Presenting calibre library on a TV?

[nikoski]

I have my calibre library on a PC connected by HDMI&LAN to a TV.

Imagine i'd like to show on the TV the content of my calibre library to a friend, just about the way as the books appear in CC (grid or list). In other words, i'd like to control calibre by CC, connected to "content server", selecting calibre categories on the phone and showing the result of that on the TV.

If it's pure fantasy of mine and not possible with CC is there maybe another way to achieve such a thing?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by nikoski

I have my calibre library on a PC connected by HDMI&LAN to a TV.

Imagine i'd like to show on the TV the content of my calibre library to a friend, just about the way as the books appear in CC (grid or list). In other words, i'd like to control calibre by CC, connected to "content server", selecting calibre categories on the phone and showing the result of that on the TV.

If it's pure fantasy of mine and not possible with CC is there maybe another way to achieve such a thing?

To use CC you must be able to run CC. CC runs on Android. It doesn't run on a Linux/Windows/MacOs PC.

I can think of two ways that might work.

1) Use an Android emulator on the PC and run CC in that emulator. There are several emulators to choose from. See http://www.androidauthority.com/best...for-pc-655308/ for one list. I have tried CC under Bluestacks and it worked, albeit a but slowly at times.

2) If your Android device supports it and you have the hardware on the TV side, "cast" the Android screen to the TV.

That said, the real questions are "why not run calibre itself?", or why not connect directly to calibre's content server?

[nikoski]

Originally Posted by chaley

...the real questions are "why not run calibre itself?", or why not connect directly to calibre's content server?

Sure, this is what i probably need to do, but i'm not sure i was able to convey the idea of what i'm looking for in the first post so that it could be understood the right way

Imagine you are sitting with a friend of yours on a couch in front of a big LED-TV connected by HDMI/LAN to your PC with calibre installed on it, Calibre Companion installed on your android phone at your hands connected to yout PC by WiFi.

You'd like to show him - in a comfortable way, on the big screen of your TV - your calibre library without moving from the couch (...in a similar way as presenting your picture collection from the PC to the TV: possible for example by HDMI with the media-manager "XBMC/KODI" on the PC controlled by the app "Yatse" on you phone.)

Which would be the best option?

I.
Internet browser on the TV connected to the calibre content server on the PC: but controlling the TV-browser is a pretty cumbersome job and you neither can control the user interface of that presentation nor which categories are shown and which not.

II.
Internet browser on the PC connected to the calibre content server, browser window dragged to the TV as a part of windows "extended desktop" and controlled by the android device with the app "unified remote": a viable way, but again: neither control of the user interface nor which categories are shown and which not.

III.
Companion:Could CC help me in that project?
By "Connect to content Server" CC controls the calibre content (categories) and the apearance of it on the android device.

You could cast the screen of your android device to the TV in some way but this requiers advanced features on the side of your device and TV and makes things difficult.

Mirror the CC screen on your android device to the PC and drag the window to the TV (connected by HDMI) as a part of the windows "extended desktop": not an optimal and not a very agile way of presenting.

Are there maybe other options of how could i - sitting on my couch with an android device - control what calibre is showing on the PC and presenting it on my TV?

[chaley]

I am still confused.

You say that the TV is connected to the PC running calibre via HDMI. This is exactly the configuration I have. When looking at the TV I have the PC's (wireless) mouse and keyboard available. I also have an on-screen keyboard available for when I don't feel like using the physical keyboard. You should have the same.

It seems that you can get all you want by starting calibre on the PC and showing it on the TV. Do that and you are looking at your library on the TV. No need to involve the content server or CC at all.

I see only a few choices to use CC including the ones you named: casting, connecting by cable, running an android emulator, or replicating the screen. Assuming that I really want to see CC on the TV, I would choose cast if the device supports it because the hardware is cheap enough to make wasting my time not worth it. If my device has an HDMI out (most samsungs do I hear) then connecting by cable is an option. Using an emulator would be a last resort. I know it works, but the emulators are quite "heavy".

CC has no "remote control" features, and TBH I have no interest in adding them.

[nikoski]

Sorry for the confusion!

Yes, you are right, dragging the calibre window to the TV on the extended desktop seems the simplest and best option, at least regarding the part of the "viewing" what's in the library.

What's a bit more cumbersome is the part of the "controlling" what you see by a physical keyboard and mouse when sitting comfortably on a couch.
BTW, how do you control the virtual on-screen keyboard, if needed, by the mouse?

I've also tried the android app unified remote to control the PC giving you different virtual remotes like mouse, keyboard, slideshow and others, it works pretty well with calibre as well.

What also were helpful would be the possibility to quickly switch the user interface of calibre to a sort of saved "presenting view mode" more suitable for the purpose of simply showing the content to others on a distant screen: e.g. bigger fonts, menu with its icons deaktivated ... Would you have a hint for that?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by nikoski

BTW, how do you control the virtual on-screen keyboard, if needed, by the mouse?

I have a shortcut on the desktop to launch the keyboard. I tap the "keys" with the mouse. My mouse is wireless so I have no problems using it while on the couch.

What also were helpful would be the possibility to quickly switch the user interface of calibre to a sort of saved "presenting mode view" more suitable for the purpose of simply showing the content to others on a distant screen: e.g. bigger fonts, menu with its icons deaktivated ... Would you have a hint for that?

Take a look at the View Manager plugin. It doesn't seem to deal with fonts, but it handles sorts, visible columns, and column sizes.

Another thing you can do is to use different calibre configuration directories. I think that things like fonts, icons, toolbars, and the like are stored there. For example, I have around 5 of them for different development purposes. You tell calibre to use a different config directory using an environment variable. I do this in .bat files. Example:

set CALIBRE_CONFIG_DIRECTORY=D:\CBH_Data\calibre.git\config_test_small
calibre

Use a different bat file for each config you want. Use

set CALIBRE_CONFIG_DIRECTORY=

to tell calibre to use the default.

[nikoski]

Thanks a lot, i'll try the options suggested by you! :-)

[NSILMike]

Another very good and inexpensive option is a $35 chromecast dongle from google. It would allow you to cast the screen of your device to a tv via the local wifi network. You would just have to buy the chromecast, and connect it to the local network.
It's intent is to stream movies, photo's, etc. from a device with the (free) chromecast app to a TV which needs to have HDMI or USB inputs. Hope I don't sound like an advert for that source... sorry if I do.