Watching things on tv from computer

[Robert_R]

I got a new computer for Christmas that has windows 7 on it. I keep seeing the ads that show them using their computer to watch videos on the computer on their tv. What I'm talking about is watching videos from your computer on your tv. I know it's possible with cables but they're advertising it as if it can do that without having to buy cables. Is this possible or do I need some sort of cables or receivers or something else. If it is possible, um how.

 

I'm not very good at describing things in case you didn't notice....

[Quorra]

I keep seeing the ads that show them using there computer to watch things on tv. What I'm talking about is watching videos from your computer on your tv.

First one is saying "watching tv on your computer" second part is saying "watching computer videos on your TV"

 

I'm confused...

 

If you want to watch TV on your computer it is called a TV Tuner card

If you want to watch your computer videos on your TV then you probably need a TV that is capable of connecting to the router.

[Robert_R]

I keep seeing the ads that show them using there computer to watch things on tv. What I'm talking about is watching videos from your computer on your tv.

First one is saying "watching tv on your computer" second part is saying "watching computer videos on your TV"

 

I'm confused...

 

If you want to watch TV on your computer it is called a TV Tuner card

If you want to watch your computer videos on your TV then you probably need a TV that is capable of connecting to the router.

Worded it wrong sorry. Meant watching videos from my computer on my tv.

[Quorra]

I keep seeing the ads that show them using there computer to watch things on tv. What I'm talking about is watching videos from your computer on your tv.

First one is saying "watching tv on your computer" second part is saying "watching computer videos on your TV"

 

I'm confused...

 

If you want to watch TV on your computer it is called a TV Tuner card

If you want to watch your computer videos on your TV then you probably need a TV that is capable of connecting to the router.

Worded it wrong sorry. Meant watching videos from my computer on my tv.

Only way I can think of is if the TV can be hooked up to the router and have the computer shared over the router

[Laura]

Yeah, the ad is purposely misleading; you need a physical connection or Intel's Wireless Display/wireless HDMI which I doubt your computer has.

Edited February 17, 2010 by laura0077

[Robert_R]

Yeah, the ad is purposely misleading; you need a physical connection or Intel's Wireless Display/wireless HDMI which I doubt your computer has.

Well that sucks <_<

 

 

Might actually look into getting one of those anyway.

 

Which do you think would work better? Wireles HDMI or the cable? Or something else.

[Sbrideau]

Nowadays most computers have HDMI, at least laptops, you whould just need to buy a HDMI cable, if your tv has the plugs too. That would do the trick.

That or any other wire that can connect between both computer and TV.

[Robert_R]

Nowadays most computers have HDMI, at least laptops, you whould just need to buy a HDMI cable, if your tv has the plugs too. That would do the trick.

That or any other wire that can connect between both computer and TV.

Hmm ok both my tv and laptop have the connectors but how good/bad is the quality using it?

[Will H]

This whole TV-PC integration thing isn't very elegant or efficient right now if you don't have a dedicated media player system in the same room. Maybe it's better to wait it out until prices go down and technology gets better?

[Robert_R]

This whole TV-PC integration thing isn't very elegant or efficient right now if you don't have a dedicated media player system in the same room. Maybe it's better to wait it out until prices go down and technology gets better?

What do you mean media player system. I think I know what you're talking about but just making sure.

[Sbrideau]

This whole TV-PC integration thing isn't very elegant or efficient right now if you don't have a dedicated media player system in the same room. Maybe it's better to wait it out until prices go down and technology gets better?

 

I think it's pretty effitient, having HD movies through HDMI for example, etc.

[Laura]

Yeah, the ad is purposely misleading; you need a physical connection or Intel's Wireless Display/wireless HDMI which I doubt your computer has.

Well that sucks <_<

 

 

Might actually look into getting one of those anyway.

 

Which do you think would work better? Wireles HDMI or the cable? Or something else.

Oh HDMI for sure. That is, if your TV and computer both have the ports.

 

Wireless HDMI/wireless USB/WiDi aren't anywhere near as good as a physical connection.

[Robert_R]

Yeah, the ad is purposely misleading; you need a physical connection or Intel's Wireless Display/wireless HDMI which I doubt your computer has.

Well that sucks <_<

 

 

Might actually look into getting one of those anyway.

 

Which do you think would work better? Wireles HDMI or the cable? Or something else.

Oh HDMI for sure. That is, if your TV and computer both have the ports.

 

Wireless HDMI/wireless USB/WiDi aren't anywhere near as good as a physical connection.

Sounds good and HDMI cables don't look too expensive. But I went on Best Buy to look at them and some were $13 for a 6' cable but another was $70 for an 8' cable.... The only difference I can see is one is made for playstation 3 and looks a little bit more fancy but does that even matter? I mean if I bought a fancy one instead of the cheap one would the quality actually be that much better or is just higher price because of a brand name.

