Moving media from your PC to the big screen

[Kathleen Atkins]

BEST PRACTICES Moving media from your PC to the big screen By Lincoln Spector Most personal computers — and many work PCs — eventually acquire lots of entertainment (music, family photos, and assorted videos) on their hard drives. But when it comes time to share with friends or just kick back in an easy chair for your own enjoyment, all that media looks and sounds better on your big HDTV. Here's how to make the best PC/TV connection. The full text of this column is posted at http://windowssecrets.com/best-pract...he-big-screen/ (paid content, opens in a new window/tab). Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.

[highstream]

For a simple, direct and relatively inexpensive approach, I've found the Patriot media player (Box Office) works well. One can either take files from a PC to TV via a USB stick in the front of the box; install an HDD in the box and transfer from a laptop or wireless connection with an adapter, or maybe even just run an HDMI cord from laptop to the back of the box. I'm probably missing an option or two, since because my desktop is one floor up I've just gone with the USB stick method.

[jon bondy]

I use my TV as my computer display/monitor. I did not have to read the article at all. The approach discussed in the article may be flexible, but it is much more complex than is necessary.

[tbar]

The problem with using DLNA is that every implementation is different in what it supports. My Panasonic TV only supports serving media in very limited formats. It works pretty well for MP3s and pictures but video is a different story. It wont support ISOs and for DVD folder rips you can only browse to the individual files to play them back. I'm still looking for a better way to play TV and movies from my WHS.

[highstream]

The advantage of a media box is format support is wide ranging and it takes compatibility out of the control of a TV. Take a look at the Patriot. I've been downloading videos from around the world to a USB stick and playing them on a Samsung LCD TV from a few years ago quite successfully. In fact, most of the time I get full screen playback.

[elikam]

I happen to have a desktop computer right next to the TV. The computer receives Wi-Fi from a modem-router in another room where there is the computer I use for work. My wife uses the computer near the TV for playing Shanghai. Now that computer is directly connected to the HDTV with a DVI-HDMI cable. It would be better to use an HDMI but unfortunately this computer only has the DVI output. When you buy a computer, be sure to get an HDMI port; don't repeat my mistake. Anyway the result on the TV screen is excellent. Since the computer has browsers, I have the entire Internet available and, of course,such facilities as NetFlix. Because DVI does not carry sound, we have to hear the sound through computer speakers, but that works out okay.
While I do not use the TV screen as the regular computer monitor, I can use a wireless mouse to click on buttons on the screen. I would need a wireless keyboard if I wanted to use the TV screen for computing, but actually the computer is used only for my wife's games and to stream shows and movies to the TV.
I agree entirely with Lincoln Spector that streaming to the HDTV is a real pleasure and I think in the future that will become the main source for viewing on the bigger screen. But the least complicated, though perhaps the more expensive, way to enjoy this is to connect a computer directly to the HDTV.