What is needed to stream iTunes movies to my TV

[lukacs46]

Does any one know how to stream video from my computer to my TV? Do I need Apple TV for this? Or is there another way?

[mstrze]

AppleTV is the easiest and cheapest way to stream iTunes content from your computer to your TV.

[lukacs46]

If I bought AppleTV would I be able to play home movies from my camcorder through AppleTV?

I don't have a camcorder right now, but I'm in the market for one.

[mstrze]

I load movies from my Flip video into iTunes after editing in iMovie all the time.

[redmachine]

I stream my movie from my mac to tv via xbox 360 and connect360 installed on my mac.

Movies have to be mp4s to play but a simple conversion app can handle that.

You can pick up a 360 for peanuts these days.

[joudbren]

If all you want to do is stream movies, there are a lot of little cheap media streaming devices available now that have pretty decent capabilities. Most are in the $80 to $100 range and you can get units from Asus, Patriot, Western Digital, etc. They're all pretty similiar in basic functionality.

They play just about any file format you can throw at them and stream over wired or wireless. Here is a review to get you started and I'll let you google for the rest of the units now that you have an idea of what this type of device is. If you are going wireless, I would highly recommend you look for one that has "N" capabilities for maximum video streaming speed. I think some of these have that now or will soon have updated versions with "N" capabilities.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1136/1/

Cheers!

James

[mstrze]

There are of course, other options out there, but the original poster specifically wanted to know how to stream iTunes movies. I am assuming lukacs46 doesn't want to have to go through the pain of transcoding everything and just wants to hook up a box and have it work.

For me, ATV does just that although some people have had issues and go with alternative setups that cost more in either money (Mac Mini) or time (re-encoding content). I stick with the simple approach and absolutely love my ATV!

[joudbren]

Originally Posted by mstrze

There are of course, other options out there, but the original poster specifically wanted to know how to stream iTunes movies. I am assuming lukacs46 doesn't want to have to go through the pain of transcoding everything and just wants to hook up a box and have it work.

For me, ATV does just that although some people have had issues and go with alternative setups that cost more in either money (Mac Mini) or time (re-encoding content). I stick with the simple approach and absolutely love my ATV!

Yep, sorry, didn't see that. ATV is absolutely the cheapest way to stream iTunes movies to your TV. Patriot or Asus box is a good cheap compliment though to ATV for all the other formats. And I love my ATV too!

James

[sandman42]

It's probably a good idea to point out to the OP that the TV can only play iTunes Library video content that meets the TV's specific criteria. See the section titled "Video formats supported" on the Apple TV's Spec page.

If your movies meet these criteria, or if you're willing to convert them to a format that does, the TV works great. Plus, it has a lot of other nice features, including video rental/purchase, internet content (YouTube, Flickr, etc), and it can be used to browse and play your iTunes music library (and be used as an AirTunes target).

[trip1ex]

The cheapest way is to buy a cable and plug your Mac into your TV.

Another cheap way is buy an iPod and an av cable. If you already have an Ipod then the cost is only that of the av cable. I found one on Ebay for $10. An Apple one, which you may or may not need, is $50.

If you want to play a movie then you load into onto your iPod. Takes 2-3 minutes. Then hook up the cable to your TV and iPod. Done.

Not as convenient as ATV and the Ipods are a bit underpowered for video playing, but works. No streaming issues. And easy to move to any TV.

[lukacs46]

I tried buying a cable, but it never played sound (and I did buy a cable for that) and the movie played either to the left or right of the screen. I just bought a nice big screen TV and would like to take advantage of it's size.

Any help on what cables to buy?

[fpnc]

Originally Posted by joudbren

If all you want to do is stream movies, there are a lot of little cheap media streaming devices available now that have pretty decent capabilities. Most are in the $80 to $100 range and you can get units from Asus, Patriot, Western Digital, etc. They're all pretty similiar in basic functionality...

It's true that there are video/audio streaming devices that are cheaper than the Apple TV. However, those $100 devices don't include a hard drive or WiFi so if you need to add both of those items to your setup then the Apple TV may in fact be a cheaper option.

However, as someone else pointed out you can attach your Mac or iPod to a TV using an inexpensive cable (current Macs only support VGA or DVI outputs, so your TV must support one of those formats -- although you can get DVI to HDMI cables fairly cheaply). Older Mac also supported s-video and composite video outputs (with inexpensive adapters) but that would only support standard definition playback.