OT[?]: Video player for hospital?

Background: seriously ill patient in hospital wants to be able to watch
videos - not broadcast or iPlayer but from disk/memory. Probably .avi
and .mkv wrappers. Possibly DVD images. Resolution not
critical but would prefer widescreen.

Budget: I hope this will be used over months rather than weeks or days
so I'm game for £ several hundreds for a good solution.

Issues: main ones I see so far ( and I drew on Bill Wright's request for
help with MP3 players for a similar set of circs last year) a

- battery life: I am sure the hospital won't allow PSUs plugged into
their sockets so need several hours minimum between recharges;

- battery recharge: given the above, is the only practicable answer
to daily use to have 2 devices and swap them each day? Or is there a
device which has removable batteries but is also...

- light: this has to be capable of being handled by a pretty poorly
patient;

- easy to use: the patient knows MS products and VLC so those would
probably be better than - say - Linux.

This seems to be pointing to a couple of tablets. But I've not been
there, done them. And if I may quote from Bill Wright last year "Please
don't answer with a lot of detail and technicalities. I just don't have
the time or the energy at the moment. Just some basic info would be
great."

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

In article ,
Robin wrote:
Background: seriously ill patient in hospital wants to be able to watch
videos - not broadcast or iPlayer but from disk/memory. Probably .avi
and .mkv wrappers. Possibly DVD images. Resolution not
critical but would prefer widescreen.

Budget: I hope this will be used over months rather than weeks or days
so I'm game for £ several hundreds for a good solution.

Issues: main ones I see so far ( and I drew on Bill Wright's request for
help with MP3 players for a similar set of circs last year) a

- battery life: I am sure the hospital won't allow PSUs plugged into
their sockets so need several hours minimum between recharges;

Daughter 2, in maternity wing of major NHS hospital had no problem in using
mains outlets for phone and iplayer.

I'd check up on this before spendfing lots on battery operated items

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

Robin wrote:


Budget: I hope this will be used over months rather than weeks or days
so I'm game for £ several hundreds for a good solution.


Hospitals generally want to get you out as soon as you are stable, so I
would assume most of the time will be in a nursing home.

Robin wrote:

- battery life: I am sure the hospital won't allow PSUs plugged into
their sockets so need several hours minimum between recharges;
Have you asked? Don't, because you'd get the official answer. But the
reality is different. I have considerable experience here (four
hospitals; countless wards) and only once did anyone say anything. That
turned out to be a an auxiliary who was just talking ********. It is
normal now for patients to have their phones on charge and to be using
laptops etc.
For a while bans were attempted in order to force patients to use
Patientline (etc) but that was soon seen as indefensible.
Most/all hospital equipment is RFI-proof. The days of bans on phones etc
are pretty well gone.
If you plug in look for an ordinary 13A socket, not one marked
'essential' as that is on a special circuit.

This seems to be pointing to a couple of tablets. But I've not been
there, done them. And if I may quote from Bill Wright last year "Please
don't answer with a lot of detail and technicalities. I just don't have
the time or the energy at the moment. Just some basic info would be
great."
In the event, Hil was too ill for a long time to use anything herself,
but visiting times were very flexible, so I would take something in (it
varied, we had a little Archos player and sometimes I used the laptop.)
I would record a hour or so of stuff she wanted to see and we'd sit
together and watch it. That as all she wanted. She wasn't up to watching
any more telly. Your patient will most likely be the same, at least for
a while.
You have to be sensitive about noise levels. Some wards are noisy and
you can play programmes at normal volume, but some are very quiet, so
earphones are good.
As regards visiting times, I found that as long as as I avoided doctor
rounds etc I was welcome at any time. This was unofficial of course, but
since I was going in at mealtimes and feeding Hil the staff were glad I
was there. And at other times, as long as we were quiet there was no
problem. I made a point of being generally useful when Hil was in the
stroke ward, helping the other patients a bit, all that sort of stuff.
The staff are overstretched in that sort of ward so they are always glad
of help.
The clinical and nursing staff are generally pragmatic and humane. The
problems come from the beancounters upstairs. I have found myself in
many a conspiracy with staff in order to circumvent absurd rules imposed
from above.
The visits rules are there to back up the staff when people are stupid.
For instance this African woman was in the next bed. She was very ill
(this was in HDU) yet the whole bloody tribe turned up and they were
very noisy, wailing and going at it. You can't have that in HDU. This is
not Africa, and anyway I doubt if it did her any good having all that
wailing going on. It would have put the wind up me.
Then there was the time when the entire congregation of this woman's
church turned up and started holding a happy-clappy service at the
bedside. What a racket! They were soon booted out.

