I picked up a cheap 19″ touch screen from a daily deal site a week ago. I have not yet purchased an LCD screen for my computer simply because I have had it hooked into my 56″ TV for the past year. This causes a slight snag since the TV does not have PIP and I cannot watch TV and use the computer at the same time. So my plan is to hook this up so I can use the computer while the TV is in use.
I plan to either wall mount this thing, or mount it on a stand at a 60 degree angle or so, and put a frame around it to appear as a digital picture frame when not directly using the computer. Media Portal appears to be a good substitute for my currently used Creative Media Center, primarily because it will do everything I would want in a touch-accessed display: access music, movies, weather, email, quick games, emulators, and pictures (including a nice slideshow with effects)… and tons of user created plugins. (open source rules!) Although it was built to be a TV PVR with extras, I have no need for the TV PVR part, only all the other goodies. The weather plugin will be a nice feature… there is many a time when I want to know what the weather is like but I’m too lazy to find the TV channel or Web site. With this, a few taps of the finger and I’ll know if it’s raining at the softball field…