[Laura]

Brand name, I'm assuming it was Monster Cable.

 

You don't have to order from here, but it is a good website that sets a nice price standard that you should aim for. Most short cables are under $10. You're looking for male to male and the metal used for the connection won't matter much, if at all

[indy500fan]

This whole TV-PC integration thing isn't very elegant or efficient right now if you don't have a dedicated media player system in the same room. Maybe it's better to wait it out until prices go down and technology gets better?

 

I actually have to disagree with this. There are tons of different ways and devices to hook up your computer to your TV. Personally I use a PS3, it might work with Windows Media Center in Win7 but I haven't tried it yet. Easier to just use PS3 Media Center. X-Box 360 I know works with WMC, so if you have that you are golden.

 

I don't know if you would count game consoles as dedicated media player systems or not.

[Robert_R]

Brand name, I'm assuming it was Monster Cable.

 

You don't have to order from here, but it is a good website that sets a nice price standard that you should aim for. Most short cables are under $10. You're looking for male to male and the metal used for the connection won't matter much, if at all

Alright that makes sense gotta just love things that cost extra for a brand name lol.

 

I think I'm gonna get one from best buy if I get one though. There's one about 5 miles from my house :wink:

[ClareJonsson]

I currently have two ways of watching movies that I have on my PC on the Television:

 

1. I have a 10 metre HDMI cable connected to my PC, this means I can use Windows 7 Media Canter on my TV and even play games on a huge Plasma screen.

2. I have another PC hidden in a cupboard with a huge hard drive running PS3 Media Server which my Playstation 3 can access and play all the content from the server.

 

So why have I got both of these options when I have a high spec PC connected to the TV? Well even though the PC can output full Hi Def 1080P, there's still some issues with de-interlacing, most people aren't bothered about this but it really annoys both me and my boyfriend. The PS3 however has superb output and streaming media to it from PS3 Media Server running on PC is awesome, especially since it transcodes on the fly so I can play just about any type of video file on my PS3.

 

Of course, a dedicated media box streaming wirelessly from the PC should be just like the PS3 option.

[indy500fan]

Yeah I used to have my PC hooked up directly to my TV but I've actually got better results out of the same PC streaming to a PS3 via PS3MS.

 

The only problem is with .mkv and subtitles, sometimes it doesn't like to work correctly. I usually have to get the subtitles separate and let the media server find external subs. Can be a little annoying when it doesn't work since it is much easier to get them to work on a PC.

[Robert_R]

Hmm well the problem with that is I have no idea how to stream to PS3MS. I do have a PS3 I just don't know how to do that.

[indy500fan]

Hmm well the problem with that is I have no idea how to stream to PS3MS. I do have a PS3 I just don't know how to do that.

 

1. Download PS3MS

2. Choose folder the video files are in

3. Done!

[Severation]

I use my ps3 as well. although I use an external hdd to transfer films, as streaming is a bit risky as my ps and laptop are normally at different sides of the house

[indy500fan]

I use my ps3 as well. although I use an external hdd to transfer films, as streaming is a bit risky as my ps and laptop are normally at different sides of the house

 

That shouldn't be a problem. Distances under 25m really don't matter over cat5 cables (which I am going to assume is what you are using).

[ClareJonsson]

I use my ps3 as well. although I use an external hdd to transfer films, as streaming is a bit risky as my ps and laptop are normally at different sides of the house

 

That shouldn't be a problem. Distances under 25m really don't matter over cat5 cables (which I am going to assume is what you are using).

That's right, UTP running at 100Mb full duplex is perfectly fine for streaming video, but for those of you who are using wireless and are thinking of moving over to a cabled solution, here's some very important advice. NEVER buy your cable from a high street retailer such as Currys, they will charge you an arm and a leg for a UTP network cable. Take a look on eBay and you should be able to pick up a 20M cable for about £5 including postage. Do a search on eBay for "20M UTP Cable". The last time I was in Currys they were selling a 3M UTP cable for £15, I almost died laughing. But that's not the worst, they had a standard 3M PC Mains cable, and they were selling that for £19.99! I wouldn't pay more than £3 for one one of them.

 

Another bit of advice, if you need to split your UTP cables to connect more computers, never buy a hub, buy a switch instead. Here's the differences between the two:

 

HUB:

A hub simply broadcasts all data it receives on any port to all other ports. It doesn't care where the data goes and isn't bothered about broadcasting data on a port that has incoming traffic. To do this a hub runs at half duplex which means it can only transmit data in one direction at a time. A hub saturates all your network with all data being sent from any machine connected to it and is prone to packet collision and errors. Just for info: A packet is what we call a chunk of network data.

