Streaming audio

[jer446]

Hello,

I am looking for the best solution to my home theater. Currently I have a 100 projector hooked up to a ps3, xbox 360, and a net book. I also have an ipad and iPhone. I am looking for the best way to get videos I download on my macbook pro onto my big screen.

Right now i download the files (to my MacBook pro, usually divx or mkv) then transfer with a USB drive, andopen it on my net book. I feel this is a cumbersome process. IS an apple tv what I need or can I make it work with the equipment I have.

I also would love a way to stream my music to that sound system. I am sure the net book could do all of this, but its performance is pretty awful.

Will the apple tv fair better? I am assuming I would need to jailbreak it to do what i need, right?

 

[jer446]

Bump

 

[jtara]

Probably would have helped if you'd have used a more descriptive title. Like, maybe:

Streaming video...

Your Netbook will certainly stream audio much better than it streams video. Streaming audio is a minimal load that a 10+ year old PC will do just fine.

Ditto, really, for streaming video, providing there's no transcoding required. Live transcoding would require the latest hardware, at least for HD.

Apple TV is limited to 720P resolution. Are you OK with that?

I have a Linux server that I run a DLNA server (Twonky) on. No problem streaming audio to my Denon receiver, or audio/video to my Samsung TV and BD player. So, that's one option: get a cheapie desktop and load, say, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or one of the specialty "multimedia" Linux distributions.

Another alternative is to run one of the open-source firmware packages on your router. These are small Linux distributions. You can run a file server and DLNA server right on the router, and just hang a 1-2TB USB drive off of it. Again, DEFINATELY no real-time transcoding there, due to the limited processor power, but it seems many do it successfully. Here again, there are specialty builds that come bundled with all the multimedia server software you'd need.

You'll still need something to put the video onto your projector, which I presume doesn't have built-in DLNA capability like my Samsung plasma. Rather than Apple TV with it's limited resolution, you could put a video card with HDMI out on a Linux server (so make it a HTPC), or get some external box like the Boxee Box that can stream full resolution. The easiest way, really, is to get one of the many Bluray players that have installable applications. They typically support DLNA, as well as Netflix, Pandora, etc.

I'm pretty happy with Twonky. It's commercial software, but inexpensive, and available for Windows, Mac, or Linux.

 

[jer446]

Well my bluray player is my ps3, s is that dlna compatible? Also, I don't mind 720 resolution because my tv and projector are 720p.