which media streamer ?

[bugsbunny14]

hi all ,

i want a media streamer which enables me to watch videos that are on my pc on my living room tv .

what i want exactly :

1- .avi divx and xvid support .

2- fast interface . i hate sluggish interface .

3- i dont care if it's wireless because i will use ethernet cable .

4- my budget is no more than 200 $ .


thanks

[jstewart]

hi all ,

i want a media streamer which enables me to watch videos that are on my pc on my living room tv .

what i want exactly :

1- .avi divx and xvid support .

2- fast interface . i hate sluggish interface .

3- i dont care if it's wireless because i will use ethernet cable .

4- my budget is no more than 200 $ .


thanks

Buy a card with an s-video connection and run an svideo chord to your tv. Wouldn't cost you more than 50 or 60 bucks depending on the length of the chord and the quality of the video card you want. Of course your tv has to have an input for svideo - if it doesn't, then I wouldn't bother with this project because you won't have any of the right connections.

[jkleslie]

Buy an XBOX and load XBMC on it.

[Bjs]

You have windows media center os .

Tv out from vga card will do the job , either ati or nvidia , just need to check for mce drivers .

Not everything will connect to each other easily ... not all use the same connection types .
It will depend on what inputs your current tv supports , as not all include svideo input ... I'd rather avoid it .

Svideo cables are short , which can be a nuisance .
Rca cables can be relatively longer and I have tested up to 50 feet , without problems .

You will need some extra adapters and conversion cables in order to connect the pc output's to tv input's , which are noted here : https://forum.videohelp.com/topic334002.html

Depending on the card required for tv out , and cable's / adapters required , it should easily come under your budget .

Answers to other questions :

Forget wireless = over budget , lacking in features , and poor bandwidth .

jstewart = Already explained .

jkleslie = Over budget , and undesirable .

[jkleslie]

A used XBOX runs >$100US. The remote for it can be found easily for under $10. What's undesirable about it? I run one on a 46" TV in my kitchen and it plays DVDs, VCDs, XVID, DIVX, and even MP4/MKV with x.264 (and AAC audio) without a problem. I do this with the XBOX 11g wireless adapter (which I do not recommend, but is still doable). XBMC interface is much quicker than MCEs (which I have 2 MCE and 1 VMC in my home) and is still updated.

XBOX is much quieter than a PC as well. I've also yet to determine whether this PC is going to be in the same room as the TV. If not, is he supposed to run even more cables for a mouse and keyboard?

All these cable runs seem undesirable to me.

[SCDVD]

I see on this page of Xbox Media Center's web site that the Xbox needs to be modded to run XBMC. Apparantly there is a hardware and a software mod but they say "We can offer no assistance in this area."
http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/index.php?title=Using_XBMC

Where can I get info on the mod?

I also see that XBMC has no executable version for download on their web site. Where is a good place to download an executable version?