TV from router to screen?

10/26/2011 - 08:29

A question for TV techies if I may. I know about getting catchup TV etc from the UK by using a VPN and this works fine to a computer. However, I want to go further and get HD TV on the big screen along with use of the 5.1 THX amplifier for sound; all via HDMI.I am wondering about an Xtreamer Sidewinder 2 media streamer driven via a WiFi router which can permanently maintain the VPN for the streamer but keep normal for other connections. Has anyone done this or have any better ideas please?

Topic

Technology

Location

Umbria

Comment

This is a good one, I look forward to the responses of the experts, I am also currently wondering how to go from a somewhat similar position to get true surround sound........... S

And me..

unless you have a dedicated device the most common way at present is using HDMI interface which can be configured on desktop PC/laptop to repeat on tv. most laptop computers have either a vga, dvi. or hdmi port, with desktops a graphics card can fitted with ports (most graphics cards have hdmi port as well as vga/dvi) your tv must have same port or hdmi port as well. a cable can be run from the pc/laptop to the tv and the video computer software configured to repeat what is on showing on both screen. vga and dvi only deal with graphics but hdmi also handles sound, in any case sound could heard through pc speakers. you may need a cable that for instance has vga or dvi at one end and hdmi at the other - these can be purchased from ebay or amazon, i only trust the latter for certain reasons. this link is to a video on youtube which explain the interface bit better than i can: instead of extending i would recomend repeating same on both but screen but either is feasible. hope this helps.

CABLES GRANDAD? SURELY WE CAN DO IT ALL WIRELESSLY THESE DAYS????? I'm keen to know...

hi bunterboy, until recently i haven't heard of anything that is fully reliable via wifi but this looks pretty good: good thing with amazon is you can return if it doesn't work, sure there are many similar items available.

...also for me! (the wireless stuff....)

Good idea!

I may be shifting my longing gaze from the Xtreamer to the latest Popcorn hour A-300 which has the most advanced chipset. With the wi-fi aerial plugged in the back this will stream HD content without the use of a computer. With a huge hard drive on board transfer rates become less of an issue. I am currently doing this with an Apple TV which can stream brilliant HD pictures but lacks the full audio transfer... very limited use but an amazing You-tube surfing machine with no buffering... I watched a whole movie recently with no stops. You can rent movies on this but a bit pricey.

Sounds pricey but how much?

I haven't seen a price on the new PCH A-300 yet but bet it'll be £400 The Xtreamer job is about £130 Yes it's all a bit pricey but compared with big dishes and set top boxes etc it's cheap and free UK TV from then on without even a license fee can't be bad. I know some folks round here have paid some €4,000 for big dishes to get Freesat TV so this is a much better solution. How much is a SKY contract? - must be in the same ball park and that's an annual cost.

Would buying a smart tv ie Samsung with iplayer work?

....yes I think that would be good but you still need to get the wi-fi router to do the VPN trick so that UK or US TV content can be viewed. I am pretty confident that a media streamer would be more satisfactory though because they do so much more than access i-player... eg dedicated you-tube, web surfing, video juke-box, data storage, radio....

Our problem will be getting a decent broadband connection with the available wifi network in our neck of the woods, sadly.

I have watched this thread with great interest over the last few days and sadly I'm still not sure what I would get over and above what I have with the Popcorn 'thingy'. I currently have a very acceptable wifi connection (4mb), added to this a VPN facility (MPN), this all enables me access to BBC iPlayer (live and recorded), plus of course ITV, Channel 4 etc. This all runs via my wireless laptop, some programs we watch live (Strictly being one of them (!!!)), some are recorded onto the hard-drive of the laptop (iPlayer) for later viewing......the laptop is connected (via VGA cable) to the TV. When watching live BBC or ITV, things (IN GENERAL) are ok with only the odd blip every now and then. So,............ assuming that my 4mb connection is beefy enough, what else would I get ? Is the popcorn thingy just taking over from my laptop ? S

.... hard to get this vibe over in a few words but while you are clearly 'there' with your PC there is a lot more to be had by handing over the job to a media player.... check out the latest PopCorn Hour A-300 to see what it's all about. With a big hard drive fitted you can not only store all your movies, pics, music but other files too. You can then download many apps. including a VPN like SeasOnPass and then get beatifully presented access to the BBC i-store.

.................. thanks a lot, this sounds an interesting option, I may look into it a little more and possibly use it as a workhorse for TV etc, freeing up the laptop for other stuff ? Cheers, S

sorry -- seasonpass is not a VPN running on Boxee. It's actually the jailbreak recoding for an Apple TV media box (ATV2). Before laying out a wad on a new media player I'm going to try to hack my ATV2 with ATV-Flash after the jail break... then install Boxee as a route to a VPN and endless BBC. I think that's enough jargon for tonight.

"...... seasonpass is not a VPN running on Boxee. It's actually the jailbreak recoding for an Apple TV media box (ATV2). Before laying out a wad on a new media player I'm going to try to hack my ATV2 with ATV-Flash after the jail break... then install Boxee as a route to a VPN and endless BBC. ..........." And I thought italian was hard enough to learn!!!!!!!!!!

'tis all Greek to me too alanh! But I do love my 'internet radio' which I have a notion is a very early life form of what these guys are taliking about! I waver between thinking 'let the PC/Mac do it all' and then thinking 'independent devices' are maybe the way to go! (Coming to you from a so called adsl router currently running on a SIM data card because my landline is down...brain hurt)