Options for watching avi files on my TV?

[Martoon]

This isn't a specific technical question, it's more of a "what are my options" and "what do people recommend" kind of thing.

I have several .avi files - mostly TV episodes - on my computer that I'd like to watch on my TV. Most of the video is divx or xvid (a few are mpeg), and most of the audio is mp3. Most of the files are PAL format, and my TV is NTSC. Here's what I have for hardware:

In one room:
A decent PC (Athlon XP 3000+) running Win XP, GeForce 6600 with S-Video out, and a good DVD burner (NEC ND-3520A).

In another room (about 30 feet from PC):
A television, a Series 2 Tivo, and a cheapo DVD player. The TV doesn't have S-Video input (just regular RCA type audio and video jacks and coax RF in), but the Tivo has S-Video in, so I can always go through that. Also, I have an ethernet cable going from the router by my PC to an ethernet adapter on the Tivo.

One obvious option is transcoding the files to DVD, and watching them with the DVD player. This is what I've been trying, but I'm not very happy with it. I have lots of headaches with the transcoding (especially keeping audio in sync), and I don't need to keep stuff archived on DVD. I just want to watch an episode, then most likely delete it. All of the time and steps it takes to get a file to transcode properly isn't worth one viewing of an episode.

Since I already have an ethernet cable going between the Pc and the TV, would a MediaMVP work for me? I just don't know if it will play most of the files directly (without transcoding). I'd hate to invest $100 in another piece of hardware and find out it doesn't do what I need.

It would be great if there were someway I could view the files via the Tivo, but I'm not sure if that's possible, and if it is, it probably involves transcoding (which is the headache I'm trying to avoid).

Is there a way I can get the video signal from the S-Video out on the PC to the S-Video in on the Tivo in the other room? How long can an S-Video cable be? Or is there some kind of transponder? I could run another cable through the same duct I have the ethernet cable through, but it would be a 50-foot cable.

So, any advice?

Thanks!

[handyguy]

Sure you don't want to get a divx dvd player? A lot us have that Philips 642. Just copy your avi to your dvd & put it in your 642. U can get a few on a disk.

You can make it region free easily.

[redostrike]

Well there is a program called VSO to DIVX and it's queit easy not so expensive. When you start converting you could watch another dvd you just created. Or you could start it when you get of to go work. And for the dvd just use DVD-RW you can rerwite it many times before they stop working (like 1000 times LOL).

[TaoTeWingChun]

I use the S-Video out port and headphone port on my laptop and connect them to my home theater receiver via some RCA cables and specific adapters. Out from laptop goes to AUX-In ports on home theater receiver. I set my machine to add another monitor (Ctrl-T), and set recevier to AUX for audio/video selection.

I see hundreds of TV episodes, video clips, emails, etc., in this way. Total cost for cables and adapters was around $12.00 US, so not a bad hit to watch those clips I have no intention of rendering/burning in the first place. Plus, my machine easily converts from worksttion to family entertainment center with the push of a button or two.

Just my 2 cents . . .

Cheers and Happpy Holidays!

TTWC