • Yes, and one should own a TV set :-)

 

A note to the TV output. Actually every graphics card with TV out can be used. The usage will be very comfortable if you have a graphics card which is compatible with TVTool. The reason is that a special version of TVTool is part of the package. When such a card is present many properties can be adjusted by the remote control like the picture position, the flicker filter and the picture size.

Here we see again how questionable the politics of the graphics chips maker nvidia is, not to give any datsheets nor support to developers at all. With the standard drivers of the graphics card none of these functions would be possible.

 

 

The connetion of the system
 

 

Content

Teil 1: Overview

Teil 2: What is part of the package

Teil 3: The PalmButler in action

Teil 4: Installation and Connection

Teil 5: Result, prices and more info

 

Linking up the PalmButler isvery easy. On PC side the serical cable is connected to one of the serial interfaces. The audio/video cable is connected to the graphics card TV out and the line output of the sound card. In the picture these are the yellow plug (video) and the black plug (audio). The other ends of the cables are connected to the linkbox.

  
 

The small connector on the left is for the power supply. The PS/2 like connector on the right is for the receiver. About in the middle there is the output for the caox cable which goes to the TV resp. VCR or antenna system.

To make a perfect connection to the TV a filter is part of the package. This filter has an input for the coax cable from the linkbox (blue marked). The both other cables are plugged in the normal outlets for the TV and radio signal. Finally the TV is connected to the both connectors on the filter. That´s it. The PalmButler will be available then on the TV like any other TV channel. You could place it on channel 0 for example.

  

 

The software offers remarkable options for this kind of connection. As you can see in the screenshot the channel for the PalmButler signal can be selected by the user without restrictions. Also the frequency where you receive the signal on your radio can be configured in the whole FM spectrum. This is interesting for users who want to listen to their favourite MP3s on the radio. More options are availabe, like the video signal gain or the audio level.

 

 

The cabling method described above is not the only way to realize the connection of the PC to the TV. It is a very comfortable way, because ground loops and the humming sounds are avoided, and longer distances can handled easily without loss of quality. But there are users for sure who have already connected their PC to the TV, or who prefer a s-video connection. It is planned to offer the Palmbulter package also in a smaller version which comes without the cabling accessories, what makes it possible to offer the package cheaper. Also this is interesting for people who plan to build an extra PC for the PalmButler system which is placed more or less direclty next to the TV anyway.

 

The configuration of the systems

Finally we´ll have look on the system configuration. The screenshot shows the assistent which lets the user define the user interface of the PalmButler. In the left (red makred) area you can define the structure of the menu you will see on TV. The right part is made to select the content which will be presented in each part of the menu. It is possible to select single fotos, or whole folders by drag´n drop and place them in the menu.

 

 

Not all possiblity can be shown here, because this would go beyond the scope of the review. There are more possibilities like placing weblinks in the menu. These links can point to normal websites or to mediastreams like web radio or TV. According to the type of stream the right player is opened in the background and is presented to the user within the PalmButler surface. One should mention that the supported file types are almost unlimited, not only DivX movies can be played, but also all kind of AVIs or MPEGs. Same applies to photo formats.

In the last part of the review you get information and links to the manufacturer, the price and sources of supply. Let´s go on.