Talk to me about connecting computers and TV
Discussion
I went to my wife's work-colleagues house last night and he had a great computer setup whereby all his DVDs were transferredonto a computer and then he was able to log into any film he wanted to watch by using a menu on his plasma.
I've never seen this before and didn't have time to question her husband about it. Can anyone tell me how this works?
I need a new computer for my house anyway so would like to buy the right one if I can get it synced to my TV.
I've never seen this before and didn't have time to question her husband about it. Can anyone tell me how this works?
I need a new computer for my house anyway so would like to buy the right one if I can get it synced to my TV.
Any number of methods. Apple TV, PS3, various media hard drive thingies that sit under your TV, etc. What sort of setup are you after?
http://www.apple.com/appletv/
http://hd.engadget.com/2008/11/11/western-digitals...
etc...
http://www.apple.com/appletv/
http://hd.engadget.com/2008/11/11/western-digitals...
etc...
Edited by Blue Meanie on Tuesday 12th October 21:54
Yes, you simply have to rip the dvd/blu ray/hd dvd to the hard drive and then access it from there. I'm just about to do the same thing, just need to get a blu ray drive for the computer and I should be away. Going to use a Netgear NAS along with the Western Digital HD Live. Hopefully it'll all work as planned in my mind.
sjj84 said:
Yes, you simply have to rip the dvd/blu ray/hd dvd to the hard drive and then access it from there. I'm just about to do the same thing, just need to get a blu ray drive for the computer and I should be away. Going to use a Netgear NAS along with the Western Digital HD Live. Hopefully it'll all work as planned in my mind.
Sounds good, please let us know how it works out for youWindows Media Centre is pretty good, sometimes struggles a bit if you have 300gigs of MP3s for it to deal with, but it does a pretty decent job really. Works especially well with the remote control and if you can feed your Sky or TV feed into the computer, so everything is managed from the one set of tv settings, remote control etc.
You need to consider what graphics card and connection to the tv you're going to use and also the tv itself. It seems very easy to end up with a graphics card that supports a maximum resolution to a monitor, but not to a tv, or a tv that supports a certain resolution but not when connected from a computer. I don't know if these issues have been addressed with LCD Panels and HDMI connections.
You need to consider what graphics card and connection to the tv you're going to use and also the tv itself. It seems very easy to end up with a graphics card that supports a maximum resolution to a monitor, but not to a tv, or a tv that supports a certain resolution but not when connected from a computer. I don't know if these issues have been addressed with LCD Panels and HDMI connections.
BMWBen said:
I have windows media centre on the pc in the study - and axles it through the xbox 360 under the telly. Works very well. Media centre acts as a pvr too.
Can you explain exactly what is required to do this please? I currently have a wireless laptop with windows media centre on and a xbox360 which is connected to the tv via hdmi and to the wireless router via ethernet (for xbox live). Thanks.Assuming they are both connected to the network.
Start Media Centre
Start xbox
The media centre will then 'appear' under videos/music/photos in the xbox menus and you can navigate from there. Obviously you need content in the Media centre library. Media centre is a DLNA server.
You could also run any other DLNA server app on the server PC (Twonky, TVersity, ps3mediaserver etc).
Personally I don't like the way media centre manages files so use twonky as you just point the app at your media storage and let it get on with it.
Start Media Centre
Start xbox
The media centre will then 'appear' under videos/music/photos in the xbox menus and you can navigate from there. Obviously you need content in the Media centre library. Media centre is a DLNA server.
You could also run any other DLNA server app on the server PC (Twonky, TVersity, ps3mediaserver etc).
Personally I don't like the way media centre manages files so use twonky as you just point the app at your media storage and let it get on with it.
i tried using my PS3 and 360 for streaming/media centre connectivity but never really got on with it so i built my own htpc in the end.
Turned out to be a little monster, 8gb ram, quad core, blu-ray burner, 1.5TB HDD (I just need to install another HDD in there now as its getting quite full)
absolutely stunning HD, and all in was less than £700, which i think is excellent vfm.
