[SOLVED] iPad 2 As A Hospital Bed TV

I just ordered a refurbished iPad 2. My plan is to use it as a
hospital bed TV for my wife who has MS and can't sit up in bed to watch
TV. I have a MacBook Pro set up as a Media Center with a large
collection of Movies, TV Shows, etc stored on an external hard drive.

My initial plan is to use Plex to stream these videos over my 802.11n
network to her iPad. I presume she will be able to access Hulu, etc.
directly over the same network. In addition, I am counting on her
being able to use the iPad voice control capability because she only
has the use of one hand left and that is spastic.

I would be appreciative of any experience and/or suggestions people may
have regarding which applications to use, how to set the system up,
mounts for the hospital bed, assistive technology, etc.

I am an old hand at Macs but new to iPad and iOS.

Thanks.

--
Nelson

In article < >, Nelson
<> wrote:

> I just ordered a refurbished iPad 2. My plan is to use it as a
> hospital bed TV for my wife who has MS and can't sit up in bed to watch
> TV. I have a MacBook Pro set up as a Media Center with a large
> collection of Movies, TV Shows, etc stored on an external hard drive.
>
> My initial plan is to use Plex to stream these videos over my 802.11n
> network to her iPad. I presume she will be able to access Hulu, etc.
> directly over the same network. In addition, I am counting on her
> being able to use the iPad voice control capability because she only
> has the use of one hand left and that is spastic.
>
> I would be appreciative of any experience and/or suggestions people may
> have regarding which applications to use, how to set the system up,
> mounts for the hospital bed, assistive technology, etc.
>
> I am an old hand at Macs but new to iPad and iOS.
>
> Thanks.

Personally, I use AirVideo on my iPad ($2.99) and AirVideo Server
(free) on an iMac and a MacBook to serve the content.

Voice Control isn't going to help with Hulu, Netflix, AirVideo and the
likeŠI've only been able to make it work (and not all that well) with
Apple's bundled Music and Video apps.

If you convert the content on your server to iPad-compatible (Handbrake
works well for this task...free) and place it in your computer's iTunes
Library, you can use Home Sharing to mount the Library on the iPad
....then, you might be able to use Voice Control to play the content.

--
Spenser

Nelson wrote:
> I just ordered a refurbished iPad 2. My plan is to use it as a
> hospital bed TV for my wife who has MS and can't sit up in bed to watch
> TV. I have a MacBook Pro set up as a Media Center with a large
> collection of Movies, TV Shows, etc stored on an external hard drive.
>
> My initial plan is to use Plex to stream these videos over my 802.11n
> network to her iPad. I presume she will be able to access Hulu, etc.
> directly over the same network. In addition, I am counting on her
> being able to use the iPad voice control capability because she only
> has the use of one hand left and that is spastic.
>
> I would be appreciative of any experience and/or suggestions people may
> have regarding which applications to use, how to set the system up,
> mounts for the hospital bed, assistive technology, etc.
>
> I am an old hand at Macs but new to iPad and iOS.
>
> Thanks.
>

If the hospital has wifi for patients then set her up with
http://ipad.tvcatchup.com/
I get it just fine and for free here in the UK. I don't know about the
rest of the world, though. I'd appreciate tries and comments from other
countries.

Ed

I

On Sat, 7 Jan 2012 17:45:25 -0500, Ed Cryer wrote
(in article <jeai0v$bns$>):

> Nelson wrote:
>> I just ordered a refurbished iPad 2. My plan is to use it as a
>> hospital bed TV for my wife who has MS and can't sit up in bed to watch
>> TV. I have a MacBook Pro set up as a Media Center with a large
>> collection of Movies, TV Shows, etc stored on an external hard drive.
>>
>> My initial plan is to use Plex to stream these videos over my 802.11n
>> network to her iPad. I presume she will be able to access Hulu, etc.
>> directly over the same network. In addition, I am counting on her
>> being able to use the iPad voice control capability because she only
>> has the use of one hand left and that is spastic.
>>
>> I would be appreciative of any experience and/or suggestions people may
>> have regarding which applications to use, how to set the system up,
>> mounts for the hospital bed, assistive technology, etc.
>>
>> I am an old hand at Macs but new to iPad and iOS.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>
> If the hospital has wifi for patients then set her up with
> http://ipad.tvcatchup.com/
> I get it just fine and for free here in the UK. I don't know about the
> rest of the world, though. I'd appreciate tries and comments from other
> countries.

