How many bits do I need for the job...?

Can someone tell me if I'm missing a trick here?

Currently I have:
Panasonic BD35 Blu ray player
Onkyo 606 receiver
Freeview aerial
Humax 9200T
(...and a decent 1080p tv)

I also have an NTL broadband connection, desktop computer, and an
elderly wireless router. But I don't have an ethernet cable near the
TV.

What I want is:

1. The ability to play avi's from the internet and from friends on my
TV. I could
a) Burn DVDs - tedious
b) Spend 100 quid on a media extender thingy like the iomega
c) Try and find some other way to play files on my computer on the
TV..???

2. To upgrade to Freesat. Obviously I need the dish, after which I
could
a) Spend £300 on the new Humax Foxsat (though apparently I
might want to keep my old humax as well for the non-freesat
channels)
b) Buy a freesat decoder and find a way to record to the
media extender or the TV


If this makes sense to anyone who can offer advice, it will be
gratefully received!

Thanks

Chris

wrote in message ...
Can someone tell me if I'm missing a trick here?

Currently I have:
Panasonic BD35 Blu ray player
Onkyo 606 receiver
Freeview aerial
Humax 9200T
(...and a decent 1080p tv)

I also have an NTL broadband connection, desktop computer, and an
elderly wireless router. But I don't have an ethernet cable near the
TV.

What I want is:

1. The ability to play avi's from the internet and from friends on my
TV. I could
a) Burn DVDs - tedious
b) Spend 100 quid on a media extender thingy like the iomega
c) Try and find some other way to play files on my computer on the
TV..???

Do you want just standard definition , in which case buy an old chipped x-box for under £50
If you want HiDef then a PS3 may be a better option , unless your PC is a convenient distance from the TV

2. To upgrade to Freesat. Obviously I need the dish, after which I
could
a) Spend £300 on the new Humax Foxsat (though apparently I
might want to keep my old humax as well for the non-freesat
channels)
b) Buy a freesat decoder and find a way to record to the
media extender or the TV

B won't be straightforward and will lose a lot of the flexibility you are used to.
A is the only practical options


--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger , then I hide until it goes away"

"Dr Zoidberg" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
...
Can someone tell me if I'm missing a trick here?

Currently I have:
Panasonic BD35 Blu ray player
Onkyo 606 receiver
Freeview aerial
Humax 9200T
(...and a decent 1080p tv)

I also have an NTL broadband connection, desktop computer, and an
elderly wireless router. But I don't have an ethernet cable near the
TV.

What I want is:

1. The ability to play avi's from the internet and from friends on my
TV. I could
a) Burn DVDs - tedious
b) Spend 100 quid on a media extender thingy like the iomega
c) Try and find some other way to play files on my computer on the
TV..???

Do you want just standard definition , in which case buy an old chipped
x-box for under £50
If you want HiDef then a PS3 may be a better option , unless your PC is a
convenient distance from the TV

Yup still happily using my old soft-modded Xbox to view Xvid AVIs. You don't
have to touch the hardware to soft-mod, and it upscales well to hi-def
tellys. You can view Xvids recorded and compressed from HD, it just won't
decode H264 well as it doesn't have the power. Plays BBC iPlayer directly
too but not at high quality.

Z

wrote:
Can someone tell me if I'm missing a trick here?

Currently I have:
Panasonic BD35 Blu ray player
Onkyo 606 receiver
Freeview aerial
Humax 9200T
(...and a decent 1080p tv)

I also have an NTL broadband connection, desktop computer, and an
elderly wireless router. But I don't have an ethernet cable near the
TV.

What I want is:

1. The ability to play avi's from the internet and from friends on my
TV. I could
a) Burn DVDs - tedious
b) Spend 100 quid on a media extender thingy like the iomega
c) Try and find some other way to play files on my computer on the
TV..???

2. To upgrade to Freesat. Obviously I need the dish, after which I
could
a) Spend £300 on the new Humax Foxsat (though apparently I
might want to keep my old humax as well for the non-freesat
channels)
b) Buy a freesat decoder and find a way to record to the
media extender or the TV


If this makes sense to anyone who can offer advice, it will be
gratefully received!


Some TVs have SD card slots - you might even find USB
ports appearing on them. Recent Panasonics
have used these for JPEG playback, but I'm sure I read
that movies would be supported on new models. A quick
look at their web-site suggests DivX/MPEG2 are
supported.

In message ,
writes
Can someone tell me if I'm missing a trick here?

Currently I have:
Panasonic BD35 Blu ray player
Onkyo 606 receiver
Freeview aerial
Humax 9200T
(...and a decent 1080p tv)

I also have an NTL broadband connection, desktop computer, and an
elderly wireless router. But I don't have an ethernet cable near the
TV.

What I want is:

1. The ability to play avi's from the internet and from friends on my
TV. I could
a) Burn DVDs - tedious
b) Spend 100 quid on a media extender thingy like the iomega
c) Try and find some other way to play files on my computer on the
TV..???

2. To upgrade to Freesat. Obviously I need the dish, after which I
could
a) Spend £300 on the new Humax Foxsat (though apparently I
might want to keep my old humax as well for the non-freesat
channels)
b) Buy a freesat decoder and find a way to record to the
media extender or the TV


If this makes sense to anyone who can offer advice, it will be
gratefully received!

Thanks

Chris

My PC graphics card has a s-video output, which I connect with a s-video
cable to a scart adaptor which has s-video and audio L/R inputs.

I set my TV picture to "Soft", to compensate for the sharp jagged look,
and depending on the quality of the source video can get perfectly good
pictures.

That would seem to be your cheapest option, PC card with TV Out, scart
adaptor, s-video and audio cable.

--
Ian

Thanks all for the helpful suggestions.

x-box sounds a good option, and have also realised I may be able to do
something simple as my TV (Sony LE40a686) has usb, s-video, and other
goodies and I have a laptop and usb disk drive... Will investigate
further...

Cheers

Chris