I burnt my 200 dvd's in no time (well quite a few evenings but wasnt really a chore) - takes approx 20mins to burn each dvd in full quality (approx 4gb)
my blu-rays took a little longer - approx 2hrs each.
connect HDMI cable to AMP (6.1) and then onto my plasma as I want to enjoy the movie in full
never had any issues with it.
i run free cinema software on it aswell.
I use MediaPortal, but with the Streamed MP skin on it.
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/files/Download/Ski...
Both completely free and work brilliantly.
it loads up aswell on PC bootup, so i just use a windows media centre remote control to navigate to a movie and play.
im well chuffed with it.. its also the only thing that gets the mrs into my games room!.. we have movie nights now, where before even tho you have the dvd's you just dont really use them.
Streamed MP is so easy to use aswell, once youve burn/copied your dvd's just go into config and it auto picks up all the new movies youve just copied, grabs all the images, movie info for you. so next time you start mediaportal your new movie is there waiting for you.
you could also join something like LoveFilm aswell i guess..
AVForums is your best bet for these questions tho.. helped me out no end.
There's a bit of setup initially - codecs etc but nothing too taxing and there's some great info on AVF in particular.
~ eta, you dont need anything that powerful either to be honest, it was just pretty cheap (self building) so i kept buying better components - although i may need the extra spec one day if i decide to start PC gaming on it rather than just using my consoles, but just for movies you could get away with spending a fair bit less i'd say.. although buy a big enough case that you can put multiple HDD's in there as you'll soon start to fill up the space
also, i run Win7 on it and its surprisingly good as a media server so deffo go that way i'd say - my work's win7 laptop auto pics up all my movies on the htpc (via wifi )so ive watched a couple movies that way aswell with headphones on in bed when the mrs is asleep
for legit software (eg Win7 OS) a good place to look are these Student Software websites.. a fair bit cheaper than other places, and you are building it for a student after all
Turned out to be a little monster, 8gb ram, quad core, blu-ray burner, 1.5TB HDD (I just need to install another HDD in there now as its getting quite full)
absolutely stunning HD, and all in was less than £700, which i think is excellent vfm.
I burnt my 200 dvd's in no time (well quite a few evenings but wasnt really a chore) - takes approx 20mins to burn each dvd in full quality (approx 4gb)
my blu-rays took a little longer - approx 2hrs each.
connect HDMI cable to AMP (6.1) and then onto my plasma as I want to enjoy the movie in full
never had any issues with it.
i run free cinema software on it aswell.
I use MediaPortal, but with the Streamed MP skin on it.
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/files/Download/Ski...
Both completely free and work brilliantly.
it loads up aswell on PC bootup, so i just use a windows media centre remote control to navigate to a movie and play.
im well chuffed with it.. its also the only thing that gets the mrs into my games room!.. we have movie nights now, where before even tho you have the dvd's you just dont really use them.
Streamed MP is so easy to use aswell, once youve burn/copied your dvd's just go into config and it auto picks up all the new movies youve just copied, grabs all the images, movie info for you. so next time you start mediaportal your new movie is there waiting for you.
you could also join something like LoveFilm aswell i guess..
AVForums is your best bet for these questions tho.. helped me out no end.
There's a bit of setup initially - codecs etc but nothing too taxing and there's some great info on AVF in particular.
~ eta, you dont need anything that powerful either to be honest, it was just pretty cheap (self building) so i kept buying better components - although i may need the extra spec one day if i decide to start PC gaming on it rather than just using my consoles, but just for movies you could get away with spending a fair bit less i'd say.. although buy a big enough case that you can put multiple HDD's in there as you'll soon start to fill up the space
also, i run Win7 on it and its surprisingly good as a media server so deffo go that way i'd say - my work's win7 laptop auto pics up all my movies on the htpc (via wifi )so ive watched a couple movies that way aswell with headphones on in bed when the mrs is asleep
for legit software (eg Win7 OS) a good place to look are these Student Software websites.. a fair bit cheaper than other places, and you are building it for a student after all
Edited by StormLoaded on Thursday 14th October 20:44
I have NMTServer/YAMJ running on my PC and serving video up to the PS3. I just set the PS3 homepage to go to the nmt server and get this.