With practice you can play the NHS like a good old violin. You just need
to get into the mindset, and manipulate individuals on that basis.

All these experiences were gained in Yorkshire hospitals. It might be
different down south, you know, funny ideas and all that. I once went to
Bawtry and that was far enough for me.

Bill

"Robin" wrote in message
...
Background: seriously ill patient in hospital wants to be able to watch
videos - not broadcast or iPlayer but from disk/memory. Probably .avi
and .mkv wrappers. Possibly DVD images. Resolution not
critical but would prefer widescreen.

Budget: I hope this will be used over months rather than weeks or days
so I'm game for £ several hundreds for a good solution.

I don't think there's much point looking outside the Tablet marketplace.

An iPad will do the job very nicely, but it sounds like you'd want the 64gb
version if you plan on filling it with video which isn't cheap. It's a
brilliant bit of kit IMO, but something like a Samsung Galaxy Tab has a
Micro SD card slot so that will be a lot cheaper - half the price.


--
Alex

On 28/01/2013 07:45, Dr Zoidberg wrote:

"Robin" wrote in message
...
Background: seriously ill patient in hospital wants to be able to watch
videos - not broadcast or iPlayer but from disk/memory. Probably .avi
and .mkv wrappers. Possibly DVD images. Resolution not
critical but would prefer widescreen.

Budget: I hope this will be used over months rather than weeks or days
so I'm game for £ several hundreds for a good solution.

I don't think there's much point looking outside the Tablet marketplace.

An iPad will do the job very nicely, but it sounds like you'd want the
64gb version if you plan on filling it with video which isn't cheap.
It's a brilliant bit of kit IMO, but something like a Samsung Galaxy Tab
has a Micro SD card slot so that will be a lot cheaper - half the price.




the ipad would need all the mkv videos etc converting to something it
likes wouldn't it?

--
Gareth.
That fly.... Is your magic wand.

Bill Wright wrote:

For a while bans were attempted in order to force patients to use
Patientline (etc) but that was soon seen as indefensible.
Most/all hospital equipment is RFI-proof. The days of bans on phones etc
are pretty well gone.
If you plug in look for an ordinary 13A socket, not one marked
'essential' as that is on a special circuit.

In terms of plugging in, the issue is PAT testing.

The NHS now outsources some work to private hospitals, and for at least
one of those, they allow equipment to be plugged in, but it has to be
subject to a free PAT test, first.

In article , Robin wrote:


- easy to use: the patient knows MS products and VLC so those would
probably be better than - say - Linux.

Some confusion there. VLC works fine on Linux, as on other platforms. So
choosing MS would be a matter of habituation rather than wanting VLC.

As others have said, it looks like a tablet (or maybe one of the dedicated
portable DVD players?) might do best.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On 28/01/2013 08:03, the dog from that film you saw wrote:
On 28/01/2013 07:45, Dr Zoidberg wrote:

"Robin" wrote in message
...
Background: seriously ill patient in hospital wants to be able to watch
videos - not broadcast or iPlayer but from disk/memory. Probably .avi
and .mkv wrappers. Possibly DVD images. Resolution not
critical but would prefer widescreen.

Budget: I hope this will be used over months rather than weeks or days
so I'm game for £ several hundreds for a good solution.

I don't think there's much point looking outside the Tablet marketplace.

An iPad will do the job very nicely, but it sounds like you'd want the
64gb version if you plan on filling it with video which isn't cheap.
It's a brilliant bit of kit IMO, but something like a Samsung Galaxy Tab
has a Micro SD card slot so that will be a lot cheaper - half the price.




the ipad would need all the mkv videos etc converting to something it
likes wouldn't it?

what about

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html

--
David Kennedy

http://www.anindianinexile.com

David Woolley wrote:
Bill Wright wrote:

For a while bans were attempted in order to force patients to use
Patientline (etc) but that was soon seen as indefensible.
Most/all hospital equipment is RFI-proof. The days of bans on phones
etc are pretty well gone.
If you plug in look for an ordinary 13A socket, not one marked
'essential' as that is on a special circuit.

In terms of plugging in, the issue is PAT testing.

The NHS now outsources some work to private hospitals, and for at least
one of those, they allow equipment to be plugged in, but it has to be
subject to a free PAT test, first.

I've had recent experience of both NHS and private hospitals in
Hampshire, none of them even bat an eyelid at any 'personal' electrical
kit plugged in to their sockets.