Best way to connect PC to SONY Trinitron Wega FD CRT TV

[snsd]

I'm looking for the best/economical solution for being able to stream video (eg. Neflix) from my desktop PC or laptop to our CRT TV that has HD 1080i capabilities.

I have a SONY Trinitron CRT TV - model KV32XBR400. It has excellent picture quality for a tube TV and my preference would be to keep using it. The TV has S-video and component video inputs. (I've attached the TV User Manual. Here is the link to it as well: http://esupport.sony.com/CA/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=KV32XBR400&LOC=3#/manualsTab .)

Laptop solution(?): Laptop has HDMI and VGA outputs. If I simply purchased an HDMI to component video (see attached or something like this http://www.dealextreme.com/p/hdmi-to-component-video-audio-av-cable-13188), and connected the video to the Y, Pb and Pr and the audio to the Audio-R and Audio-L inputs, do you think I'd get 1080i output on the TV? Or, would I need some type of converter in the middle?

If the above wouldn't work, would I be able to at least get non-HD video/audio if I used the regular video component inputs instead of the Y, Pb and Pr inputs? Or, If I got an HDMI to S-Video cable, would that at least give me the best non-HD output?

Desktop PC solution(?): basically the same question as the above except that my desktop has only S-Video and DVI ports but no HDMI. I do have an S-Video to component video cable and tried it but was only able to get black and white. (Perhaps an S-Video to S-Video cable would give me colour?) The video card is ancient (ATI SAPPHIRE RADEON X300SE). I do not know whether it even supports DVI to component out functionality...

Sorry for being long-winded - but wanted to give as much detail as possible. Ideally, I'd like to use one of our extra desktop PCs as a media centre as opposed to the laptop - but if it's going to be too expensive to get one of the PCs connected, I am curious to know whether a $5 HDMI to component video cable would work. (One laptop has XP Media Centre the other Vista Media Centre.) If purchasing a new video card (with perhaps an HDMI output) and a special cable would get me to where I'd like to be, I'm completely open to that as long as it's not going to cost much. (A recommendation of an adequate video card would be appreciated.)

If it's cheapest to go to Wal-Mart and buy a brand new 32" LCD TV for $200, so be it, but I'm hoping I can continue to use the CRT TV we already have. (And, buying a digital TV would not solve the issue of wanting to use my desktop PC to do the streaming without a further investment in PC hardware.) Although ideally I'd like to be able to use the 1080i HD capabilities of the TV, if we're only able to get non-HD output, that is perfectly fine.

I'm open to any other completely different solutions that anyone might suggest. This is all new to me.

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

Dave

[jman98]

If you have a wireless network you could just buy a Roku device (www.roku.com - from $99.99 and down depending on the model) and connect that to your TV to do Netflix. It can do Amazon and other streaming too.

Depending on your needs, Netflix steaming may or may not be what you think it is. As far as I can tell they don't stream new releases. "The Hangover" has been out for over 2 years now and you still can't stream it, although you can rent it. Streaming only absolutely does not even come close to meeting my entertainment needs, but you may be interested in different things than me. However, I do like the Roku box I bought and it's really the easiest way to go to get Netflix to your TV.

[snsd]

Thanks for the response. I have been a long time subscriber to Netflix and the streaming service is fine. (It's actually all that is available in Canada where we live.)

I will look at the roku unit to see if it can connect to the CRT TV to get the 480i output that some of the roku units say can be achieved.

However, I'm still really interested in finding out whether I can connect my PC/laptop with hopefully nothing more than a $5 cable...and am looking forward to some other input in that regard.

Dave