Click on a film and it goes to this.
Took a bit of fiddling but works really well, much better than DLNA.
Click on a film and it goes to this.
Took a bit of fiddling but works really well, much better than DLNA.
Edited by Bullett on Thursday 14th October 20:47
Edited by Bullett on Thursday 14th October 20:49
if you already have a pc, the new D-Link Boxee is due out soon (Nov - £199rrp).
Streamer/MediaCentre PC
1080p, movies, music, internet (bespoke apps for Channel 4, BBC, youTube etc)
looks a nice bit of kit for sure
http://www.dlink.com/boxee/more.html
edit - scrap that, just been playing with the boxee interface (free download on the website) and its pretty cr*p, its quite slick to look at but its just not nice to use.. a bit awkward - the internet tv series are just bbc iplayer,4OnDemand embedded basically.
If you dont need to burn dvd's (have another pc?) and just want a pc to tv the Acer Revo Nettop's are good - I have one in my lounge connected to a panny 42", its quite good for youtube etc, but not too powerful (although will play 1080p movies as latest flash player 10.1 has GPU acceleration), but has and no cd/burner. but good for streaming SD movies (or watch HD movies via usb connected or saved on its HDD).
those may be worth looking at.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/pcs/review/2009/06/0...
Depends what your after really.
What do you want it to do? - just look nice and stream movies? burn movies?
What existing equipment do you already own? - pc, ps3?
Bullett's PS3 setup looks sweet as a nut
Streamer/MediaCentre PC
1080p, movies, music, internet (bespoke apps for Channel 4, BBC, youTube etc)
looks a nice bit of kit for sure
http://www.dlink.com/boxee/more.html
edit - scrap that, just been playing with the boxee interface (free download on the website) and its pretty cr*p, its quite slick to look at but its just not nice to use.. a bit awkward - the internet tv series are just bbc iplayer,4OnDemand embedded basically.
If you dont need to burn dvd's (have another pc?) and just want a pc to tv the Acer Revo Nettop's are good - I have one in my lounge connected to a panny 42", its quite good for youtube etc, but not too powerful (although will play 1080p movies as latest flash player 10.1 has GPU acceleration), but has and no cd/burner. but good for streaming SD movies (or watch HD movies via usb connected or saved on its HDD).
those may be worth looking at.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/pcs/review/2009/06/0...
Depends what your after really.
What do you want it to do? - just look nice and stream movies? burn movies?
What existing equipment do you already own? - pc, ps3?
Bullett's PS3 setup looks sweet as a nut
Edited by StormLoaded on Saturday 16th October 16:56
Bullett said:
I have NMTServer/YAMJ running on my PC and serving video up to the PS3. I just set the PS3 homepage to go to the nmt server and get this.
Click on a film and it goes to this.
Took a bit of fiddling but works really well, much better than DLNA.
I've been considering a PCH for a while now as I don't think a full WMC setup is worth it, £ for £. I've used PS3 Media Server for a while now but the UI is clunky to say the least. Can I ask how you got YAMJ to work on the PS3 exactly?Click on a film and it goes to this.
Took a bit of fiddling but works really well, much better than DLNA.
Edited by Bullett on Thursday 14th October 20:47
Edited by Bullett on Thursday 14th October 20:49
In summary, it doesn't run on the PS3 YAMJ and NMT run on my 'media server' and I just point the ps3 browser at the NMTserver ip and port address. In theory it should work with any browser and certainly the front end does display on my PC, ipod touch and a little linux netbook I have but they only play successfully on the PS3 and the netbook. Something to do with the way the file is called (I'm not enough of a programmer to understand).
