I’m in the process of setting up a TV arrangement in my living room. (I’ve not had a TV in a couple years)
Tell me if this will work:
I’d like to set up a flat panel TV with an integrated amp, (with separate tuner) high quality bookshelf speakers (I don’t want/need surround sound), a DVD player, VHS Player,and-------here’s the question:
How do I go about setting up a device for downloaded movies? I think what I basically need is a computer. But…my computer is in a different location (I don’t have any downloaded movies now, so this is for future use) so it would be a pain to run wires over to the TV location.
Considering the TV can act as a monitor…and I can get a wireless mouse… Can’t I get a small computer that’s only function is to act as a storage device for a movie library? (like an “itunes” type movie library)
I assume I can’t just use an external hard drive, as there is no operating software. But I think I want/need a computer that is small and doesn’t look like a computer. You know, something that can sit along the Amp/Tuner/DVD player etc and simply be just another device that the TV can access.
I have a media computer for the TV in my living room. Works great, bitchin’ video card, could probably play FPS games at 1920x1080. It also cost over a grand to build.
FWIW, AppleTV cannot stream 1080p and may not do very well with 720p either (it can’t handle more than about 5mbit/second). Not sure how much 1080p stuff you’ll be downloading though, since a feature-length movie can run 10-15 gigs or more.
Another option might be a Western Digital WDTV, or loading XBMC onto an Xbox (which can stream 1080p beautifully)
Sort of an in-between compromise is a DVD player like this Oppo. I have an older model that will play just about any video format you can throw at, including AVI and Divx. The advantage of the Oppo player is unlike a hard drive based player, you can expand your collection indefinitely just by burning more discs to feed it. I can fit anywhere from 2 to 8 movies on a data DVD.
I think the multimedia drives mentioned in the post previous to mine look interesting though.
First is that you need a box that can download movies from the internet.
Second is that you need to be able to connect to the internet. That is, at the TV. You don’t want to have to rely on wireless connectivity if you want to stream videos; the speed is way too slow.
For the second issue, I recommend looking at powerline ethernet adaptors. These babies will put your networking onto your powerlines. You have an adapter near your internet router, and another one at a power outlet where you want the internet connection. Voila! Instant networking.
As for the first issue, I’d recommend just going with a plug-and-play doohickey like the Roku Digital Video Player. $99 and it gives you access to Netflix’s library of movies and TV, plus more stuff coming down the pipe later. (There are other choices besides Roku along these same lines; I see that the AppleTV + ITunes combo has already been mentioned.)
The advantage and disadvantage to these devices is that you’re tied to one provider’s library of titles. Bad if you prefer freedom; good if you realize that in this case “freedom” means the only stuff you can watch with a basic PC is fuzzy Youtube crap and illegal BitTorrent content. As always, if you want the good stuff, you gotta pay.
Other alternatives are VOD (Video on demand) choices from your cable or satellite TV provider.
If you don’t mind, I have a few questions from your posts…
I use itunes, but I’ve never used streaming movies off the net, nor have I even used Netflix. (I see indie movies mostly at the theater, and have never owned a DVD player)
I’ll start anywhere, k?
I’m going to buy a BluRay DVD player I assume, with a 1080p TV (probably a 37-40"). I don’t want to spend a fortune, but picture quality is important.
What’s the difference between downloading a movie and playing it back vs “streaming”? Which is more common?
2)Does Apple TV and the Popcorn Hour A-110 essentially do the same thing?
3)Do they both stream, or are they simply replaying what you’ve downloaded? (Or both?)
What’s the pros/cons of the XBMC/Xbox combo instead? (??)
Are the multimedia drives essentially the same as the Apple/ Popcorn stuff?
Is the Roku the same essentially as well?
Thanks again for all your advice. You can see how little I know. If it helps, I want the best picture I can get, and I’m willing to pay for a nicer TV (in that size) and a nicer DVD player also. (I will have nice sounds)
From that point I’m open. If the internet streaming is too slow, and renting the DVD via the mail is better, than I’ll go with that.
OTOH, if streaming is too slow and buying/downloading is better for later playback than that’s fine too. (which I assume means a large hard drive)
Downloading a movie puts the entire set of files on your hard drive. You can download to an external HDD on your desktop computer, and then move it to the media PC.
Streaming generally means playing a buffered copy, ala youtube, on-demand. Once you stop watching the video, the data is discarded.
However, when I used the term streaming from the xbox, that meant to stream media files from the xbox’s HDD (or an external HDD) to your TV.
Pretty much, although it appears the A110 is a bit more feature-rich out of the box than the AppleTV and is certainly more powerful when it comes to video processing.
They both stream, albeit it appears from their approved partners.
You can play Xbox games, primarily
Pretty much, yeah.
From my glancing at their website-- yes, and it appears they support NetFlix as well. Not sure if Popcorn Hour has such support, I doubt anything from Apple would as they’d want you going through Itunes.
The cost of storage space keeps going down. I got a 500GB laptop HDD with an external enclosure w/USB interface for $100 during the holidays.
the raindog I can’t really offer any thing more as my corner of the world is somewhat sparse/expensive regarding access to online content, turning most of us in criminals. My brother spent a couple of years working in the US, and now bemoans the fact that nearly instant access to any movie here isn’t possible.
I think IAmNotSpartacus has answered your questions. I currently use my PC as my entertainment as my TV died a while back, along with my DVD player. I researched multimedia players for a friend, but the then current ones had too many bugs reported in reviews, so while they seemed a good idea, he backed away from them and built a PC with a 24" screen. Which is what I think I’ll end up doing.
One of the intriguing things with the multimedia drives is that some have wifi, so you don’t need to move it between your PC and TV. The ability for this to work as advertised was one of the main complaints. Things may have improved by now.