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Playing your Video content on your HDTV


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There are various methods of this, I was wondering what people tend to go for?

 

I currently have my PC wired directly up to my TV via HDMI cable. But I'm thinking of moving the PC to another room, so I want to explore the options.

 

Ideally, I'd like to be able to stream anything from the likes of a small avi up to a 1080p mkv complete with subs.

 

I have a PS3 and a decent PC which could transcode on the fly using PS3 Media Server, but I've read that even with 200MB/s homeplugs, you can't stream full HD perfectly.

 

A hard-disk based media box (like Western Digital's Live box) is an option, but would mean constantly moving external storage about, like a small external hard drive or USB stick.

 

Xbox 360 doesn't support many formats and has a size limit I believe.

 

I know some of you out there must have a good setup, so any recommendations? :)

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The problem seems to be that you need it to do 1080p mkvs with subtitles. PS3 Media Server and the Western Digital ones seem to be the best at doing that.

 

So my only suggestions is 1GB Homeplugs (just make sure that nobody near you listens to DAB radio) or putting up with 720p for now (you can always test 1080p). The PS3 Media Server is a free option so you may as well just test it to see how well it works for you.

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It's not like I watch a lot of 1080p MKVs with subs, but I'm just dreaming those up as the most bandwidth intensive/slow to convert files I'm going to want to play in the foreseeable future - and thinking that I don't want to spend £75-£150 on something then find it can't quite play everything I'd like it to.

 

Tbh, I didn't know homeplugs came at that high bandwidth, but am imagining they're expensive... out of curiosity, what do they do to DAB radio?

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Tbh, I didn't know homeplugs came at that high bandwidth, but am imagining they're expensive... out of curiosity, what do they do to DAB radio?

 

It essentially turns your home into a low-powered transmitter and can cause interference to DAB radio signals. The prices of them look pretty varied from the few I could find and no "big" sites seem to sell them.

 

The only reason I know about them was because I was in a Home Cinema store today talking about media streaming and stuff. He said that this one is good enough for most people (and that he uses it himself). But I would think that the PS3 already does all that. The discussion ended when he remembered that the Blu-Ray player my Step Dad bought of them had all the media streaming built-in.

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  • 3 weeks later...

PS3 media server, Using Homeplugs or whatever. I get perfect 1080p-video just fine.

 

Obviously with homeplugs your quality will vary depending on the wiring in the house and interference.

 

It will be at it slowest on full rencode which depends on your CPU. Quads obviously work much better in this situation.

 

For a fast way to work with MKV files on PS3 use MKV2VOB. It works everywhere else just fine but relieves the re-encode part for PS3 media server. Handy if your CPU is not crazy powerful.

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