There's a multitude of options. Apple TV (too restrictive), Roku or Boxee boxes (bit expensive for my likings), numerous HDMI docking stations, WD TV
I have a 1TB esata drive that I'd like to use for playback rather than going the wireless route, although would consider wireless. Any suggestions around the $100 mark?
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What's the best way to get media on my TV from my PC?
Personally, I have found the Apple TV 2 + Air Video (iPad or iPhone) to be the best and easiest solution. Air Video (on the App Store) will live convert anything (including full 1080p .mkv) on the fly to the device. I just "airplay" it to the Apple TV.
The latest iteration of Air Video is incredibly stable and allows for background "airplaying", so once the stream is initiated, you can go back to browsing or working on you device.
The latest iteration of Air Video is incredibly stable and allows for background "airplaying", so once the stream is initiated, you can go back to browsing or working on you device.
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Roku for sure. Only one that as easy to use as the apple tv and has an AppStore. Also I'm almost 100% sure that your hard drive will work on it. Only problem you might have is video format compatibility but the Roku is compatible with a lot of different types. You could hack your apple tv to make it so that you could use the hard drive and hulu (for free while Roku you have to pay for the monthly fee), however it's kind of a hassle and will break with every update.
In my opinion go with whatever Roku fits your video needs best. I think they start at $60.
In my opinion go with whatever Roku fits your video needs best. I think they start at $60.
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You actually haven't specified if your living in the states or not as that can dramatically change your options for e.g Living in Ireland i'm bound by an AppleTV as that's the only set top box here that can do movie streaming of any kind. Roku and others don't have international deals with DD and NetFlix so personally if your living in the states go Roku HD and if your internationally go AppleTV.
If you have to go AppleTV and you have mkv x264 files chances is they will play fine, all you need is quicktime 7 pro. Open the video and click export (CMD+E / CTRL+E) And export the video to MPEG4, in the settings under the video make sure it's selected MP4 & not MP4 ISMA. When that's done change the video type to "Passthrough", Switch to the audio tab and adjust the bit rate of the audio as this will need to be transcoded but doesn't take long at all. When that's done exporting throw it into iTunes and your off.
If you have to go AppleTV and you have mkv x264 files chances is they will play fine, all you need is quicktime 7 pro. Open the video and click export (CMD+E / CTRL+E) And export the video to MPEG4, in the settings under the video make sure it's selected MP4 & not MP4 ISMA. When that's done change the video type to "Passthrough", Switch to the audio tab and adjust the bit rate of the audio as this will need to be transcoded but doesn't take long at all. When that's done exporting throw it into iTunes and your off.
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