 

SWITCH:

A switch has some intelligence built in, it will determine what machines are connected to what port and redirect the data to that port, therefore it will only send the data to where it needs to go. Switches run at full duplex and generally have much more efficient error correction. Also switches can mix network media, so if your systems are running at different speeds it will be happy at talking to them all.

 

So to sum up, Hubs are slow, more prone to packet collisions/errors and they saturate your network with unnecessary data slowing everything down even more. Switches are fast, they manage the network traffic efficiently and are much more robust when it comes to error correction and different equipment speeds and duplexes. The only downside to switches is that they are more expensive than hubs, but well worth the extra pennies.

[Severation]

I use my ps3 as well. although I use an external hdd to transfer films, as streaming is a bit risky as my ps and laptop are normally at different sides of the house

 

That shouldn't be a problem. Distances under 25m really don't matter over cat5 cables (which I am going to assume is what you are using).

That's right, UTP running at 100Mb full duplex is perfectly fine for streaming video, but for those of you who are using wireless and are thinking of moving over to a cabled solution, here's some very important advice. NEVER buy your cable from a high street retailer such as Currys, they will charge you an arm and a leg for a UTP network cable. Take a look on eBay and you should be able to pick up a 20M cable for about £5 including postage. Do a search on eBay for "20M UTP Cable". The last time I was in Currys they were selling a 3M UTP cable for £15, I almost died laughing. But that's not the worst, they had a standard 3M PC Mains cable, and they were selling that for £19.99! I wouldn't pay more than £3 for one one of them.

 

Another bit of advice, if you need to split your UTP cables to connect more computers, never buy a hub, buy a switch instead. Here's the differences between the two:

 

HUB:

A hub simply broadcasts all data it receives on any port to all other ports. It doesn't care where the data goes and isn't bothered about broadcasting data on a port that has incoming traffic. To do this a hub runs at half duplex which means it can only transmit data in one direction at a time. A hub saturates all your network with all data being sent from any machine connected to it and is prone to packet collision and errors. Just for info: A packet is what we call a chunk of network data.

 

SWITCH:

A switch has some intelligence built in, it will determine what machines are connected to what port and redirect the data to that port, therefore it will only send the data to where it needs to go. Switches run at full duplex and generally have much more efficient error correction. Also switches can mix network media, so if your systems are running at different speeds it will be happy at talking to them all.

 

So to sum up, Hubs are slow, more prone to packet collisions/errors and they saturate your network with unnecessary data slowing everything down even more. Switches are fast, they manage the network traffic efficiently and are much more robust when it comes to error correction and different equipment speeds and duplexes. The only downside to switches is that they are more expensive than hubs, but well worth the extra pennies.

 

im connected through wi-fi

[ClareJonsson]

I use my ps3 as well. although I use an external hdd to transfer films, as streaming is a bit risky as my ps and laptop are normally at different sides of the house

 

That shouldn't be a problem. Distances under 25m really don't matter over cat5 cables (which I am going to assume is what you are using).

That's right, UTP running at 100Mb full duplex is perfectly fine for streaming video, but for those of you who are using wireless and are thinking of moving over to a cabled solution, here's some very important advice. NEVER buy your cable from a high street retailer such as Currys, they will charge you an arm and a leg for a UTP network cable. Take a look on eBay and you should be able to pick up a 20M cable for about £5 including postage. Do a search on eBay for "20M UTP Cable". The last time I was in Currys they were selling a 3M UTP cable for £15, I almost died laughing. But that's not the worst, they had a standard 3M PC Mains cable, and they were selling that for £19.99! I wouldn't pay more than £3 for one one of them.

 

Another bit of advice, if you need to split your UTP cables to connect more computers, never buy a hub, buy a switch instead. Here's the differences between the two:

 

HUB:

A hub simply broadcasts all data it receives on any port to all other ports. It doesn't care where the data goes and isn't bothered about broadcasting data on a port that has incoming traffic. To do this a hub runs at half duplex which means it can only transmit data in one direction at a time. A hub saturates all your network with all data being sent from any machine connected to it and is prone to packet collision and errors. Just for info: A packet is what we call a chunk of network data.

 

SWITCH:

A switch has some intelligence built in, it will determine what machines are connected to what port and redirect the data to that port, therefore it will only send the data to where it needs to go. Switches run at full duplex and generally have much more efficient error correction. Also switches can mix network media, so if your systems are running at different speeds it will be happy at talking to them all.

 

So to sum up, Hubs are slow, more prone to packet collisions/errors and they saturate your network with unnecessary data slowing everything down even more. Switches are fast, they manage the network traffic efficiently and are much more robust when it comes to error correction and different equipment speeds and duplexes. The only downside to switches is that they are more expensive than hubs, but well worth the extra pennies.

 

im connected through wi-fi

I feel silly now after typing all that :ohnoes: