How to stream hd from pc to homecinema??? Advice please

[spike66k]

Hi to all of AV Forums.
I am mind blown by the depth of knowledge on this site!

Sadly i dont know a dnla from the dvla !

I would like to be able to send hd/blu ray files from my laptop, to a home cinema all in one box, wirelessly. My hope is to enjoy 5.1 sound with hd picture quality - but i am not sure if i need dongles/media streamers or anything else!
I am in the market for a new laptop, a new home cinema kit, and a new television. Can you guys point me in the right direction as to what kit i need please.

Thanks for your time, and keep up the amazing work,

Spike the Clueless.

 

[davepuma]

Yes you will need a media streamer. There is a dedicated forum for that. They range in price from the likes of WDTV to PopCorn Hour etc. There are other options e.g. PS3, Xbox360 which aren't dedicated streamers. Ultimately it depends on what you want to stream.

I would recommend you splitting your question into parts and asking in the relevant subforums. This will get you a better response as the forum can be quite territorial. The experts rarely stray from the area of expertise sometimes....

What equipment do you have to connect? How big is the room? What is the budget for each? What is the total budget? How many rooms are you talking about? How big is the main room? Will you be using it for music as well? Can you accommodate a wired setup as opposed to wireless?

I would steer clear of an all-in-one home cinema system. They lack inputs and for a few quid more you can get a better overall system that will not only sound better but have better connectivity options and be more flexible.

 

[mebz]

My Samsung TV has two USB slots, one in which I plug in a 500gb hard drive and the other just a 2gb memory stick. I have most of my DVDs ripped onto my 500gb hard drive as I do not have a dvd player in one room and I play straight off the HDD onto the Sammy TV. This was a piece of cake to setup rather than going down the DLNA and streaming route via a network. If you try to use the DLNA, you will need to buy a dongle from your TV manufacturer and will probably cost upwards of £30. For £50 these days you can get a 1tb external hdd

 

[spike66k]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, both of you.
My apologies if I have misplaced this in the wrong areaof the forum.
I am square eyed looking at the various bits of kit on offer! Interesting idea regarding the external hd fed into the usb port.
So far I have come up with a samsung 3dtv, with matching 3d homecinema c6930w...plus a wdtv streamer wotsit.
The samsung hc seems to be the only outthebox with hdmi inputs for xbox/ps3 etc.

Here goes another 3 hours online trying to find hardware and reviews!!

Spike.