Laptop/PC to TV - Suggestions for streaming video wirelessly?

[Levahj]

Hello All,

New to the Videohelp Forum and would appreciate any insight.

I have a need to stream movies and other stuff from my laptop to my TV. The issue is that I usually put my laptop on the cofee table in the family room and the TV (50" Plasma) is mounted very nicely on the wall. I dont want to have to hook up a VGA cable from the laptop every time I bring it into the room - and I dont want the VGA cable to be coming off the plasma on the wall anyway as it would look lousy.

Here's the stuff that I watch:

- Netflix online
- Hulu TV
- Joost
- YouTube

Can someone lead me in the right direction to find a product that would work well. I see a few different options out there but want someone who has some history with this as I think wireless Video would not be easy to pull off due to the throughput required.

Thank you

[next]

Magic.

Beyond that what you are requesting is not possible.

[jagabo]

WDTV Live + USB wireless network adapter + Boxee on laptop (with wireless networking)

There are wireless VGA solutions. For example:
http://www.ramelectronics.net/computer-parts/computer-cables/monitor-cables/wireless-d...GTVWVGALR.html

[Levahj]

Thanks Jagabo for the lead. Looks like that might work well but a bit pricy ($500) and I just was looking at reviews of other 802.11 type solutions and heard it may interfere with my wireless internet/network?

I was just on Amazon and saw some USB based solutions. This one from Warpia looks like it has decent reviews. A bit skepticle about Video across wireless USB. Anybody ever use this type of device?

http://www.amazon.com/Warpia-Wireless-Projector-Display-Converter/dp/B002BH3ZDY/ref=sr...7553546&sr=8-1

Please let me know

[jagabo]

I think you know as much as I do about that USB solution. If you get one please post about your experiences with it.

[edDV]

Can you hollow out the wall behind the TV for external electronics? If not, you clearly need a new TV if yours doesn't support wireless streaming and inside TV decode.

Next comes the laptop.

- Netflix online
- Hulu TV
- Joost
- YouTube ...

...are all taking your full internet wireless bandwidth so now you need a second frequency band e.g. "n" and PC card to feed the TV. This will also require more electronic bling at the back of the TV.

Or, you can run a VGA and audio cable to the coffee table.

[agfbi]

I recently saw that NetFlix will be avaiable through teh PS3 which will make it easy if you have a PS3 but that won't help you with the other sites.
I work for a small business and we have two of the Warpia wireless products that Levahj mentioned in our office. We have one hooked up to the LCD TV which is wall-mounted in our waiting room and the other is mounted to the projector which is on the ceiling of our conference room. We use the one in the waiting room, primarily to play a looped company video. It is about 25 feet from the receptionist's desk and it works well. The one in the conference room is used for everything. We use it primarily to connect laptops for things like PowerPoint slides but we also use it from time to time to stream sporting events. We have a couple of big cycling fans and they would have the Tour de France playing on the big screen and the video was really good. One thing that could be improved is to add audio to it. The ones that we have only stream the video so the audio playback is through the computer.

[Levahj]

Thanks for all your input jagabo, edDV and agfbi. I am going to get the wireless device that uses USB from Warpia and try it out. edDV brings up a good point about using too much 802.11 bandwidth to bring the streaming video in from the internet. Is there anything left to stream it back out to the TV? At least the wireless USB uses a different standard.

Gonna dump $110 into the Warpia device and hopefully it works as well as agfbi says it does. Seems to be the cheapest solution out there as well which is a plus (if it works)

[jagabo]

edDV brings up a good point about using too much 802.11 bandwidth to bring the streaming video in from the internet. Is there anything left to stream it back out to the TV?

Internet streams are usually in the low thousands kbps. 802.11g and n shouldn't have problems unless you have a weak signal or lots of other traffic.

[Levahj]

Received the Warpia Wireless USB Display Adapter today and it works really well. Been using YouTube and Hulu with no problems. I like the fact it is just a single USB dongle you have to put into the laptop. Very clean setup and pretty impressive to get wireless video. My one gripe is that is does not transmit audio as well which is a bummer but my laptop speakers are pretty good.

[stevewillow]

Anyone wanting to stream from laptop/PC to TV needs to have a look at SLINGBOX. For around £150 (PC World, UK) or slingbox site for USA ($199). It does exactly what it says on the tin . . .