The YAMJ program is designed to work with the Popcorn hour and the NMT is essentially a web server front end.
The screenshots I posted were actually from my PC but they look the same on the PS3.
There is a bit of space as the templates are not optomised for a TV but if someone is good at xml it should be possible to make a custom skin (next project!).
Some links
YAMJ Here - http://code.google.com/p/moviejukebox/
NMT stuff here - http://www.xs4all.nl/~ithiel/nmt/
More useful stuff - http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?t...
and here - http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?t...
Took me ages to get it working, but you can then access your stuff from any browser with access to the server (so in theory across the net as well).
The YAMJ program is designed to work with the Popcorn hour and the NMT is essentially a web server front end.
The screenshots I posted were actually from my PC but they look the same on the PS3.
There is a bit of space as the templates are not optomised for a TV but if someone is good at xml it should be possible to make a custom skin (next project!).
Some links
YAMJ Here - http://code.google.com/p/moviejukebox/
NMT stuff here - http://www.xs4all.nl/~ithiel/nmt/
More useful stuff - http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?t...
and here - http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?t...
Took me ages to get it working, but you can then access your stuff from any browser with access to the server (so in theory across the net as well).
StormLoaded said:
If you dont need to burn dvd's (have another pc?) and just want a pc to tv the Acer Revo Nettop's are good - I have one in my lounge connected to a panny 42", its quite good for youtube etc, but not too powerful (although will play 1080p movies as latest flash player 10.1 has GPU acceleration), but has and no cd/burner. but good for streaming SD movies (or watch HD movies via usb connected or saved on its HDD).
The Revo will happily play streamed 1080p also. I use XBMC as a frontend - this site has a version optimised for the Revo. Also the latest versions for windows allow GPU acceleration so can play HD.Nuisance_Value said:
BMWBen said:
I have windows media centre on the pc in the study - and axles it through the xbox 360 under the telly. Works very well. Media centre acts as a pvr too.
Can you explain exactly what is required to do this please? I currently have a wireless laptop with windows media centre on and a xbox360 which is connected to the tv via hdmi and to the wireless router via ethernet (for xbox live). Thanks.. It then acts as if you were sitting in front of the laptop when in fact you're in front of the xbox and tv! Music, films, pictures, add ons etc etc, all right there.If you have a tv tuner (USB ones available for laptops) then media centre is also a rather good pvr.
You can buy a remote for it as well so you don't have to try and mess around with a game controller. Handy hint - the IR remote you get for the pc works with the xbox....
Bullett said:
Assuming they are both connected to the network.
Start Media Centre
Start xbox
The media centre will then 'appear' under videos/music/photos in the xbox menus and you can navigate from there. Obviously you need content in the Media centre library. Media centre is a DLNA server.
You could also run any other DLNA server app on the server PC (Twonky, TVersity, ps3mediaserver etc).
Personally I don't like the way media centre manages files so use twonky as you just point the app at your media storage and let it get on with it.
That doesn't get you the full media centre experience though - for that, you need to go through the menus to "media centre" Start Media Centre
Start xbox
The media centre will then 'appear' under videos/music/photos in the xbox menus and you can navigate from there. Obviously you need content in the Media centre library. Media centre is a DLNA server.
You could also run any other DLNA server app on the server PC (Twonky, TVersity, ps3mediaserver etc).
Personally I don't like the way media centre manages files so use twonky as you just point the app at your media storage and let it get on with it.
scovette said:
The Revo will happily play streamed 1080p also. I use XBMC as a frontend - this site has a version optimised for the Revo. Also the latest versions for windows allow GPU acceleration so can play HD.
ah cheers mate, will try the latest versions of xbmc, ive not tried streaming 1080p to it for a good while, its a cracking little box though i have to admit. bang on value for money
Edited by StormLoaded on Wednesday 20th October 17:28
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