Cheapest way to stream to tv?

[brsboarder]

I have a 13" macbook pro, and a relatively new(non-wireless tv). I'm looking for the cheapest way to stream 720 avi's to my tv.

I know I can do this through a mactv, but I don't feel the need to spend $80 to accomplish this.

I tried searching for the topic without success.

Thanks!

 

[szolr]

Really, with what you've got there, you might as well get an TV tbh. Mine eliminated the need for DVDs in our house. I ripped all of them and store them on the computer, streaming them when I want to watch them. You'll also get YouTube, Photo Stream, Music Streaming etc. All that for only $99. I thought it was virtually a bargain

Although it's worth noting that the TV will only stream your iTunes library. Videos in iTunes must be in .mov or .mp4 formats. avi files won't play in iTunes and so can't be streamed to your TV. But let's face it: you can concert to mov and mp4 files from QuickTime or something free like ffmpegx.

 

[slothrob]

The only thing much cheaper than the aTV would probably be a cable.

 

[vrDrew]

I know I can do this through a mactv, but I don't feel the need to spend $80 to accomplish this.

So you want to perform a technical wonder of the electronic age - but you don't want to spend any money?

This is an example of what I call the Scarborough Fair question: Make a cambric shirt without any seams or needlework - stream your collection of 800 pirated porn videos to you old TV without spending the $90 or so that an AppleTV costs. Pretty much the same thing.

If you really want to do it right, buy an AppleTV. Use Handbrake to rip those nasty AVIs into tasty m4vs, and your good to go. Or use AirVideo (a free iPad and iPhone app) and Airplay to beam them direct to the ATV.

If you want someone to tell you how to do this using a $49 Roku, or a collection of junk bin parts you pick up at RadioShack - I think you need to keep looking.