Can I stream directly from a WinVista laptop to my TV or do I need an intermediate box of some sort?
If so, what box is recommended?
I’ve seen some comments related to this but my search powers are limited (by my skill level).
The HP laptop has Vista Home Premium and gets the streamed movies fine; wireless/n from the back room with minimal initial buffereing and no stoppage during play. The laptop only outputs VGA and/or S-Video. The TV (56" Samsung) isn’t latest and greatest but does have VGA/DVI-D/Component (3)/Composite (2)/ and aerial (2) inputs. It will do 480p 720p and 1080i from the right source.
Does your TV have an ethernet jack and netflix ready? My blueray player is but i stream to my xbox360. Your connections will not be good enough. Streaming is the only option short of finding some type of USB>HDMI/Componenate adapter which i am not sure even exist.
If you can stream them fine on your laptop which has VGA output, and your TV has VGA input, just put a VGA cable between them and use your TV as a monitor.
The vga out of the laptop should be able to connect to the TV at 1920 by 1080. You will need a sound connection also. The tv should have audio in associated with the vga input. I have played netflix to TV in this way. It worked pretty well.
A lot of boxes will now stream netflix to the TV. My blue ray player does it. Xbox 360 can do it. PS3 can do it. Wii will be able to soon according to news on the web. roku video player does it.
I use my laptop with an S Video cable to get the picture to the screen. Sometimes, I rely on the internal speakers and sometimes, I plug an old set of external computer speakers into the jack.
Something like this for audio. Search the site if you want different lengths. If your laptop has S/PDIF, you could also use that, but I’ll bet not if it doesn’t have DVI.