She's not in a hospital. I take care of her at home. But it looks
like I can sign up for that for free anyway. Thanks.

--
Nelson

On Sat, 7 Jan 2012 13:04:53 -0500, sbt wrote
(in article <070120121004534055% id>):

> In article < >, Nelson
> <> wrote:
>
>> I just ordered a refurbished iPad 2. My plan is to use it as a
>> hospital bed TV for my wife who has MS and can't sit up in bed to watch
>> TV. I have a MacBook Pro set up as a Media Center with a large
>> collection of Movies, TV Shows, etc stored on an external hard drive.
>>
>> My initial plan is to use Plex to stream these videos over my 802.11n
>> network to her iPad. I presume she will be able to access Hulu, etc.
>> directly over the same network. In addition, I am counting on her
>> being able to use the iPad voice control capability because she only
>> has the use of one hand left and that is spastic.
>>
>> I would be appreciative of any experience and/or suggestions people may
>> have regarding which applications to use, how to set the system up,
>> mounts for the hospital bed, assistive technology, etc.
>>
>> I am an old hand at Macs but new to iPad and iOS.
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> Personally, I use AirVideo on my iPad ($2.99) and AirVideo Server
> (free) on an iMac and a MacBook to serve the content.
>
> Voice Control isn't going to help with Hulu, Netflix, AirVideo and the
> likeŠI've only been able to make it work (and not all that well) with
> Apple's bundled Music and Video apps.

I'm thinking I can use Dragon Dictate.

> If you convert the content on your server to iPad-compatible (Handbrake
> works well for this task...free) and place it in your computer's iTunes
> Library, you can use Home Sharing to mount the Library on the iPad
> ...then, you might be able to use Voice Control to play the content.

Thanks. That's a good suggestion if I have to fall back to it.
Personally I hate being chained to iTunes and conversion is time
consuming.


--
Nelson

In article <jeai0v$bns$>, Ed Cryer <>
wrote:

> I get it just fine and for free here in the UK. I don't know about the
> rest of the world, though. I'd appreciate tries and comments from other
> countries.

Sorry ...
Unfortunately, your country is not currently supported.
At this time, TVCatchup is available only in the United Kingdom.

--
Tea Party Patriots is to Patriotism as
People's Democratic Republic is to Democracy.

In article <michelle->,
Michelle Steiner <> wrote:

> > I get it just fine and for free here in the UK. I don't know about the
> > rest of the world, though. I'd appreciate tries and comments from
> > other countries.
>
> Sorry ...
> Unfortunately, your country is not currently supported.
> At this time, TVCatchup is available only in the United Kingdom.

If it's available only in the UK, does that mean that it isn't available in
Northern Ireland?

--
Tea Party Patriots is to Patriotism as
People's Democratic Republic is to Democracy.

In article <michelle->,
Michelle Steiner <> wrote:

>
> If it's available only in the UK, does that mean that it isn't available in
> Northern Ireland?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom
--

.... do not cover a warm kettle or your stock may sour. -- Julia Child

In article <michelle->,
Michelle Steiner <> wrote:

> In article <jeai0v$bns$>, Ed Cryer <>
> wrote:
>
> > I get it just fine and for free here in the UK. I don't know about the
> > rest of the world, though. I'd appreciate tries and comments from other
> > countries.
>
> Sorry ...
> Unfortunately, your country is not currently supported.
> At this time, TVCatchup is available only in the United Kingdom.

I might also add:

http://www.witopia.net/welcome.php
--

.... do not cover a warm kettle or your stock may sour. -- Julia Child

In article <4f08f70d$0$3146$c3e8da3$ m>,
Warren Oates <> wrote:

> > If it's available only in the UK, does that mean that it isn't available in
> > Northern Ireland?
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom

Thanks for the correction; for some reason, I had thought that Great
Britain was England, Scotland, and Wales (plus a few other islands, such
the Channel Islands), and that the UK was Great Britain plus Northern
Ireland.

--
Tea Party Patriots is to Patriotism as
People's Democratic Republic is to Democracy.