Streaming PC content to my TV/HiFi

Hi,

I want to stream my PC media to my TV and/or HiFi, but I don't want to buy a media receiver. I have a desktop PC with all the stuff on, a wireless network and a laptop (and obviously a TV and a HiFi).

I can imagine doing one of 2 things:
- Link PC with TV/HiFi with some cable. PC has a number of A/V ports
- Link laptop with TV/HiFi with some cable and then access PC content via network. Laptop has S-Video out but nothing for audio.

TV is not hi-tech with only AV1/2 inputs (RCA)

Problem is I don't know what cables to use or what adaptors are needed, or if I need any software on my PC/laptop.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

PC probably also has S-video out, either way you'll need an s-video to RCA adapter. These ship with some video cards, or get them from an AV store.

Do you have surround sound? if not just get a stereo mini-jack (1/8 inch) to RCA converter cable made up, plug it into the PC's line out spot. (You may have to configure your PC to do line out rather rather than 5.1 depending on the machine.

Failing that you can connect it to your PC/laptops headphones out, but be very careful - turn down the volume on the headphones as the port is a lot hotter than a line out.

Having said all that, it really is quite a bit easier just to use an Xbox 360 and Media Player 11.

Thanks for the reply.

My PC has S-video out and I have an S-video to RCA adaptor (i.e. the yellow plug). I take it the other cabling you mention is for the audio?

Are there any issues with resolution or do I just plug in the RCA cables into my TV and go? Do I need to tell my PC to do anything specific in order to deliver the content via the cabling? (This last question should say a lot about my level of expertise - i.e. I know how to use a PC and a TV respectively but nothing about connecting the two...)

Does the Xbox 360 support ethernet and/or wireless connections? Are there any issues with proprietary file formats?

Thanks

download Videolan, it is free and works great for video streaming between computers over a network. In general, streaming video over wifi can be buggy due to interference from microwave ovens etc as well as bandwith constraints.

Goobie said:

streaming video over wifi can be buggy though.

Click to expand...

Even 802.11g? I thought 54mbps would be more than enough bandwidth for video streaming.

In theory 54mbps is enough, and with no interference it should look quite good, for perfect streaming use cat5. With videolan you can specify the bandwith to use, should there be too much stuttering in the image just decrease the bandwith in vlc (videolan).