Geekshow

I was wondering if anybody here uses their xbox (or their wii) to wirelessly stream media from their home computer to their tv? I am possibly thinking on buying an xbox or wii (I know, I don't have one! I haven't played a game since the original Mario Bro, Zelda, and Street Fighter, lol. That's showing my age) to use mostly for this. Unless it's a wii as I'm seriously interested in the wii fit or whatever it's called. I can' find as much info on using a wii as a media center extender, although I know it's possible.

Right now we have our tv and surround sound hooked up to our computer via 30ft s- video and regular audio cords. I bet 60% + of the tv/movies we watch is from our computer. I am looking at getting a plasma and would prefer to have things streamed wirelessly. I really want to get rid of the cords, plus to get HD I would have to buy a 35-40 ft vga or vga to hdmi which will cost at least half that of an xbox.

I'm going out, yet again, to look at TVs. Maybe the sales person will have some knowledge. We'll see, I seem to get the ones that know less than I do, and I'm not really technically inclined. I just do a lot of research.

I use TVersity to stream to my 360. Excellent program. Can't recommend it enough. Technically, you can stream HD, but you obviously need HD content, and it probably needs to be in a format the 360 supports, so that you don't have to transcode it. I'm not sure many people have computers that can transcode HD video on the fly.

You can either transcode the stuff on the fly, or watch it in it's native format. The best way to stream HD content is if it's already in a format that the 360 will use. That's mostly WMV and AVIs. there are some others, but that's the big two. If your video isn't in those formats, then Tversity will encode them into a format it supports. However, when you do it this way, your computer will have to do a lot of processing. So often, you will have to turn the resolution down to where it isn't HD anymore.

Still, everything always looks better than regular TV does, to me. And most of big format don't require that anyway. But just be aware that some things require transcoding, which likely won't happen in HD.

If you want to cut some cords in your living room the Roku XDS is a great little box for streaming content. While it can't stream your media library from your computer it does support Netflix, Amazon, HuluPlus and alot of other video sources. What the XDS has that it's cheeper siblings don't is Dual Band Support for the Wireless internet connection and a USB port to plug and play media. I just load up my media onto a MyPassport and periodically return it to my computer to update what's on it. The greatist part of this set-up is that It only has a few wires, an HDMI between the Roku and the TV, the power cord from the Roku to the wall, and the short USB between the external and the Roku. Maybe not the best way to get my media in the living room but it's relatively easy and hard for my less tech savy friends from screwing up when they want to watch something.