Thinking about a bartop / tv / dvd combo

[Dervacumen]

I have a 20" monitor, a 13" TV and a small dvd player.  I'm interested in a bartop for my 3 year old.

I envision a console that can be used to play movies games.   I intend to run mame and several other educational games from some front end.  The games will change with time as my daughter grows so I guess I'll have USB ports for a keyboard and mouse and also make the CD/DVD player easily accessible from the front.

I figure the 13" TV can go away and I can play movies via the DVD drive.
 
I'm a little concerned about the boot up time if my daughter just wants to watch a movie, though.  I'm also concerned because she has the tendency to just turn stuff off.

Any suggestions on how to play a dvd automatically if it's in the drive when the computer boots up, and alternately boot to something like a front end for games if there is no dvd in the drive?

And as a side note, if this doesn't work I'm planning a bartop with a 20" monitor.  That's going to be larger than my standup.  Damn it.

[WareWolF]

Use the monitor.  Learning games (especially as she learns to read better) will look crappy on the TV, the fonts will be too blurry.  Windows has an auto-play feature for music CD & DVD's that when you put a DVD in the drive it will launch a media player of your choice, the only problem is some commercial DVD's come with their own media player and an installer will launch when you insert one of them.  You can use their media player which is usually lousy (sometimes plays the movie in a small window surrounded by advertising, etc), or you can cancel the installer and play the DVD manually.  If you have a large hard drive, you can also rip the DVD to the hard drive, and set it up to play from your front end software, which may be the easiest way for your daughter as she can select games as well as moves from the same interface.

[leapinlew]

A possibility would also be to use a touchscreen to make it more interactive.

[Dervacumen]

A possibility would also be to use a touchscreen to make it more interactive.

I didn't even think of that, but it's great idea.  As long as I can keep my daughter from sticking her fingers on every frickin' display she ever sees.  She's a bit of a "hands-on" girl.

Thanks for the good tip, I'll investigate.

[Dervacumen]

Use the monitor.  If you have a large hard drive, you can also rip the DVD to the hard drive, and set it up to play from your front end software, which may be the easiest way for your daughter as she can select games as well as moves from the same interface.

Good idea.  Any advice about an easy to use front end that works well with a touch screen?

[Tahnok]

If the touch screen idea doesn't work, what about just some real big buttons? I'm picturing those square buttons that you can put your own lettering in. They use them all the time for games in the small children section of Chucky Cheese.