Project shield/ Wii U gamepad alternative?


Unvaluablespace

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Hey guys, I have a gaming/media center HTPC, hooked up to my tv, and after seeing a friend's dual monitor setup, I've been thinking how cool/useful it would be to have something similar. After thinking about it, I pictured that the Wii U gamepad, with its touchscreen, would be an awesome setup for windows 8, and my HTPC SETUP. There is also nvidias project shield, however its not exactly what I have in mind. I don't really prefer the clamshell style.


I have looked around a bit, but so far the only thing I've found similar is jinxing digitals s7300 gamepad 2. For personal preference, I like the overall layout of the wii u Touchpad. I was hoping anyone might know of any other such devices that would work similar?


What I envision is having the wii u gamepads touchscreen as my main display, with my tv as a secondary. This would be cool since windows 8 is touchscreen optimized, with its gestures, etc. I think it would be cool to use metro, have my desktop, media center, etc launch from the touchpad screen, and being able to select a game/movie/etc, and having it launched onto the "secondary display" while being able to use the touchpad for other things, say finding a new game to play, new movie to watch, surfing the web, etc. plus, with its gamepad controls, it would be convenient for games as well, lol.


So, anyone know of any other device similar in style to the wii U gamepad? Basically it would just stream my HTPC main display, allowing me touch interaction, and game controls. I also was curious if anyone who knows more about project shield than I do, knows whether whatever software nvidia uses for streaming will be specific to the project shield only? Or will most any tegra 4 capable device be able to use the streaming software? Any help on all this would be appreciated. One of the reasons I don't prefer shield, is I like the wii U tablet style because its more user friendly. I think the clamshell style would come off too "nerdy" by my friends & family, and using a slightly bigger touchscreen In similar style to the wii u touchpad just seems a little more friendly. Users being able to swipe, tap, etc to navigate through menus, XBMC, etc. it would be nice. Thanks for the help. :)
 
Not sure about the setting up of Win8 / HTPC ... but another similar gamepad/tablet as the JXD S7300 is the Archos Gamepad, that might do?

It doesn't have as good a dpad as the JXD though.

http://www.archos.com/products/themed/gamepad/index.html

Those are the only ones I know of, other than the Shield and other JXD smaller 5" screen models.
 
Ya, if you have the money, get an Archos gamepad (one that runs android because they're cheaper) and use an RDP server on your HTPC and log in from the Archos
 
ooh! that archos looks nice! I still prefer the more "Square-ish" style of the wii U touchpad, but perhaps that's because ive played with one. Any reasons why you guys would suggest the archos over the s7300?

also, I understand splashtop has an app called splashtop THD for android, which allows streaming at 60 FPS. Does anyone know if this would actually stream everything from my desktop (as in, act as another monitor?) not just games? Oh, and what about the gamepad buttons? would this allow the buttons and analog sticks to be used as actual game controls on the pc? I would much prefer if there was a way to simulate the gamepads controls as an xbox 360 controller, as gamepad support usually means its already setup to play on a game, without customization?

EDIT: Ahh, I notice a couple of flaws with the gamepad, probably one with the S7300 as well. The archos only has two shoulder buttons. Both devices do not seem to have "click-in" analogs for buttons. That was one of the reasons I liked the Wii U tablet in particular. it has trigger buttons, as well as click in analogs (I believe?)
 
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Personally, I prefer my S7300 over my Archos.

...This is mainly due to the controls, and I like the firmware I have running on it at present.

[more info on these over at http://jxd7300.com]

The S7300 does have 4 shoulder buttons, can probably see them better on this image:

DSC02857.jpg

You right though on the 'click-in' command of the analogues, neither of them offer that I'm afraid.

I also have the Wii U and play it quite a bit, though only Mario game at the moment and a couple of the Virtual Console titles ... but cannot think if the analogues do click in or not ... I'll check this tonight if nobody confirms for you beforehand.
 
Lol I ran into a local store and checked. The analogs do click in. The trigger buttons however do not seem analog. They seem to only push in like the other buttons. Trigger buttons aren't that important too me, not many games actually use them. Racing games, for me anyway, I usually tend to floor the gas pedal anyway, lol. But the analog click in buttons would be nice.


Can anyone confirm how well splashtop THD's claim of "60 FPS" actually works? Like does it maintain a constant 60fps stream? Or cut out from time to time? Also, still curious about whether or not the gamepad buttons on an android device can be recognized as a game controller on PC?


Playing with the wii U gamepad on display, I didn't notice any lag with the controller responsiveness. This was surprising as some sites have pointed out the actual input lag, which if its right, seems to be alot faster than even a wireless controller. It could have been though because it was plugged directly (since it was a display unit) but I'm under the impression that it only connects wirelessly anyway. Would be nice to know if I'm right, because it was pretty damn fast. Would be just as cool if an android gamepad tablet would be near as responsive, if controls can be used on a PC anyway.


I'm not really in a hurry for this device. I've been thinking, and since tegra 4 devices are still relatively new, It would be nice if some manufacturer would develop a similar gamepad type tablet based on this hardware. But even so, the archos gamepad, and s7300 are both pretty cheap (under $200). I thought for sure these devices would be alot more, lol.
 
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Hey, what do you guys think of this one?


http://www.wikipad.com/


Particularly, the wikipad 7. Seems the gamepad acts as a dock, and as such can be detached from the tablet itself, which has a 1200x800 resolution. Seems a bit bulky with the controls, but slightly better specs. Supposedly the controls are designed for more comfort in use.
 
Well I can tell you you won't be able to stream 1200x800 @ 60fps unless its over a cable. What you could do (if you were willing) is buy a very long USB cord and run everything through that. It would need to have some type of power station in the middle as USB is only valid for 5feet in length

As far as splashtop goes, in their lab tests they probably could get it at 60fps, but that's on a super computer and a $10,000 router. Don't listen to their marketing crap.
 
Well, I've seen YouTube videos of users streaming with splashtop THD, and while I can't confirm it actually being 60 FPS, it does seem to be pretty smooth. Any particular reason I couldn't stream at 1200x800? I have a high end router that works in 5ghz mode at up to 450mb, which I'd assume is pretty fast, and I can AirPlay my iPhone to my PC with a fast enough refresh rate.


I would love to find a device with 1080 resolution, that could stream at that as well, but I assume that's not possible either, if what you say is true. I'm not talking about doing all this through the Internet, mainly just at home on my local network. But using a long cable sort of defeats the purpose.
 
Not sure. I would assume it to be the same? It's a netgear n900. Was one of there top of the line models until they started releasing the AC gigabit routers, but if its a router slowing me down, I don't mind going and picking up a newer better one for the sake of performance. :) would be nice though if my current is fast enough. Can't find any info on upload speed, but the box does claim "up to 900MBps! (450+450)" lol
 
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