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Thread: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

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    Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    So treated myself to a LG 32LH5000 + Home cinema in the sales! Just want opinions on the best (most convienant/cost) method to be able to play the movies I have on my computer, a direct cable is not really viable as its probably 20m or so away.

    TV has 4x HDMI, 2x SCART, 1x Component, 1x USB connection ports available.

    With the USB I was thinking along lines of a external HD to just dump movies on from my PC whenever I wanted, but can they play without some form of OS? When I go into the TVs USB menu it lets me "scan" for a movies from an external drive so thought maybe the TV has the drivers/codecs already to play DivX etc but not sure.

    Anyway, suggestions appreciated.. spent abit over budget to stretch to the better tv so not looking to spend a great deal.

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    1. Get a cheap old computer with a network card.

    2. Network the two computers

    3. Plug the cheap computer into the TV

    4. Stream movies to the cheap computer

    5. Watch movie

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    Alternatively you could get a media player like a popcorn, X-streamer, Asus O Play, Compro T1000W to name a few and stream the files to the media player from the PC and watch them on your TV

    These allow the playback of most container formats which are used today.

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    Yeah but how much do they cost ?

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    Quote Originally Posted by Fortune117 View Post
    Yeah but how much do they cost ?
    The asus o!play is probably the best value at around £80 inc. Plays everything including mkv's at 1080p and has regular firmware updates so you dont need to worry about support. You can also stream off the network as it has built in lan. Its a very good device and superb value for money.

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...RJ45-USB-eSata

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    I was looking for something more stand-alone, the techy in currys suggested a wi-fi media player but it's not really ideal If I want to use the PC for something while it's streaming? Not sure how it works but I'd hazard a guess it's going to use significant cpu time?

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    Quote Originally Posted by Chan View Post
    I was looking for something more stand-alone, the techy in currys suggested a wi-fi media player but it's not really ideal If I want to use the PC for something while it's streaming? Not sure how it works but I'd hazard a guess it's going to use significant cpu time?
    Not necessarily, but dont expect to play hd files back smoothly on wifi, you might get away with divx though.

    If you want to stream then get a pair of 85 or 200 mbps homeplugs and the asus, and you should be fine.

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    Ive been using an Xtreamer for a few months now (before that a ps3 and ps3mediaserver) and ive found it a flawless way of playing media from my pc.

    You have either the choice of streaming via Wifi or Ethernet, or you can add a 2.5" laptop hdd internally and copy onto it whatever takes your fancy.

    I highly recommend the device, it can be had for around £89.

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    So i've been looking around at all these suggestions over past few days and also found some possible others..

    What do people think of Sumvision Cyclone Micro Media Player combined with a usb hd, could get for same-ish price as one of those streamers.

    Also noticed another thread afew topics down discussing DVD players that play from a hd.

    Hmmph!

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    Quote Originally Posted by Chan View Post
    So i've been looking around at all these suggestions over past few days and also found some possible others..

    What do people think of Sumvision Cyclone Micro Media Player combined with a usb hd, could get for same-ish price as one of those streamers.

    Also noticed another thread afew topics down discussing DVD players that play from a hd.

    Hmmph!
    It wont play any high definition files, eg mkvs, hd mpegs ,etc. It does play all the basic files though (eg divx), so if thats what you want then I suppose its ok.

    However I would probably spend the extra £40 and get an asus, wd live, or an xstreamer as they are true hd, are able to play ever file out there and get regular firmware updates.

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    If you're a bit of a geek and up for a bit of hacking, then you really cannot beat the functionality of an orignal Xbox running xbmc for the price. You could pick up an Xbox off ebay for under £30, just need to soft mod it (about £10 for cable/card required) and then all the software is free. You can even get optical out and component for up to 720p output. It's what I use every day for downloads, and even the Mrs loves it!

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    Quote Originally Posted by Chan View Post
    Anyway, suggestions appreciated.. spent abit over budget to stretch to the better tv so not looking to spend a great deal.
    Do you have an XBox360 or PS3?
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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    the old xbox is a bit long in the tooth,your better of getting HD media player as suggested above.

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    Does you PC have an ATi GFX card with HDMI? If so that is the easiest way.

    It is what we do when we want to watch a film on the big screen. Laptop (with ATi card) connected via HDMI (carries both A&V) to the 37"

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    Re: Playing movies from PC > Home Cinema

    Zbox is the way to go. Silent operation, unlike the xbox or xbox 360. Plays all HD content right up to the highest bitrate 1080p movies, and with ubuntu backend you can run a webserver or email server in the background.

    http://www.zotacusa.com/products/mini-pcs/zbox?p=2

    I have the ZOTAC ZBOX Intel Celeron SU2300 1.2 GHz Dual-Core and use it all the time.

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