Does anyone have experience with this product? Enables streaming of audio/video from PC to AVR/HDTV. Seems like a nice product and value. Are there other options I should consider?
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us...Features+US.htm
I would recommend buying an Xbox 360 core for $299, you can stream from your windows XP based computer, or more ideally, your media centre. I have been downloading bit torrent TV episodes lately and streaming over my network through my xbox 360 onto my 92" screen. Battlestar Gallactica season 3 DVD? WHO NEEDS IT!?!?!
I've recently been looking at Apple TV for streaming. I ended up purchasing one last week. I was able to "hack" (essentially add a plugin). Now I'm streaming DVD quality movies with Dolby Digital to my TV from my computer in the office. The plugin also organizes my movies by Genre, Oscars, Watched, etc etc. Really slick!!
The plugin:
http://appletv.nanopi.net/
You can use many different client boxes to stream from a PC/Mac to a TV/monitor. Some are new/unique/media streamer-specific, like the Pinnacle, Netgear adapters, or AppleTV. OR, you could go w/ another box that has the capability but can do more, like a Series 2 Tivo, Xbox, or PS3. If I were you, you might opt for the Tivo or game console route.
I was using the Xbox 360 and PS3 for streaming originally. I could not get these devices to support 5.1 DD. The Xbox claims to do so but it wouldn't stream without having issues. My other gripe with them was that they didn't have a decent way to organize. If you only have 20 movies it's great. But when you have over 150 and growing you need some sort of organization. That's how I came to the Apple TV which essentially runs a Unix based OS making it very easy to play around with. I'm hoping the soon to be 2.0 update of the ATV doesn't lock it down completely though,
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BTW I thought the Xbox did a better job than PS3. Never tried anything else.
I saw your link, now I have to try it w/ my AppleTV. Looks interesting, I'll have to try it.
Get an xbox 1, mod it, and install xbox media center. That would probably be your cheapest bet.
This would require some research/soldering/ect.
I am not sure about HD and 5.1 streams, but I am sure it is possible
Thanks guys for opening my eyes to alternatives...have more research to do!
Would these options (Apple TV, X-Box, PSIII, Tivo) work with Vista?
Thanks guys for opening my eyes to alternatives...have more research to do!
Would these options (Apple TV, X-Box, PSIII, Tivo) work with Vista?
I use Apple TV with my PowerMac G5. But it's fully supported with Windows XP & Vista.
Xbox 360 works well with Windows especially the MC editions
Not sure about PS3 or Tivo
The PS3's streaming ability works but it's not friendly at all... It works better if you store the files locally on the drive (which defeats the purpose). I've heard several people that were able to stream their stored dvds to it in 5.1 sound but I can't confirm it myself since I haven't tried it yet.
Apple TV, PS3 and Tivo should work fine with Vista. There are tons of programs out there.